World Christians are here
In this article, I explore the subject of World Christianity in Europe with the intention of discerning what missiological implications emerge from the presence of hundreds of thousands of Christians from other parts of the world in many European cities. I am not intending to convince readers that world Christianity does exist in Europe. I believe that a conversation on the presence of Christians around the world in Europe has been done to exhaustion.
“the general image of a European Christian is looking more like world Christianity”
There are numerous resources that readers can access to learn about African, Asian, Latin American and other non-Western Christians in Europe. For instance, Israel Olofinjana’s ambitious edited book, World Christianity in Western Europe, is a good starting point. There exist also many localised studies on aspects of non-Western Christianity in many European countries. From Gerrie ter Haar’s Halfway to Paradise: African Christians in Europe to Miguel Angel Zova Arroyo’s 2021 thesis, “‘Common Mission’ and Latino Migrant Churches in Flanders (Belgium): A Case Study of CEI (Brussels) and ICA (Antwerp) “, there is an increase in resources about world Christianity in Europe. Most are done as academic research for masters or doctoral studies but some find their way to accessible popular literature. There has been a shift in the past two decades in the authorship of such. This gives us some inside understanding of the experiences and challenges facing world Christianity as it rises in Europe. The discourse is no longer dominated by the “beware, the Pentecostals are here” or “watch out, the next Christendom is coming” voices of the 1980s, 90s, and early 2000s. Instead, here in the UK where I am located, we are seeing migrant Christians challenging the Church of England for its racism and to account for its role slavery and colonialism, and calling the Body of Christ as a whole to live out the multicultural reality that world Christianity is.
Black and Brown Christians in Europe
It is beyond dispute that Christians from around the world, of various ethnicities and theological traditions are, by the thousands, possibly millions, living in Europe today, and that their presence in many European cities is changing Christianity’s appearance, beliefs, practices, and hopefully, its self-understanding. Many of these Christians are not white, they hardly speak European languages well, and were raised in cultures of peoples far away from Europe. Thus, in addition to being foreigners culturally, they understand the Christian faith and how it shapes their lives in ways that make them perpetual religious strangers in a land that should eventually become home.
“Without the migration of Christians from the current Christian heartlands of Africa, Asia, and Latin America the decline in European Christianity would be more pronounced”
In spite of the many challenges they face, they continue to prop up the presence of Christianity in some fast-secularizing European cities. For instance, it is a well-established fact today that African and Afro-Caribbean churches in London drive church attendance in the city to the point that a riddle has emerged saying “London Christianity is a black religion.” Others joke that, in terms of Christianity, “as Lagos goes, so does London,” meaning the christianisation of Lagos inevitably leads to an increase of Nigerian (or African) Christian presence in London. In all honesty, this also leads to a general increase in Christianity in London even when mainline white-British Christians continue their exodus from the church. Of course, there is some truth in these riddles, many African, Asian, and Latin American Christians make European Christianity what it is today. .
When we talk about “European Christianity,” it is necessary that we include in our definition the many non-Western Christians living, working, and being church in many European cities up and down the continent. In a sense, then, European Christianity in the 21st century includes bits and pieces of African Christianity, Asian Christianity, and Latin American Christianity and, thus, includes within it world Christianity. It should be impossible to imagine 21st century Christianity in Europe without the many black and brown Christians whose churches have mushroomed in almost every major city in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and every other European country. Of course, “European” itself as a term must begin to shift its identity in our minds to include people of other races, like my own children, who have been born or brought up, educated and cultured in Europe. There are in Europe today Black Europeans, Asian Europeans, Latino Europeans, and this is not a problem. Many of them are Christians and are contributing to the European Christian landscape of the century. They, too, are European Christians. Without them, European Christianity, most certainly London Christianity, would look different.
