As many of you know I am on vacation, out of reach, and having a great time. But I want you all to have some food for thought as it relates to the need for strategic partnerships bringing the gospel to Europe and the upcoming Jetset Tour to Europe via the Upstream Collective.
The following is piece written by Caleb Crider and Larry McCrary.
According to the latest Eurostat demographic studies (2006) there are 459,488,000 people who live in Europe.
You can think of Europe as a river with three major cultural streams affecting it today. Each stream is a spiritual challenge in itself, but combining the three makes for extra-difficult navigation when it comes to engaging people with the gospel and starting new churches.
The first stream - which is decreasing in size - is that of the institutional church's decline. This may be the Roman Catholic Church in some countries, the Church of England or the Lutheran church in other parts of Western Europe, but as a whole the churches are declining in attendance. What makes this stream interesting is that, while it is decreasing in size and influence, the veneer of the institutional church still has an impact on the culture.
In Spain, where we served for the last five years, my friends would say they were not part of the church and would speak out against it. In the next sentence, however, they would claim that they were Catholic, thus identifying themselves as religious.
The opportunity for those of us who live here among these people is to help them see it's not about religion, but about a relationship with God.
The second stream we need to mention is that of the post-Christian or secular worldview held by many Western Europeans. Evangelism research shows that, in most Western European countries, less than 2 percent of the population is evangelical. ("European Believers Report", 2007 by Ruth Robinson, Greater Europe Mission)
The only exception to this is Scandinavia, and they have a whopping 3 percent according to most studies. ("European Believers Report", 2007 by Ruth Robinson, Greater Europe Mission) The worldview of most indigenous Europeans is post- Christian/secular.
While most are generally closed to the idea of institutional church, the hope lies in believers who will live out their faith incarnationally in Europe. We have found by living here that the vast majority of people have never had the gospel explained to them in a relevant way.
The third stream is also growing rapidly, and that stream is Islam. The flood of Muslim immigrants moving from countries in the 10/40 window to Europe over the last 10 years is incredible. Most major Western European cities have several mosques, and in some cities, mosques are literally buying and replacing the empty cathedral
Consider these statistics:
It is projected by the year 2050 one in every five Europeans will be Muslim.
(Eurostat 2006)
Country Population Number from Muslim Cultures
United Kingdom 60,776,000 | 1,640,958
Germany 82,400,996 | 3,213,000
Spain 40,000,000 | 1,000.000
Netherlands 16,000,000 | 1,000,000
France 63,718,177 | 6,737,000
The increase in the number of Muslims moving to Europe makes an impact on the cultural and religious climate. Believers have a great opportunity for ministry in that we don't face the same restrictions on sharing the gospel as those in closed countries. This gives us some freedom in how we can minister among people.
So we believe that Europe is one of the most strategic places in the world at this moment for evangelism. While there are glimmers of hope from some evangelical churches in Europe by and large the national churches have declined to the point that they need people from all parts of the world to come and help in giving them the hope of the gospel in a relevant way.
Larry McCrary
theupstreamcollective.org
larrymccrary.blogspot.com
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Great insight into Europe. It is exciting to see that God is raising up people to sound the alarm regarding the need to reevangelize Europe. God bless your work brother. If I can be of help, please don't hesitate to let me know.
To be honest - as a German christian living in Berlin it feels kind of awkward seeing all these Americans coming over eager to evangelize all those poor "Europeans". Sometimes it comes across as if especially Americans think they would hold some kind of spiritual authority over the rest of the planet. When most Germans think of US christians, the first thing that comes to their minds are the homophobic, selfrighteous freaks who despise everything but their own lifestyle (a friend was at a big inauguration party here and when Warren came up some people booed. Someone yelled "Go to hell" after the prayer and the rest applauded. Just to give you an idea).
It doesn't help that some of these missionary are totally clueless about this country and Europe in general, resulting in a quite a cultural shock and the inability to really connect with the people here. Some of them didn't even speak German!
Usually when I hear American missionaries giving lectures about "Europe" I'm pretty sure they don't know what they are talking about. This continent is so diverse that general assumptions are really really hard to make.
As I see it, sustainable christian communities can only grow if they come from within the culture and fully acknowledge the postmodern tensions that people experience here from day to day. Coming over for 3 years to Germany and then saying goodbye again - I doubt that this is the way to chance christianity here.
Martin-
You should check out what's going on with UpStream. You might be surprised to find that there are others who share some of your frustrations with the typical methods of evangelism and missions in Europe. They might not have all of the right answers, but at least they are trying.
Martin, I really appreciate what you are saying and agree many times that we can come across as having all the answers, which we do not.
From my perspective only, I see Europe as a neutral ground for reaching unreached people groups. Unreached meaning those who have no access to the gospel. Unreached refers to a whole ethnic group of people.
In a UPG there are zero to few Christians who speak their language and are able to carry the gospel through that culture. Making disciples among ethnics is the great commission in Matt 28:19-20.
Germans have the gospel in their language. Germans have access to bibles, the internet, and so forth.
Many of the Muslim people groups coming to Europe do not have the gospel in their language. Their language in many cases is not even a written language.
Europe provides a neutral territory where they are open to hearing the gospel free of government persecution. This is why Europe is key in my view. Matt 24:14 is key verse in my thinking. The gospel is to be preached to all ethnic groups and then the second coming. That is the goal, reaching different ethnic groups with no access to the gospel. Europe can be a key place for doing this.
Hey Ed.
Thank you for posting this interesting article.
I had to go back and check that Larry et al were talking about Europe. I had to because I needed to make sure they were not talking about my country. That's because they succinctly describe the situation regarding sharing Christ in my country, Canada.
The definition of "evangelical" varies among Followers of Jesus. Nonetheless, I'd consider my country fortunate if Canada has 2% of us ...by just about any definition. (I can just hear the "religious" people screaming: "No way!")
Canadians generally are as secular, post-Christian and post-modern as the Europe Larry describes.
A question for you, Ed, that parallels Martin's concern: If as many U.S. residents are "Christians", as articles and surveys suggest, why are we not all living in a different world ...a world more like the Kingdom?
And one for you too, Martin: Might not the boos and catcalls you describe be directed as much at the mere name of Christ and the concept of a God that hears prayers than at U.S. Christians?
Blessings in Christ!
@GaryFPatton in Toronto
Keep on! It is encouraging to have these approaches being taken (See Jet-Set Tour below as well) to indeed have a new generation of missionaries called out and trained for ministering in Europe.
We need more Martins(above) speaking into all of this as well.
We Bible-belt americans must do the difficult work necessary to learn and truly relate to the diverse cultures where we are called to serve as well as help bring workers from other parts of the U.S. who can relate more naturally to post-Christian europeans.
Ed, Interesting articles on Europe. I linked this today to my new site, http://newchurchreport.com. Hope it helps drive some traffic your way. Not that you need it! -Chuck
@Ken
Tx for your reply. I agree. But I wich Christians (and that includes me, too) would get off their lazy butts to change the often miserable living conditions of African aliens here. I guess they don't need the gospel teached, they need to see it lived out.
@Gary
I dunno. Maybe. Since Dawkins book gained so much popularity people are more vocal about their opposition to Christianity. But US evangelicals are a very controversial issue here.
Martin, I know 2 Germans living in Africa that were/are living it out on the edge of lostness. We work in a central African country and one gave his life for the gospel as he was killed, leaving a family behind.
The other is a pilot who flies into very remote and dangerous places and could be shot down by hostile forces. So Germans are doing that we just do not always see it or hear about it.