Observed by Jerry and Janice Byrd for work with International Commission-2006
Western Europe can be likened to Samaria (for Americans) in Jesus’ command to reach all people. We share a history, a common heritage, a physical similarity, and a parallel development in education, government, and language, but our similarities often cause conflicts and our subtle differences seem to loom larger than ever.
- W. Europeans do not see our work ethic as good. Hard labor, long hours of employment, our “time is money” concept, and upward mobility are not valued. Instead, a twenty-five-hour work-week, which allows time for daily personal leisure activities, eight weeks of paid vacation annually, and a contentment with the status quo are the ingredients of European happiness.
- W. Europeans are suspicious of individual achievement. They take pride in group accomplishments. Ambitions and goals are for their extended families, communities and countries. Competition is not considered a good motivation.
- Countries in W. Europe have only recently known a “separation of church and state.” Even now, secularism has become the new state religion. Many European governments demand, support, and promote secularism, tolerating nothing else. It is hard to overestimate how little Christianity has to do with public discourse. Even in “Catholic” countries, with a few exceptions like Ireland and Malta, the church is kept out of daily life precisely because it has a paid position in a building, on Sundays.
Over the last thirty to forty years, Western Europe has experienced radical change. The rise of “post-modern” thinking, as opposed to the “modern” thinking of the last 300 years, has further separated American and Western European values, and has caused major miscommunications, complicating even further the process of communicating the message of the Church.
Post-modern thinking is neither right nor wrong; it is a type of thinking that emphasizes relationships, processes, communities, the unknown supernatural world, and relevancy to daily life. It devalues scientific proof, the need to know everything, organizations, and self-assurance. Like all belief systems, in practice, it looks differently in the lives of Believers than it does in the populace in general.
Although post-modern thinking is now being talked about in the U.S., it is entrenched in Western Europe in anyone younger than fifty, including church members. Communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ to Europeans means that we must know their culture. (They already know our language, thanks to the internet.)
Western Europe has become very ethnically diverse. Large groups of immigrants inhabit almost every country, but have not become integrated, in the American sense. (Think salad bowl, not melting-pot.) European tolerance is actually a self-protecting indifference. Ethnic groups have been “tolerated” as segregated and isolated communities, but the host governments have done little to affect the language, religion, or customs of their newest citizens. That is beginning to change.
Within twenty years, large groups from the Middle East and Africa (Muslims) will threaten to dominate the national populations in countries like France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Holland where immigration policies have been the most liberal, and where population growth among the immigrants is two or three times that of the nationals. Assimilating the large influx of Muslim immigrants is a huge problem for European governments, but, at the same time, it is an equally gigantic opportunity for the churches in Europe.
For the first time in their lives Islamic peoples are free to discuss, question, explore, and choose their beliefs. These immigrants have come to realize their political clout and personal freedoms. Some have reacted with violence to their marginalization, while others, driven by curiosity or despair, have gone searching for the truth. Churches are reaching out to these immigrants, developing relationships and ministering to their needs.
Because faith communities are so important to the Believers of Western Europeans, they want IC’s participants to have a vital relationship with their own churches at home. (Lone-Ranger Christians do not exist in Western Europe.) In fact, they want a “church team” to partner with so that can continue for years to come the sharing and encouraging begun during the project. They expect to have a long-term relationship with their guests and their guests’ home churches. Some will come to the States to visit, and will want to correspond through email.
Most of the work on an IC project in Western Europe will be part of a local church’s relationship-building strategy for reaching their city. They will spend the first few days of the project doing nothing but getting to know you. Your presence is their excuse to plan and execute events designed to connect with their culture in Western Europe. They don’t need your abilities, and will probably question your ideas, but church members, most of whom will speak English, will appreciate your encouragement and counsel in their homes and in numerous private conversations.
Once they trust you, the church members will introduce you to their friends and you will have many opportunities to discuss your relationship with God with unbelievers. Be prepared to dialog from your own experiences, not the Bible, but do not expect people to make a commitment to Christ after hearing for the first time the facts about Jesus. (We’ve seen this happen, but we don’t expect it.)
In everything you do, connect people to the local church. Trust the church members to continue the God-conversations with the “seekers” even after you’ve returned home. A large part of your work in Western Europe is to encourage the Believers. Remember that God is at work in Western Europe. He still speaks to the hearts of people, even post-moderns, through His Holy Spirit, convicting them of their sin and of His righteousness.
In Western Europe true partnerships can happen because we come as peers in every respect. We go to facilitate THEIR work for the Lord. Every project is an opportunity to learn from the Europeans as we serve with them.