World's "least religious" country is found where? In Europe!

From bbc.co.uk August 26, 2011:

"When Estonians were recently asked whether religion played an important part in their life, only 20% said yes. It suggests the Baltic country is, statistically, the least religious country in the world.

"The windy streets of Tallinn offer a misleading picture of Estonia's religiosity.

"Spires decorate the old town, bells ring out on Sundays and song emanates from churches as visitors walk in and out.

"A closer look reveals that many of these visitors are tourists.

"When I went to the city's large Lutheran Dome Church one Sunday almost all of the 70 congregants turned out to have travelled from the Netherlands.

"A handful of people standing at the back - 15 at the most - were the sum total of regular Estonian church-goers.

"As the dean of the church, Arho Tuhkru, explains, it is not a new problem: "People believe, but they do not want to belong to the Church.

"We do not have such a tradition where the whole family comes to the church."

"...fewer than one in five Estonians say any religion plays an important part in their lives.


For the full story click here

What do we believe in the "North" and what do they believe in the "South?"

Okay, so Europe isn't the centre of Christianity it used to be. 


But have you ever wondered about do we agree, or for that matter, disagree with Christians from other parts of the world about issues such as how we see the Bible, our world and other religions? Here is a chance to take a snapshot view of some of those areas:


http://pewforum.org/Christian/Evangelical-Protestant-Churches/Global-Survey-exec.aspx


If you want to know more about where this survey came from, keep reading.


" In 1910, by one estimate, there were about 80 million evangelicals, and more than 90% of them lived in Europe and North America. By 2010, the number of evangelicals had risen to at least 260 million, and most lived outside Europe or North America.


"As the evangelical movement has grown and spread around the globe over the past century, it has become enormously diverse, ranging from Anglicans in Africa, to Baptists in Russia, to independent house churches in China, to Pentecostals in Latin America. And this diversity, in turn, gives rise to numerous questions. How much do evangelicals around the world have in common? What unites them? What divides them? Do leading evangelicals in the Global South see eye-to-eye with those in the Global North on what is essential to their faith, what is important but not essential and what is simply incompatible with evangelical Christianity?

"To help answer these kinds of questions, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life conducted a survey of participants in the Third Lausanne Congress of World Evangelization."  

- taken from http://pewforum.org/Christian/Evangelical-Protestant-Churches/Global-Survey-preface.aspx

Thousands of kids flock to Lighthouse week in Buckinghamshire, England

During the last week in July I was was surrounded by almost 500 kids at a giant children's outreach event. As Chair of Trustees of Lighthouse High Wycombe, I helped volunteers from many different local churches to come together and reach out to their community in this unique way. The following article is taken from The Bucks Free Press, 3 August 2011:

MORE than 6,000 Buckinghamshire kids took part in the Lighthouse Christian activity program as the school holidays began. 

There are eight sites based in Princes Risborough, Great Missenden, Hazlemere, Marlow, Thame, Burnham, High Wycombe and Cressex.

The week-long program kept the children busy with pottery, painting and playing tennis and cricket just a few of the fun and games on offer.

There were 900 children taking part in Great Missenden, where the project began 24 years ago.

Site Caretaker Trevor Darley said Lighthouse, traditionally held on the first week of each school holidays, had become quite a generational affair.

He said: “Some who came as young people met at Lighthouse and got married and are now bringing their children.

“We have 500 helpers ranging from the ages of 13 to about 90-something. There are some approaching 90 and some founding members who still come.”

More than 750 children attended the Hazlemere Lighthouse week at Sir William Ramsay School. The week's theme was Madagascar which used the Dreamworks film to teach children about the biblical teachings of Peter.

Clips from the film were used to illustrate Christian teachings.

Chairman of Hazlemere Lighthouse, Peter Lock, said: “It has gone very well. We have had 750 children here. We have had up to 1,000 before but other Lighthouses have split off from us.

“A lot of the children who used to come now go to other sites, which was the idea as it is more convenient for them.”

He said all the children, who are aged four to eleven, had a great time and are now “Madagascar mad.” There are various activities on throughout the week, which is free, although donations are asked for towards running costs.

The Princes Risborough site has been running for ten years and this year was the last year for Ingrid Gardner as chairman.

She said they also had a Madagascar theme. She added: “It worked really well. The film clips are more accessible for the children.”

About 450 children attended and she said there were 220 helpers aged 12 to 18-year-old.

Ingrid said: “I had a 13-year-old who grew up going to Lighthouse say to me, 'This is the best week of my year. I wait all year for this.' That is something special.”