Até que ponto se aplica esta profecia à Europa?

My Prediction: The Coming Evangelical Collapse (1)
January 27th, 2009 by iMonk

I’m not a Prophet or a Prophet’s Son. I can’t see the future. I’m usually wrong. I’m known for over-reacting. I have no statistics. You probably shouldn’t read this. The “Gracious God” post depressed me.

Part 1: The Coming Evangelical Collapse, and Why It Is Going to HappenPart 2: What Will Be Left When Evangelicalism Collapses?Part 3: Is This A Good Thing?

My Prediction
I believe that we are on the verge- within 10 years- of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity; a collapse that will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and that will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West. I believe this evangelical collapse will happen with astonishing statistical speed; that within two generations of where we are now evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its current occupants, leaving in its wake nothing that can revitalize evangelicals to their former “glory.”
The party is almost over for evangelicals; a party that’s been going strong since the beginning of the “Protestant” 20th century. We are soon going to be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century in a culture that will be between 25-30% non-religious.

This collapse, will, I believe, herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian west and will change the way tens of millions of people see the entire realm of religion. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become particularly hostile towards evangelical Christianity, increasingly seeing it as the opponent of the good of individuals and society.

The response of evangelicals to this new environment will be a revisiting of the same rhetoric and reactions we’ve seen since the beginnings of the current culture war in the 1980s. The difference will be that millions of evangelicals will quit: quit their churches, quit their adherence to evangelical distinctives and quit resisting the rising tide of the culture.
Many who will leave evangelicalism will leave for no religious affiliation at all. Others will leave for an atheistic or agnostic secularism, with a strong personal rejection of Christian belief and Christian influence. Many of our children and grandchildren are going to abandon ship, and many will do so saying “good riddance.”

This collapse will cause the end of thousands of ministries. The high profile of Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Hundreds of thousands of students, pastors, religious workers, missionaries and persons employed by ministries and churches will be unemployed or employed elsewhere. Christian schools will go into rapid decline. Visible, active evangelical ministries will be reduced to a small percentage of their current size and effort.

Nothing will reanimate evangelicalism to its previous levels of size and influence. The end of evangelicalism as we know it is close; far closer than most of us will admit.

My prediction has nothing to do with a loss of eschatological optimism. Far from it. I’m convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But I am not optimistic about evangelicalism, and I do not believe any of the apparently lively forms of evangelicalism today are going to be the answer. In fact, one dimension of this collapse, as I will deal with in the next post, is the bizarre scenario of what will remain when evangelicals have gone into decline.

I fully expect that my children, before they are 40, will see evangelicalism at far less than half its current size and rapidly declining. They will see a very, very different culture as far as evangelicalism is concerned.

I hope someone is going to start preparing for what is going to be an evangelical dark age.

Why Is This Going To Happen?
1) Evangelicals have identified their movement with the culture war and with political conservatism. This was a mistake that will have brutal consequences. They are not only going to suffer in losing causes, they will be blamed as the primary movers of those causes. Evangelicals will become synonymous with those who oppose the direction of the culture in the next several decades. That opposition will be increasingly viewed as a threat, and there will be increasing pressure to consider evangelicals bad for America, bad for education, bad for children and bad for society.

The investment of evangelicals in the culture war will prove out to be one of the most costly mistakes in our history. The coming evangelical collapse will come about, largely, because our investment in moral, social and political issues has depleted our resources and exposed our weaknesses. We’re going to find out that being against gay marriage and rhetorically pro-life (yes, that’s what I said) will not make up for the fact that massive majorities of evangelicals can’t articulate the Gospel with any coherence and are believing in a cause more than a faith.

2) Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people the evangelical Christian faith in an orthodox form that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. In what must be the most ironic of all possible factors, an evangelical culture that has spent billions of youth ministers, Christian music, Christian publishing and Christian media has produced an entire burgeoning culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures that they will endure.

Do not be deceived by conferences or movements that are theological in nature. These are a tiny minority of evangelicalism. A strong core of evangelical beliefs is not present in most of our young people, and will be less present in the future. This loss of “the core” has been at work for some time, and the fruit of this vacancy is about to become obvious.

3) Evangelical churches have now passed into a three part chapter: 1) mega-churches that are consumer driven, 2) churches that are dying and 3) new churches that whose future is dependent on a large number of factors. I believe most of these new churches will fail, and the ones that do survive will not be able to continue evangelicalism at anything resembling its current influence. Denominations will shrink, even vanish, while fewer and fewer evangelical churches will survive and thrive.

