Europe doesn't do God?

A fly-tipped estate in Wales, the sparkling coast of Italy, the diversity of London: what do these entirely different places have in common?

They share not only great gospel need, but also, by God’s grace, blossoming gospel witness. Western Europe has a vibrant cultural heritage. This region offers hundreds of years of spiritual, academic, artistic, musical, scientific and architectural abundance. But today it is a spiritual wasteland; the most secular continent in the world.

‘Europe doesn’t do God’, wrote one member of the European Parliament.
An article in USA Today affirms that ‘every major religion except Islam is declining in Western Europe... the drop is most evident in France, Sweden and the Netherlands’.

According to the Joshua Project, ‘There are changes occurring in Europe that would indicate there is more need for Christian evangelism and discipleship in Europe compared to other continents’.

Acts 29 Western Europe

With a population of around 400 million, there are at least 380 million people who are ‘without hope and without God in the world’ (Ephesians 2.12). It is this need that has prompted Steve Timmis to move from his role in the Crowded House to head up the work of Acts 29 in Western Europe.

Acts 29 was founded in the USA in 2000, and it exists to make disciples by planting churches that will plant churches. By God’s grace, it has facilitated the planting of almost 400 churches and is now sharing its resources and experience with Western European church planters. This is not a US agency making a move on Europe. It is a growing network encouraging and serving indigenous work so that the continent’s darkest and most oppressive areas are ‘littered’ with communities of light. The aim is to identify indigenous pastors who can be catalytic church planting leaders, and resource them through assessment, coaching and training.

Acts 29 Western Europe (WE) has nearly 20 church planters working in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Italy, with a further 30 potential church planters from Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Denmark and Spain, and further interest from Greece, Iceland, France, Belgium, Holland and Ukraine. It is exciting to see a growing awareness of the need, as evidenced by the 400 people at the Acts 29WE Boot Camp in Birmingham in May 2011, run in partnership with Birmingham 2020.

An Italian snapshot

Jonathon Gilmore has served in Italy all his life and is working closely with Acts 29 Western Europe to develop church planting there. He writes of Italy’s current spiritual state: ‘Little space is given for the Bible, and only then under the domineering magisterium of “mother church” with no salvation in Christ alone, through faith alone, by grace alone. No national spiritual reformation has ever spread through the country. The Protestant Reformation stopped at the Alps. Jesus-worshipping, Bible-believing, gospel-living Christians account for far less than 1% of the population. Extreme prosperity-theology continues to spread and cause much confusion and harm. 70% of Italian comuni (townships/municipalities) still have no evangelical witness of any kind. Rarer still are vibrant, missional communities’.

But he continues: ‘There are, however, many exciting opportunities for the gospel and reasons for praise. Examples? A church plant in Genoa is seeing blessing as gospel communities slowly develop. In Milan and Rome, several new church plants are growing and offer much encouragement. In north-eastern Italy, a new arts-based ministry is beginning. In another city, a missionary is seeking to focus on the arts community. Looking ahead, new vision for the city of Salerno will, by God’s grace, result in an Acts 29 church plant’.

We are living in one of the most strategic mission fields in the world. Now is the time to build a gospel-centred network of missional churches — a network that is vibrant, cohesive, daring and innovative for the fame of Jesus. This is what Acts 29 Western Europe is seeking to be as it contributes to a wider dynamic movement. Please pray for the gospel to take root and flourish in the countries and regions of this deeply secular continent. It may be true that Europe doesn’t do God, but thankfully, God does do Europe!

If you are interested in finding out more about Acts 29 Western Europe, please contact westerneurope@acts29network.org

Acts 29 Western Europe

An Italian snapshot

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