PRAY FOR EUROPE.

The Untold Story of Europe: “Deeply Rooted.”

Europe suffered two of the most disastrous wars in the 20^th Century that almost destroyed itself.
World War I cost more than 8 million European lives and World War II more than 18 million in battle, bombing, and systematic Nazi genocide. Another 30 million perished elsewhere!
Therefore, the post-war leaders from France and Germany, the main warring neighbors, longed for a union of democracies in the future to ‘make war impossible’ in Europe.
The secular Europe today refuses to acknowledge that the modern European Union was the vision of leaders with Christian worldviews and values who recognized that the future was deeply rooted in the foundations of Christianity.

The Story they didn’t tell you!
Robert Schuman,  known as the ‘Father of Europe’ by the European Union and the first President of the European Assembly, was a Christian who saw the future of a united Europe naturally to be both Christian and democratic. He noted that the European story was deeply rooted in the Christian story, and to be cut off from those roots, Europe would lose the foundations for equality, human dignity, tolerance, and compassion.
The Schuman’s declaration on May 9, 1950,  first proposed the creation of a European Coal and Steel Community for six European countries to regulate their industrial production under a centralized authority to prevent competing armament manufacture in the future.

Schuman, as the French Foreign Minister together with German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Italian Prime Minster Alcide De Gasperi, were determined to build a new edifice of Europe on Christian foundations, which Adenauer believed to be a task ‘not only a political and economic aim worth striving for, but as a real Christian obligation’.
The book Deeply Rooted notes that these leaders were highly influenced by American Lutheran evangelist Frank Buchman, a member of the Oxford Group who started a movement called the Moral Re-Armament (MRA).  Their focus was on the task of remaking the post-war world and believed that if European nations were not embraced by Christian forgiveness and reconciliation, godless forces of anarchy or communism would fill the postwar vacuum.
Buchman who dreamed for unity for peace and progress in Europe was instrumental in bringing French and German political leaders together at a Swiss hotel in Caux, converted as a ‘Centre for the Reconciliation of Nations’ immediately after the war,
This reconciliation and trust contributed to this conceptual architecture of the European Union, based on the Christian Foundations of thousands of years. Schuman urged ‘that spiritual progress go hand in hand with the material’ and believed the European Movement would only be successful if future generations managed to tear themselves away from the temptation of materialism, which corrupted society by cutting it off from its spiritual roots.”
He had concluded that democracy was ‘essentially Evangelical’, since ‘loving your neighbor as yourself’ was a democratic principle that applied to nations as its mainspring. “Democracy will either be Christian or it will not be. An anti-Christian democracy will be a parody which will sink into tyranny or anarchy.”
Although the secularists and liberals have hijacked Schuman’s vision for Europe, the Christian Foundations of thousands of years sustained 27 nations with nearly half a billion Europeans living in peace today after 75 years!

Today, as we Pray for Europe, we reclaim the foundations on which it stands.
 Although many modifications, alterations, and changes in facades have been made to the building, the unseen foundations will last and give Europe a fresh Revival to restore back to its roots.
Let us thank God with this prayer of Daniel:

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his.
He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.
I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king.” ‘

Daniel 2:20-23

Christianity in Europe:

Europe was the first continent to be completely Christianized.
Most of the peoples of Europe were baptized by 1000 AD and have had a Christian background ever since. Christianity began in Europe nearly 2000 years ago when Apostle Paul had a vision of a Man of Macedonia, a region in Europe, pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” (Acts 16:6,9) Paul’s obedience to the Holy Spirit began a movement that would spread across Europe.
Europe – stretching from Ireland to parts of Russia, from Greenland to Greece –although thoroughly secularized in the past decades, God is about to restore Europe’s purpose and divine destiny.
Read: Is Europe Post-Christian or Pre-Revival? 

Three Divisions of Christianity in Europe:

Most Europeans adhere to one of three broad divisions of Christianity: Roman Catholicism in the west and southwest, Protestantism in the north, and Eastern Orthodoxy in the east and southeast. The divisions of Christianity are the result of historic schisms that followed its period of unity as the adopted state religion in the late stages of the Roman Empire. The first major religious split began in the 4th century, when pressure from “barbarian” tribes led to the division of the empire into western and eastern parts.

History of Colonization and Influence.

Although Europe represents only about 8 percent of the planet’s landmass, from 1492 to 1914, Europeans conquered or colonized more than 80 percent of the entire world. The spread of the Gospel to other continents and nations happened during this time

Evangelizing Modern Europe.

There was a time when Europe was seen as the heartland of Christianity, and missionaries were sent to the rest of the world to share the good news of Jesus. Today, that flow has reversed, and thousands of Majority World missionaries have been mobilized by the Holy Spirit to re-evangelize Europe.

