a five day congress in Budapest with over 1000 evangelical leaders from 35 countries, BosNewsLife learned Sunday April 28. Congress participants have now been asked to wear their badges to avoid skirmishes with strangers during meetings. "They try to break the atmosphere of unity," said Congress Manager Jeff Fountain, adding that similar incidents have plagued also other evangelical events around the world.
HOPE AWARD
Despite the set-back, a planned plenary session focused on Christian values in politics continued without noticeable incidents Sunday, April 28, as the Hope Award was given to Sir Fred Catherwood, the former vice-president of the European Parliament.
Sir Catherwood, an evangelical Christian, said he has tried to re-introduce Christian values in Europe, where church attendance is dropping and an increasing number of congregations are closing down. He stressed that a revival is possible but explained that churches must grow "from the bottom" and not from above.
His words were welcomed by other European politicians who are trying to set up a network of Christian leaders to combat what they see as Europe’s moral decline and culture of death. "The Netherlands was the first to introduce abortion and euthanasia legislation," noted Gerard Geijtenbeek, the Foreign Secretary of the Christian Union, a small Dutch political party.
ELDERLY AFRAID
"Elderly or very ill people are afraid to go to a hospital, because they may not leave that place alive. We are now in a situation where children want to speed up the death of their mother or grand mother as not to miss a planned winter sport holiday," he told BosNewsLife.
Geijtenbeek admitted that Christians have failed to prevent the recently adopted euthanasia law, but said that Hope.21 shows that there is still hope for Europe. "There are still many countries where Christian values are important. Take the influence of the Catholic Church in Poland, which wants to become a member of the European Union."
However Dutch speaker Wim Rietkerk, International Secretary of the Christian study fellowship L’Abri, cautioned that introducing Christian values in Europe will be an uphill but not impossible battle. He noted that Europeans want to rule their lives "without the Lord." Rietkerk suggested that reclaiming Europe for Christ will be one of the most challenging tasks in the 21st century.
