Taking the Gospel to Europe: ‘God’s Plan Is Like a Big Picture, but We Can See Only the Small Puzzle Piece’
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LONDON and DUBLIN – Africa was once known as the “Dark Continent,” but Europe may deserve that label now. A majority of African nations today are Christian. A majority of Europeans say they are now either atheist or have “no religion.”
In the past 20 years, church buildings have been shut down by the thousands and put up for sale.
But Europe is being re-evangelized just early European missionaries to Africa and Asia had prayed for back in the 1800s.
The Blessed Reflex that Early Missionaries Hoped For
Dr. Harvey Kwiyani, professor of African Christianity and Theology at Liverpool Hope University in England, grew up in a Malawi village first evangelized by British missionary David Livingstone.
He says what early missionaries had prayed for something called “the blessed reflex.”
“That there’s going to be a reflex in the future when Christians from Africa from Asia would come back to strengthen British or European Christianity,” he said.
And today, dynamic Bible-believing immigrant churches can be found in virtually every European capital.
Immigrants Behind Growing Church Attendance
After years of decline, church attendance in London is finally growing again. But it’s not growing because of traditional churches. It’s growing because of African churches.
“In London, on any given Sunday, over 60% of people who attend church are black Africans going to African Pentecostal churches,” Kwiyani said.
African heritage Britons, just 14 percent of London’s population, now account for over half of the city’s church attendance.
The ‘New Irish’ Bring Revival to Ireland
After Ireland made a radical turn away from the institutional catholic church to secularism, there is now fresh fire, thanks to Christian immigrants known as “the new Irish.”
READ MORE – https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/2020/march/the-blessed-reflex-is-re-evangelizing-europe
