Europe is a ‘mission field,’ says WCC general secretary

Kuala Lampur, Malaysia – Europe, the continent that was the first to witness Christianity flourish in the world, is now full of people who have never heard of the faith, said Samuel Kobia, the general secretary of World Council of Churches (WCC), here, in the capital of Malaysia.

The Methodist theologian from Kenya was addressing the WCC’s commission on Faith and Order taking place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from July 28 – August 6. "In many places today we can no longer assume the religious, much less Christian, awareness which existed 20 years ago," he is quoted as saying.

Europe, the former "Christian Occident", that had sent out missionaries all around the world in the 19th century, has now become a “mission field,” he said.

The commission’s moderator, David Yemba from Africa pointed to the explosive church growth in the dark continent. According to a survey by Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, USA, the number of Christians in Africa had jumped from 144 million in 1970 to 367 million in the year 2000.

Statistics released by the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva showed that the number of Lutherans in Africa has risen by nine percent over the last two years while their numbers in Europe and North America have been steadily falling.

Yemba criticized that the churches of the northern hemisphere were exerting too much influence on the South. He described Christians in the so–called Third World as "the church of the third millennium".

The ecumenical commission on Faith and Order aims to promote the visible unity of the Christian churches. It studies issues that have given rise to division, such as differing understandings of ecclesiology or baptism.

The 120 members of the commission represent the 342 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican member churches of the WCC. But also non–members of the ecumenical organizations are involved in the commission’s work, notably the Roman Catholic Church.

– by our special correspondent