Photos from Hungary

It was great to be in Hungary last weekend.  Thank you to Peter and Sabina as well as awesome Laszlo and his wonderful family for hosting our little 3W crew.  What a great time we had seeing some of the country and the beautiful city of Budapest.  The highlight, however, was the people.  And I am especially glad that I have a new adopted little brother--Gabor--who I look forward to seeing in the future.  They really rolled out the red carpet for us and we greatly appreciate it.  Can't wait to see you all again soon!

The Next Christendom: Discussion 7

We continue our discussion of Philip Jenkins' book "The Next Christendom" by turning to Chapter 8.  This chapter examines the possible fault lines that could erupt between religious majorities and religious minorities.  Of course in certain countries, like Indonesia, everyone born there is counted as a Muslim whether they are practicing the faith or not.  So the numbers--for instance of the number of Muslims in the world--can often be more inflated or used in an ominous way. The countries with fast growing populations are primarily Muslim and Christian nations (in Asia and Africa).

Examples of countries that are overwhelmingly "Muslim":  Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, and Yemen.

Examples of countries that are overwhelmingly "Christian":  USA, Brazil, Mexico, Russia.

Two factors threaten to create religious instability and perhaps violence:

1) Population growth doesn't observe national or religious boundaries. So, for instance, the Muslim population in China could continue to escalate to the point that there are more clashes.

2) Conversions.  Both Islam and Christianity are aggressive, proselytizing religions which can sow the seeds for confrontation and conflict.

Jenkins reminds us that persecution can lead to the eradication of believes and he gives an example of the Nestorian church which was one of the largest institutions in the world, but by 1500 had nearly disappeared due to Islamic persecution.  Jenkins notes that Christian dominated states have not persecuted Islamic nations nearly as much as Islamic nations have persecuted Christian minorities.

In Indonesia, the Christian minorities are often targeted--and these minorities are often ethnic Chinese that have lived in Indonesia for centuries.  Sudan, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Malaysia are also mentioned as possible flashpoints in the future.

Will some countries, in Europe for instance, open their doors to Christian immigrants in order to avoid being nations of primarily Muslim immigrants?

Jenkins has a fascinating nugget of information when he points out that in the Global South, religious minorities often inhabit the land that is most valuable in natural resources--thus escalating the potential for conflict.  Why?  Because over the centuries these minorities were moved off the most agriculturally rich lands.  As technology has changed allowing mining to be done in lands that were once considered barren and useless, the minorities find themselves on very valuable land.

**Patrick's Comments**

I think as I mentioned before, it is remarkable how little religious conflict there actually is in world.  Most places on earth have people from a variety of religions existing peacefully side by side.  This is one of the reasons Jenkins title: "the Next Christendom" was so roundly criticized.  Because there doesn't seem to be a new Christendom forming.

Why?  I think a lot of it has to do with globalization and the spread of free-markets which have people more focused on the material and which is accelerating the pace of secularization from Africa to the Middle East.

An example of what I mean is Albania.  This is a country where there could be a lot of conflict. It's located in the Balkans and is almost entirely Muslim.  But Albanians are not interested in Al-Qaeda or even Islam for that matter.  They are very into cell phones, getting MBA's, and playing the stock market.  The big appeal is modernity as opposed to fueling old religious hatreds.

It's not that there are not conflict spots (Sudan comes to mind as one that could escalate even more in the coming years0, but there's another force tempering it--modernization.

I do not think that this means religion is a force for bad.  My area of study in Graduate School was on the impact of Christianity in helping to establish Civil Society in China.  A deep, moral framework can be very beneficial to modernization--and indeed has often been a part of healthy modernization and even secularization ironically.

At the same time, globalization is empowering more aggressive forms of proselytizing.  Another story from India:  On the television in India I was pretty taken aback by the number of religious channels.  Instead of Christian televangelists there were Muslim clerics, Hindu priests, gurus, swamis, Sikhs--the whole lot, all with their own TV show.  Islamic groups have gotten more aggressive in their marketing of their faith in Africa, often borrowing from American evangelical tactics.

All in all, these are fascinating times.

Photos from Bulgaria

 

Thanks to the Simpsons and Nenka for hosting our 3W Seminar in Bulgaria.  I was very pleased with the turn out and the attentiveness.  I especially enjoyed being there on a Sunday as the last time I was not able to stay for the weekend.  We saw a lot of beautiful things as we drove from Bulgaria to Serbia and back again.

I'm writing from Budapest, Hungary at the moment.  Those photos will be posted in a couple of days with more info about the CHOG in Hungary.

