Tag Archives: Christianity’s growth

THE CHURCH IS GROWING

Church, Culture, Optimism July 12, 2016 1 Comment

PMT 2016-050 by Krish KandiahChurch growing

Without my glasses, younger children in my household look at me as though I am a stranger they have never met before. To me, the world around feels very different. Last week my glasses were stolen and I became very aware how my myopia caused me to feel disoriented, claustrophic, nervous, and unconfident.

Something similar happens to Christians when we lose our global glasses. We fail to see what God is doing on the world stage and instead we become parochial and introverted, limited in our vision and witness. Continue reading →

PERSECUTION AND REVIVAL IN INDIA

News September 4, 2015 Leave a comment

Christians IndiaPMT 2015-107
An insightful article on the vibrance of resurgent Christianity in Hindu India. Pray for our brothers there. Pray for our faith worldwide. Here is the first portion of the article

Christian Faith Is Growing 7 Years After Hindu Radicals Killed 100 Believers, Destroyed 6,000 Churches in India
By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter

Christians in India marked the seventh anniversary of the Orissa attacks on Monday, praying for close to 100 Christians who were massacred by Hindu extremists who were pressuring them to convert. An Archbishop has said the faith of Orissa’s Christians has grown stronger in the face of persecution. Continue reading →

HOW CHRISTIANITY IS GROWING

Church, Optimism May 27, 2015 1 Comment

Church crowdsCBN.com — In his book The Clash of Civilizations, Samuel Huntington predicts that demographics will decide the clash between Christianity and Islam. And, as he puts it, “in the long run, Muhammad wins out.” In this instance, Huntington is wrong. For the foreseeable future there will be many more Christians than Muslims in the world.

As Penn State professor Philip Jenkins writes in The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, predictions like Huntingtons betray an ignorance of the explosive growth of Christianity outside of the West. Continue reading →

RISEN AGAIN: CHINA’S UNDERGROUND CHURCHES

Church, Optimism December 31, 2014 1 Comment

China preacherPMT 2014-157 by Emily Rauhala (Time magazine)

[Note: This article is published on Time magazine’s website. I am posting only the first three paragraphs but am urging your to follow the link and read the full article. As America is in full-scale spiritual, moral, social, political, and economic decline, postmillennialists need to recognize that God does not need America, and that he is moving elsewhere in the world in remarkable ways. Unless God pours out his Spirit on churches in America, it may be that he will promote the progress of the gospel in surprising places in the world.]

The pastor places a palm on the man’s head. As he closes his eyes, gentle hands tilt the man backward, below the surface, then guide him up. He emerges cleansed of sin and spiritually committed to Jesus Christ.

It’s a scene that plays out every Sunday, somewhere. This time the rite took place below a makeshift altar, in an unmarked building, on the outskirts of Beijing. When the man rose from the makeshift baptismal tub he joined a community tens of millions strong and growing by the year: Chinese Christians. Continue reading →