Post Christian Europe: Not Dead

This past Sunday, we had the wonderful opportunity to have Pieter and Nora Kalkman visit us and share about their ministry in Europe. They spoke about their work in eastern Europe and their challenges in “post Christian” Europe.  Nora and Pieter are based in Prague, Czech Republic where they serve through International Ministries as liaison and volunteer coordinators with the European Baptist Federation (EBF). They match the skills and interests of short term mission volunteers from the United States and Puerto Rico with the needs of more than 50 Baptist unions that are part of the EBF.

Some interesting information they shared:

• There are only 2.4% Bible believing Christians in Europe, making this is a priority mission field.
• Georgian Baptist pastors wear similar liturgical vestments that Orthodox priests wear because of the historical Eastern Orthodox presence in that region.
• In some countries, only 3% of the population go to any type of “church.”
• There are a variety of needs to do mission work. Week trips, short term, and long term ministry opportunities can be found here.

So if there only 2.4% “Bible believing Christians” living in Europe, we have to ask the question: Is Christianity dead in Europe?

By no means!  Yes, Catholics and the Easter Orthodox have larger communities of Christians, but protestants are clearly not at the levels they once were. Philip Jenkins,  a professor at Penn State University in Pennsylvania and Baylor University in Texas, and author of a trilogy on the future of Christianity, offers his thoughts:

Christianity in Europe will be very different to that of a century ago… but it could be even more alive…But there is a long way to go before proclaiming the death of Christian Europe, including in the western part. Now the Churches “must work more energetically in a free market of ideas, and this is why the new ecclesial organizations are so important. They have to look at Europe as a mission continent, an object of evangelization.

The Kalkman’s visit and their message was a clear: churches are growing and Christians are gaining numbers.  Many of the churches in Europe are having to rethink “church.”  Pieter told of one story about how one church in Germany has a “cafe in a church” where there is sort of Starbucks service.  It is low key, there is some singing, and a message is given at the end.  You might think this is church lite, but it is one way that missionaries and ministers are reaching the unchurched in Europe.

However, this anecdotal example cannot prove the growth of Christianity.  It can prove that people are making an effort to keep The Church alive and well in post-Christian Europe.  Jenkins continues his outlook based on his research:

One of Christianity’s greatest challenges today is to present a Christian point of view on social and political topics, such as bio-technologies” and especially “the defense of the concept of humanity. The Churches have many allies while they reform and restructure themselves, for example, the millions of immigrant Christian faithful scattered over Europe,” he concluded. “Christianity in Europe will be very different to that of a century ago, but it could be even more alive.”

A 2007 Wall Street Journal article further proves this thesis and adds that “religious competition” is also a reason for the decline in Christianity in Europe:

Most scholars used to believe that modernization would extinguish religion in the long run. But that view always had trouble explaining why America, a nation in the vanguard of modernity, is so religious. The God-is-finished thesis came under more strain in the 1980s and 1990s after Iran, a rapidly modernizing Muslim nation, exploded with fundamentalist fervor and other fast-advancing countries in Latin America and Asia showed scant sign of ditching religion. Now even Europe, the heartland of secularization, is raising questions about whether God really is dead. The enemy of faith, say the supply-siders, is not modernity but state-regulated markets that shield big, established churches from competition.

As our church continues to support the Kalkmans both financially and in prayer, I pray that you and your church will make supporting European missions a priority.  Europe help spread the message of Christ in the western world.  It seems that they have lost their ownership of Christianity.  Now, we have to give it back to them, or more accurately, help them rediscover Christ.

You can support Pieter and Nora Kalkman through their IM website:

Learn more about the Kalkman’s ministry and ministry in Europe: http://www.kalkmaneurope.org/