» What is to be done about Europe?

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So what is to be done about Europe? Philip Jenkins’ God’s Continent has reminded us that Europe stands at a crossroad. Christianity is in serious and sustained decline. Secuarlism dominates and Islam is on the rise.

My thoughts, from a movements perspective, on what is to be done.

1. Reality Therapy

I’ll pick up where Jenkins’ book finishes:

“Nothing drives activists and reformers more powerfully than the sense that their faith is about to perish in their homelands. . .” Philip Jenkins, 288-89.

The breakthroughs in the renewal and expansion of the Christian movement always occur on the fringe. Why? Because those with the biggest investment in the past and the present have too much to lose by facing reality.

Plummeting attendances and ordinations are painful, but not terminal if you’re sitting on millions of (dollars, euros, pounds) worth of assets.

Movement leaders raise the sense of urgency. They face the brutal facts. They heighten discontent.

2. Return to Orthodoxy

The decline of European Christianity reflects a crisis of faith within the established church. In order to lower the tension with a secularizing society, Christian leaders and churches gave away too much.

The message of God in Christ reconciling the world to himself is at odds with both secular Europe and rising Islam. Accommodation won’t work.

Christians are called to live at peace with their neigbours and to be a blessing even to those to persecute them. At the heart of our faith is a suffering Savior. But we are not called to give up the heart of our faith in Christ because of the tension it creates with the world around us.

Dynamic movements hold true to their core beliefs despite external pressure. Transformation occurs because we are in the world and not of it.

Any movement seeking to renew European Christianity which leads us away from the historic Christian faith will turn out to be a half way house to unbelief for a younger generation of cultural Christians.

3. Spiritual Renewal

Orthodoxy alone is dead orthodoxy. The new age of the Kingdom is an age in which the Spirit rules in the life of the believer and in the mission of the Church.

The problem with Spirit is he blows where he wills. He is no respecter of institutions or traditions. His mission is to reveal the glory of Christ and to gather the people of God as a witness to the world. He will not be consulted on how to carry out his mission. So expect a mess. Expect the unexpected. If you want to control things, expect more of the same.

Christianity is a faith of the Word and the Spirit. But have you read what the Word says about how the Spirit operates?

The energy that drives and compels dynamic Christian movements is the power of Holy Spirit. Europe’s only hope is that the Spirit would energize a new generation, who don’t know any better, to take up their cross and follow Jesus in joyful abandonment. History belongs to them.

4. Vision Validated by Action

So what’s the solution? Megachurch? Emerging church? House church? Cafe church? We don’t need a church? More of the same church?

Models of church matter. But what matters more are leaders with a Kingdom vision who take action and shape their models of church as they go based on Biblical principles. The great apostolic leaders of the past all had their models of church and mission. And they were all different. The same principles applied. But they all had different models.

What matters is that visionary leaders take action—visionary leaders who are not ashamed of the Gospel and who have deep compassion for people without Christ. Leaders who, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, are too naive to know it can’t be done.

What unites the people who make history is the courage to take action, to step out of the boat and begin walking.

If the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is faithful, expect Him to have his eye on a new generation of leaders who He is preparing to turn Europe upside down. After all, it’s His mission, His church, His gospel, His world.