by Greg Mundis

Dear Friends:

Europe @ the Crossroads of Faith

Part I

Europe stands at the crossroads of immigration and its faith-post-Christianity, postmodernism, and secular fundamentalism-and the ramifications thereof. What are the ramifications? What do they mean? What are we, as a mission, doing about them?

Let's first explore the ramifications of being at the crossroads.

1.   European population is declining.
2.   Religious and moral values are declining in Europe.
3.   There is massive immigration into Europe.
4.   We are attempting to discover a Spirit-led strategy to reach Europe at the crossroads of faith.

Europe's population is declining. The Guardian, a London UK newspaper, stated, "Europeans are a vanishing species." This statement is substantiated by Patrick Buchanan in his book, The Death of the West. "In 1960 people from European ancestry were one-fourth of the world's population. In 2000 they were one-sixth. In 2050 they will be one-tenth. Of the 20 nations with the lowest birthrate in the world, 18 are in Europe." The challenge is clear for those wanting to share Christ within the borders of Europe. There is a sense of urgency in reaching Europeans. There will be those individuals who go into eternity without Christ if it is not done with immediacy. The statistics urge us to ask the question, "Why such a population decline?"

Religious and moral values are declining in Europe. Regarding the post-Christian element, we can say that an eroded value and authority base, through a rejection of biblical Christianity, produces negative consequences. I cite several examples of an eroded value base. On November 28, 2000, the Lower House of the Dutch Parliament voted 104 to 40 to legalize assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia. Another example of an eroded value base is a University of Belgium study that indicates that one in ten deaths is doctor-induced. One last example will suffice: in Zurich, assisted suicide is permissible in homes for the elderly (The Death of the West, Patrick Buchanan).

Perhaps the ultimate example of an eroded value system was expressed by the president of Poland regarding the debate in the European Parliament to include references to God and Christianity in the constitution of the European Union. He said, "I am an atheist, and everybody knows it, but there are no excuses for making references to ancient Greece and Rome and the Enlightenment without making reference to the Christian values which are so important to the development of Europe." (Aleksander Kwasniewski, President of Poland. Today's Pentecostal Evangel, August 10, 2003, page 9.)

In the opening of this two-part article, we have established that, indeed, Europe is at a crossroads of faith. Many of you readers have heard of the Reformation in Europe and the revival that daunted the Continent in its history. Unfortunately, the Reformation and revival are now only a part of history, and their limited geographical sphere of influence goes unnoticed. An abandoned faith left in the wake of the "isms" of the 19th- and 20th- centuries is the heritage of a 21st-century Europe. We in the Assemblies of God have a burden to reach this old "Christian" continent. We will address one more point in next month's article and offer what we feel is a Spirit-led strategy.

Thank you for your interest in Europe.

God Bless ,
Greg Mundis
AGWM Europe Regional Director

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