May-September 2012

May 3-6th Beirut, Lebanon
May 19th-20th 3W Seminar II: "Top 5 Mistakes Churches Make" Plovdiv, Bulgaria
May 21-23rd Nis, Serbia
May 25-May 28th, Budapest, Hungary
June 8th-9th  Vero Beach, FL
June 17th Church at the Crossing, Indianapolis, IN
June 22nd-27th North American Convention, Anderson, IN
July 4th-July 8th Ukraine Church of God Convention, Ukraine
July 12-July 20th Cairo, Egypt
July 23-July 31 Madrid, Spain
Sept. 1st  3W Seminar: London III "Why Does God Allow Suffering" London, England
Sept. 6th NRW German Pastors Meeting
September 15-16th Paris CHOG, Paris, France
Sept. 30-Oct 2, European Theological Conference, Fritzlar, Germany

May 3-6th Beirut, Lebanon

May 19th-20th 3W Seminar II: "Top 5 Mistakes Churches Make" Plovdiv, Bulgaria

May 21-23rd Nis, Serbia

May 25-May 28th, Budapest, Hungary

June 8th-9th  Vero Beach, FL

June 17th Church at the Crossing, Indianapolis, IN

June 22nd-27th North American Convention, Anderson, IN

July 4th-July 8th Ukraine Church of God Convention, Ukraine

July 12-July 20th Cairo, Egypt

July 23-July 31 Madrid, Spain

Sept. 1st  3W Seminar: London III "Why Does God Allow Suffering" London, England

Sept. 6th NRW German Pastors Meeting

September 15-16th Paris CHOG, Paris, France

Sept. 30-Oct 2, European Theological Conference, Fritzlar, Germany

Patrick and Jamie Nachtigall

This website is run by Patrick & Jamie Nachtigall.  We are Regional Coordinators to Europe and the Middle East for Global Missions of the Church of God (Anderson, IN) and leaders of the Three Worlds Team.  We serve this region with our friends seeking to prepare the Church for global ministry in the 21st Century.   Our Personal Bios are below: PATRICK  NACHTIGALL

Patrick received his B.A. from Anderson University and his M.A. from Yale University in the field of religion. He has lived in Latin America, Asia, and North America and is now the Regional Coordinator for Europe and the Middle East for Global Missions and leads the Three Worlds Team. Patrick has traveled to 60 countries around the world and has written on issues relating to religion and globalization for a number of periodicals.

The author of three books, Patrick likes to explore the global shifts occurring in religion. His first book Passport of Faith: A Christian's Encounter with World Religions is used in a few different colleges and seminaries around the world and his second book Faith in the Future: Christianity's Interface with Globalization was named one of the Top 40 books of 2008 and 2009 by World Magazine. His latest book is entitled Mosaic: A Journey Across the Church of God and is a 6 continent journey around the world and reveals the complex landscape that churches and Christian organizations must struggle to navigate at the dawn of the 21st Century.

JAMIE NACHTIGALL'S BIOGRAPHY

Jamie was born in Washington but grew up in Cairo, Egypt. Like Patrick, she is a TCK (third-culture kid) and has always felt more at home on an airplane than in any one country.

She attended Anderson University where she pursued a degree in English. During her college years Jamie spent several summers overseas working in Hong Kong and at Mother Teresa's Home for the Destitute and Dying in Calcutta, India. Prior to that, she worked with disabled adults in Seattle and Portland.  Most recently she served as the Membership Coordinator for both the Yale University Art Museum and the Yale Center for British Art and along with Patrick lived and worked in Hong Kong for nearly 10 years.

Jamie loves travel, and cross-stitching. On average, she reads more than 35 books a year.  She also enjoys working with the disabled.  Patrick and Jamie were married in 1997 and their son Marco was born in Hong Kong in 2003. They spent 10 years as missionaries in Hong Kong and assumed the Regional Coordinator position for Europe/Middle East in 2010 and started Three Worlds.

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Meet the Langfords: New 3W Teammembers!

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Zach was born in Port Charlotte, Florida and was an active member of 6th Avenue Church of God in Decatur, Alabama (Ken and Keli Oldham's church) when he got interested in international ministry.  After going on a mission trip to Guyana, Zach traveled to the U.K. to work with the Church of God and felt God calling him to England.  He returned for the summer in 2008 to work in the church in Birkenhead (Liverpool) for the summer and that was the beginning of a great love affair between Zach and England as well as the U.K. churches.   In 2010, Zach married Audrey Denmark and they moved back to Birkenhead to continue working as a pastor with the church there.

