Koreans call for ethnic leaders to come together in London

I just received an invitation to the 7th London mission conference organised by Koreans living in the UK. In fact there are lots of Koreans in the UK -- enough to make up some 100 Korean churches.

More than 40 Korean churches and 20 Korean and international missions like WEC, OM, Wycliffe  and YWAM have agreed to cooperate on this conference.

If you find yourself at it, don't worry -- they are going to arrange a simultaneous interpretation into English for as many people as need it. Here is the website, with an English translation too: www.lmc.name

After the two main plenary sessions are addressed by Dr. George Verwer something exciting will happen (not implying that the time with George won't be -- it always is!). There will be a meeting about the next mission conference -- but instead of it staying just Korean the organisers plan to welcome all ethnic church leaderships and mission partners to be part of discussions for the formation of the next mission conference in London.

I find it wonderfully encouraging that Koreans living halfway around the world from their homeland are calling those from other lands to join them in a conference focusing on taking Jesus to those who still don't know him. Is there anything better to draw us together?

UK church no longer declining?

Usually it's bad form to just rip another blog post. But this one has exciting enough info that it is worth reading the slightly edited version below. Thanks europeanmission and Christian Research! Christian Research reverses predictions of numerical decline for UK churches europeanmission http://europeanmission.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/christian-research-reverses-predictions-of-numerical-decline-for-uk-churches/

New data released by Christian Research today suggests that the decline in churchgoing has stabilised and that attendance figures have actually been more or less static for the last five years. This reverses a series of predictions made during the 1990s and into the early 2000s by the former Director of Christian Research, Dr. Peter Brierley. The current Director, Benita Hewitt, points to data from the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Baptist Union of Great Britain which shows a broad stabilisation of church attendance. 

The charts show that monthly attendance within the Anglican church has remained steady at around 1.7 million since 2001, whilst weekly attendance has declined in the same period from 1.2 million to a little over 1.16 million, a loss of 40,000 although since 2002 the figure has dipped and peaked around the 1.17 million mark.
Hewitt confidently predicts the end of the decline and hopes that it 'may even motivate Christians and churches to think that there is a chance of growth, if only they believed in it.' Whilst Christian Research has yet to release the trends for the Baptist Union, Hewitt insists that there is no evidence of decline from their statistics. In response to a question posed, She argues that 'it’s a trend we’re seeing generally from a number of different sources.'
Writing as Christian Research's Director, Hewitt states definitively that despite what earlier editions of Religious Trends had predicted, 'Christian Research's current view is that it does NOT forecast decline for the future.'

If you love flowers and love God you are going to love this!

This past weekend I drove way out into the country (far enough that my phone's sat nav gave out for lack of coverage) to the Gorsley Festival. This event's claim to fame is its flowers.

Okay, yes, I admit it. I went to a flower festival.

But here is the amazing bit. So did LOTS of others. There were literally coach-loads of people being dropped off to visit the flower displays. The wait just to get in was so long that I waited and visited at the end of the day just before it closed.


The flowers were displayed in the main sanctuary of Gorsley Chapel, and here is where it gets really clever. All the flower arrangements were inspired by aspects of scripture, with the verses or associated thoughts on signs beside each display. And once an hour someone would get up and share a brief thought and prayer.

Think about it! Coach loads of people were CHOOSING to come to see a flower show, in a church, with verses to think about, and spiritual thoughts shared as well. What a wonderful way to combine something people wanted to come to and witness.


Then everyone had a lovely cream tea, a nice look at the beauty around them outside, and went home. Hopefully something of the message went with them.

I didn't know there were that many with that few!

Over coffee this morning I was looking at the number of evangelical Christians in Europe according to Operation World.

I was a bit shocked to discover that there are 24 countries in Europe whose populations are less than 1% evangelical! Some of those on the list are Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Poland and Spain. So we aren't talking just tiny countries you couldn't find on a map.

Of those 24 nations, 11 are less than 0.2% evangelical!!

When I compared the total evangelical population of Europe to other continents I discovered that it has the lowest evangelical % of population of ANY continent (except Antarctica for which Operation World doesn't provide data). Africa, for example, has an evangelical % of population that is six times that of Europe.

No wonder one of the ECM missionaries preparing to work here in the UK is from Nigeria and Brazilian missionaries are coming to work in Spain.

One last figure to share, not from Operation World. We need to remember that God loves 100% of the people in Europe. We just still need to help most of them meet him.

Bad news for the church on BBC radio 4 is good news for you

The "church" is in the news again.


As I drove home yesterday the main item on BBC radio 4 was the report from the NI Police Ombudsman probe into 9 deaths in bombings in Claudy, County Londonderry on 31 July 1972 that indicates:

"The police, the Catholic Church and the state conspired to cover up a priest's suspected role in one of the worst atrocities of the Northern Ireland Troubles..."

I know that this is about the Catholic Church and as such doesn't represent evangelical Christianity. And I know that this happened almost 40 years ago and as such doesn't represent even the modern Catholic Church. And I know that the report hinges on one individual priest, and there will always be people who don't live the good life their faith calls them to.

Most normal people listening to Radio 4, or watching the news, or reading about this in the papers (and I tremble to think what is the the tabloids about this today) will only hear that once again the "church" is involved in something bad. The "church" tried to cover up for their own, just like they did with the priests involved in child abuse. Once again the message is "you cannot trust the church". 

But in this there is also an opportunity. At least the church is in the news. At least people are thinking about it. 

So grasp the opportunity this provides and go talk to someone about it. Tell them that the church you go to isn't like this and that Jesus is still alive today providing a choice that doesn't result in revenge and death.

Don't let Satan win this one. 

Big faith in France

An ECM missionary in France recently posted this on her blog. It is well worth a listen!

Raf, a missionary and evangelist has moved from the church in Tours to plant a church an hour away in Loches.  He has just done a very interesting interview (in english) on the state of church planting in France.  If you want to listen, here’s the link: http://www.ccfof.org/podcasts/index.html

Photo used courtesy of Tom Curtis:  http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=178

Who NEVER goes to church?

We know that most people don't go to church regularly, but it is easy to think that most  have gone a few times and are vaguely familiar with it.

But results from the latest European Social Survey indicate that 60% of people in the Czech Republic NEVER attend religious services (except for "special occasions" like marriages and christenings). More than 50% of people in France, the United Kingdom and Belgium gave a similar response.


Out of the 28 nations polled people in Cyprus and Greece attend the most religious services (only 2.4% don't ever go to church in Cyprus and 4.9% in Greece). 


So not only do a lot of people not know Jesus. A lot of people don't know much about the church except what they see in the media. And I am not sure that does a lot to make it look attractive...