“Why England?”

As a country with a long history of Christianity, I get many questions asking why I am in England as a missionary. People are often puzzled by the idea of a missionary being in a first world country with a high cost of living, beautiful countryside, and among people which speak the same language as them (minus the differences in accents.) In reality, the United Kingdom is a country with a rather high percentage of atheism, Islam, and paganism, as well as a major rise in teenage pregnancies, and drug and alcohol abuse that has been brought to the forefront of my mind whilst working with the homeless, lonely, and impoverished in York. The UK religious statistics are quite startling when one realizes that 50.7% of the population is atheist, 19.9% are Anglican, 8.6% Roman Catholic, 4.5% other religions such as Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist, and approximately 12.2% are classified as Christian which includes Mormons, Jehovah Witness, etc. Out of the 12.2% up to 25% admitted they are not practicing Christians. From 2001 until 2011 there has been a 12.3% decrease in Christianity in England while there has been a 2% increase in Islam and a 10.1% increase in atheism here. It has been projected that in less than 10 years the dominant religion in the UK will be Islam with approximately another 76% of the population being atheist. As a missionary to the United Kingdom, I have already experienced the hardened hearts of many here. Whilst in Derby doing outreach with YWAM Derby, a woman on the street defiantly told me she was born an atheist when I approached her about having some sweets and writing her biggest question for God down on a whiteboard.

With all this being said, I am sure many of you can see the great need for Jesus and the message of the Gospel here in Britain. Let us not lose heart when we see how hopeless things may seem in these places; our Lord is still sovereign and I believe that He has a great and marvelous plan for England and the United Kingdom! Please continue to pray for the nations and especially for the Kingdom of God to reach people here.