New Publication: Fruitful in this Land

New book explores fast-growing 'healing churches' in Europe

Information: Netherlands Missionary Council, Utrecht, 0031 30 8801760, nzr@antenna.nl, www.zendingsraad.nl

Immigration has brought Christians from countries in the Southern hemisphere to Western Europe. Many of them are Pentecostals. They have brought with them their colourful, dynamic churches, adding a new dimension to church life in an increasingly de-churched context. The need is felt: it’s time to get to know each other. What is it that inspires these fast growing non-Western Pentecostal churches? What role do these ‘healing churches’ play in our hard-hearted society? How do they themselves see their role?

Many of their members do not see themselves as exiles bent on return to their home country, but rather identify with the former slaves in Egypt who were brought by God into the Promised Land in order to be fruitful.

In three respects non-Western Pentecostal churches represent a challenge to the mainline churches.

Firstly, they are reviving the debate on religious pluralism, raising the question of the added value of their churches.

Secondly, their presence calls for an exploration of the possibilities for a dialogue between them and the mainline churches.

And thirdly, the migrant churches’ distinctive ministry of healing obliges the mainline churches to consider their own stance with regard to this ministry.

These three themes are discussed in this book by an international, interdisciplinary team of experts in the field, writing from a variety of backgrounds. The book, published on 16 May, is a joint publication of the Hollenweger Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Netherlands Missionary Council (NZR) in Utrecht.

The essays in this book are the result of an initiative of the Netherlands Missionary Council, which in 1999 started a dialogue process in a missiological perspective between representatives of Protestant, Roman Catholic, Evangelical and (non-) Western Pentecostal and Charismatic churches in the Netherlands.