The twentieth century and the global church (1900-today)

What you'll learn

Explain the fundamentalist-modernist controversy, Machen's argument in Christianity and Liberalism, and the rise of Pentecostalism, fairly and accurately.
Describe the church's witness under totalitarianism (Barmen, Bonhoeffer), the significance of Vatican II, and the post-war evangelical resurgence (Graham, Lausanne, the Chicago Statement).
Summarise the shift of Christianity to the Global South and the story of Christianity in Australia, and draw lessons from church history for apologetics today.

A century of contrasts

The twentieth century saw both the steepest decline and the fastest growth in the church's history. In Europe and its offshoots, liberal theology, two world wars and secularisation emptied many churches. In Africa, Asia and Latin America the church grew at a pace not seen since the early centuries. If you know only the Western story, you will think Christianity is dying; if you know the global story, you will see that it has never been more widespread.

This lesson traces the main lines: the battle over liberalism, the birth of Pentecostalism, the church under Hitler, Vatican II, the evangelical resurgence, the global shift, and Christianity in Australia. It ends with what all eight lessons teach an apologist.

Explain why the lesson says that knowing only the Western story will mislead you about Christianity.Show answer

In the twentieth century, liberal theology, two world wars and secularisation emptied many churches in Europe and its offshoots. At the same time the church in Africa, Asia and Latin America grew at a pace not seen since the early centuries. If you know only the Western story you will think Christianity is dying, but the global story shows it has never been more widespread.

decline in the West
rapid growth in Global South
Western view looks like dying
never more widespread

The fundamentalist-modernist controversy and Machen

By 1900 the liberal theology described in Lesson 7 had reached many American pulpits and seminaries. Conservatives answered with The Fundamentals (1910-1915): ninety essays in twelve volumes, funded by the oil businessman Lyman Stewart and his brother Milton, with contributors including B. B. Warfield, James Orr and R. A. Torrey. Over three million volumes were mailed free to pastors and Christian workers. 'Fundamentalist' originally meant simply someone who defended these fundamentals of the faith.

On 21 May 1922 the liberal Baptist Harry Emerson Fosdick, preaching at First Presbyterian Church in New York, asked 'Shall the Fundamentalists Win?', arguing that the church must make room for those who could not hold the traditional views. The most important reply came from J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937), a New Testament scholar at Princeton Seminary. In Christianity and Liberalism (1923) he argued that “the chief modern rival of Christianity is 'liberalism'”, and that liberalism was not a different version of Christianity but a different religion: in his words, “not Christianity at all, but a religion which is so entirely different from Christianity as to belong in a distinct category.” Liberalism, he showed, differs on God and man, the Bible, Christ, salvation and the church. Its root is naturalism: the denial of God's supernatural intervention in history.

Machen paid a price. In 1929 the Presbyterian General Assembly reorganised Princeton Seminary, and Machen and colleagues left to found Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. When he formed an Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions (1933) to oppose liberalism on the mission field, he was tried and suspended from the ministry. In 1936 he helped found what became the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (first called the Presbyterian Church of America). He died of pneumonia in North Dakota on 1 January 1937, after dictating a telegram to his colleague John Murray: “I'm so thankful for active obedience of Christ. No hope without it.”

Apologetically, Machen teaches us that the most dangerous challenge to the faith often comes not from open unbelief but from those who keep Christian words while emptying them of meaning. Ask what words mean.

What was Machen's main argument in Christianity and Liberalism?Show answer

Machen argued that liberalism was not a different version of Christianity but a different religion, 'so entirely different from Christianity as to belong in a distinct category'. He showed that it differs on God and man, the Bible, Christ, salvation and the church. Its root, he said, is naturalism: the denial of God's supernatural intervention in history.

a different religion, not a version
differs on God, Bible, Christ, salvation
root is naturalism
denies supernatural intervention

What does Machen's story teach an apologist about where the most dangerous challenges to the faith come from?Show answer

The most dangerous challenge often comes not from open unbelief but from those who keep Christian words while emptying them of meaning, so we must ask what words mean. Machen paid a price for saying so: he left the reorganised Princeton to found Westminster Seminary, was suspended from the ministry, and helped found the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Even dying, he gave thanks for the active obedience of Christ.

danger of emptied words
ask what words mean
Machen paid a price
Westminster Seminary and OPC

Pentecostalism

On 1 January 1901, at Charles Parham's Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas, a student named Agnes Ozman spoke in tongues after Parham and his students had concluded that tongues was the evidence of the baptism in the Spirit. One of Parham's students, William J. Seymour, a Black preacher and son of formerly enslaved parents, carried the message to Los Angeles. On 9 April 1906, at a house on Bonnie Brae Street, the Azusa Street Revival began; days later the meetings moved to a former church building at 312 Azusa Street, where they continued for years. Its racial mixing was remarkable in the Jim Crow era. Missionaries soon went out, and within two years the movement had reached dozens of countries.

