The Burr in the Burgh

Here is an interesting article from USA Today about the decline of Christianity in Western Europe. It claims that in most of Europe the only major religion that is growing is Islam.

People who know me well, know my interest in the health and growth of churches around the world. And they've heard me comment time and again on the shift that is taking place. The Church began in the Middle East and rapidly spread eastward through Turkey toward India and China. And west and south into Northern and Eastern Africa.

Then Mohammed was born in the sixth century. He and especially his followers spent the next ten centuries wreaking havoc and decimating Christian communities so that now living churches are few and far between in the Middle East and Northern Africa. What had once been a thriving Christian culture has been Islamized, and the people languish in poverty, ignorance and oppression.

Already in the apostolic age, missionaries were going north and west into Europe. As the pagan Celtic and Germanic tribes began to embrace Christianity, what we call the Middle Ages began. And though sometimes mis-characterized as dark ages, the Christian assumptions and worldview created a cultural environment from which have come great universities, astounding works of art, hospitals, literacy, democracy, and the scientific method. Then Europeans emigrated to the New World bringing their Christian faith with them.

The point I am making is that Christianity has seen stages and surges in various places and times. Once North Africa and the Middle East were filled with vibrant Christian communities. These waned and have been nearly extinguished. Then Europe became the heart of Christendom, though it's time has evidently passed. Arguably, the twentieth century was North America's turn. But signs indicate that that is waning as well.

Where is the church strong and growing? To many observers, it appears that the future strength of the church may lie in Africa, South American, possibly Eastern Europe and parts of East Asia.