Religious Situation Affects Outreach in Europe

by George M. Winston

Any generalization about Europe with its many languages, countries, ethnic groups, cultures, political regimes and religious traditions is bound-to be inaccurate. No one trend of any kind is ever to be found everywhere. In this article we will try to take the broadest possible sweep, while seeking to maintain a maximum of accuracy.

Any generalization about Europe with its many languages, countries, ethnic groups, cultures, political regimes and religious traditions is bound-to be inaccurate. No one trend of any kind is ever to be found everywhere. In this article we will try to take the broadest possible sweep, while seeking to maintain a maximum of accuracy.

The most obvious division of the continent is a political one. The Iron Curtain, running north and south, separates the countries into those that are communist and those that are not. Its effect on the religious climate is great, mainly in the area of religious freedom.

EASTERN EUROPE
The situation in all communist countries is not the same. Albania, Bulgaria and Russia are the most severe in their restrictions. No church is permitted to operate without being recognized by the government and all ministers must be registered. This means state control. Propagation of religious beliefs and all religious instruction of children and youth under 18 are illegal. As a result most Christian life and witness goes on "underground" and outside the official church through individual contacts and secret meetings. There is a great lack of Bibles and Christian literature, but jamming of political and religious radio broadcasting from the West has recently been significantly reduced. Within these countries persecution is a constant and grim reality. But a recent visitor smuggling Bibles from the West reported: "Their love is tremendous."

There is somewhat more freedom in Hungary, Romania and Czechoslovakia, but activity is restricted within the walls of the churches. Christians from the West may visit and even preach in the recognized churches, but there is also "underground" activity because of limitations on all outreach and the insufficiency of Bibles and literature to be obtained through approved channels. The vitality of many Christians’ faith is great. A young nurse in Western Europe: the daughter of a Belgian father and Czechoslovakian mother, had heard the gospel since she was a child. However, it was while visiting her mother’s relatives behind the Iron Curtain that she was led to personal faith in Christ by their witness and example under trying circumstances. She is now training for Christian service. Many believers in Eastern Europe consider the church in the West to be in much greater spiritual peril from prosperity and materialism than they themselves could be from persecution and limited religious freedom.

The most open countries are East Germany, Poland and Yugoslavia, where it is even permitted to evangelize to a degree. The disestablishment of the State Church in East Germany has given a new vitality to many congregations. However, young Christians who take a positive stand often forfeit educational opportunity or professional advancement. In Poland the Catholic Church is still a power to be reckoned with by the Communist regime, but this does not necessarily facilitate evangelistic outreach by Protestants.

In Eastern Europe, generally, the registered pastors are sincere Christians. Being registered does not always mean that they are free from harrassment. Most of the people who attend the recognized churches are true believers and they attend at a very real cost. Many also carry on underground activity on the side. We in the West are not in a position to judge them. They certainly are not all either communist agents or dupes.

Except for radio broadcasts such as Trans World Radio from Monte Carolo, evangelistic efforts are pretty well limited to working through the Christians in these lands. This assistance is mainly in the areas of literature (much of it smuggled in), financial support, relief and occasional visits for ministry to the Christians. Many individuals, churches and Christian organizations are trying to help. Some of them insist that any publicizing of activity or of cases of persecution constitutes a danger to the Christians there, and that everything must be done unobtrusively. Others claim that the only way to get more freedom for the Christians is through the pressure of an aroused public opinion in the West. It is difficult to assess exactly the extent and effectiveness of any ministry inside Iron Curtain countries because of the obvious need of secrecy.

Just as in the last ten years, some governments have become more lenient (Poland’ and others less so (Czechoslovakia), it is safe to say that, in the coming decade, fluctuations can be expected in both directions, depending on the country.

WESTERN EUROPE
Although there is relative religious freedom in most countries of Western Europe, all are not equally open to missionary activity. The traditionally Protestant countries of the North ( Scandinavia, Britain, Holland and Northern Germany) are generally more receptive than the historically Catholic countries of Southern Europe. Although the constitutions of these countries insure religious freedom before the law, yet the Roman Church can and does bring very real social and economic pressure to bear on most of those who are being influenced by evangelical witness. Family, relatives and neighbors may not be fervent Catholics, but they generally rise up as one man if anyone dares to "change his religion." For those who take a stand, employment may be hard to get or to keep, and customer and business opportunities easy to lose. This is especially true outside of the big cities.