Pentecostalism became the fastest-growing movement in modern Christianity. A 2011 Pew Research study estimated that in 2010 there were about 279 million Pentecostals and 305 million charismatics (Spirit-emphasising believers in other denominations), together about 584 million, or roughly a quarter of all Christians.

Assess it fairly. Most Pentecostals hold the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the authority of Scripture and salvation by grace through faith; they are brothers and sisters in Christ, and they have often been zealous in evangelism and in care for the poor. Reformed concerns include the doctrine of a second blessing evidenced by tongues, claims of prophecy treated as authoritative alongside Scripture, and, in some circles, the prosperity gospel, which many Pentecostal leaders also reject. A small 'Oneness' branch denies the Trinity and must be distinguished from Trinitarian Pentecostalism.

Keep one distinction clear. Whether the miraculous gifts continue today is an in-house debate among Reformed believers: cessationists such as John MacArthur and continuationists such as John Piper and Wayne Grudem both reject the prosperity gospel and any new revelation that adds to Scripture. Know Your Faith, Lesson 11, treats that debate. So the Reformed concern is not with every believer who prays for healing or speaks in tongues, but with teaching that undermines the sufficiency of Scripture or the gospel of grace.

How did the Pentecostal movement begin, and how large did it become?Show answer

In 1901 at Parham's Bible school in Topeka, Agnes Ozman spoke in tongues after the group concluded tongues was the evidence of baptism in the Spirit. William Seymour carried the message to Los Angeles, where the Azusa Street Revival began in 1906, remarkable for its racial mixing in the Jim Crow era. It became the fastest-growing movement in modern Christianity; Pew estimated about 584 million Pentecostals and charismatics in 2010, roughly a quarter of all Christians.

Topeka 1901
Seymour and Azusa Street 1906
racial mixing
about a quarter of Christians

How does the lesson ask Reformed Christians to assess Pentecostalism fairly?Show answer

Most Pentecostals hold the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the authority of Scripture and salvation by grace through faith, and they have often been zealous in evangelism and care for the poor. Reformed concerns include a second blessing evidenced by tongues, claims of prophecy treated as authoritative alongside Scripture, and in some circles the prosperity gospel, which many Pentecostal leaders also reject. The small Oneness branch denies the Trinity and must be distinguished from Trinitarian Pentecostalism. Whether the gifts continue is itself an in-house debate among Reformed believers (MacArthur and Piper, for example).

shared core doctrines
zeal in evangelism and care
concerns: second blessing, revelation, prosperity
distinguish Oneness branch
gifts debate is in-house

The church under the swastika: Barmen and Bonhoeffer

When Hitler came to power in 1933, the 'German Christians' tried to merge Nazi ideology with Protestantism and bring the churches under state control. In May 1934 a synod at Wuppertal-Barmen adopted the Barmen Theological Declaration, written mainly by the Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968). Its first thesis confesses Jesus Christ, as attested in Holy Scripture, as the one Word of God whom the church must hear, trust and obey, and rejects the idea that the church could recognise other events, powers or figures as God's revelation: a direct answer to the German Christians' exaltation of nation, race and Führer. Barmen became the founding confession of the Confessing Church. Barth lost his professorship at Bonn after refusing to swear an unqualified oath to Hitler and moved to Basel.

Be accurate about Barth. He courageously resisted Nazism, and he recalled theology to God's self-revelation in Christ after the bankruptcy of liberalism. But confessional Reformed theologians have serious criticisms: Barth distinguished the Bible as a human witness to revelation from revelation itself, so he did not hold the historic doctrine of inerrancy, and his doctrine of election has been read by many as pointing toward universalism, though he refused that conclusion. Admire his stand; read his theology critically.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (born 4 February 1906) led an illegal seminary for the Confessing Church at Finkenwalde until the Gestapo closed it in 1937. The Cost of Discipleship (1937) contrasts 'cheap grace' with costly grace, and Life Together (1939) describes Christian community. He joined the resistance through military intelligence, helped Jews escape, was arrested on 5 April 1943, and was hanged at Flossenbürg on 9 April 1945, weeks before the war ended. His late prison writings on 'religionless Christianity' are ambiguous and have been read in very different ways; his costly obedience is not.