Our numbers, our churches and our influence are going to dramatically decrease in the next 10-15 years. And they will be replaced by an evangelical landscape that will be chaotic and largely irrelevant.

4) Despite some very successful developments in the last 25 years, Christian education has not produced a product that can hold the line in the rising tide of secularism. The ingrown, self-evaluated ghetto of evangelicalism has used its educational system primarily to staff its own needs and talk to itself. I believe Christian schools always have a mission in our culture, but I am skeptical that they can produce any sort of effect that will make any difference. Millions of Christian school graduates are going to walk away from the faith and the church.

There are many outstanding schools and outstanding graduates, but as I have said before, these are going to be the exceptions that won’t alter the coming reality. Christian schools are going to suffer greatly in this collapse.

5) The deterioration and collapse of the evangelical core will eventually weaken the missional-compassionate work of the evangelical movement. The inevitable confrontation between cultural secularism and the religious faith at the core of evangelical efforts to “do good” is rapidly approaching. We will soon see that the good evangelicals want to do will be viewed as bad by so many, that much of that work will not be done. Look for evangelical ministries to take on a less and less distinctively Christian face in order to survive.

6) Much of this collapse will come in areas of the country where evangelicals imagine themselves strong. In actual fact, the historic loyalties of the Bible belt will soon be replaced by a de-church culture where religion has meaning as history, not as a vital reality. At the core of this collapse will be the inability to pass on, to our children, a vital evangelical confidence in the Bible and the importance of the faith.

7) A major aspect of this collapse will happen because money will not be flowing towards evangelicalism in the same way as before. The passing of the denominationally loyal, very generous “greatest generation” and the arrival of the Boomers as the backbone of evangelicalism will signal a major shift in evangelical finances, and that shift will continue into a steep drop and the inevitable results for schools, churches, missions, ministries and salaries.

Michael Spencer

Ladrão de Amesterdão: "Deus te ama e vai-te abençoar!"

DEUS TE AMA E VAI-TE ABENÇOAR! Aprendi a afirmar esta frase com o Pr. José Gonçalves. Contaram-me que, uma certa vez, em Moçambique, um grupo de ladrões entrou na propriedade do Pr. Gonçalves munidos de armas de fogo. Queriam levar o carro do missionário português. Diante da situação o Pr. Gonçalves simplesmente ia afirmando aos ladrões: "Deus te ama e vai-te abençoar!" Os ladrões, diante do insólito, ficaram inda mais nervosos e com mas raiva da vítima. Todaia, e de forma inexplicável, acabaram por se irem embora sem nada roubar.

Na passada quarta-feira, em Amesterdão, eu nem sequer tive chance de proferir palavras de benção sobre o indíviduo que decidiu levar a minha mala (trolley) com a minha carteira recheada de todos os meus documentos pessoais, laptop, documentos diversos do Seminário, roupa, cabos, etc. -não fui eu apenas a vítima. O Emanuel Resina, coordenador do projecto ConhecerDeus.com da nossa Missão, também ficou sem a mala dele com documentos de trabalho, óculos de sol, chaves, etc. Viemos a saber, posteiormente, que também o laptop da Igreja Vida Plena tinha voado do lugar onde ficara.

Estávamos em Amesterdão por dois assuntos: Reunião de Trabalho do Steering Group que coordena o evento mission-net.org, um evento europeu de mobilização missionária de jovens que acontecerá nesta Páscoa e, para presentar o projecto conhecerDeus.com a diferentes igrejas de língua portuguesa radicadas nesta bela cidade holandesa. O convite partiu do querido Pastor Jorge Seni, missionário naquela cidade e pastor da querida Igreja Vida Plena.

Tudo o que fomos fazer foi concretizado e bem acolhido. As igrejas receberam maravilhosamente bem o projecto conhecerDeus.com apresentado pelo Emanuel Resina. Preguei com alegria o texto de Esdras 8:21-23. Leiam o que o texto diz: "Então proclamei um jejum enquanto ali estávamos, à beira do rio Aava, para nos humilharmos perante Deus; e orámos para que nos desse uma boa viagem e nos protegesse, assim como aos nossos filhos e bagagens, durante a deslocação, porque me envergonhei de pedir ao rei soldados a pé e a cavalo para nos acompanharem e nos protegerem dos inimgos durante o caminho. Ao fim e ao cabo tinhamos dito que o nosso Deus protege todos quantos o adoram e a desgraça só vem aos que o abandonam! Por isso jejuámos e implorámos Deus que cuidasse de nós. E ele assim fez."

