The complexities of Christianity
& the many levels of participation
by Justin D. Long
To this point I have focused primarily on World A, since few people are doing so. We have therefore not allocated the space in our weekly essays to discuss the many complexities of the "World C" categorization, since those will be well documented in Tables-1 and Tables-2 of the World Christian Encyclopedia. Now I think that we must, because many readers don't know about this, the most in-depth of measures, which examines the state of Christianity--not just its masses, but also its high points, its low points, its ebb and flow, its increase and its decline. These complexities highlight the differences in needs between a nation like England and a nation like Saudi Arabia.
In the original edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia, and in the forthcoming 2nd edition, religious adherents are broken down for each nation, with Christianity being the most detailed breakdown of all. In 1980, we estimated there were 49,640,000 Christians in England--or 86.9% of the population. (At the same time, we noted that 101,518 were defecting annually.) We break these Christians down in two twin measures: professing/crypto (open/hidden) and affiliated/unaffiliated. Affiliated and professing are both broken down further into the various traditions.
When we describe a nation as belong to World C, we call to mind images of the roots of Christianity: symbols, churches, Bibles, open air crusades, street corner preachers, cell groups, firm priests in confessionals, zealous pastors in the pulpits calling for repentance, Christian politicians, television and radio programs, bookstores, quiet libraries, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, counselors, relief programs, volunteer agencies. It also calls to mind those things peculiar to Christianity: the scandals, the ecclesiastical crime, the silent and empty churches, the children who grow up not really understanding their faith, the spiritist cults that infect every tradition, the many people who try to attend Sunday church and live like heathen the rest of the week. Materialism becomes rampant. Sex, drugs and alcohol are common place. The church draws into itself. Parents grow less and less concerned with the church--which is around them everyday--and more about the good life they are seeking.
England is a "World C" country. It is openly Christian: there aren't any "crypto-Christians" hiding out of fear of the government's threat to arrest them: all 49.6 million are professing Christians. On to the second measure. Of the 49.6 million, 7.7 million are unaffiliated--that is, they signed the government census, but don't attend church. This is typical of all World C nations--there is some percentage of unaffiliated Christians, who "profess" Christianity but don't attend church and in all probability aren't baptized. Are they Christians? That's a theological issue I don't want to tackle here--it deserves a listgroup all of its own. I have my own opinions. But what I will say publicly is that without a doubt say they need to get into church--equally I can say the distance to church for them is far shorter than for the average Muslim in Saudi Arabia. Will they walk it? Another question entirely, but the distance _IS_ shorter.
So, taking out 7.7 million unaffiliated leaves leaves 42.2 million baptized church members. Well and good, but just because one was baptized and signed a membership card doesn't mean he or she is still an active member today! So we break these down further into practicing/non-practicing: 25.7 million vs. 16.4 million. I can hear the question: "What exactly do you mean by 'practicing'?" Well, we mean whatever the denominations mean--we have to use their statistics, of course, since we can't survey every single individual ourselves. So it often means they attend services and do everything required by their denomination to qualify as a "practicing Christian."
Are these still Christians? Another theological issue I'm loathe to tackle. My job here is not to discuss who is Christian, but who hasn't got access to the Gospel. Still, the questions present themselves: do they understand their faith? do they have a personal relationship with Christ? could they defend their faith or share it with others? The evidence leans toward the conclusion that many don't: affiliated Christians are declining by 163,602 per year as 309,000 defect annually, and practicing Christians are declining by 259,000 per year as 351,000 defect from their ranks annually. The only growth in affiliated or practicing Christians comes as a result of demographic growth--e.g. new births in Christian households. Obviously, few are evangelizing or there would be conversions, not defections. This leads one to think that people are either selfish or don't know what to share, a bad conclusion either way. While the Christian tradition holds a majority in Britain, it is a declining majority. There are a few spots of good news. Table1 breaks affiliated Christians down into the various traditions:
| Anglican | 28.8 million (declining 139k per year) |
| .. evangelical | 8.5 million (growing 76k per year) <-- growth here |
| .. pentecostal | 600,000 (growing 52k per year) <-- growth here |
| Protestant | 7.3 million (declining 131k per year) |
| .. evangelical | 2.3 million (increasing 11k per year) <-- growth here |
| .. pentecostal | 200,000 (increasing 17k per year) <-- growth here |
| Roman Catholic | 5.2 million (declining 43k per year) |
| .. pentecostal | 25,000 (increasing 2k per year) <-- growth here |
| Marginal Protestant | 365,000 (increasing 5k per year) <-- minmal growth |
| Orthodox | 365,000 (increasing 177 per year) <-- minimal growth |
| Third-World indig | 80,200 (increasing 311 per year) <-- minmal growth |
| Catholic (non-Roman) | 80,200 (decreasing 242 per year). |
Growth is occurring in what is traditionally termed the evangelical and pentecostal churches, while the mainline churches are declining. No surprise to most of our readers, who would agree with this. Also, it's no surprise that the "evangelical" statistics largely agree with what most people are citing as "true believers."