The lesson for apologists: when the Western church was most tested, those who stood firm were those who confessed Christ alone as Lord over against the claims of the state. A faith anchored in Scripture, not in culture, is what survives.

What did the Barmen Declaration confess, and why was it a direct answer to the 'German Christians'?Show answer

Its first thesis confesses Jesus Christ, as attested in Holy Scripture, as the one Word of God whom the church must hear, trust and obey, and rejects recognising other events, powers or figures as God's revelation. That directly answered the German Christians, who exalted nation, race and Führer and tried to bring the churches under state control. Barmen became the founding confession of the Confessing Church.

Christ the one Word of God
rejects other 'revelations'
against nation, race, Führer
Confessing Church

What is the difference between admiring Barth's and Bonhoeffer's stand and adopting their theology?Show answer

Barth courageously resisted Nazism, and Bonhoeffer ran an illegal seminary, helped Jews escape and was hanged in 1945; their costly obedience deserves honour. But Barth treated the Bible as a human witness to revelation rather than revelation itself, so he did not hold the historic doctrine of inerrancy, and his doctrine of election has been read as pointing toward universalism. Bonhoeffer's late 'religionless Christianity' writings are ambiguous, so we admire their stand and read their theology critically.

honour their courage
Barth: Bible as witness, not inerrant
election toward universalism
read critically

Vatican II and the evangelical resurgence

The Second Vatican Council opened on 11 October 1962 under John XXIII and closed on 8 December 1965 under Paul VI, issuing sixteen documents, including four constitutions. It permitted the vernacular in the liturgy, encouraged Bible reading, affirmed religious liberty, and called Protestants “separated brethren” whom the Catholic Church embraces “as brothers, with respect and affection” (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). Many Catholics and Protestants have since cooperated on moral and social causes. But Vatican II did not repeal Trent. In 1999 the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, stating that Trent's condemnations do not apply to Lutheran teaching as presented there; many confessional Protestants judged that it blurred rather than resolved the issue of imputed righteousness. You will study Catholic teaching in Roman Catholicism (m11).

Among Protestants, the second half of the century saw a confident evangelical resurgence. Billy Graham (1918-2018) rose to prominence with his eight-week Los Angeles campaign of 1949 and preached in person to many millions across more than 185 countries and territories. Christianity Today was founded in 1956 with Carl F. H. Henry as editor. Graham convened the International Congress on World Evangelization at Lausanne, Switzerland (16-25 July 1974), with some 2,400 participants (about 2,700 including observers and guests, by other counts) from 150 nations; John Stott was the chief architect of the Lausanne Covenant, which affirmed Scripture's authority, the uniqueness of Christ and the urgency of evangelism alongside social responsibility. In October 1978 more than 200 evangelical leaders, including J. I. Packer, R. C. Sproul, Francis Schaeffer and James Montgomery Boice, signed the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, a carefully worded set of affirmations and denials that remains a standard reference (see Know Your Faith, Lesson 1).

Reformed believers note that broad evangelicalism has often been doctrinally thin. Alongside it, the century saw a revival of interest in Reformed and Puritan theology through publishers, preachers and seminaries, which is part of the background to this course.

What did Vatican II change, and what did it not change?Show answer

It permitted the vernacular in the liturgy, encouraged Bible reading, affirmed religious liberty and called Protestants 'separated brethren' to be embraced with respect and affection. But it did not repeal Trent. The 1999 Joint Declaration with the Lutherans said Trent's condemnations do not apply to Lutheran teaching as presented there, yet many confessional Protestants judged it blurred rather than resolved the issue of imputed righteousness.

vernacular and Bible reading
Protestants as 'separated brethren'
Trent not repealed
Joint Declaration blurred imputation

Name two landmarks of the twentieth-century evangelical resurgence and what each affirmed.Show answer

Billy Graham's 1974 Lausanne Congress produced the Lausanne Covenant, largely shaped by John Stott, which affirmed Scripture's authority, the uniqueness of Christ and the urgency of evangelism alongside social responsibility. In 1978 more than 200 evangelical leaders signed the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, a carefully worded set of affirmations and denials. Reformed believers note, though, that broad evangelicalism has often been doctrinally thin.

