During the last two thousand years Europe has been won for the gospel twice. It has also been lost twice. Shockingly, as we begin the third millennium, Europe bears the dubious distinction of being the most secular continent on earth. Europe is now one of the world’s great mission fields and one of the greatest questions facing the church today is ‘can Europe be won for a third time?’. 

The work of EMF

This year marks the 50^th anniversary of the European Missionary Fellowship (EMF). EMF has its origins in the work of a Scotsman called James Stewart. During the 1930s he travelled extensively in Eastern Europe and his preaching there was accompanied by a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit. When war, and then the Iron Curtain, divided East from West, the focus of the Mission turned to Western Europe. Today EMF channels support from churches across the UK to over eighty missionaries in fifteen different countries right across the continent. It is also engaged in the translation and publishing of Christian literature. And there is much to be encouraged about.

Many EMF missionaries are indigenous workers, evangelising, planting churches and pastoring among their own people in their own language. Like many of us, they are engaged in unglamorous, grass roots, long-term, church-based ministry. Their work is strategic and significant. Since the 1960s EMF has also run a theological training course. Each year about a dozen people come to EMF headquarters in Welwyn to pursue a course of study that is focused specifically on ministry in the European context.

Can Europe be won again?

But back to our question: can Europe be won again? My answer: I think it can. It might seem a little reckless, but given what we know about God, surely that is the only conclusion we can reasonably draw. We believe in a sovereign God, do we not? He is never outflanked, never perplexed, and never taken by surprise. As the good book says, ‘He does whatever pleases him’ (Ps. 115:3). We believe that this sovereign God has a plan to rebuild our broken world – the plan of redemption. We believe this plan is unstoppable and that Christ will build His church whatever stands in His way. We believe that God often works through setbacks and adversity, that these are not anomalous, but integral to the way he works. We believe too in a God who still pours out His Spirit as He did in Eastern Europe in the 1930s. We see too, in the work of EMF and others, that God has sustained and developed many good things even in days of decline and collapse. Given all that, surely now is not the time to admit defeat.

Then there is the fact that we have a God who loves to use the weakness of His people to do these great things. We are not very impressive by secular standards. Not many of us are mighty, or noble, or wise in the eyes of the media or big business. But since when has that been a problem to God? It has never stopped Him before. In fact having to use such ordinary ‘jars of clay’ is very helpful in making clear that it is God who is working not us. Surely, too, we have to take the Bible seriously when it says that ‘the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea’ (Hab. 2:14). We may not know the ‘how?’ or the ‘when?’ of that promise, but we cannot doubt it, can we? Surely then we have no alternative. We are bound to believe that secularism, relativism, paganism and hedonism cannot stand. If the Bible is true, if Jesus has indeed risen from the dead, then in the end, whatever comes, without a doubt, unequivocally and irreversibly, it is Jesus who wins.

God has not been outflanked

One of the challenges facing the church in Europe is the rise of Islam. Yet here too there is cause for encouragement. I don’t doubt that the extremists exist. Nor am I ignorant about what can happen when Islam becomes dominant in a country. Nor am I unaware of the relevant demographics and the pessimistic scenarios that can be projected. But those with Muslim friends will know that we often have far more in common with them than with our secular friends. Most Muslims seem very happy to talk about spiritual things and most Muslims are interested to meet Westerners who are serious about ‘religion’ and ‘family’. Expect a lively discussion, but most are happy to talk about Jesus too. And all will be delighted if you offer to pray for them. Jesus is for them too. Immigration is opening many doors for the gospel in Europe too. As the church in Europe has declined, in other parts of the world it has boomed. That means that the immigrants who come, especially from the southern hemisphere, are coming as Christians.

I can only come to one conclusion: God has not been outflanked by what is happening in Europe. He has a plan. EMF is part of it. Your church is part of it. You are part of it. And, if the Bible is true, then even the decline of European Christianity is part of it. There is therefore no reason for pessimism or discouragement. Our task is clear and simple. We are to commit to pray for the coming of the kingdom in secular, pluralistic, politically correct, morally confused, wonderfully diverse Europe because these issues can only be settled when God’s people get on their knees. Then, we have a choice to make. We are either going to become ‘goers’ who relocate and engage in gospel work, whether full-time or part-time, in some place where the need is great. Or we are going to become ‘senders’ who give, support, visit and pray for the ‘goers’. Which of those two it is going to be is for you to decide before the Lord, but those are the only options. As John Piper once pointed out, the only other option is disobedience.

Ian Parry is the minister of The Bay Church, Cardiff.