EMQ » January–March 2021 » Volume 57 Issue 1
By Ted Kim
The popular American standup comedian David Chappelle said, “Chivalry is dead.” Then he added, “Women killed it.” Though intended as a joke, this is a very keen insight into people’s own responsibility for their own loss. Chivalry refers to men’s gentlemanly conduct towards women, but women in their independent spirit rejected it. His statement resembles what Nietzsche said about God: “God is dead.” Then he added, “We have killed him.” Nietzsche’s famous pronouncement was not merely an atheistic proclamation, but a diagnosis of the Western civilization. From the time of Enlightenment, maintenance of belief in God could not go hand in hand with the progress of modernization and secularization. Someone had to step down, and Western man decided that would be God.
Christianity in Decline?
Nietzsche’s ominous statement makes it look as if the decline of Christianity is an inevitable consequence of the progress of mankind. Perhaps the profound changes in the values and thoughts of the European society may partly have something to do with the decline of Christian faith in Europe. On the other hand, there are also some not-so-profound reasons.
There is nothing profound about the deeds of the flesh. Natural mind does not appreciate spiritual things.[1] Left to itself, the flesh will oppose the spirit. That is probably what happened in Europe. It is not as mysterious as we think. The appeal of the secular culture and the secular lifestyle has won out against the sacred demands of the church. Perhaps what Nietzsche thought was God was not the true God who exists. God is not someone whom man can kill or bring back to life at will. What Nietzsche thought modern man had killed was the Christian heritage that had rested on the traditional institution. He is correct in saying that such heritage is dead. But true Christianity never depends on the dominant culture or national heritage to stay alive. Rather it goes against them. The critical changes that have occurred in Western Europe have made it necessary to return to the biblical way of doing Christian ministry – back to the time when Christians were few in number and weaker in power.
Anyone will leave church if services are boring and nothing touches his heart. On the other hand, if something appeals to the heart, people will come back. It is often said that three conditions must be met for churches to grow. First, the congregation must not fall asleep during sermons. Second, they have to come back the following week. And third, they have to bring their friends. With these three conditions met, churches will grow. All of these assume active spiritual ministry. If the sentry falls asleep, the thief will come into the house.
We are not talking about the marketplace of religion or spiritual consumerism, as some European pastors seem to fear. Instead we are saying that no person can be presumed to be an authentic Christian by his nationality or religious heritage. Each generation has to be taught the Gospel all over again. Unlike Islam, Christianity cannot be forced on anyone.[2] The nature of Christianity precludes it. Conversion requires the grace of God and man’s own faith. Each person’s conversion is a small miracle and cannot be taken for granted. This is the biblical way.
As long as Judeo-Christianity has been in existence, there have been wars going on for the souls of men. Moses constantly warned the Israelites against the temptations of idolatry. Elijah had to prove before the people of Israel that Yahweh, and not Baal, was the true God. Apostle Paul constantly cautioned the First Century Christians against false Gospels. Apostle John warned about the Antichrist who was already in the world.
None of these influencers could force faith upon anyone else. Even though Moses was a national leader, the power of the nation was useless for the spiritual direction of people. Protecting the faith was never an easy task at any time in history. One of the many titles of the British Monarch is “The Defender of the Faith.” Perhaps the faith of Great Britain could be defended by the ruling monarch in the past, but in modern times each soul has to be won one person at a time.
Those concerned about the condition of Christianity in Western Europe feel a sense of crisis, dread, and resignation. They fear that Christianity is on its way toward extinction. Europe has experimented with Christianity for two thousand years and have issued the final verdict on it, they think. Such fear is unfounded and uninformed. Christianity is not headed toward extinction when viewed from a global perspective. Who is to say that Europeans have the final say on global Christianity? It has been experiencing rapid growth in other parts of the world – in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Christianity is still vibrant in the United States. And, it is not just in the “poor” global South where Christianity is thriving. Eastern Europe has already experienced society without churches. The experiment with communism in Eastern Europe was not just an experiment with communism but also an experiment with the absence of church in society. After several decades, communism gave up and the church returned. Christianity has proved to have greater survivability than ideology.
Gravity Shift of the Church
The shifting of the gravity of Christianity from Europe to the global South has been going on for several decades, but Europeans are aware of it only at the present time.[3] Whatever reasons Europeans may have had for leaving churches is not strong enough to affect the immigrants to Europe because Christian immigrants are faithfully attending church as they did in their home countries. The white Europeans cannot ignore the curious phenomenon of immigrant churches thriving next door. When in Rome, one should live as Romans, but Christian immigrants to Europe from the global South do not seem to be affected by Europe’s secularism.
The flourishing of Christianity in the global South is nonetheless little cause for optimism for the future of Christianity. The West has been a model to emulate in democracy, education, science and technology, economics, and culture for the rest of the world. If it has taken Europe two thousand years to lose its Christian convictions, can the rest of the world not follow suit in one hundred years? Even if the religious landscape in the global South does not change rapidly, the fact that the most advanced civilization has considered it unimportant to keep Christianity has a big impact on the rest of the world. It will be like wearing clothes that are no longer in fashion. Hence, a sense of dread and panic exists whenever the condition of Christian faith in Europe is discussed.