Lausanne Covenant 1974
Scripture, Christ's uniqueness, evangelism
Chicago Statement 1978
evangelicalism often thin

The global church

In 1910 the World Missionary Conference met in Edinburgh (14-23 June), chaired by John R. Mott. Of about 1,200 delegates, only 18 came from non-Western countries. A century later the picture had been transformed. According to the Pew Research Center, in 1910 about two-thirds of the world's Christians lived in Europe, and 93 percent lived in Europe and the Americas; by 2010 more than 1.3 billion Christians, about 61 percent of the total, lived in the Global South. In sub-Saharan Africa the number of Christians grew from fewer than 9 million in 1910 to more than 516 million in 2010.

The typical Christian today is not a white Westerner but, increasingly, an African, Latin American or Asian believer, often poor, often persecuted, and usually theologically conservative. This answers the claim that Christianity is 'the white man's religion' (you will meet it again in Hebrew Israelites, m09): the faith began in the Middle East, spread early to Africa and Asia, and is now growing fastest outside the West. It also answers the claim that Christianity is dying: it is declining in some places and exploding in others.

Example: 'The white man's religion' in the staff room

Colleague: Honestly, Christianity is just the white man's religion. It came with the colonisers.

You: I can see why it looks that way from here. Where do you think it started?

Colleague: Europe, I suppose. Rome?

You: It actually began among Jews in Jerusalem, and in its first centuries it spread to North Africa, Ethiopia, Armenia, Persia and India, long before it reached most of northern Europe.

Colleague: Fine, but missionaries still came with the empires.

You: Sometimes they did, and some were arrogant about local cultures. I won't defend that. But look at today. In 1910 about two-thirds of the world's Christians lived in Europe. By 2010 about 61 percent lived in the Global South, and sub-Saharan Africa had gone from under 9 million Christians to over 516 million.

Colleague: I didn't know that.

You: The typical Christian today is increasingly African, Latin American or Asian. That fits what Jesus said: the gospel is for all nations (Matt 28:19). So the real question isn't whose religion it is, but whether Jesus rose from the dead. What do you make of him?

How would you use the global picture to answer someone who says Christianity is 'the white man's religion' or that it is dying?Show answer

In 1910 about two-thirds of the world's Christians lived in Europe, but by 2010 about 61 percent lived in the Global South, and sub-Saharan Africa grew from fewer than 9 million Christians to more than 516 million. The typical Christian today is increasingly African, Latin American or Asian. The faith began in the Middle East, spread early to Africa and Asia, and is now growing fastest outside the West; it is declining in some places and exploding in others.

shift to Global South
sub-Saharan Africa's growth
began in the Middle East
declining in places, exploding in others

Christianity in Australia

Christianity arrived in Australia with the First Fleet. The Anglican chaplain Richard Johnson, appointed with the support of evangelicals connected to John Newton and William Wilberforce, held the first Christian service at Sydney Cove on Sunday 3 February 1788, preaching on Psalm 116:12, 'What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?' He celebrated the colony's first Lord's Supper on 17 February 1788. His successor Samuel Marsden is remembered for an energetic ministry and, less happily, as a harsh magistrate nicknamed the 'flogging parson'. The churches' record with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is mixed: missions sometimes contributed to the loss of culture and sometimes helped preserve it. Many churches have formally apologised for past failures, and Torres Strait Islanders, who celebrate the 'Coming of the Light' on 1 July each year (marking the missionaries' arrival in 1871), remain largely Christian. In 1977 most Methodist and Congregational churches and about two-thirds of the Presbyterian church united to form the Uniting Church in Australia.

State census figures carefully. In the 2021 Census, 43.9 percent of Australians identified as Christian (down from 52.1 percent in 2016 and 86.2 percent in 1971), while 38.9 percent reported no religion. Catholics were 20 percent and Anglicans 9.8 percent of the population; Pentecostals about 1 percent. Census affiliation is not the same as church attendance, which is much lower. Check the newest census release when it appears, since these figures change every five years.

So the apologist in Australia speaks into a culture with deep Christian roots that many have forgotten, a large and growing 'no religion' group, and growing migrant churches and other faiths. That is a mission field, not a reason for despair.