No final do culto, alguns irmãos, muito tocados, vieram junto de mim pedir oração porque os combates espirituais nesta cidade são tremendos. Orei com várias pessoas e o Senhor ministrou aos nossos corações. As nossas bagagens, as tshirts, os cartões do conhecerDeus, estavam à porta do salão de cultos, dentro do edifício, cuja beleza e grandeza podem atestar na foto. O que nunca imaginámos é que alguém pudesse levar as nossas malas. Não temos certezas, mas sabemos que, na sala ao lado, decorria uma aula com uma professora e alguns alunos não envolvidos com a Igreja. Aquele é um espaço imenso com diferentes utilizações. Depois do culto, preparei tudo, e fechei as nossas malas. Foi a última vez que as vi. Quando voltei do salão de cultos já nada lá estava. Deixaram apenas as malas maiores com dezenas de tshirts.

As horas seguintes foram dolorosas. Tinha perdido tudo, inclusivé os cartões de embarque que seriam usados poucas horas depois, no voo Tap das 6.25. Depois de algum tempo, o Pr. Jorge Seni, completamente transtornado, lá encontrou um posto da polícia. Foi feito um relatório em holandês para me apresentar no voo e regressar a Portugal, aliviado da bagagem. Procurámos a minha carteira em todos os caixotes do lixo das redondezas do templo. Estavam 3 graus negativos. Após lgumas horas, não valia a pena ir dormir. Faltavam 3 horas para o nosso voo.

Quem pode compreender estas coisas? O meu amigo Vitor Biscaia respondeu assim:

Paulo;

Não costumo reenviar estas mensagens que diariamente recebo no email, mas, depois do teu telefonema achei que esta talvez fosse relevante face àquilo que me acabaste de contar. Porque é que afinal Deus permitiu que as malas fossem levadas se o que estavas a pregar garantia exactamente que o Senhor também protege as bagagens?

Era uma vez...UM REI que não acreditava na bondade de DEUS, tinha um servo que em todas as situações lhe dizia:Meu rei, não desanime porque tudo o que Deus faz é perfeito, Ele não erra!
Um dia eles saíram para caçar e uma fera atacou o rei.O seu servo conseguiu matar o animal, mas não pôde evitar que sua majestade perdesse um dedo da mão.Furioso e sem mostrar gratidão por ter sido salvo, o nobre disse:- Deus é bom? Se Ele fosse bom eu não teria sido atacado e perdido o meu dedo.O servo apenas respondeu:
- Meu Rei, apesar de todas essas coisas, só posso dizer-lhe que Deus é bom; e ele sabe o porquê de todas as coisas.O que Deus faz é perfeito. Ele nunca erra! Indignado com a resposta, o rei mandou prender o seu servo. Tempos depois, saiu para uma outra caçada e foi capturado por selvagens que faziam sacrifícios humanos. Já no altar, prontos para sacrificar o nobre, os selvagens perceberam que a vítima não tinha um dos dedos e soltaram-no, pois ele não era perfeito para ser oferecido aos deuses.Ao voltar para o palácio, mandou soltar o seu servo e o recebeu muito afetuosamente:- Meu caro, Deus foi realmente bom comigo! Escapei de ser sacrificado pelos selvagens, justamente por não ter um dedo! Mas tenho uma dúvida: Se Deus é tão bom, por que permitiu que você, que tanto o defende, fosse preso?- Meu rei, se eu tivesse ido com o senhor nessa caçada, teria sido sacrificado em seu lugar, pois não me falta dedo algum. Por isso, lembre-se: tudo o que Deus faz é perfeito. Ele nunca erra! Muitas vezes nos queixamos da vida e das coisas aparentemente ruins que nos acontecem, esquecendo-nos que nada é por acaso e que tudo tem um propósito. Todas as manhãs, ofereça seu dia ao Senhor Jesus e peça para Deus inspirar os seus pensamentos, guiar os seus actos, apaziguar os seus sentimentos e nada tema, pois DEUS NUNCA ERRA!!!

Sabe porque você recebeu essa mensagem?Eu não sei, mas Deus sabe, pois Ele nunca erra.......O caminho de Deus é perfeito e a sua palavra sem impureza.Ele é o caminho de todos que nele confiam,como diz em 2º Samuel - 22 - 31. Deus nunca erra!