1/4 of churches in the Netherlands to close in the next 10 years

When I last visited Netherlands I heard about the problem of churches there closing. The picture above is from a church that had been converted into a book store. But this has now been confirmed by Dr Arjan Plaisier, secretary of the general synod of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands:

"According to expectation one quarter of the churches in the Netherlands will be closed within the next 10 years. We read about church closure in The Hague and other cities. But churches are closed in rural areas as well. Some buildings have not been there for a very long time. They were built somewhere in the 20th century. Other churches have been there for ages. Now they are being closed down. They are being destroyed or get another utilization. A part of history is finished. A place of worship, where baptism, marriage, mourning, prayer, singing and preaching took place, ceases to exist."

Full article here

UK schools must provide "group worship" -- but aren't

The UK can be a confusing place. On one hand most people will never pass through the door of a church, mosque or temple. On the other hand, state schools are still REQUIRED to hold daily corporate worship! So are schools actually holding these collective worship sessions? Do parents want them to? A new survey reported by the BBC provides insights and answers.


"Many state schools in England are not providing group worship, despite legislation making it a requirement, a survey suggests.

"The Comres survey for BBC local radio found 64% of the 500 parents questioned said their child did not attend daily acts of collective worship.

"But 60% of the 1,743 adults asked said the legislation should not be enforced.

"The Department for Education states that all maintained schools in England must provide a daily act of collective worship which must reflect the traditions of this country, which it says are, in the main, broadly Christian.

"Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) chief policy advisor Alison Ryan questioned how much schools and parents wanted daily worship.

"When a law is being flouted on a pretty major scale that is telling you something about its use, about how maybe it should be reformed or changed, so we believe it needs to be looked at."

The 2012 Olympics. What an opportunity!

The 2012 Olympics are less than a year away. But the athletes and the olympic organisers aren't the only ones getting ready. 

Lots of Christians are thinking of ways to use this as a ministry springboard to reach people who might not otherwise be as open to the gospel.

One man involved in this is Bryan Doyle, an ECM Britain missionary who is helping Greater Europe Mission to bring short-term teams from American churches across to the UK. Here's a video about what they are doing and hope to do.

Three top trends in Europe...?

• If you want the chance to stimulate your thinking about some of the trends we are facing in Europe today... 

• If you want to hear experienced missional thinkers and practitioners deal with the challenges of Migration, Urbanisation and Islam...

• If you want a unique opportunity to network with other leaders involved in Europe with its many unique and changing facets, to share information on current activities, focus and aims, as well as future plans and dreams...

...then come to the European Consultation: Trends in Europe Today conference, lasting 24 hours during 4-5 January 2012.

Some of those leading or speaking will be:

• Robert Calvert (on Urbanisation), formerly of Scotland, currently pastors a church in Rotterdam. It is made up of people from more than forty nations and the team of elders is drawn from four continents.
• Alessia Passarelli (on Migration) consults for the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (Brussels) while also doing PhD research into the relationships between migration and churches in Italy and the Republic of Ireland.
• Bert de Ruiter (on Islam) speaks on issues related to Christian-Muslim relations and has developed a course called Sharing Lives to help Christians overcome their fear and share their lives with Muslims.
• Tony Peck (offering a church response) is General Secretary of the European Baptist Federation and an Associate Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance.
• Chris Wigram (offering a mission organisation response)  is International Director of European Christian Mission, which works in 18 European countries.
• Tim Davey (offering Biblical reflection) directs the Centre for the Study of Bible and Mission at Redcliffe College.
• Ian Nicholson (leading prayer and worship) works with 24/7 Prayer.

For more info click here

Book by the end of October and pay less!

New church planting school opens in London

Last week I went to meet with the founder of the new Amnos Church Planting School in London. Since then an article about the school has appeared in the local newspaper the Brentwood Gazette. What follows is excerpts from that article:

"The Amnos Church Planting School is opening at Trinity Church in Coxtie Green Road, Pilgrims Hatch, to create Christian leaders for the future and "plant" new churches where old ones have died out.

It is hoped the newly qualified pastors will help to reverse the rapid decline of Christianity in Europe, with more than 10,000 churches having closed in the UK alone in the last half century.

"The school is the brainchild of South Korean-born pastor the Rev Dr Daniel Chae, who says he is keen to pay back the debt of the gospel to the UK church.

"He said: "I was shocked coming from Asia and having such a high respect, especially being from Korea, where we are indebted so much to the UK church. I think the decline is sad and I think British people in general need to feel sad about this, whether they are Christians or non-Christians."

"Dr Chae has plenty of experience spreading the word of God, having previously been the managing director of a floating Christian community that travelled the world on board the MV Doulos ship.

"He most recently founded a new church on the outskirts of London but decided to launch the Pilgrims Hatch-based school in a bid to revitalise Christianity in Europe.

"He said the new school was unique in the way it incorporated the practical side of "showing the gospel" and working in the community in a positive way.

"The planting school will officially be launched with an inauguration service at Trinity Church, with Mr Kavoor [the Rev Canon George Kovoor is chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen] as guest speaker, from 11am on October  1."

New worship music CD in top 10!

Yesterday a friend posted on Facebook that the debut Worship Central live album - which has been released internationally, is making history in the UK as the first worship album to achieve an iTunes top ten position. It is currently at No. 9!

When I went to find out more (see here) I discovered that at no. 10 is the Beatles CD "1". So it is official. A worship CD is outselling the Beatles. Okay John, who is more famous now?