How did Christianity arrive in Australia, and how does the lesson describe the churches' record with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples?Show answer

The Anglican chaplain Richard Johnson held the first Christian service at Sydney Cove on 3 February 1788, preaching on Psalm 116:12. The churches' record with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is mixed: missions sometimes contributed to the loss of culture and sometimes helped preserve it, and many churches have formally apologised. Torres Strait Islanders celebrate the 'Coming of the Light' each 1 July and remain largely Christian.

Richard Johnson, 1788
a mixed record
formal apologies
Coming of the Light

Why does the lesson tell you to state census figures carefully, and how should an Australian apologist view the situation?Show answer

In the 2021 Census 43.9 percent identified as Christian (down from 86.2 percent in 1971) and 38.9 percent reported no religion, but census affiliation is not the same as attendance, which is much lower, and the figures change every five years. The apologist speaks into a culture with deep, often forgotten Christian roots, a growing 'no religion' group, and growing migrant churches and other faiths. That is a mission field, not a reason for despair.

43.9% Christian, 38.9% no religion
affiliation is not attendance
check newest census
mission field, not despair

What church history teaches an apologist

Looking back over the whole module, several lessons stand out.

Christ keeps his promise. The church has been persecuted, corrupted, divided and declared dead many times, yet it has never failed (Matt 16:18). Every 'total apostasy' claim (LDS, Watchtower and others) runs into this history.
The core faith is ancient. The Trinity, the deity of Christ and the canon were not invented by Constantine or chosen at Nicaea (Lesson 2); the Reformation recovered the apostolic gospel rather than inventing a new one (Lesson 5).
Doctrine matters. Every great renewal (Nicaea, the Reformation, Dort, Westminster, Spurgeon, Machen) involved precise doctrine. Every decline began when words were kept and meanings changed.
Tell the truth about our sins. Crusades, persecutions, slavery and abuse of power are real. Admitting them honestly disarms critics and honours God, and the gospel is good news precisely for sinners.
Know the global and local story. Christianity is not a Western invention or a dying relic; it is the most widespread faith in the world, and it has a long story in Australia.
Stand in the line. You are not the first to face these questions. Martyrs, confessors, Reformers, Puritans, missionaries and ordinary believers have answered them before you. Learn from them, and pass the faith on (2 Tim 2:2).

How does church history answer 'total apostasy' claims such as those of the Latter-day Saints and the Watchtower?Show answer

Christ promised to build his church (Matt 16:18), and although the church has been persecuted, corrupted, divided and declared dead many times, it has never failed. The core faith, including the Trinity, the deity of Christ and the canon, is ancient rather than a later invention. So claims that the true faith disappeared after the apostles run straight into this history.

Christ's promise (Matt 16:18)
church never failed
core faith is ancient
contradicts total apostasy

Why does the lesson say that admitting the church's sins helps rather than hurts the apologist?Show answer

Crusades, persecutions, slavery and abuse of power are real. Admitting them honestly disarms critics and honours God. And the gospel is good news precisely for sinners, so honesty about the church's failures fits the message rather than undermining it.

the sins are real
honesty disarms critics
honours God
gospel is for sinners

Key texts

Matthew 16:18: 'I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' The promise that church history confirms and that every total-apostasy claim contradicts.
Galatians 1:6-9: A different gospel is no gospel. The text behind Machen's claim that liberalism is a different religion, not a variety of Christianity.
Acts 5:29: 'We must obey God rather than men.' The principle of the Confessing Church against the Nazi state.
Acts 2:1-13: Pentecost: the Spirit poured out and the gospel heard in many languages. The text Pentecostals appeal to, and the start of the global mission.
Revelation 7:9-10: A great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language before the throne: the goal the global church is moving toward.
Psalm 116:12-13: The text of the first Christian sermon in Australia, 3 February 1788.
2 Timothy 2:2: Entrust what you have heard to faithful people who will teach others also: the chain of faithful transmission that church history records.
1 Peter 3:15-16: Be ready to give a defence with gentleness and respect, keeping a good conscience. The posture of an apologist who knows the church's history, flaws included.

Objections and answers

Try answering each one yourself before you open the response.

