Two recent blog posts interact with research to tell us that we need to re-imagine how ministry is done in Europe. Jonny Baker writing for Lausanne World Pulse posted the article, Mission among Young People in “Secular” Europe  January / February 2010.  He pulls together the studies:  Making Sense of Generation Y. (Read large sections of the book here) and Buried Spirituality to come to the conclusion:
If we are to reach Europe’s youth, it is precisely this sort of missional imagination that we need to cultivate and encourage in leaders. Insights (both good and bad) from cross-cultural mission hold the clues as to how we go about mission in our own cultures, and not just overseas. To state the obvious, Europe is a mission context (or, in fact, many contexts)
The other blog post is No “God-shaped hole” which takes Making Sense of Generation Y and puts it together with Jeremy Rifkin’s understanding of The European Dream. The conclusion:

So it looks like the youth would not respond very well to how we have been presenting the gospel. The book goes on to say that their world view is not an individualistic “mini-narrative” but “it is communal on a small scale (me, my friends, and my family): a midi-narrative.” (p. 38)

I find this fascinating and it fits in quite nicely with Jeremy Rifkin’s understanding of The European Dream. Rifkin describes the dream in contrast to the American dream in which individuals find security not through individual accumulation of wealth (America), but through connectivity, sustainable development, and respect for human rights.” (Quote about Jeremy Rifkin’s book “European Dream” from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_European_Dream ).

The world has changed and we need to reconsider the ‘God-shaped hole’ that has been assumed for so long. Maybe it has a different shape than was imagined before.

Social research informs ministry in Europe and asks us to re-imagine.