Editors Blog

Apologising in Athens

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

First blog from the Editor - written from Athens and reflecting on the Church in Europe.

Apologising in Athens

This is the first of a ‘blog’ (don’t you just hate that word?) from The Record.  This may sound somewhat pretentious, but it is being written from Athens. I am here to teach on apologetics and evangelism in the Greek Bible College, and to preach at the First and Second Evangelical churches in Athens.  So far, it has been a fascinating experience and a real privilege to teach at the home of apologetics!  It was encouraging to meet a couple of Greek pastors who actually read The Record.  But let me be a good Presbyterian minister and keep this blog to three things that have been brought home whilst we have been here.

1) How courageous and relevant Paul was in Athens - As I stood on the Aereopagus, (Mars Hill), it struck me that it took a great deal of courage for Paul to stand and declare that “the Lord of Heaven and Earth does not live in temples built by human hands” – as the Parthenon and all the temples of the Greek idols were overshadowing him.  It was bold proclamation right at the heart of the culture – not a quiet word in an isolated church.  What is the equivalent today?
2) How the problems of the Church are the same all over Europe – because evangelicals are a small section of the population, because we are often despised and even in some cases, such as here in Greece, persecuted; there is an enormous temptation to pull up the drawbridge and stay safe in our castles.  The tendency to isolation and introspection is strong, but must be resisted for the sake of the Gospel.  There are 4.5 million people in Athens – less than 0.1% of them are evangelical Christians.  It is a drop in the ocean, but we should be in the ocean, not kept in separate test tubes.
3) How human corruption is the same all over the world – Athens is a sprawling megacity of 4.5 million.  This is astonishing given that in the 1950s there were only 50,000 people here.  When you stand on the Acropolis you can see the white buildings extending as far as the eye can see.  In many ways, what was and could be a really beautiful place has been spoilt by human greed and corruption.  Just before we came here, there were some massive fires near the Greek Bible School.  Most people believe that they were started deliberately by developers who, as soon as the fires are over, start building houses and continue to extend the urban sprawl.  Simply to make money.  We were sitting having a coffee in a taverna when a large, fat, Greek middle-aged man approached a couple of young women from Latvia who were doing the same.  The conversation was appalling.  He offered them free housing in a luxurious hotel, a wage more than lawyers or bankers and asked them if they had boyfriends.  He was not offering them jobs as waitresses!  It was depressing to realise that humanity still produces such sleaze balls, and that so many women from Eastern Europe and Africa are brought here to act as prostitutes – basically sex slaves.  Have we really improved from the time of Paul?

Once again we are reminded that in Europe there is a desperate famine of hearing the Words of the Lord.  We have changed our name to The Record because we want it to be a record of how Christianity is impacting, not only Scotland, but also Europe.  I recently conducted a debate on Christianity in Europe on Premier radio (http://www.premierradio.org.ok) on their ‘Unbelievable” program.  Being in Athens has only reinforced the need for a renewed and revitalised, reformed church throughout the whole of Europe.