by Greg Mundis

Dear Friends:

Europe @ the Crossroads of Faith

Part II

The Guardian, a London newspaper, wrote a few years ago that a huge decision confronts Europe. If living standards are to maintain their current level, the European countries may have to allow a 60-fold increase in immigration, feeding right-wing protests and causing additional damage to the region’s already fragile race relations. This is the considered view of many demographic experts as they examine the reality of Europe’s aging population. It goes on to say, “Mass immigration has already begun.”

A nineteenth-century philosopher, Auguste Comte, said that demography is destiny. If this is the case, then we will see a very different Europe within the next 50-75 years because of this massive immigration. In fact, it is said that if Germany ceased to accept immigration, its current population of 80 million would shrink one-fourth by 2050. In the same years the working population would fall from 41 million to 26 million.

In another statement the French government argues that 75 million immigrants are needed over the next half century with the admission that Europe would be a highbred society. (This is taken from The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order by Samuel Huntington.)

Of course, all this immigration means not only people of different ethnic backgrounds are coming, but people of different religious backgrounds. Massive immigration religion types include Buddhism, Hinduism, animism, and Islam. In fact, in Frankfurt, immigrant groups make up approximately 30 percent of the population, and about one person in eight is of Turkish-Muslim origin. The city has 27 mosques. Muslims make up around one-fifth of the population of Vienna, a figure that has more than doubled just since the late 1980s. Europe as a whole has some 18 million Muslims, many of whom are of ancient stock, particularly in the southeastern parts of the continent. (This is according to Phillip Jenkins, the author of The Next Christendom—the Coming of Global Christianity.)

As you can see, Europe has a tremendous challenge in sharing the gospel. It not only has to reach its own population including its aging population, but also the new Europeans who are coming. Ecclesiastics 11:6 says, “In the morning sow your seed, and in evening do not withhold your hand, for you do not know which will prosper—either this or that—or whether they both alike will be good.” We need to sow the seed of the gospel as a mission. Our mission statement is “to accelerate the spread of the gospel and to model the integrity of New Testament missionaries.”

We value working with the indigenous church in Europe and partnering with existing Pentecostal churches to see Europeans—old and new—won to Jesus Christ and discipled into the Kingdom. We have a clear biblical understanding of our mission, and as Pentecostals, we operate in the power of the Holy Spirit, not only in our preaching but in our practice. We have a clear focus in Europe. We have determined that we need to reach into the cities because they are the population centers where old and new Europeans are living. We have determined to reach out to the campuses where people—both old and young Europeans—are studying and making life decisions, and we are focusing on the children who have the opportunity to lead their whole lives in the power of Jesus Christ.

I would ask you to pray for an anointing on us as Assemblies of God personnel in Europe so we can see cross-pollination and a bridging between believers so we can serve the church and the lost. I would ask you to pray for two schools that we have—one in Amsterdam, Holland, and the other in Romania—that have been specifically raised up to help equip us to reach out to the new Europeans. I would encourage you to pray for Europe.

Thank you for your interest in Europe.

Greg Mundis
AGWM Europe Regional Director

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