THE PROTESTANT NORTH
The largest denominations in these countries are the statesupported established churches such as the Lutheran, Anglican and Reformed. Their influence on the people during the last decade has continued to wane because of the manifest sterility of liberal theology in their midst. Preaching that demythologizes the Bible also empties the churches. Although most people have been baptized and many confirmed, not more than ten percent of the population of any of these countries goes to church on a given Sunday. Public morals have taken a nose-dive in the last few years with relaxed abortion laws, sex shops and pornography everywhere. Open display of immorality is now worse than in most Catholic countries.

Those who still keep ties with the church are confused by its ecumenical dialogue with Rome on the one hand, and its constant pushing of social and political programs on the other. However, in each of these church bodies there is a conservative remnant that is increasingly vocal and in some instances gaining in influence. For several years now more than half of the ministerial students in England have been evangelicals. The "No other Gospel" movement in Germany is gaining momentum, and with the forthcoming disestablishment of the church in Sweden, a healthy pruning process is to be expected.

In some areas, ecumenists who have lost real hope of attaining unity through ecclesiastical structures are seizing on the charismatic movement as a new, non-doctrinal common denominator. Its influence is not extensive, however, and it is beginning to prove itself a divisive element in some established churches.

The "free" or non-state-supported churches, which are also generally of the "believers’ church" type, are not losing ground and in many cases are growing. There is real vitality among Baptists, Free Evangelicals, Open Brethren, Independents and Pentecostal assemblies.

The main missionary thrust from America in these Protestant countries has, for obvious reasons, been interdenominational in character. The existing Protestant bodies look with suspicion and hostility on church-planting efforts by some of the bolder evangelical missionary groups. As a result, most U.S.-sponsored work has been by evangelistic organizations with specialized ministries to particular types of people. Child Evangelism Fellowship, The Bible Club Movement and others have worked among children. The Christian Business Men’s Committee International and The Full-Gospel Business Men aim at the business community. Older people and shut-ins are reached by radio broadcasts in various European languages, such as those of "The Hour of Decision," "Back to the Bible Broadcast" and the "Janz Team."

However, by far the most significant development in the last years is the response among youth. In the Netherlands alone last year the Navigators had over 1,000 young people each week in more than 100 Bible study and action groups. Campus Crusade is holding numerous training conferences and, last summer in Belgium, grouped several hundred potential European staff members for four weeks of intensive study and training. Their work is especially booming in Finland and Holland. Youth for Christ is majoring in coffee-bar evangelism and musical groups. The methods are basically the same used by these various works in the U.S., but the response has been quite sudden, and unexplainable by human factors. There is also a tremendous amount of spontaneous and less organized activity, with groups for outreach, Bible study and prayer springing up everywhere.

As a result evangelical training institutions are overflowing and new ones are being founded. The Greater Europe Mission now has seven Bible institutes, four of them serving Protestant countries. From these Northern lands alone, some 200 students were enrolled last fall in GEM schools. This formal training is contributing spiritual stability and doctrinal direction to a religious movement that has tremendous potential.

A basic question, however, is: What will be the lasting impact of all this on the church and spiritual life of Protestant Europe? One of the frustrations of those engaged in aggressive outreach is the lack of warm, active, Biblepreaching local churches to which new Christians can be sent for nurture. This is especially true on the continent. When converts are simply sent back to the established churches, it more often than not proves to be putting something into a bag with holes. On the other hand, when these evangelistic organizations go too far in insuring a permanent fellowship for those they have won to Christ, they lose their interdenominational status and forfeit the approval of the established churches as well as the opportunities these afford them. Over the last century and a half, these churches have demonstrated an almost unlimited capacity for swallowing up evangelistic and pietistic movements of various kinds without seemingly being affected by them. Only those movements which accepted the "sectarian" label by starting local churches have survived as such. This is why a growing number of evangelicals are coming to feel they must take the plunge and cross the Rubicon into the more lasting ministry of church-planting. This might become a most significant trend in the next decade in the Protestant North.

