The State of the Great Commission Report, the first major publication emerging from the upcoming Fourth Lausanne Congress, was published back in April. Now the dedicated European chapter entitled "Re-evangelising Europe", fruit of the reflection of six European theologians and missiologists, has been added. Here are a few quotes to whet your appetite to read more:

• Re migration: "Many come to Europe in search of the materially affluent lifestyle it seemingly promises, only to find that having it all isn’t enough."
• Re young people: "Europe’s young may not be physically hungry, but they are certainly spiritually hungry."
• Re the church: "For decades we have depended too much on the ‘come to us’ model, believing that if our churches are entertaining enough, or our events loud enough, people will come. And yet Europeans are no longer coming to us. We need to go to them, with a revived courage and conviction of Jesus’ calling: ‘As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’"
• Re the challenge before us: "Now is the time for the European church to step outside its comfort zone and go to a community that may seem too busy, or isolated, but that is deeply spiritually hungry."

There is lots of good stuff in the report about:

1. The meaning of trust/truth 
2. The place of community 
3. The challenges and opportunities of the digital world
4. Creation care and climate justice 
5. Unprecedented demographic change.
6. A shift in morality affecting how the ‘good news’ of the gospel is interpreted by many Europeans.

You can read the full report here.

You can read the Europe section here.

Thanks to our friends at Lausanne for this excellent report.

Jim Memory and Usha Reifsnider are ECM workers serving as Co-Regional Directors for Europe for Lausanne