Here in Britain, for example, it seems plausible that between one and two in every five church-going Christians in the UK are black. Thus, any faithful discussion on contemporary British Christianity must reflect a real awareness of thousands of black and brown Christian denominations that have emerged in the past five to six decades. A good example of those is the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), a Nigerian Pentecostal church, that was registered in the UK in 1989. It had almost 200,000 members in 1000 congregations scattered across the UK in 2020 with 75 per cent of them in England, and half of them in the Southeast, including London. When they gather in London Excel for prayer vigils, which they do at least two times every year, more than 50,000 people show up. They attempt to plant 50 new churches every year. Studies exploring African Christianity in the UK, including the works of Babatunde Adedibu and Andrew Rogers, reveal the presence of thousands of independent African churches in London – the Old Kent Road alone in SE being home to 200 African churches and ministries. However, before the Nigerian and Ghanaian Pentecostals arrived with their Christianity, there existed West Indian Pentecostal churches in the UK, like the Church of God of Prophecy, the Church of God in Christ and the New Testament Church of God. While many of the West Indian churches have not sustained the growth rates of the 1960s and 1970s, they are still in existence and doing well. Altogether, these denominations of Black Pentecostals make a huge proportion of diaspora Christians. Eben Adu of London City Mission estimates that 75 per cent of diaspora Christians in London are of African and Afro-Caribbean heritage. Of course, Latin American denominations like the Blessed Church of the Kingdom of God have also a presence in Europe. South Korean Pentecostals (as well as Presbyterians) have also established congregations in many cities in Europe.
“The general image of a European Christian is becoming less European and looking more like world Christianity”
As a result of the presence of these many Christians from around the world in Europe, the general image of a European Christian is becoming less European and looking more like world Christianity. In addition to European languages, Christ is preached in Yoruba, Twi, Swahili and Shona, as well as in Mandarin, Cantonese, Creole, Gujarati, Farsi, and many other languages in Europe. A sample of church music sung on a typical Sunday across a European city will include genres from Nigeria, Congo, South Korea, China, Brazil, Jamaica, and many other countries in the world. Without a doubt, world Christianity is here in Europe, the question that we need to ask ourselves is, “what shall we do with it?” I have a few suggestions to make.
Foreign Christians are not Enemies
Yes, they may worship differently. They may use strange music and languages. They may even look different. However, foreign Christians are also brothers and sisters in Christ. They are all members of the only one Body that Christ has on earth. They are following the same Christ that European Christians call Lord. He may be understood differently by Christians from different parts of the world, but still, there in only one Christ. Often, many Christians believe that their way of worshiping is the only way people are supposed to worship. Many European missionaries believed this when they went to evangelise in other parts of the world. Most of them believed that all Christianity had to look European – that the only way to be a Christian was to be a European. The audacity and, most certainly, the theological ignorance behind such assumptions cannot be fathomed. Yet, many still believe like this today.
Non-European Christianity is often treated as not only different but also inferior. Indeed, there is a tendency for European Christians (and their scholars) to show great interest in Christianity in Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world but ignore Christians who have come from those continents and are living in their own neighbourhoods. I know too many churches that send nurses, doctors, and other valued experts on short-term mission trips to Africa but have nothing to do with the African congregations that rent their halls for worship services every Sunday. Numerous mission organizations remain fixated on sending missionaries to other continents, paying very little attention to Christians from those continents who are living in Europe and seeking ways to engage in mission among Europeans.
Two years ago, I wandered into a mission conference in Manchester discussing British mission strategies for Malawi, without any acknowledging of the ten Malawian congregations in the city. It does sometimes appear that the interest is in exploring Christianity in non-Western lands as one would study a virus under a microscope. For instance, there is a desire to study the exotic phenomenon of Christianity in Africa and not necessarily African Christianity. The latter would lead us to engaging diaspora Christians in a more hospitable manner.
Europeans Christians could actually recognize and celebrate that this world Christianity that exists in their cities today is testimony to the fruit of their ancestors’ labour of love as they served as missionaries around the world. This will mean that European Christians need to let go of the expectation that all Christianity has to look European and celebrate the diversity of cultures God has created for God’s own glory. Of course, world Christianity has come about because of the Western missionary movement of the 19th and 20th centuries, and can be attributed, both directly and indirectly, to the close relationship between the missionary enterprise and Europe’s imperial project that led to the domination and colonization of major parts of the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the end of political colonization in the 1960s saw the beginning of the explosion of Christianity that has seen Africa’s Christian population grow by 600 percent in 50 years since then. Still, the missionaries planted the seeds of the gospel and, in the case of Africa, colonialism showed the people that there should be a better way of being Christian which is exactly what happened as soon as people gained independence. There would be not world Christianity today if it were not for European missionary work around the world between 1800 and 1960. Since then, churches have grown whose members have found their ways to Europe, or who are now sending missionaries to Europe. This is a cause for joy. This leads to the next point.
