Article:
Signs Of The
Last Times
Where have all the Christians gone? According to Pew Research, in 1900, eight out 10 Christians were living in Europe and North America. Today, the map demographics has been completely scrambled. In Latin America alone, there are 517 million Christians. In Africa, 411 million. Asia tallies 351 million. Once a global powerhouse of Christianity, Europe is home to an ever-shrinking 553 million (expected to drop to 480 million by 2050,) while Northern America has 275 million.
"One of the weaknesses of traditional, ecumenical instruments and organizations is that they just work with denominations," said Grandberg-Michaelson. "Some of the newer models…are really trying to figure out how do we draw independent churches, especially like the growth of mega-churches around the world. How can we draw them into more of an intentional fellowship?"
Granberg-Michaelson said that unity should not only be upheld as a value from high-level councils and institutions, but also should be hailed by the local church.
"The bottom line is that when you read the Bible, if you describe a congregation like the one I grew up in, an independent Bible-believing church, well that's an oxymoron," said Grandberg-Michaelson. "You can't be a Bible-believing church and be independent of all other churches and Christians. That's just not in the Bible. Our connections to one another are a gift and an obligation."