“Christianity is a white Western religion that was imposed on the world through colonialism.”Show a response

Begin with the facts. Christianity began among Jews in the Middle East, and in its first centuries spread to North Africa, Ethiopia, Armenia, Persia and India, long before it reached most of northern Europe. Today the centre of gravity has shifted south: Pew estimates that by 2010 about 61 percent of Christians lived in the Global South, and sub-Saharan Africa grew from fewer than 9 million Christians in 1910 to more than 516 million in 2010, much of that growth after colonial rule ended. Admit honestly that missionaries were sometimes entangled with colonial power and cultural arrogance. But notice that the fastest growth has come through local believers, often under persecution. The gospel is for 'every nation, tribe, people and language' (Rev 7:9), and the global church is the living proof.

“Australia isn't a Christian country any more. The census shows Christianity is dying.”Show a response

The 2021 Census does show a sharp decline in Christian affiliation, from 86.2 percent in 1971 to 43.9 percent in 2021, with 38.9 percent reporting no religion. Say so honestly. But three things put this in perspective. First, much of the decline is nominal affiliation dropping away; census ticks were never the same as living faith. Second, Christianity is still the largest affiliation in Australia and is growing globally, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Third, the church has been here before: it began in Australia with one chaplain preaching to convicts in 1788, and in the first centuries it was a small, despised minority that grew under persecution. A post-Christian culture is a mission field, and many Australians have never actually heard the gospel clearly. That is an opportunity.

“Barth and Bonhoeffer were the heroes of the twentieth-century church, so their theology must be the way forward.”Show a response

Their courage was real: Barth drafted the Barmen Declaration and refused an unqualified oath to Hitler, and Bonhoeffer was executed for resisting the Nazi regime. Christians should honour that. But courage does not settle every theological question. Barth taught that the Bible is a human witness that becomes God's word as God speaks through it, rather than an inerrant written revelation, and many readers find his doctrine of election pointing toward universalism. Bonhoeffer's late prison writings are fragmentary and have been read in contradictory ways. Notice too that the confession that made Barmen strong was its most traditional claim: Jesus Christ as attested in Scripture is the one Word of God. Machen, Spurgeon and the Reformers would agree. Take their stand; test their theology by Scripture (Acts 17:11).

“Liberal Christians are still Christians. Machen was just being divisive and judgemental.”Show a response

Machen wasn't claiming to see into anyone's heart, or that he was better than others. He was making a claim about two systems of belief. Liberalism, he argued, differed from historic Christianity on God and man, the Bible, Christ, salvation and the church, and its root was naturalism, the denial that God acts supernaturally in history. That matters, because if Christ has not been raised, Paul says our faith is futile and we are still in our sins (1 Cor 15:14, 17). Calling two different religions by the same name doesn't make them the same; it only hides the difference. Clarity actually respects people more than vague agreement does. Machen's lesson for us is simply to ask what words mean, and then to answer charitably but clearly.

“Catholics and Lutherans signed a joint declaration on justification in 1999. The Reformation is over, so why keep arguing?”Show a response

It's good that Catholics and Protestants now talk with respect. Vatican II called Protestants 'separated brethren', and many of us gladly cooperate on moral and social causes. But the Joint Declaration did less than people often think. It said Trent's condemnations do not apply to Lutheran teaching as presented in that document; it did not repeal Trent. And many confessional Protestants judged that it blurred rather than resolved the central issue: are we accepted because Christ's righteousness is credited to us, received by faith alone (Rom 4:5; Phil 3:9), or because of a righteousness worked in us by grace? That question isn't a relic; it shapes how a believer finds peace with God. Dialogue is welcome, but honest dialogue names the difference that remains.

Written task

A friend in Australia says: 'Christianity had its day. The census shows it's dying, and anyway it was just the religion of the colonisers.' Write a 300-400 word reply that uses accurate facts from this lesson (Australian census figures stated carefully, the global shift to the Global South, and at least one episode from twentieth-century church history), honestly acknowledges real failures, and presents the gospel itself, not just statistics. Include at least two Scripture references.

Hand this in to Mr Scott. He will look for:

States census and global statistics accurately and with appropriate caution
Honestly acknowledges at least one real failure of the church (e.g. colonial entanglement, treatment of Indigenous peoples)
Uses at least one twentieth-century episode accurately (e.g. Machen, Barmen, Bonhoeffer, Lausanne, Azusa Street)
Moves from history to the person and work of Christ, with at least two well-used Scripture references
Respectful, warm and persuasive tone suitable for a real conversation