On January 8th, 2008, our mission (Greater Europe Mission) is having a Day of Prayer for Europe. To prepare for this day, many of us are taking the next 50 days getting our hearts and minds ready.

Why have this day of prayer?:

• Less than 2% of Europeans would say that they have a personal relationship with Christ and would want to tell others about Him
• The history of Christianity in Europe is full of abuses in the name of Jesus Christ which have nothing to do with Jesus. This makes many people here want to distance themselves from anything done in the name of Jesus, legitimate or otherwise. They can be very cynical of anything concerning God.
• The churches in Europe are the slowest growing churches in the world. Some estimates are that Africa is growing 50% faster than Europe and Asia is 43% faster.
• Because of the costs to live in Europe, fewer missionaries are coming to Europe and many of those that are here are having to leave because of financial reasons.
• With immigrants from many countries residing in Europe, this continent is an intersection of cultures that, if touched by God, can change not only Europe, but the world for Christ.

Would you be interested in participating in this day of prayer with us? For those of you who choose to take this journey with us, I would ask that you commit to these things:

• To listen humbly for the voice of the Lord;
• To embrace the process with the spirit of Paul in Romans when he declares “putting off the sin that so easily binds, I run the race in such a way as to win the prize;” and
• To share your experiences honestly with family, friends, and ministry partners.

You can sign-up for a free devotional and more information at the GEM website. Please join us in this time

[Update:] For those of you with a high-speed internet connection and an eagerness to get started, there are 5 messages on prayer by Louie Giglio on this website. I think that you will find them to be encouraging, challenging and well worth the effort of downloading them.

We use technology to spread the Gospel and help build the church in Europe. Watch this video (about 6 Minutes long) to understand why technology is such a great method for telling about an unchanging God.

I like the people that I work with. No, I’m not kissing up (actually, I don’t think they read my blog anyways). I’m just grateful that I get to work with people who don’t put limits on God. Now, take my collegue Durand Robinson with a ministry called CreativeWorks, a ministry of GEM. CreativeWorks and eDOT work together a lot but you just gotta like they way Durand thinks. His job with CreativeWorks is to help the church in Europe think outside the box. Most churches in Europe are small with even smaller budgets. One of the things he does is help them think how they can use the small $$$ that they have for really big things.

Here is just one of his ideas (well, maybe not his exactly - but an idea that he is helping others know about) - a really cheap translation system for a church. Now, my American readers are probably wondering why you would need that as if you live in a town with more than language, then there is a different church for each language. But here in Europe, there are not that many churches to go to let alone having an option of what language it will be in. On any given day, I’ll hear German, English, Italian, and French spoken in our little town. So this idea of a cheap translation system (which can also be used for those that are hearing-impaired) is wonderful.

But to me, I get really pumped at looking at how we can assist the European churches so that they can have real vision for what God can do with their churches and then to come up with solutions (in my case, usually technical solutions) to make it happen. To me, thinking like this is about removing the limitations we place on God and instead of saying “Oh, that can’t be done because of this or that”, its about saying “Wow, that would be really impactful in our church’s community - ok God, how do you want to do this?”

This next week, I’ll be attending a conference with several other like-minded people who have a vision of using the Internet to reach non-English speaking people with the Gospel. We will be working on putting together ways that the Internet and various online technologies can be used in helping people come to understand God’s love for them.

The Internet is to be used for God’s purposes, pray with us that He will reveal how He wants to use it and that we won’t get bogged down with the “limits” we want to place on Him.

On holy ground, a hollow sound

This article by the a traditional media source, the Chicago Tribune, has some very thought provoking quotes. Here are my top quotes:

• “But the churches are mostly empty, and the only wonder to most Czechs is why anyone at all bothers to go.”
• “According to a European Union survey published last year, only 19 percent of Czechs said they believed in God; most of the rest proclaim themselves atheists.”
• In referring to churches: “I love to visit them,” he said. “But I see them as historical objects, not as religious places.”
• Mark Lilla, a professor of social thought at the University of Chicago, has described present-day Europe as “the closest thing to a godless civilization the world has ever known.”
• “When we bring up the subject [of faith], it’s like asking if you believe in UFOs. That’s what we’re up against here,” Gregory said. “In the States, you can assume most kids know why Christmas is celebrated. In the Czech Republic kids think baby Jesus is like Cinderella or Shrek. … They think it’s all a fairy tale.” [Lori Gregory was a Christian missionary with Young Life in the Czech Republic]
• Church missed a chance [referring to the time immediately after the fall of communism]
• Dusan Trestik, a historian at the Center for Medieval Studies in Prague, agreed.

  “I think you have to say the church failed in the needs of modernization,” he said. “The church was offering traditional Christianity for grannies.”

• “They are looking for something, for guidance, and in the pure sense, it’s religious,” [referring to Czechs who say they are aethists]
• “I go to church infrequently. It’s boring. It gives me nothing,”
• “Yes, it’s a failure of the churches. But this is something that is characteristic for the whole of Europe,”

This is why Europe is the mission field we are called to. Pray that our final 30% of monthly support will come in so that we can make the move to make a difference in the lives of Europeans. Thank you.