I came across an interesting article today highlighting a decision of the European Union to open up a “transparent and regular dialogue with churches, religious associations and secular groups.” The reason this caught my eye is that Europe, and especially France, is one of the most secular regions of the world. I have a heart for world evangelism and England and Europe have always been a part of that. It’s sad to remember how many of those countries in the EU once led the world in sharing the love of Christ. People like Hus, Luther, and Wesley stood and proclaimed the grace of Jesus Christ and lives were changed. But over the years Europe, more so than England, has gone to the extreme of total government led secularism and has pushed Christianity and any form of religious thought into the deepest corners of the closet. If anything, religion was a personal matter not to be discussed in public. Yet according the article, the political experts of the EU are beginning to see how much faith really intersects in the lives of people around the globe and how that even has ramifications in their own back yards. Apparently, September 11, 2001 is a date that stands out for the EU proponents of this measure as it “shattered a widespread belief that faith was a private matter due to wither away in modern societies.” For them, they understand that the spiritual drive behind the attacks in New York also fueled such events as the bombings in Madrid and London. So I generally agree with the assessment of the EU. A strong faith does affect society either for good or evil and I’m glad to see these folks recognizing this reality. But I believe the ultimate key for Europe is not more politically driven dialogue, but individual Christ followers fully living out their faith in their daily walk. There is nothing more transforming than the love of Christ being displayed in one of his children. Well I don’t live in the EU, at least not now anyway. But here are some things that I can do. What would you add?
-Pray for a spiritual awakening in the EU and England.
-Pray for the true Christ followers in the EU and England.
-Pray for the missionaries who are there in the EU and England.
-Help support those missionaries through our resources.
-Begin to dialogue ourselves with other people who don’t know Christ.
-Live out a Christ centered life where we are today.
I recently watched the second half of Return of the King with my kids and enjoyed every minute of it. I love that movie and really anything from 
To start with I want to clarify that when we’re talking about “church” in this section of Kingdomology, we’re talking about the CHURCH universal. We’re talking about the connection that all Christ followers have across the world and for all time. We’re not talking about a local body of believers like First Christian Church in Liverpool, NY. In other words, these are the folks who live in different parts of the world and from different time frames that may or may not have slightly different scriptural interpretations than me, but are still in the same family of God by grace alone. We’re still Kingdom of Heaven Citizens. I do believe there is a place for local body church membership. But that’s another post. For now though, there is another point which the Bible includes as being part of the admission to God’s Church, and that point deals with ‘repentance.” 
Welcome everyone to our first official “Guest Author” post on Kingdomology. The post comes from a friend of mine named Todd Owen who served in Papua New Guinea for over 10 years as a Bible Translator and now lives out the Kingdom in IA. Yes, people really do live in Iowa. Todd’s a lot smarter than me and I look forward to his contribution to our efforts in days to come. So enough of me, here’s the ball Todd. . .
Another great thing that I’m doing during this interim season is working with an adult Sunday School class at my home church in Amarillo. They’re a fun bunch of folks and are somewhat in a transition time themselves. I see them coming out the other end with a lot of new vision and vigor to really reach out into their community and make something happen for the Kingdom. Two weeks ago we took up a study over the book of James which is something that I think a lot of Christ followers in the West ought to camp out in for a bit. While in essence, authentic Christianity is all about what Jesus did for us on the cross and every inch of our righteousness is totally dependent upon His grace, the reality is that a life changed by God really does work that faith out in daily life. In other words, we don’t “work” to earn our Salvation, but because we are saved from the consequences of our sin, we then “work” to serve Christ and others out of love. It’s all about living a real, transformed life with no games about it. So for our 9:30 Sunday morning crew, keep going folks and live it up this week. For everyone else, how do you live out authentic Christianity in your community?