Celtic Crosses, brown Franciscan gowns and tall church spires once lined the landscape of people proud of their God and more than willing to die for his word. Churches celebrating names such as Luther, Patrick and John now sit dark dank and empty. Let us take a look at the causes of Europe’s growing godlessness and we’ll take a look at the hopes for future generations that they may know God.
"Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, 7After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. 8And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. 9And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. 10And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them“.
The Apostle Paul would heed the call of his Lord and travel into Europe with Christ’s gospel. His last and final journey would take him to Rome, the center of the world. It was in Rome where Paul was executed. The Purposes of the Lord had been fulfilled in the life of St. Paul. The match had been lit and the destiny of a continent would be afire with the flames of the Gospel. Throughout the centuries many emperors and kings would attempt to destroy the church and the Gospel of our Lord. Emperor Nero made repeated attempts to exterminate Christ’s followers. He tossed Christ’s Disciples to the lions, burned their houses, and murdered both Peter and Paul, yet the church continued to grow.
Currently the churches in Europe are largely avoided like the black death that plagued the continent some 600 years ago. An internet research group called Nation Master.com regularly polls cultural phenomenon. Nation Master.com is a popular new web site referenced by news outlets such as The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and CNN. In a recent study Nation Master graphed the church attendance in 53 nations. In the study they found that in countries with largely Christian histories, very few people attend services regularly. In Russia, a country of largely Christian orthodox heritage, only 2% of people say that they attend services regularly. Such European democracies such Finland, Sweden and Denmark are all at 4%. Of the 53 nations 8 of the top 10 most irreligious countries are in Europe. In a recent trip to Finland Pope Benedict XVI who is fearful of what this Godless trend may in fact bring, gave the following warning to Parishioners there; “A vital contribution that all religious groups can offer in your country, as elsewhere in Europe, is to draw attention to certain values that are in danger of being eroded through the process of secularization.” Even the once Roman Catholic countries such as France which is at 21%, and Spain which is at 25% are very small percentages compared to just a few years back. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Spain’s 25% is not reflective of reality. In France the situation becomes much more muddled do to the rise in Islam. Pope Benedict xvi has suggested that the number of people in France regularly attending Sunday services is probably only around 5%. Many missionary groups would argue that in their experience both Spain and France do not have that many church attendees. A missionary group called Frontier Missions focuses specifically on church planting and setting up university fellowships in Spain. Frontier Missions make the claim that of Spain’s 42 million people only .2% would call themselves evangelical, 5% say that they are devout Catholic, while 35% say that they might be nominal Catholics. In Italy government surveys greatly exaggerate their figures on church attendees. According to Britain’s U.K. telegraph, the Italian government released the following figures; 30% attend mass every Sunday, 20% attend once a month, while 30% claim they attend for Christmas and Easter only, adding up to nearly universal church attendance. If 20% attend once a month would it really be right to say that those individuals are true church attendees let alone followers of Christ? If I go once a month to a Texas dude ranch and ride horses does that make me a rancher? As for the 30% who attend Christmas mass once a year that hardly translates to ‘Church going’. I may go into a shopping mall once a year at holiday time to purchase gifts yet I hardly think that I’d call myself a ‘mall enthusiast’.
In February of 2007 the U.K. telegraph commented on Italy’s lack of church attendance; “…a study by the Patriarchate of Venice, which actually asked worshippers inside 619 churches how often they had been in the past month, found only 15 per cent of worshippers go to Mass every Sunday, and eight per cent said they had been at some point in the last month. In total, only 23 per cent were shown to actually go to Church regularly.” Among the youth in Italy the situation is much more dire. Many youngsters don’t even consider any kind of Christianity as playing any sort of role in their lives let alone a significant one. Cross World mission was founded back in 1931 with the goal in mind of bringing Christ’s Gospel to those who are lost and then to make disciples. Cross World began with little more than a handful of members. Today they have 350 missionary members serving world wide. Cross World has worked tirelessly in Italy for three decades. In a recent discussion with some of their missionaries they made the claim that Italians being far from a ‘happy go lucky’ people, are addicted to anti-depressants more than any European country. They also told us that due to the lack of Italian priests the Vatican has been forced to bring in North African leadership. This lack of interest in the church is reflective of a recent survey conducted by Professor Paolo Seagate of the University of Milan, which concluded that among Italians born after 1981, Catholic values are in complete decline.
In The Czech Republic only 14% of citizens attend church (according to Nation master’s web site) but many claim that number may well be inflated. Many youth there have no idea the meaning of the word “church” let alone how to even be a part of one.
A group known as Tearfund is one of Britain’s leading relief organizations. In their recent study they make the claim that two-thirds of the United Kingdom have absolutely no association with the Christian church. Tearfund makes the claim that Northern Ireland props up the numbers with 45% attending church regularly. The Tearfund study makes a distinction between London (which it has at 22%), and the rest of England at 14%. Scotland tends to follow more of mainland Europe with 18% attending with almost no youth, while Wales dips to 12%. Anecdotal evidence suggests that even with these low numbers that many of them are still inflated.
With the lack of Christian growth, we are witnessing the spiritual and literal death of a continent. Author/columnist Mark Steyn has written countless columns for the Chicago Sun Times, Atlantic Monthly, Washington Times, and The National Review. In his great book “America Alone” Mark Steyn gives a very fatal yet realistic view of Europe. In all the formerly Christian countries of Europe the birth rates are so low that these nations are killing themselves. In Denmark the rate is 1.77 children born per family, the U.K. can only boast 1.6, while France sits at 1.89. In the case of Italy they seem to consider the family as nothing more than a reflection of Christ and his church which they reject. This reveals itself in one of the lowest birthrates in Europe of 1.23 children per family. Of all the problems in Europe, Russia is in the worst kind of shape. In his book Steyn has Russia’s fertility rate at 1.2 children per couple, however that’s only half the problem. The abortion rates in Russia are at the top of the world; 70% of Russia’s newborns are aborted every year. Mr. Steyn tells a story of a pro-life film shown to an audience of Russian women; “The film was very graphic and unsparing in its examination of the effects on the fetus, its object being to prompt in the viewer revulsion and disgust at the procedure. ‘It turned out that more Russian women,’ wrote professor Lynch, ‘became more positively attuned to the idea after having watched the film.’ Instead of the baby’s pain, Russian viewers noticed the clean hospitals, the state of the art technology, the briskly professional doctors and nurses. Women marveled: ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have an abortion in the West?’ After seven decades of Communism, the physical barrenness is little more than a symptom of the spiritual barrenness.”
How did a continent once so rich with the heritage of Christ’s gospel end up so destitute? Europeans failed to embrace Christ and His Lordship, and therefore neglected to pass it on to their children resulting in a cultural vacuum. There is hope for Europe. In recent years missionary groups such as Cross World have had some great success. They are just one example of a group bringing discipleship to a troubled country. Disciples of our Lord must be willing to go, stay, and make disciples.
Sources
“America Alone by Mark Steyn/copyright 2006 Regnery Press
“Church Going in the U.K.-http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/03_04_07_tearfundchurch.PDF
“Church Attendance” in Europe-http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/rel_chu_att-religion-church-attendance
“Italian Church Attendance Lower Than Thought”-http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1543643/Italian-church-attendance-lower-than-thought.html
“Cross World”-http://www.crossworld.org/home.html
“Italy’s Last Catholic Mass”-http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10080901.html
“Pope’s Warning”-http://www.zenit.org/article-27925?l=English
“Frontier Missions”-http://missionsspain.com/
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