Audrey is a TCK (Third-Culture Kid) who spent some time as a child in Cairo, Egypt attending the same school that Jamie Nachtigall attended.  She has a B.S. in Early Childhood Education and a B.S. in Elementary Education from University of Alabama and has worked as a teacher and as a Lead Clinical Assistant.   She has also worked in rural Mexico, Belize, and Northern Ireland on mission trips.

The paths of the Langfords and Three Worlds kept passing as we traveled to the U.K. to lend support to the churches in London and Liverpool.  We were deeply impressed with their level of integration, their analytical skills, and their deep faith in what is one of the toughest mission-fields we have in this region: the tough, working-class neighborhood of Birkenhead.  We invited them to our 3W Seminars and they helped organize them.  Audrey accompanied Jamie Nachtigall to help introduce the Oldhams to Egypt on their first visit, and Zach has spent time in Germany meeting the Church of God there and cooking for Patrick and Marco. We also invited them to join our 3W Staff Meeting in September of 2011 and they fit right in with the rest of the crazy team.  They felt God calling them to long-term ministry and that led to this opportunity for them to join the 3W Team. The work of this couple has been deeply impressive and we are thrilled to formally have them on our team.

Zach and Audrey have committed to moving to England to serve with the local youth and church in the Liverpool area as well as regionally with the 3Worlds(3W) team.  Zach hopes to continue to support Egan Road Church of God as well as help with research and development of the 3W church planting initiative.  Audrey will begin developing an MK/TCK Member Care Program for 3W as well as continue to work with the youth at Egan Road.

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Meet the Kihms: New 3W Team Members

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Daniel and Christy Kihm are our Three Worlds missionaries to Holland.  Daniel grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and holds a B.A. in Bible & Religion as well as an M.Div. from Anderson University.  He also attended Cincinnati Bible College.  For the past 7 years, Daniel was the Senior Pastor at Maple Grove Church of God in Anderson, Indiana.  Daniel has had extensive experience leading teams overseas and has traveled to Haiti, Peru, Guatemala, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Honduras, Grand Cayman, India, Mexico, Australia, France, Italy, Jamaica, and Morocco.  He also was a part of XZ Berlin's 2010 Urban Mission Experience.

Christy was born in Albany, Indiana and has been working as an Admissions Counselor at Anderson University.  She has a B.A. in Secondary Education and a Masters in Business Administration from Anderson University.  Christy has traveled to Israel, Honduras, Tanzania, Brazil, Costa Rica, Greece, and has co-lead groups with Daniel to Grand Cayman, Hungary, Romania, India, Honduras, and Australia.

Both Daniel and Christy love being in positions where they can mentor and encourage people in their lives and ministry.  On the Three Worlds Team, the Kihms will be based in Holland working with the young, emerging leadership in the Church of God congregations near the Belgium and German border as well as in Holland.  The Kihms will also be assisting the XZ Berlin team from time to time, and helping us lay the foundation for a major Church planting and church support initiative by Three Worlds.  We are very excited to have them join our team!

By the way--the Kihms are expecting their first child this summer, so there will be 3 Kihms on the 3W team.

3W Seminar: Bulgaria II

This weekend we are having our 10th 3W Seminar; this one in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.  Never would I have thought we would have done so many of these in the first year, but they are really filling a need.  One of the things I love about the 3W Seminars is that they cut right to the heart of the issues that churches struggle with--the common tripwires.  But another thing I like is how they connect people from outside Europe and the Middle East with this great region.  We have our first 3W Seminars outside of the Church of God this summer in Almeria, Spain.

We will also be visiting Serbia (first time) as well as the Church of God congregations in Hungary.  This is one of the most exciting stories of our region as two young pastors have emerged to lead the country: Peter Kiss and Laszlo Debrecini.  You will be hearing all about those two guys in the very near future.  The churches are healthy, the leadership is healthy, and we have a lot of laughs when we are together.  Peter is hands down the funniest guy in the CHOG worldwide.  So you're in for quite the ride if you spend a few minutes with him.  Think Robin Williams on speed!  Yeah....I know.

So off to the Balkans and Eastern Europe. I'll get some great, blurry photos to share with you all.

Radio Silence

Hello everyone.  Sorry for the silence lately.  I returned from Lebanon and I'm down to my last few days in Berlin.  I'll be in and out over the next few months, but I really only have a few days when I will actually be in Berlin--so I am busy trying to prepare talks for visits to Bulgaria, Hungary, Florida, Indiana, and Ukraine.  It's all coming up very quickly. I'm also trying to spend as much time with the family as possible as I will be gone almost all of June and 1 week in July---my longest trip away for the year.  What a drag.  From the 2nd week of July to September, I should be with the family uninterrupted--I hope.

Anyway, I'll update a bit when I get a chance over the next couple of days.  Thanks for your patience.