“The challenge for us is to welcome people into our churches, give them time in their process of discovering what it means to be a Christian, while holding on to Biblical standards”, says professor of religious studies Evert Van de Poll.
Churches are aware that the continent is one of the least prepared regions from a sanitary standpoint. Christians maintain an attitude of prayer and service while they work alongside the authorities.
As the epidemic rages in Europe, let us not forget that worldwide inequalities mean that some countries will be more affected than others.
“We need to realise that behind the trends, ideologies and mindsets that we face, there are spiritual realities”, says the general secretary of the Swedish Evangelical Alliance.
The last decade has seen a worsening of the working conditions which affect “family relationships”, says Jonathan Tame. The near future will probably be shaped by the ‘gig economy’ and the re-balancing of global capitalism.
Jim Memory analyses the main issues that have changed Europe in the 2010-2019 decade. How should Christians live in a continent that has lost its soul?
Africa has become “an easy prey, because of its vulnerability and the abiding Western interest in the region”, says the Secretary General of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA).
A Christian worker expelled by Xi Jinping's government in 2018 shares his views about the spiritual state of the country.
The UN International Court of Justice has issued precautionary measures to protect the Rohingya minority.
The case is closed, the debate continues.
Journalist and theologian José de Segovia reflects on the evolution of culture in the last decade, how it has affected evangelical Christians, and what new challenges they face.
Peruvian theologian Samuel Escobar analyses the decade from a missionary perspective: the changes in Christianity, the role of migration in evangelism, and the work for justice.
Growing pressure on Christians in China, Algeria, Burkina Faso, according to the 2020 Open Doors World Watch List. Christians face severe persecution in 73 countries.
Theologian José Hutter addresses the challenges evangelical churches have faced in the last decade, including same-sex marriage and the split between Western historic churches and the Christian majority in Africa and Latin America.
The link between the Holy Spirit and the Church is so organic that “for Benedict, Scripture, tradition, and the Roman magisterium always coincide because they are guided by the same Spirit”.
For Western European churches mission could be translated as: “Let’s go to other countries to serve”. However, for most Eastern European countries missiology is merely similar to theology.
Persecution rising toward levels under Chairman Mao.
Strengthening the church in the face of a troublesome trend.
The inequality between East and West is still visible in issues such as migration and employment. “Christians need to get involved at all levels”, says Evi Rodemann of the Lausanne Movement Europe.
Algerian Christians think the governmental campaign against Protestant churches will continue. But “the churches of Algeria have a very firm and mature leadership with a clear vision of God”.
The peoples in the east have resisted militant atheism. We, the west, are under another form of atheism which is a sort of political agenda.
This popular culture icon is nowadays described to us as a sad and vulnerable figure, timid and unsure – a far cry from the frivolous, joyful and radiant star that she was for her contemporaries.
In a major speech in 2016, President Xi Jinping called for the ‘sinicization of religion’. For the Chinese Communist Party, the rise of religion, especially Christianity and Islam, represents an existential threat to its political health.
The temptation facing us is either to push the panic button, adding further confusion to the chaos, or to take flight and escape into denial about what’s going on in society. For Christians both of these options are simply unacceptable.
The Italian politician’s worldview precludes the teachings of the good Samaritan, despising it as naïve do-goodism.
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