The New Mission Field

Christianity started in the Middle East. It grew out of Judaism and came to fruition with the coming of the Jewish Messiah. From there, according to Scripture, it "turned the world upside down". It spread to Europe and Asia. Eventually it made it to North America. Missionaries were sent to Africa and South America and other remote places to seek out people in need of salvation. And the quest to spread the Gospel continues today.

It seems ironic, then, that the new mission field opening up today would be the Protestant churches of Europe. "Really?" Yes, that's what it looks like.

According to the BBC, the leading Protestant churches in the Netherlands, for instance, are "experimenting with radical new ways of understanding the faith." These new ways do not include a genuine "God" or a historical Jesus. There is no actual Bible to use. Instead, they are "using the Bible in a metaphorical way so I can bring it to my own way of thinking, my own way of doing." They are conforming Christianity to their own image. They are discarding standard Christian doctrines like theism, the divinity of Christ, even truth. Instead, "Here you can believe what you want to think for yourself, what you really feel and believe is true." They believe they are competing in a market of ideas and are "ready virtually to reinvent Christianity." They warn that the Church "has to change to stay Christian." When a leading pastor wrote his book, Believing in a Non-Existent God, there were calls for his dismissal. "However, a special church meeting decided his views were too widely shared among church thinkers for him to be singled out." In fact, a study indicated that 1 out of 6 Protestant pastors in that country are atheists or agnostics.

Such magnificent Christian churches as the Dutch Reformed Church have come from the Netherlands. Now we see a slide away from Christianity ... by Christianity. Well, to be fair, it's not possible to call it "Christianity" when it excludes either God or Christ. Instead, the arena called "the Church" in places like this become some of the most difficult mission fields on the planet. Inoculated by false teachers and time, it becomes nearly impossible to tell them "You're in danger of eternal death" when they're quite sure they're healthier than they've ever been. But without God and without Jesus, there is nothing about this religion that is "Christian". As such, there is nothing about this "medicine" that is restorative and these people need Christianity. Ironic, then, that the new mission field today is becoming the church.