The Gospel Need in Europe

By Kirk and Sandlin Poth (Ireland) 

The command to be salt and light is the basis for the key idea of High Potency + Close Proximity + Clear Communication = Maximum Impact.

To have maximum impact in the lives of those around us, we need to excel in these three areas.

1. We must have high potency. If our lives don’t reflect Christ, we won’t have an impact.
2. We must also have close proximity to non-Christians. After all, what good is salt if it never leaves the saltshaker?
3. The key component to being the light of the world is clear communication. If we do good deeds, fight injustice, and work for peace in the world, but never mention Jesus, what good have we truly done?

Interesting observations and commentary for us as church planters who are seeking to plant churches in Europe have been newly released in the State of the Great Commission report prepared for Lausanne Global Congress Seoul-Incheon 2024.

The committee has noted there was a time when Europe was seen as the heartland of Christianity. Europe was the first continent to be completely Christianized, but it was also the first continent to be substantially de-Christianized. It was from Europe that missionaries were sent to the rest of the world to share the good news of Jesus. Today that flow has reversed, and millions of Majority World missionaries have been mobilized by the Holy Spirit to re-evangelize Europe. Yet we, too, must wrestle with six issues, namely,

1. the meaning of trust/truth;
2. the place of community;
3. the challenges and opportunities of the digital world;
4. creation care and climate justice;
5. unprecedented demographic change,
6. and a shift in morality which is affecting how the ‘Good News’ of the gospel is interpreted by many Europeans.

Today, Europe appears to have been thoroughly secularized. Yet, out of the spotlight, an extraordinary re-evangelization of Europe is underway. The context is challenging, but God has ploughed these fields before. Our task, in fulfilment of the Great Commission, is to consider the soil, to sow liberally, and not to give up.

Please pray Galatians 6:9 that we won’t become weary in doing good:

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Discussion Questions:

Spark a conversation on your social media by sharing your answer to one of these questions. Tag us in the answer. Or you can post your answer here. 

• What are some key challenges for church planters today?
• What practical ways can a church planter or a Christian in ministry do to not grow discouraged?
• Of these six in the article, which issues poses the most significant challenge and why?

Other Articles:

• The Sweetness of the Gospel 
• Sierra Vista Baptist Church: A Family Legacy in Ministry 
• 10 Biblical Truths About Spiritual Gifts
• Challenged by Wildflowers 
• Learn about the Poths
• Complete this to talk to someone about serving in Europe.

* Header photo by Pixabay