The Worldwide Church (WJEC Eduqas GCSE Religious Studies): Revision Note

The importance of mission, evangelism & growth in Christianity

The future of the Church

• Christianity is currently the world’s largest religion

• One reason for this is its history of evangelical and missionary work

  • This involves Christians spreading their religion in both local communities and other countries

• However, in 2021, for the first time in a census of England and Wales, less than half of the population (46.2%, 27.5 million people) described themselves as “Christian”, a 13.1 percentage point decrease from 59.3% (33.3 million) in 2011 

  • Some people would argue that this is evidence that Christianity, while still the largest religion in the country, is declining in numbers and influence

  • In response to this, conservative and evangelical Christians believe that it is now even more important to reach out to try and convert people to Christianity

• A decline in religion has led some Christians to change the way they worship and connect to followers in a bid to attract new and younger followers

• Christian groups have been making the most of technology

  • At Easter, the Church of England encouraged followers to share “photos of baptisms, dawn services, church celebrations and more using the hashtag #EasterJoy” on all forms of social media

  • On Facebook, the page “Ask a Catholic Nun” has almost 270,000 followers

  • A Christian-based ad agency found that more than 30% of churches say they update Facebook each day

• In the UK, Christians are finding increasing numbers of new ways to worship and be part of Church communities

  • Many Pentecostal Christians worship in modern churches more like concert venues than traditional churches

• Christian Churches bring believers together in communities

  • Today, this could mean getting together to share meals or read the Bible or even connecting with Christians around the world online

  • Some people consider themselves Christians without ever having been inside a church building

  • Leaders of new Churches are often not ordained clergy but may just be devoted Christians who want to help and support others in their faith

The origins of missionary and evangelical work

• A missionary is a person who is sent out on a religious mission to promote Christianity abroad

• Evangelical work refers to the spreading of faith by missionaries

• Missionary work began with Jesus’s disciples

  • After the death of Jesus, Saint Peter followed Jesus’s instructions to spread his teachings and began converting people in the area around Palestine

  • Saint Paul was also a crucial figure in spreading Christianity around much of the Mediterranean area

• When European countries such as Britain began colonising other parts of the world, they often took missionaries with them

  • This meant that during the period of colonisation, there were often large numbers of people who were converted to Christianity

The purpose of missionary and evangelical work

• According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus told his disciples that they should spread his message throughout the world and try to convert people to Christianity

  • Missionaries spread the Christian message abroad, not necessarily only through preaching but through actions too, such as helping with development projects

  • This is how Christianity as it is known today has spread across the globe

  • The aim is to spread the message of Christianity through words and actions

• Christianity has been the largest world faith in Europe for a long time, so today its spread in Europe is slow

  • However, there is rapid growth in South America and Africa, where missionaries work on charity projects and set up new churches

Different Christian attitudes towards missionary and evangelical work

• Some Christians believe that it is their duty to continue sharing the teachings of Jesus with the intention of converting people to Christianity

  • This is done through education programmes, charity work and missionary work

• Many Christians highlight passages from the Bible that seem to indicate that all Christians should spread the message of Christ

• Based upon these quotes and the example of Jesus, some Christians believe they have a duty to ensure that Christianity continues to enlist followers

• Some conservative and evangelical Christians believe missionary and evangelical work still has a role to play in the spread of Christianity

  • They believe Christians have a duty to follow the instructions given by Jesus

  • They also believe they should share their religion with others so that as many people as possible can experience God’s grace

• Many liberal Christians believe missionary and evangelical work is no longer as relevant as it was in the past

  • They may also believe that it can have a negative impact

  • In a multicultural society, trying to convert others might be seen as a form of discrimination

  • Liberal Christians believe that it is better to demonstrate love by accepting people’s religious choices and respecting that people have different beliefs

  • They might say that missionary work is an intolerant approach that is at odds with Christianity’s key messages

The work of Tearfund

What is Tearfund, and what does it do?

