Old ladies sitting in otherwise empty churches. That’s the picture most of my American friends have of spirituality in Europe. Well, that or a continent being overrun by jihadist Muslims. It’s not an entirely incorrect picture (the empty churches, not the scimitar-wielding immigrants). How is it, then, that a guy like me, Bible Belt-born and -bred, lifetime churchgoer, has found spiritual renewal in this pit of secularism? And am I the only one?
The hard data show that Christianity remains in long-term decline here. A 2004 Gallup poll found that 15% of Europeans attend a weekly worship service of any faith, compared with 44% of Americans. And the spiritual gap between the U.S. and Europe is actually “worse than people think,” says Philip Jenkins, author of “God’s Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe’s Religious Crisis.”
But the light is not yet out. Those remaining believers and the faith communities they form are what Prof. Jenkins calls “white dwarves”–because “they’re smaller than the sun, but they shine brighter.” I’m no astrophysicist, but it seems to me that such intense bodies–when composed of people who believe passionately in a cause–are more likely to expand than to contract.
I love the idea of planting churches on European soil, but my hope would be that those gathered will be presented with something of substance. I am concerned that the parishioners at The Well are not hearing solid Law/Gospel sermons on a weekly basis and that their “hymns” are of the modern, shallow, “Christianity lite” variety. I hpoe that I have misunderstood the editorial.
“Old ladies sitting in otherwise empty churches.”
Never underestimate the power of old ladies who pray.
From his mouth to God’s ear, but I am not sanguine. I see dark times ahead for Europe.
Indeed scaevola — remember how Communist Russia thought it had defeated the church because all that was left was little old ladies who pray.
#2 – Scaevola – I’ve seen it in action – years of faithful prayer seeking God’s purpose for their church.
I also hear the revival of Holy Trinity, Brompton Road in London was preceded by years of prayer for revival of that church by just such people. It revived and passed on a flame across other churches in London and through the Alpha courses and Marriage courses across both our Communion and now other denominations.
I would not underestimate the old ladies who pray.
Greetings to you all from central London, where my Catholic church last year baptised 102 children and married over 20 couples. Each Sunday we have an average of 1100 people at Mass. Not a unique place either. In fact London has been bucking the trend for the UK with unexpected church growth, driven largely by black-led churches, although the Catholics are not far behind. So – in sum, there is more light of faith in Europe than you hear about.
From #6: “In fact London has been bucking the trend for the UK with unexpected church growth, driven largely by black-led churches, although the Catholics are not far behind.”
In my limited European travels over the past five years or so, I’ve been struck by the international and interracial character of many of the churches I’ve visited, from the overflow crowd listening to John Stott at All Souls’, Langham Place in London, to the American Church in Paris, to an evangelical church in Vienna led by an American pastor. All those churches, Asians, Middle Easterners and Africans make up a significant portion of the congregation. I get a sense that this is closer to the true face of world Christianity than what most of us experience in the American heartland. Being connected to the worldwide church is part of what excites me about the new relationships being forged through Anglican realignment. God is bringing His church to us in ways that we could never have anticipated a generation ago.
Although I’m not one to wade into the Tiber, I must also add that one of the most moving and profoundly spiritual worship services I’ve attended in recent years was at the church of St. Gervais in the center of Paris, where François Couperin once played the organ, and now home to the order known as the Fraternité de Jérusalem. Walking from there over to Nôtre Dame and hearing French versions of familiar praise choruses being sung by street evangelists outside the cathedral made me wonder at what God is doing in the midst of the hardcore secularist French culture.
DuPage Anglican
DuPage Anglican [7]. I thought you might be interested to know that the services from St. Gervais are broadcast on KTO at http://www.ktotv.com/offices.php3. The Fraternité de Jérusalem is also in residence at the abbey at Mont-Saint-Michel —well worth a visit.