THE CATHOLIC SOUTH
Being historically Catholic does not keep a country from having a very strong communist party (Italy and France). Some, of course, have very conservative, if not reactionary regimes (Spain, Portugal, Greece. Everywhere, however among the priests as well as among the laity of the church, there are many who are militant Marxists if not Maoists.

Since Vatican II there also seems to be a certain bewilderment, as things that were always considered to be immovable points of reference are now being called into question: The mass in the vernacular; the declaring that a certain number of saints who had been prayed to for years and even centuries, had really never existed at all; the questioning by prominent Catholic theologians of Roman dogmas concerning transubstantiation, papal infallibility and justification; the permission now to eat meat on Friday shad they eaten fish all those years for nothing?), etc. All this has shaken many.

As a result there is a serious credibility gap between laity and clergy, church attendance is way down, few children go to catechism, and the numbers undertaking studies for the priesthood or entering holy orders, have been reduced to a almost nothing. Everywhere one sees large convents and seminary buildings empty. This does not mean that many are turning to an evangelical faith. Most do not as yet consider "Protestant sects" as a live option, nor do most own a Bible. There is a certain interest in Bible study groups, but they usually accept higher critical theories without questioning and remain very much on the literary and theoretical level.

In many places, however, a much greater openness is to be found than five years ago. A team from Operation Mobilization was invited into 100 Catholic secondary schools last year. They sang, testified, explained the gospel with a flip-chart and sold books at the door. Many students said, "We never heard anything like that before!" A Belgian who immigrated to the U.S. and was saved there, returns every few years to visit his many relatives. He reported last fall that their whole attitude was much more receptive now than during his last visit. In Portugal there is an air of expectancy as outreach is suddenly reaping much more fruit, and there is growth both in the size and number of churches. There were one hundred decisions in a campaign in Lyon, France, and ninety in Genk, Belgium. Some resistant areas of Europe are becoming responsive.

Most Protestant churches in the Catholic parts of Europe are of the baptistic or "believer’s church" type. These are generally small and weak, but are progressing. They receive help in manpower and funds from corresponding bodies in England and the U.S. However, most towns do not have even one Protestant church of any description.

Organized missionary societies such as The Evangelical Alliance Mission, Greater Europe Mission, Bible Christian Union and the Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society are definitely committed to a church-planting ministry with all the difficulties and advantages this implies. This principle is not contested in Catholic areas as it is in Protestant ones, but the ground is very much rockier. It is one thing to see Catholics profess to receive Christ, it is quite another to gather them or add them to a local church.

More and more it is becoming evident that the planting of a church in these difficult areas must be fruit of a team effort. Increasingly, intensive summer campaigns of two to five weeks by groups of 30 to 50 young people are being held in unchurched communities. There were a dozen such in Belgium alone last summer. Smaller teems made up of people who take a year’s leave of absence from their jabs or their studies are also proving effective in establishing the nucleus of a local testimony. Such efforts may well be the coming thing for in-depth penetration of the Catholic South.

Another significant factor has been a number of youth organizations of a more spontaneous and less organized character that have majored in aggressive personal witness as well as literature sales and distribution. Operation Mobilization put almost 2,000 young people in the field last spring and summer, mostly in Italy. With a rugged, commando-type organization, they fan out with teams of eight or nine in minibuses and seek to reach every house in a given country or area. They will have about 300 staying on for a whole year. Youth with a Mission was also present in force with hundreds of young people in street and coffee-bar evangelism in various countries. It is having a growing effectiveness. There are also groups of Jesus people in most of the larger cities who stay for varying lengths of time. Their combined impact is real but difficult to measure.

With all this activity among youth, training institutions in Catholic countries also have record enrollments this fall. Greater Europe Mission is in the process of opening new Bible institutes in Spain, Portugal and Greece. In Western Europe prospects for consolidating the present advances and sparking new outreach are most encouraging. In the coming decade, the most strategic contribution from America will probably be in the area of training of national leadership and finding ways of colaboring with Europeans in church-planting efforts.

The fact that Europe today generally must be considered as "post-Christian" confronts the witnessing believer with a tremendous challenge, but also with a very special set of problems. Only the Holy Spirit can give both the impetus and the direction that are needed to fulfill the Great Commission on this continent in the years ahead.

——-

Copyright © 1974 Evangelism and Missions Information Service (EMIS). All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMIS.

Comments are closed.