NEW ATLAS EXPLORES LAST 100 YEARS YEARS OF CHRISTIANITY

GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL Seminary announces the North American release of the Atlas of Global Christianity. It was released in Scotland in December [2009]. The atlas was edited by Dr. Todd Johnson, Gordon-Conwell Research Fellow in Global Christianity, and Dr. Kenneth Ross, Council Secretary of the Church of Scotland World Mission Council.

An important resource for understanding the past century of Christianity, this full-color atlas examines global Christianity since the Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference. It is the first to show the shift of the center of Christianity to the Global South, the first to analyze Christian affiliation provincially, and the first to study global Christianity ecumenically. Other features include an examination of religious liberty and diversity; an analysis of Christianity by languages, peoples, and cities; and historical essays by authors from each region of the world.

The atlas complements the 2001 World Christian Encyclopedia and utilizes information from the encyclopedia's online successor, the World Christian Database (WCD) at Gordon-Conwell. The WCD, founded and edited by Dr. Johnson, provides statistical information on Christianity worldwide and can be used by journalists, scholars, historians, and social scientists.

Dr. Todd Johnson directs the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell. He coauthored both the second edition, with David Barrett and George T. Kurianz, of the World Christian Encyclopedia and World Christian Trends with David Barrett. Dr. Kenneth R. Ross is Honorary Fellow of the Edinburgh University School of Divinity. Since 2001, he has chaired the Scottish Towards 2010 Council, which is helping to celebrate the centenary of the Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference.

gordonconwell.edu
February 11, 2010

SCRIPTURAL HELP FOR DEBT RELIEF

CHRISTIAN DEBT-ELIMINATION PROGRAMS, which use Old and New Testament passages as a framework to encourage financial responsibility, are surging in popularity, with seminars offered at churches across the United States.

In South Florida, Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University has proven especially popular. Nine Palm Beach County churches and 15 in Broward are offering the course. Across the country, 4,000 churches started classes between January 1 and February 6, said Meg Alcorn, a Dave Ramsey spokeswoman. Alcorn said the average family that completes the program pays off $5,300 in debt and saves $2,700 within three months.

This promise of a debt-free future is especially appealing during the recession, a "wake-up call" to Americans who pursued the dream of limitless prosperity, said Arthur Ally, president of the National Association of Christian Financial Consultants.

"We are getting people to reassess the direction they've been going in," said Ally, founder of The Timothy Plan, a group of funds that screens for conservative Christian values. The plan has about $500 million in assets and 40,000 shareholders.

For Christians seeking a religious basis for a new financial direction, the Bible has proven a rich resource. According to Crown Financial Ministries, the Bible has more than 2,000 verses related to money and managing assets. Among them, Proverbs 22:7: "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender's slave."

Churches in South Florida are using such verses to get congregants to examine their personal fiscal conduct, an aspect of life not typically scrutinized in the spiritual world. At Parkridge Baptist Church in Coral Springs, pastors began noticing about a year ago that congregants were streaming in with stories of unemployment, foreclosures and unpaid bills.

"Many in our community were living above their means," the Rev. Daryl Brown said. "We started exploring what it would mean for the whole church to reassess on a full-scale basis."

The congregation was invited to participate in Dave Ramsey's 13-week series after services each Sunday. About 150 of 430 members attend, Brown said.

Among them is Duane Hershberger of Coconut Creek. Hershberger said he used to owe about $100,000 on credit cards and a home equity loan, and $150,000 on his mortgage. About five years ago, Hershberger and his wife, Patti, attended a Crown Financial Ministries series. After learning about their liabilities from a Biblical perspective, they sold their house to pay off the loan and credit cards and now rent.

They started a strict household budget which they still follow today. They place all their money in ten cash envelopes, labeled in categories such as groceries, clothing, and gifts, and only buy needed items if they have enough cash set aside.

"Debt is a curse," said Hershberger, 42, a father of two and Motorola program manager. "I hate debt now. I've become really hard-core."

Danny Best, a hairdresser in Boca Raton, is taking the Dave Ramsey series at South Palm Community Church in Boynton Beach, which he has attended for the past six years. Best, 31, said he and his wife, Danielle, entered their marriage three years ago with about $35,000 in debt to their parents and on their cars, student loans, and credit cards.

"I felt entitled to have things even though I didn't have the money," he said. Best said the couple has followed Ramsey's advice and created an emergency savings account and paid off their credit cards. Now they are driving aging cars, which they paid for in cash, and building up six months worth of living expenses.

"God works things out for good if we live by his principles," Best said. "He's entrusted this stuff to me. My job is to be the best manager of it that I can."

Lois K. Solomon
"The Bible is their financial guide: programs aim to get people out of debt using religious principles" South Florida Sun-Sentinel. March 1, 2010.

SIX-PART SERIES EXPLORES RICH COMPLEXITY OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY

THERE ARE TWO billion Christians in the world today, a third of humanity—Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Pentecostal, and many more. Though Christians, by definition, are well versed in the story of Christ and the apostles, many have given little thought to the details of their Christian heritage—the miraculous transferring of their faith from the first Christians huddled at Golgotha, across two centuries worth of cultures and languages, wars, and the rising and falling of empires. A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years is a six-part series co-produced by the BBC, the Open University, and Jerusalem Productions and presented by Diarmaid MacCulloch, one of the world's leading historians and Professor of History of the Church and Fellow at St. Cross College, Oxford. As MacCulloch reveals the true history of Christianity, he explores the question, "What does it really mean to be a Christian?"

While most Christian histories start with St. Paul's mission to Rome, MacCulloch asserts that Christianity stayed much closer to its Middle Eastern roots and that, in fact, the first Christians actually took the eastern road from Jerusalem, spreading their faith across Asia, even to parts of China.

"Today, Christianity is seen as a Western faith. Indeed, many in the Muslim world would see Western lifestyles as Christian lifestyles. But Christianity is not by origin a Western religion," MacCulloch says. "Its beginnings are in the Middle East, where there still exist churches which have been Eastern since the earliest Christian era. The story of the first Christianity tells us the Christian faith is, in fact, hugely diverse with many identities."

MacCulloch is one of the most widely traveled Christian historians, and A History of Christianity is the first retelling of the Christian story that is truly global in scope. Filmed in high definition, A History of Christianity takes viewers on a 2,000-year odyssey that reaches the farthest corners of the world, from Palestine in the first century to India in the third, from Damascus to China in the seventh century, and from San Francisco to Korea in the twentieth.

The twentieth century brought what many perceive to be the greatest threat to Christianity—skepticism and spiritual apathy. Still, MacCulloch contends that the future of Christianity is filled with possibilities.

Audra Jennings
"A History of Christianity DVD series examines Christianity's global roots" www.ambrosevideo.com. March 15, 2010.