A sense of panic is sometimes useful. It makes people take faith honestly and seriously. They have to think about what it means to be a Christian. It makes Christians and church leaders humble. No longer can they hide behind the number and size of churches. Church leaders of the past should have been humbler sooner. The loud voice of the American evangelicals in the political arena reflects the misplaced confidence and pride in their number and influence. Europe does not want to learn from America in this regard.
A Second Chance
Instead of focusing on how to bring people back to church, Christians must focus on bringing Jesus Christ back to church. What they lack is not the know-how and techniques. What they need is not a lesson on church growth theory. Elijah had to endure three and a half years of poverty and humility at a widow’s house. His gifts and power could not in themselves bring about the restoration of faith in Israel. During a time of smallness Elijah had to learn obedience and humility. In the same way, Moses had to go through a tough discipline in the isolation of the desert. The man who wanted to save his people in Egypt had to endure forty years of obscurity in Midian shepherding his father-in-law’s flock.
The lean years are the time for the remnant in Europe to truly seek God’s face. It is the time for Christians to come back to humility. Humility cannot be found in success. It is no difficult thing for God to bring about a revival in Europe. Church pews are not empty because God is dead. But Europeans need to bring Jesus back in their midst. Their affiliation to Christianity is no longer just cultural or traditional. One is not a Christian because he was born into a Christian culture, but because he believes. Personal faith has to be renewed and confirmed. To become reacquainted with Jesus may feel awkward after all this time. It is like a marriage renewal seminar where a long-wed couple needs to reconfirm their commitment to each other. Old people need to confirm their allegiance, not to their parish churches, but to Jesus Christ. Young people need to be given opportunities to hear the Gospel afresh. Those who already believe but are not actively attending church must find their spiritual home, if not for their personal needs, for the sake of Jesus Christ.
Christianity cannot be reinvented, but churches can. Churches have to be reinvented in order to accommodate people who will come back. Churches cannot expect people to change without changing themselves. The Gothic towers, stained glass windows, high ceilings, and clergy vestments have outlived their usefulness. If such buildings are being sold off, there is no need to cry over them. God does not dwell in buildings made by men. Churches have to be lean and clean to be able to move to where people are. Allegiance to denominations has little meaning to the postmodern generation. Ministers must be able to deconstruct Christianity to the very basic elements because only those elements will survive in the Post-Christian era. Those basic elements are the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and the fellowship of Christians. Ministers should be willing to shed all other elements as encumbrances.
If history should repeat itself, the Gospel will be preached to Europeans one more time. Apostle Paul said, “It doesn’t bother me to write the same things to you that I have written before.”[4] It should not bother us to preach the Gospel once again. The Bible is full of occurrences when people had to do certain things for the second time to make them work. King David had to attempt conveying the Ark of Covenant to Jerusalem twice. It did not work until the second time. Jonah had to be sent to Nineveh a second time to fulfill his mission. Peter had to go through the catching-of-the-fish routine twice to finally accept his calling. In the Parable of Two Sons, the older son said yes to his father’s instruction but did not obey him, while the younger son first said no to his father but repented and obeyed him. The first reaction is not always to be trusted. The first result is not always credible. God always gives us another opportunity – as long as salt has not lost its taste. If it has, it cannot be made salty again.[5] It does not get a second chance.
Conclusion
If the Lord is gracious enough to give us another opportunity, we must obey his Great Commission in Europe one more time. The history of Christianity in Europe has gone through a momentous transition from a “confessional” religion to “voluntarist” religion.[6] Under the confessional religious system, the state was responsible for the churches. Under the voluntarist religious system, the conscientious faith of believers is responsible for them.[7] If the great decline of churches in Western Europe was due to this transition, there is little reason to panic. Such transition is inevitable. Christianity is back where it is supposed to be. As Sergeant Horvath excitedly exclaims in Saving Private Ryan, “We are back in business.”[8]
Ted Kim is a preacher, theologian, and Christian thinker with a vision to re-introduce the Gospel to Western Europe. Born in Seoul, Korea, he finished high school in Toronto, Canada, and studied philosophy at Yale University, and law at Columbia Law School. Bilingual in English and Korean, he has also taught himself French and German. He recently felt the Lord leading him to start a new missionary work in Europe.
[1] 1 Corinthians 2:14.
[2] This does not mean that Islam is effectively forced on people in the twenty-first century. The Constitution of Iran forbids atheism by the penalty of death, for example, but at least a third of Iranian population still does not believe. No power of the state can prevent unbelief.
[3] Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (Oxford University Press, 2007).
[4] Philippians 3:1 (Contemporary English Version).
[5] Matthew 5:13.
[6] Jeffrey Cox, “Master Narratives of Long-term Religious Change” in The Decline of Christendom in Western Europe, 1750–2000. Hugh McLeod, Ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2003).
[7] Cox, “Master Narratives.”
[8] Steven Spielberg, Director, Saving Private Ryan (Dream Works, Paramount Pictures, 1998).
EMQ, Volume 57, Issue 1. Copyright © 2021 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.
