Across Europe, some politicians are courting the “Christian vote”. The promise is of a Christian nation, the protection of Christian heritage and the strengthening of Christian values.
So how should Christians reflect on these political promises?
What does it mean to be a Christian nation?
What kind of nation pleases the Lord?
The European Evangelical Alliance is privileged to have loads of fantastic networks but we especially want to honour the European Freedom Network this year. The Christian humanitarian response to the Ukraine war, especially in nations bordering Ukraine and within Ukraine itself, has been unbelievable. But EFN’s specialist work to respond to the Ukraine war is remarkable.
READ MOREThe number 1 socio-political issue of 2022 for the EEA family is, of course, the war in Ukraine. Russia’s renewed invasion and the resulting destruction, atrocities, trauma, injuries and deaths. It has been remarkable to see how Christians have led the way in welcoming and caring for those who had to flee the country. But, in this article, we want to focus on the Ukrainians themselves within the nation. Their example is humbling.
READ MOREIn the midst of a busy plenary in Strasbourg, we spoke with Austrian Member of the European Parliament, Lukas Mandl (Vienna, 1979), about being a Christian in politics. “We should always remember that in politics, we don’t work for ourselves but for the other.”
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The EEA Prayer Network meets every Tuesday, on Zoom.
Let us know if you would like to be added to the distribution list and receive the Zoom link, by reaching out to our Prayer Network here.
Jesus doesn’t just want us to hear him but also to do what he says! He calls those people wise. As the EEA we want to not only listen well to Jesus, but together, we want to put what we hear into practice, and we’d like to do it together. As Christians we believe that we have been given the Truth. Jesus is the Truth in person. We believe that Truth is liberating, for us as churches and NEAs and also for the world. This will be our topic for the next 6-months: Liberating Truth!
Read moreThe Sermon on the Mount, from where we get our House on the Rock parable, is deeply concerned with virtue. We spoke to Marvin Oxenham about virtue education, about what it can mean today, and about how to become good trees.
Read moreWe spoke to Nina Jankucić about how she ended up working with the Roma Networks, about the exciting things happening with this community, and about how with them she learns “being” and relationships: “And if there is no being and relationships, there is never going to be doing.”
Read moreLent is the season of life. In the northern hemisphere where we live it is also the time of spring. After the long, dark and cold wintertime nature begins to revive: the grass starts to grow, the snowdrops disappear and make room for hyacinths and daffodils to bloom, the trees turn green again, birds build their nests, and the first ducklings are already swimming around in the ponds. Migratory birds are returning from warmer areas, the days are getting longer again, and temperatures are rising.
Read moreWe spoke to Manuel Rainho, General Secretary of the Portuguese IFES movement, about the sermon, one of our main mediums of listening to Jesus’ words, and a focal point in our churches, communities and individual lives.
Read moreWe spoke to Mike MacDonald at the Bible Project, about how to read “these words” – this mega book that is the Bible, how important context is and literary genre – we can’t read poetry the same way we read prophecy! And when Jesus says “hear these words of mine” he is not only talking about words on a page, but about a unified narrative that points to him.
Read moreWe spoke to Usha Reifsnider, a Missions specialist, about listening to others: how difficult this is in general, and even how as Christians we are pretty rubbish at listening because we are the ones who want to be speaking. But we become better listeners when we have been listened to.
Read moreOur theme for the first half of 2023 is “House on the Rock”, and we asked Georg Schuster, Managing Director of Uplink Academy, to comment on this in the context of media and communication.
In Jesus’ parable, we must both hear and put into practice, to be able to build on the Rock. Georg pointed out that listening was an elemental principle in good communication: we must hear what people are thinking and saying before rushing in to share the Gospel, answering questions people are not even asking. And words are not the only thing that counts: people want to see us live out our faith.
Another principle in communication is to face outside perceptions, and here we accept that outside opinions about Christians are not positive. The Church is no longer seen as something relevant to society. It has largely forgotten how to listen and talk to the world. This led Georg and Mirjam to establish Uplink Academy, a media centre created to help Christians communicate better, be a space of encounter, and train those who see themselves as media missionaries.
EEA’s overarching communications theme for the first six months of 2023 is extremely relevant in many ways. One of these areas, which ties directly to Jesus’ image of the “storms of life,” is the increasingly out-of-control phenomenon of global climate change. This is literally bringing us an increasing number of “storms” or as meteorologists would say: erratic weather events.
Read moreHow is the weather where you live? Not the physical weather, but the spiritual weather? Is it like a beautiful Spring Day, is there a storm building, or are you right in the middle of a storm? No matter what the weather, we know from experience that it will change. And no matter what the change or the challenge, we need a strong place to dwell, to stand and to be safe.
Our theme these next 6 months is: “A house on the rock,” from Matthew 7:24–27. In Jesus’ parable, there are a few things that Jesus presupposes but doesn’t mention. Four things that anyone who is planning to build a solid house needs to do. These four things are true if we build a physical house, and especially true when it’s our lives.