Lynn Green

Tag: Europe

  • Reconciliation Walk

    Reconciliation Walk

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

     

    Tre Sheppard helped me make this video in 1995.  He did a great job of putting it together and I am grateful to the people at ywam.tv for digitizing it recently.  It is still a relevant subject for a few reasons.

    It is very important that Christians in the western nations should understand how many Muslims, and Jews, see Christianity.  There are reasons for their feelings of enmity and we should humbly acknowledge that.  As everyone knows, history shapes the present and if we do not make efforts to address historical sins, there is little hope that the consequences will fade.  This video is a brief summary of the events of the first Crusade and their impact on Muslims, Jews and Eastern Christians—all of whom were victims of religiously inspired violence under the banner of the Cross of Jesus.

    The following year, hundreds of Christians from Western nations journeyed to Turkey to convey a message of apology face-to-face. That initiative continued for over three years, through Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the West Bank.  It culminated in Jerusalem on July 15, 1999, exactly 900 years after the Crusaders breached the walls of Jerusalem and slaughtered all its citizens.  In the context of the twisted understanding of the Roman Church at the time, their actions were thought to be “evangelism”.

    Let us walk in humility!

    Defusing the bitter legacy of the Crusades. Lynn Green retraces the history of the first Crusade and proposes an appropriate Christian response for today. The Reconciliation Walk was an independent initiative led by Lynn Green, an American who has been living in England for 25 years.

    About 3,000 walkers participated over the 3-year period, with people coming and going in small groups, from many different denominations and nations. It began in the spring of 1996, as teams of walkers entered Cologne, Germany, where the Crusades were launched in March-April 1096, led by Peter the Hermit.

    The 2,000-mile three-year walk across Europe and through the Balkans, Turkey, and Syria ended in Jerusalem on July 15, 1999, the nine-hundredth anniversary of a Crusade massacre of Jews and Arabs. Recorded in 1996, by Procla-Media, and captured from VHS in 2019.

    resource: UofN Legacy

  • What is the “Fakest” Fake News?

    What is the “Fakest” Fake News?

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    Here in the United Kingdom and all across Europe we regularly read news articles about the death of Christianity. More than once, I have read the headline, “Will the Last Christian to Leave Please Turn Off the Lights!”

    What is the truth? They have misrepresented it terribly!  So we might ask, how and why? Firstly, we have to ask how they measure. If a journalist contacts the HQ of major, traditional denominations, they will get statistics about the number of church buildings being closed and sold for use as community centres, coffee shops or even mosques.

    Is that a good measure of the state of Christianity or just really lazy journalism?

    If you poll people widely and ask them what faith they are, this is what you will find:

    In Europe, 77% of the population self-identify as Christians.

    In North America, 76% of the population self-identify as Christians.

    In Africa, 45% of the population self-identify as Christians.

    In Latin America, 92% of the population self-identify as Christians!

    In Oceania, 71% of the population self-identify as Christians.

    In Asia, only 9% of the population self-identify as Christians. But that still amounts to nearly 400 million people and the fastest growing Church in the world is there – the Chinese Church, which has added about 10 million people in the last 5 years!

    Keep in mind, this is based upon how many people, when asked, would tick the box that they are Christian.  When you think about it, that is the only way to conduct a poll.  How many of them have an active faith?  Well, that’s much harder to say, but we know the number is growing because there are more and more people becoming Christians by conversions than ever before.

    I don’t know how you feel, but I am sick and tired of this fake news coming from lazy journalists who live in their own little bubble of secularism. Yes, the practices of Christians in Europe are harder to track because they are not drawn to the outdated forms and practices of the traditional churches. But millions meet in homes, community halls, work places, schools and even pubs, bars and nightclubs.

    If you are shocked by the statistics above, go to the following site from the highly reputable CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF GLOBAL CHRISTIANITY at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

    http://www.gordonconwell.edu/ockenga/research/documents/GlobalChristianityinfographic.pdfPg1.pdf

    Let’s counter the fakest of fake news with facts—at every opportunity!

    Lynn Green.

  • Reconciliation Walk – Session 3

    Reconciliation Walk – Session 3

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

  • Reconciliation Walk – Session 2

    Reconciliation Walk – Session 2

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**