Christian Today Australia recently caught up with the Reverend Dr David Parker, the head of the World Evangelical Alliance Theological Commission, to talk about the changing patterns of Christianity around the world.
C.T. AUS: Why do you believe the new face of Christianity is in the Global South and East?
D.P.: It is, merely, a statistical answer. The growth of Christianity in recent years is found in continents such as Africa, South America, and China. Contrast this to the traditional centre of Christianity, Europe, where it is static and declining. In Europe, there seems to be a sense of doom where many people are fighting a rear-guard action. However, in the Global South and in the Global East both are just going from strength to strength.
Regardless of where it comes from, East or West, there certainly needs to be a new sense of revival for sure.
C.T. AUS: It is interesting you say the Global South and East is the ‘new face’ of Christianity. Do you believe Christianity is fading in the West?
D.P.: There are many reasons for Christianity’s decline in the West. Secularism is one factor. The church itself, for many generations, is not as mission-focused as before. These are the two strong reasons why. The other factor is nominalism, where Christianity is simply accepted as an inherited tradition. I am sure many Christian people don’t realise we have moved into a new era and it is difficult for people to find anything attractive in the Christian faith when it is not presented in a dynamic and relevant manner.
However, when compared to the Global South and East, Christianity is certainly presented in a very confident mode and is being shown as a way of solving all kind of problems people face. Furthermore, Christianity is relevant to the listeners in many ways. Of course, there are danger signs as well. It certainly seems to be attracting huge numbers of people which can lead to a postulation that Christianity seems to be providing answers to people’s question.
However in the West, people are turning to other religious beliefs including Eastern religions or some kind of vague spirituality, not to mention paganism and New-Age religions. Over the last 30 years or so, South America and Latin-American, the Pentecostal, Charismatic, and Evangelical have recorded absolutely outstanding growth. There are huge Protestant churches of every kind there compared to a few decades ago.
C.T. AUS: Do you believe that any conflict will arise within Christianity, especially for denominational Christians, as the centre is shifting from the West to the new regions?
D.P.: There are obvious signs the Anglicans are already having troubles adjusting to this change while the Roman Catholics had already gone through it with the rise of liberation theology that first emerged among them in South America.
Of late, we have seen a fight among the Anglican Communion over the issue of morals and doctrines. The basic two factions are the conservative and progressive. Due to the strength of the Church, particular in Africa through its missionary work in earlier time, there is now a conflict between some of the western churches and the Global South.
In my opinion, what is likely going to happen in general is the two sides will go their own way and as they diverge each of them will become more and more irrelevant to each other. The Church of the Global South has just forged on ahead with its own mission and it has just left the others behind.
C.T. AUS: Do you believe the liberal element within the Church will lose?
D.P.: Undoubtedly so, liberal Christianity as we know it back 40 or 50 years is in serious decline and the reason is they do not have a particular message or answer to solve the current situation. The future of Christianity will be more conservative, regardless of which denomination. It is the more conservative elements that are forging ahead.
C.T. AUS: Do you believe the denominational churches will decline?
D.P.: That is certainly the case. We are seeing a rise in pseudo-denominations where churches will be linked together and this has already happened. There are two examples. Currently, there is a network of local churches connecting with Rick Warren’s Purpose-Driven Church and, similarly, Hybels’ Willow Creek Community Church is also doing the same where thousands upon thousands of churches are linking with them. There are a whole lot of Pentecostal churches that are linked together though on a more ad-hoc basis.
I think these pseudo-denominations will emerge as the new denominations. They have all the functions of a denomination and are filled with a lot of energy, vision and purpose. These ‘new’ denominations are on their way to taking over from the old denominations which had emerged after the Reformation. Though the existing denominations still have their place, they will still survive but only as a shell.
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Interview - David Parker, Executive Director for the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Theological Commission
Christian Today Australia recently caught up with the Reverend Dr David Parker, the head of the World Evangelical Alliance Theological Commission, to talk about the changing patterns of Christianity around the world.
Wednesday, 30 January 2008, 14:32 (EST)
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