They serve God’s Mission in Europe
Even though many of these non-Western churches are patronised by non-Westerners, almost exclusively, and are unable to evangelise beyond their own fellow nationals, there is evidence that their presence is actually invigorating European Christianity. It is because of these non-Western Christians and their churches that we hear that Christianity is on the rise and churches are growing again. Consequently, while we acknowledge that non-Western missionary work among Westerners is yet to blossom, we must celebrate that non-Western Christians are strengthening the presence of Christianity in Europe. They are doing so in many ways including their prayers and other ministries of mercy, some of which are not entirely relevant in Europe. Nevertheless, their presence in Europe brings with it gifts that, in many ways, invigorate both European culture and Christianity.
“Christ may be understood differently by Christians from different parts of the world, but still, there in only one Christ”
The work of God’s mission in Europe will not be effectively done without the involvement of the migrant Christians. They form part of the wider diaspora community in Europe that needs to be evangelised, e.g., the African Muslims in France. European Christians will not evangelise the diaspora without working with the Diaspora Christians in their own neighbourhoods.
European Christianity needs to allow itself to be challenged by what God is doing in other parts of the world. It needs to extend the horizons of its theological thought to hear from and learn again about the God whose Spirit anointed Jesus to set the oppressed free. Indeed, understanding God in this way will help European Christians resolve their superiority complex – I cannot count how many times I have heard Europeans say there is nothing they can learn from an Asian, African, or a Latin American – and their colonial tendencies – “everyone must assimilate our ways of talking about God and being church.” Of course, just like everyone in the world, European Christianity cannot change itself. It cannot bring itself into the 21st century where world Christianity is a reality without the help of world Christians, many of whom are right in their own cities.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the rise of world Christianity has direct implications for European Christianity, especially because of migration. Now, at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century, world Christianity is in Europe, trying to find its way to live and work with European Christians. Even though their Christianity is somewhat different from European Christianity, they are actually propping Christianity up in some European cities. This essay has discussed three key aspects of their presence in Europe; they are here to stay, they are not the enemy, and God’s mission needs then here and involved. Overall, I am optimistic about God’s work through Diaspora Christians in Europe. God loves Europe so much that God is moving evangelists and missionaries into European cities. The future is very promising.
Dr Harvey Kwiyani is CEO of Global Connections
Bibliography:
Adedibu, Babatunde. Coat of Many Colors. London: Wisdom Summit, 2012.Arroyo, Miguel Angel Zova "‘Common Mission’ and Latino Migrant Churches in Flanders (Belgium): A Case Study of CEI (Brussels) and ICA (Antwerp)." Master of Arts thesis, Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Leuven, 2021.
France-Williams, Azariah D. A. Ghost Ship: Institutional Racism and the Church of England. SCM Press, 2020.
Haar, Gerrie ter. Halfway to Paradise: African Christians in Europe. Cardiff: Cardiff Academic Press, 1998.
Jenkins, Philip. The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Kwiyani, Harvey C. Multicultural Kingdom: Ethnic Diversity, Mission and the Church. London: SCM Press, 2020.
Lindsay, Ben. We Need to Talk About Race: Understanding the Black Experience in White Majority Churches. London: SPCK, 2019.
Olofinjana, Israel O. World Christianity in Western Europe: Diasporic Identity, Narratives and Missiology. Oxford: Regnum, 2020.
Rogers, Andrew. Being Built Together: A Story of New Black Majority Churches in the London Borough of Southwark. University of Roehampton (London: 2013).
Wagner, C. Peter. Look Out! The Pentecostals Are Coming. Carol Stream, IL: Creation House, 1975.