This history is important to learn from as we continue on to truly rise up as one body with many parts and establish the Church all over the world and bring the Kingdom of God to all the nations.
Bless you all, we love you!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Online Bible Study 2: Overview of Church History
This week was a fly-by in church history where Harold lays the foundation for all Christians to see our past and how we came about from Jewish roots to the formation of our major denominations. Martin Luther in 1517, began what we now all the Protestant Reformation and subsequently a president for new denominations to split and form out of protest for the current establishment.
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This may seem rather random, but one of the statistics mentioned by Harold in this teaching is that 70% of Europeans attended church regularly during the middle ages versus only 10% of church attendees today. What would be the cause of such a drastic decline and how is the European church being reached and rising up in power?
ReplyDeleteGod question Kelly! Throughout history, European Christianity has been composed mainly of Orthodox and Catholic parishioners. Up until the Enlightenment and Protestant Reformation, the majority of people could not read, were under some kind of feudal or lord's rule, and many were required by law to attend church.
ReplyDeleteAs the Enlightenment swept through Europe, there was persecution of Christians and people of faith by those who deemed supremacy to the power of intellect and knowledge.
With that said, there are also many moves of God we can point back to in Europe which are actually still influencing us today. England has seen major outpourings but I will focus on Wales.
The fire sparked in Wales was responsible for fueling the Azuza Street revival which then lead to many denominations coming forth like Pentacostals and Foursquare. The move of God is back in Wales again and helping to fan the current revival happening in America.
What comes to mind most when talking about the Church rising up in glory and in power is idea that darkness cannot stand against the Light. The Kingdom of God is advancing; Jesus is the Lord of All and at His name, every knee shall bow.
Signs and wonders accompanied all that Jesus did. He is our example; He commanded us to go make disciples of all nations and to teach them. We are doing this all over the world and though Europe may be in darkness for a season, seeds are being planted, watered and tended. All is takes is a few who dare to risk, to hear God's whisper, and to shine like lamps for a nation and a continent.
I have researched this topic since, for some reason, I seem to have a heart for Europe (briefly made a stop in London on my way to Africa with Harold, Linda, and a team, and have not stopped thinking about Europe since). I know that God cares about this part of the world.
ReplyDeleteAll of the reports I read, including Christian and secular media, said that European Christianity is in dire straits. One source said that the state of the European church today may be due to the amount of peace and stability that Europe has experienced for many years now. Europe has a history of war and feuds and God-intervention through amazing warriors such as Jeanne d'Arc, Robert the Bruce, and Winston Churchill. The idea is that relative peace has bred independence apart from God.
However, there is a wave of "new" enlightenment, beginning to crash upon the shores of Europe in the form of Penecostal/Charismatic church plants. The really interesting part is that of "the ten largest megachurches, four are pastored by Africans. Paris has 250 ethnic Protestant churches, most of them black African. Similar trends are found in Germany. Booming Christian churches in Africa and Asia now focus much of their evangelical attention on Europe" (Phillip Jenkins-professor of history/Penn State, 2007). I believe there is something to this and would like to know what you think regarding why this trend now exists, prophetically.
I have to end with a fabulous quote I picked up while reading about the European church. According to Jenkins, Jurgen Habermas is a "vereran leftist German philosopher" who surprised his contemporaries by making this statement not long ago, "Christianity, and nothing else, is the ultimate foundation of liberty, conscience, human rights, and democracy, the benchmarks of Western civilization. To this day, we have no other options [than Christianity]. We continue to nourish ourselves from this source. Everything else is postmodern chatter."