Reviving Europe: The Call for Robust Theology

Europe was once known as Christendom it is now known by Missy ologists as the spiritually darkest continent on earth now people from other continents often struggle to believe that particularly because of our history and you look at the English countryside where I come from and it can be hard to believe it because there are so many fossils of Christianity all around in every town in every village you'll see church spires churches that are a thousand years old but they are fossils for the most part. [00:00:28]

If you want to understand where spiritually Europe is at today I think you need to think of Jesus interaction with Pilate in John 18 do you remember Pilate is interviewing Jesus and Jesus says I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice and Pilate said to him what is truth and after he'd said this he went back outside to the Jews he's not really wanting to know what is truth it's a cynical question. [00:01:22]

European culture now is skeptical deeply averse to truth and synchronistically pagan and when confronted with the very concept of truth Europeans today feel a glow of sophisticated superiority they ask what is truth and like pilot they walk out not expecting to hear an answer truth is seen as an exploded old dream of yesterday to be sneered at and ignored now some of what I'm saying is going to sound familiar to you in the u.s. right and there is certainly similarity only the situation is much more far gone in Europe. [00:02:15]

In Europe we are back with his old classic pagan problems in paganism there is no upright farfel e providence steering creation no loving acceptance by God no sure hope in paganism you are unloved unprotected and hopeless and just so again today in Europe with a sovereign God and sovereign truth removed a culture that is looking for self autonomy people are now finding themselves adrift on this endless sea of meaninglessness and moral confusion societies lost the truth that could give it coherence. [00:05:16]

Europe is the seedbed of atheism but Europe has become the epicenter of the disease that has now spread its spores all over the world and in Europe having weakened society's moorings to its Christian heritage we see the transgender movement far more aggressive in Europe than it is here so far because loss of the fear of God leads to moral confusion and a confusion about what it is to be human and all that means the door has been left wide open to militant Islam. [00:06:36]

The challenge of Islam has forced the church to do better theology to answer the theological and apologetic challenges of Islam and that helps you start seeing some of the opportunity that's here oh it's a dark background but some of the opportunity for the answer to all this is found in robust theology fueling robust expository preaching building and growing healthy churches that is the answer for Europe. [00:07:58]

John Calvin 500 years ago nearly in Geneva established an Academy where he would raise up pastors godly wise scripture soaked theologically knowledgeable pastors who would love God love his people and he raised them up in the Academy in Geneva and he provided them with books and in Geneva printing publishing became the dominant industry of the city can you imagine that of any City printings the dominant industry and then in the mid 15 50s Calvin set up a program for the rear Vangelis ation of Europe. [00:09:39]

Calvin saw it he saw good theology drives good mission and can drive back the tide of bad theology in fact he said a good theologian is a good missionary a good missionary is a good theologian and he would send men out to France Hungary Italy Scotland and even as far as Rio de Janeiro that is our vision for today to do it again. [00:12:05]

Union which is working with Ligonier for the Reformation of Christ's Church with Union following Calvin's vision we have set up 25 locations around the continent and in each of these they are Church multiplication hubs we're like little Geneva academies we are raising up leaders locally and in each place we raise up leaders there locally these men are recruited by their churches they're raised up we can give them a degree a degree a masters or PhD where they are and then they're sent out to plant churches. [00:12:59]

We want to send out men with the right theology Orthodox men who delight in God grow in Christ servants of the church will bless the world and we want to support them as they go out to enable them then to plant churches having been raised up to then have have the resources to plant churches so we provide them with books and we also provide them with financial support where we can. [00:14:04]

There is something that is very special about transatlantic gospel partnership both the US and Europe have always flourished best when we've worked together so for instance we have a program where we bring American students over to do a masters with us while working in one of these church plants and they can study and we have two dreams for them one is we expect most of them will come home to the US the other is some of them may come and stay and work in Europe. [00:15:36]

The same Word of God has the same strength and power it always has and creeping paganism has been checked and turned back before it was in Augustine's day it was in Luther's day it was in Whitfield's day and each time it has been men raised up heralding Christ alone and did you hear that word alone not just heralding any old Christ but heralding Christ as the complete and absolutely sufficient Savior holding out the gospel meaning that we must recognize our helplessness and absolute need for Christ his glorious sufficiency and his exclusivity. [00:18:07]