World A is different. Calling to mind World A brings up images of idols, temples, fetishes, demons and evil powers worshipped, the imam's call to prayer, the secret police, the persecution, the hidden Christians meeting secretly, the sudden arrests, the oppression, the lack of basic necessities, the poverty, the fear. Going into a church could get you turned in to the authorities. Participating in a Bible study can get you jailed. Converting to Christianity can get you executed or assassinated. Saudi Arabia is a World A land, steeped in Islam and mysticism. Its statistics are far shorter than those of England. In 1980, we estimated there were 89,000 Christians (of 10,900,000 people), or just 0.8% of the population. Of these, 64,000 were what we term "crypto-Christians": they hid their Christianity for fear of being arrested. That left 25,000 professing Christians: those out in the open. Of those, 80,000 are affiliated and 9,000 are not. Many of the 9,000 unaffiliated are expatriates working in Saudi Arabia.
Is England as needy as Saudi Arabia? Quantitatively, probably something like 30 or 40 million people have desperate spiritual needs--a need to understand their faith, a need to have it revived in their own life, a need to get in to church and grow, a need to share the Gospel with their neighbors, a need to see the Gospel spread throughout the world. These people are three or four times more numerous than the total population of Saudi Arabia.
Qualitatively, however, they do not have the _SAME_ needs. Europe does not need a first-time presentation of the Gospel. The full force of Christianity is steeped in the land, through its many resources, the vibrant spots of its church, the heritage, the symbols, the availability of the Gospel. Europe needs to be called back to its roots and revived. The Middle East and Asia, on the other hand, need that first-time presentation which must cross the cultural barrier without the benefit of any Christian heritage. There are no crosses, churches, bookstores: no Sunday school stories to bring back to memory. Just saying the name "Jesus" (_Isa_ in Saudi Arabia) calls forth many images, but not necessarily any of them are Christian, and all of them must be crossed before true understanding can emerge.
Evangelism--the spread of the Gospel--must be done in every country, but in each it must take different forms. So when we make our call for workers, let's use the right terminology and the right strategy. Europe does not need a horde of American missionaries. We have millions of laity who can be trained and serve as local evangelists, but we only have a few hundred thousand missionaries, and they should properly be used where no variety of Christianity is present--like Saudi Arabia. To use an analogy: you wouldn't place elite commandos in the ranks of foot soldiers pressing a general attack, and you wouldn't use scrub privates for a reconnaisance-and-sabotage mission deep in enemy-held lines. So it is here.
What Europe needs are evangelists, local preachers, prophets and pastors who are trained in the foundations and truths of Christianity, reformers who will work on bringing truth into churches, Europeans who will press Europe back to God. When we send people from other lands _to_ Europe, the best use of them would be in support of European evangelists, teaching, training, offering support materials, offering Bibles and videos, offering whatever is needed to help Europeans evangelize their own.
World A, on the other hand, needs a vanguard of specially trained missionaries. In Saudi Arabia, evangelism would be best if done by Saudis, but there are too few Saudi Christians to evangelize the nation without outside help. That's where cross-cultural workers come in. But if all the cross-cultural workers are in Europe, who will help the Saudis?
Suggestions
- We must send missionaries to World A. They are sending missionaries to us. We must penetrate the homeland of non-Christian religions with the light of the Gospel.
- We must send evangelists to World B. We must answer the trends away from Christianity with a clear, clarion call to return to the Kingdom and become servants of the one true God.
- We must develop better systems for discipling our own. We must pass the Gospel on to our children and to our neighbors. Otherwise, our children will grow up as World B individuals--evangleized, but non-Christian. their children will grow up in World A.
- We must develop better systems of critiquing and refining our own. The
church suffers from internal bickering and arguing. While there are many
things that need to be reformed, this ought to be done through ongoing
dialogue and witness rather than through backbiting and harsh public
criticism.
