May 11, 2021
Why it just might be that the European church is the Spirit's canary in the coalmine...but not for the reasons I had always assumed!
Folks, I have a hunch that the Holy Spirit wants us to learn from the dismantled church in Europe, and as Henk said, to let go of the fear of disappearing. This was certainly the message of the Old Testament prophets who prophesized the devastation of God's people for reasons that now account for the church's devastation. For, said Isaiah, though only a stump remains, from that stump will grow a new shoot.
The problem for the American church that is an enterprise with Christian colleges, Christian publishers, Christian schools, Christian non-profits selling all kinds of products including Christian mission experiences, concerts, and church multiplication, Christian mission agencies, Christian television, and on and on, is that we have made our faith big business. We have commodified Jesus. We have as Halverson prophesied, made the thing an enterprise. And like so many enterprises, the thing we are selling becomes so much less important than the fact that at the end of the day we see a…