A month in the UK & Europe

In April this year I spent a month in the UK, Germany and Romania to observe, experience, and mobilise the Church in Europe in the area of cross-cultural ministry. It was my first time ever in the UK or Europe. I had a wealth of learning experiences while I spent my first week in the UK (Loughborough), my second week in Germany (Oldenburg) for the Missions-Net Conference, third week for my first taste of Eastern Europe in the form of Romania and my last week and half in the UK (London, Harpenden, Reading, Bradford, Liverpool, and Manchester).

The two main things I took away from my memorable time in these three very different nations was that:

1) The huge shift over the last couple of decades of migrant populations from the Middle East (Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran etc...), South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc...), and Eastern Europe (Romania, Ukraine and the former Soviet States or ...stan nations) has changed the face of UK and Europe and opened the doors of cultural diversity so much so that the white Europeans in Europe are quickly becoming a minority. This challenged my whole understanding of the opportunities around the Body of Christ in Europe to do their part in fulfilling the Great Commission, and revamped my understanding of the role we can play in being the salt of the earth and light of the world in many cities of the earth.


2) There is a lack of understanding and vision amongst most mainstream UK and European churches to take advantage of this ripe harvest field on their doorstep. Many of these migrant communities represent many different least reached people groups that have no or little access to the gospel. Most churches I observed are not specifically targeting migrant communities of this nature (heavily due to the cultural barriers needed to be overcome), rather they are catering for the dwindling number of white Europeans and the occasional foreigner that is motivated enough to visit the church or fortunate enough to be invited by a church member or through attending a church outreach event.

Observing and experiencing these two phenomena for myself was a wake-up call. Europe is no longer a European’s continent. The masses of the people moving to Europe from outside of Europe are growing faster in population than Europeans are able to produce babies. If you do not believe me, check out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU

Also if you want to check out my pics from my time with World Outreach in the UK, Germany and Romania, visit: http://community.webshots.com/user/Trying2ChangetheWorld

I’m interested to find out what you all think about this, and feel free to leave comments on this post and any other posts that interest you.

Blessings,

David Elliott