Although Europe appears to have been thoroughly secularized yet out of the spotlight, an extraordinary re-evangelization of Europe is underway. God has ploughed these fields before. Our task is to pray for the fulfilment of the Great Commission and to sow liberally, and not to give up.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

Positive and encouraging developments in the Church:

The impact of evangelical and charismatic movements within the mainline confessions. The Church of England is significantly touched by renewal, by evangelical activism and especially by discipleship courses – the Alpha Course and Fresh Expressions being two of the most notable of these. Charismatic movements within Catholicism also touch many lives in Europe and beyond.
The positive impact of immigrant believers in European countries. Christian immigration has brought the presence of dynamic and lively congregations into nearly every part of Europe. African, Caribbean, Latin American, and Asian churches are bringing a new and much-needed confidence to the Church scene, reminding all that Christianity is a global and dynamic force and not a relic of a bygone era.

Pray for Open Doors in Europe.

• Disillusionment with the emptiness of enforced secularism and hyper-modernity leads to a new interest in spirituality. Presented rightly, Jesus is of great appeal to such seekers.
• Upheaval and uncertainty in economics and politics, civic disintegration, violence and crime likewise cause many to ask questions about morals and meaning.
• Militant atheism with strong anti-Christian, anti-religious rhetoric in some parts of the EU is strident and ugly enough in character to cause many to reconsider questions of faith and God.
• Read: Praying Against Strongholds of Secularism in Europe.

PRAY FOR GERMANY AND ELECTIONS THIS SUNDAY: 23rd FEBRUARY.

Please join in praying for the Lord’s intervention and turnaround for this great nation that was the home of the Reformation, historic revivals, cultural achievements, and mission movements that have blessed our world in many ways. 
Their intercessors note that “Germany today, eighty years after the end of WWII, this means that we are now at the change-over from the second to the third generation.”
The coming elections on this Sunday are crucial for the future of Germany, and they have requested prayer for the following:

PRAY FOR:
Integrity in politics
Truth in media
Wisdom for voters
Protection of democracy
Spiritual renewal
The next generation of leaders

PRAYER FOR THE REGIONS OF EUROPE:

Europe is the home of 744 Million People in 44 Countries:

WESTERN EUROPE: 199 Million People.

WESTERN EUROPE

Western Europe, where Protestant Christianity originated and Catholicism has been based for most of its history, has become one of the world’s most secular regions. Although the vast majority of adults say they were baptized, today, many do not describe themselves as Christians. Some say they gradually drifted away from religion, stopped believing in religious teachings, or were alienated by scandals or church positions on social issues.
PRAY that God will open the eyes of Western Europeans to the Truth of the Gospel.

EASTERN EUROPE: 284 Million People

Despite declining populations and unresolved tensions, Russia remains a huge player in both the European and the global scenes. Pray for a government that is effective and uncorrupted, bringing economic betterment for its entire population and allowing greater human rights and freedoms.
PRAY FOR THE WAR IN UKRAINE TO END!
Please pray that this war which has cost thousands of lives would come to an end and that a ceasefire and peaceful negotiations bring this an end!

He makes wars stop from one end of the earth to the other. He breaks every bow. He snaps every spear. He burns every shield with fire.

Pslams 46:9

Southern Europe: 150 Million People.

Southern Europe Largest Nations.

Country              Population
Italy                         59,342,867
Spain                      47,910,526
Portugal               10,425,292
Greece                 10,047,817
Serbia                    6,736,216
Croatia                 3,875,325
Bosnia & Hez: 3,164,253
Albania                 2,791,765
Macedonia       1,823,009

NORTHERN EUROPE: 109 Million People.

Countries in Northern Europe:

Country               Population

United Kingdom:  69,138,192
Sweden                10,606,999
Denmark            5,977,412
Finland                5,617,310
Norway                5,576,660
Ireland.               5,255,017
Lithuania            2,859,110
Latvia                  1,871,871
Estonia.               1,360,546
Iceland                  393,396
Isle of Man             84,160
Faeroe Is.               55,400

CENTRAL EUROPE:

CENTRAL EUROPE

Central Europe is a powerhouse of global economics. The Rhine River is a pathway for industrial activity from southern Germany to Europe’s busiest port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands
Country               Population Germany             84,552,242
France               66,548,530
Netherlands    18,228,742
Belgium               11,738,763
Austria                  9,120,813
Switzerland      8,921,981
Luxembourg    673,036
Liechtenstein 39,870
Monaco               38,631

Sources:
Operation World.
The Lausanne Report.
Deeply Rooted: Schuman Centre for European Studies.
The European Union.
The Oxford Group:
Britannica.com
Cauxpalace.ch.