Vista 38: An uncomfortable truth
As Christian missiologists, we are convinced of the truth of the Christian gospel. Yet we are equally convinced that reaching Europe requires us to face up to an uncomfortable truth: Europe is still being secularised. Understanding the processes of secularisation is a vital part of discerning how Europe might be re-evangelised.
One of the tools at our disposal are large-scale sociological surveys like the European Values Study. A pre-release of the 2017-2020 EVS dataset gives us the opportunity to provide what we think is the first missiological analysis of this data.
Jim Memory’s lead article revisits our previous attempt in 2010 to synthesise six measures of belief and practice to provide a global measure of secularity and thus identify where secularisation is taking place most rapidly at present.
Jo Appleton interviews Professor David Voas, an authority on both the EVS and secularisation in Europe who highlights some fascinating insights on the data.
Evert van de Poll takes a broader look at some of the challenges of using survey data to measure religious belief and affiliation. And Darrell Jackson explores the EVS for insights on the religiosity of migrants versus native Europeans.
As always, we pray this edition of Vista will provoke reflection and action as we seek to proclaim Christ in a sceptical age.