The Passion Of The Christ (For Europe)
'In many areas of Europe, whole generations have been robbed of the chance to see the incredible power of risk-taking, miracle-working, heroic Christian faith… But God hasn't finished with Europe. Christ is passionate about Europeans!'
 In Genesis 26, there's a powerful story of one man's drive to recapture his rightful place of influence in the world. Isaac unstopped the wells that had been dug by his father Abraham.
In the parched deserts of the ancient Middle East, wells were much more than refreshment stops on a long journey. They represented influence. In an agrarian society, whoever controlled the wells, influenced town planning and the flow of trade.
Isaac's neighbours, the Philistines, had plugged up the wells, hiding them from view. Isaac, however, refused to allow anyone to steal away his influence. He boldly uncovered the wells and revealed them to a new generation.
The spiritual fathers of the European church left the world a powerful legacy of history-shaping influence.
Through their faith and their sacrifice, they dug life-giving spiritual wells and changed the cultures of cities and nations.
In Acts 16, the Holy Spirit sent Paul west, into Europe. For centuries since then, the history of global evangelism, church planting and serious, world-changing Christian outreach was the story of European Christianity.
The world heard about Jesus because European Christians were willing to pray, sacrifice, preach and lay down their lives for the gospel.
We could easily include many European names in the Hebrews 11 list of honour:
'And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Patrick, Tyndale, Wycliffe, Luther, Wesley, Muller, Livingstone, the Booths, Sensor, Taylor, Studd and Carey, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of (spiritual) lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in (spiritual) battle and routed foreign armies.' (Heb. 11:32-34 - with some European additions!)
All that began to change more than a century ago. The philosophies of people like Darwin, Voltaire and Nietzsche seemed to replace reliance on God with faith in human progress. In a very short time, human beings went from being purposeful children of God to meaningless offspring of the algae; orphans alone in an absurd universe.
After producing some of the most innovative Christian pioneers the world has ever seen, Europe largely turned its back on its Christian heritage. Two horrific world wars were the result.
When their utopian ideals were found wanting in the aftermath of Gallipoli and Auschwitz, European philosophers largely gave up on trying to find a positive outlook for humanity. That gave rise to the hopeless resignation of existentialism: the best you can do is live for the moment and wait to die.
In the Europe of recent times, a century of materialism, humanism, rationalism, communism, liberalism and socialism has largely covered over the wells of powerful faith left by our Christian fathers.
In many areas of Europe, whole generations have been robbed of the chance to see the incredible power of risk-taking, miracle-working, heroic Christian faith.
But God hasn't finished with Europe. Christ is passionate about Europeans!
Mathew Ashimolowo, from Nigeria, pastors the fastest growing church in London and Western Europe, with over 10,000 members. He says: 'Listening to the heartbeat of God for Europe, I see revival. I see the coming persecution by the way of legislation, regulation, grabbing some of the leaders putting them under intense pressure, all kinds of things.'
'But out of that God is going to birth something that will be pure, something that will be beautiful, something that will be new and something European. A revival is coming prior to the coming of the Lord Jesus to Europe. Europe will have a second chance.'
Today's Europe is a thirsty desert, as spiritually dry as any on earth. Perhaps moreso, because it thinks it has life. It's time for Christians to re-dig the wells of influence in Europe!
© Mal Fletcher 2004
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