• There are many organisations, both at home and abroad, that aim to spread Christianity through the work that they do

• Tearfund is a Christian charity (established in 1968) that works through Church groups to give help to the poor in many countries

  • It currently works in over 50 countries, providing emergency aid when natural disasters occur and carrying out long-term projects to support local communities

  • Tearfund is involved in many different projects that help with raising public awareness of social issues such as poverty and discrimination

  • It also gives practical help to act out the teachings of Jesus on helping others and encourages self-help for individuals and communities

• The work done by Tearfund includes:

  • Poverty relief — supporting communities with food, water, education and healthcare

  • Emergency aid — helping victims of disasters (earthquakes, floods, conflict)

  • Long-term development — training people in farming, business skills and self-sufficiency

  • Campaigning for justice — challenging unfair systems that keep people in poverty

  • Partnering with churches — working through local churches to reach communities effectively

• Tearfund is motivated by the belief that faith should be put into action by helping the poor and tackling injustice and is inspired by the Bible, especially Jesus’s teaching:

• The organisation also responds to the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31–46), which teaches that caring for those in need is serving Christ

  • It shows how Christian faith can be expressed in action, compassion and justice

  • It encourages Christians to live out values of stewardship, justice and service

Persecution of Christians

Christianity and persecution

• There are some parts of the world where Christians have been and continue to be persecuted

  • This means they are not able to practise their religion freely or safely

• Christians have faced persecution from the earliest days of the Church, such as in the persecution by the Roman Emperor Nero in the first century

• This persecution continues in some areas, for example, with Christians being persecuted in some communist countries

• Sometimes, Christians face imprisonment and even violence for their beliefs, such as members of the Christian Church in China

• Christians believe they should work to overcome persecution and break down barriers

• Some Christians support those being persecuted or try to educate those who are the persecutors

• Organisations such as the World Council of Churches try to work towards peace

  • They also aim to support people who are being persecuted

World Council of Churches

The Worldwide Church

• Although Christianity has many different denominations, they are all united by the fact that they are part of the Worldwide Church

• There are approximately 2.4 billion Christians worldwide

• Some countries, such as China, are seeing an increasing number of people following Christianity

• Christianity is represented in a global capacity in various ways

  • For example, the Catholic Church is a member of the United Nations, as it is based in Vatican City, an independent state

  • There is also the World Council of Churches, a worldwide inter-Church organisation founded in 1948

  • Organisations such as these provide a means for Christianity to be represented on an international level, and they try to bring people together

What is the World Council of Churches?

• The World Council of Churches (WCC) was founded in 1948 and is based in Geneva, Switzerland

• It is an ecumenical organisation, meaning that it brings together different Christian denominations (not including the Roman Catholic Church; although, it works with it)

• The WCC membership includes over 350 churches worldwide, representing 580 million Christians in more than 120 countries

  • The aim of the organisation is to promote unity, cooperation and shared witness among Christians

• There are many reasons why the WCC does what it does

  • Its work promotes Christian unity and encourages dialogue and cooperation between denominations

  • It supports global mission and evangelism and, therefore, the sharing of the Christian message

  • It works to support social justice and human rights and campaigns for peace, racial justice, gender equality and fair treatment of refugees

  • It provides development and aid by helping communities with education, healthcare and tackling poverty

  • It promotes interfaith dialogue by working with people of other religions to promote peace and understanding

  • It addresses global issues such as climate change, economic inequality, war and conflict

• The WCC is driven by Christian teachings and the example of Jesus

  • Its actions reflect Jesus’s prayer: “that they may all be one” (John 17:21)

  • It demonstrates Christian values of love, peace and justice in action

  • It helps the Church have a stronger global voice on moral, social and environmental issues

The ecumenical movement

What is the ecumenical movement?

• Christians believe that Jesus was the ultimate example of reconciliation because his crucifixion and resurrection healed the broken relationship between God and humanity

  • Many Christians try to follow Jesus’s example by working for reconciliation in the world and trying to bring the different denominations of Christianity together

• The ecumenical movement aims to unite all Christian denominations into one Church

  • It was founded in 1910 at the World Missionary Conference in Scotland and has led to more cooperation between denominations

  • Examples include different denominations sharing the same church building and ecumenical services, where different denominations worship together

• The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches that works towards ecumenism

  • Each year, the global organisation holds a week of prayer devoted to Christian unity, remembering Jesus’s teaching that all believers may be one so that the world may believe (John 17:21)

  • The organisation runs campaigns to promote unity and works with other religions

• Ecumenism refers to a movement towards unity between churches

  • Local churches often try to connect and come together with other churches in their area or further afield

  • This creates opportunities for churches to work together to tackle social issues on a local or national level