SEATTLE, May 9, 2008 – Aglow International, one of the world’s largest Christian women’s organizations, is unveiling an aggressive prayer and outreach strategy to help reconnect Europe to its Christian heritage. The European Summit, held June 5-8 in Malaga, Spain, will bring Aglow members and leaders together with their community pastors and advisors from more than 20 nations throughout Europe.

The event will focus on “Operation SPEC” (Strategic Prayer for the European Continent), launched in Budapest in March, which is intended to unite Aglow women in Europe to transform their nations through prayer, teaching and evangelism, in response to the growing issues of secularism and anti-Semitism, as well as the Islamization of Europe.

“Europe was once the bedrock of Christianity,” says Jane Hansen Hoyt, president of the international ministry which operates in 172 nations, 43 of which are European countries. “However, if the Church doesn’t wake up to the social, moral and political impact of a secularized Europe, what was once a beacon of light, may soon become the Dark Continent.”

Research by the Center for the Study on Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass., shows every major religion except Islam is declining in Western Europe. The drop is most evident in France, Sweden and the Netherlands, where church attendance is fewer than 10 percent in some areas.

Europeans also neglect prayer and Bible reading according to a Catholic Biblical Federation (CBF) poll released last week which shows only 20 to 38 percent of respondents from eight European countries surveyed – Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Russia, Italy, Spain and Poland – had read from the Bible in the past year. In comparison, 75 percent of American respondents said they had read at least a phrase from the Bible in the past 12 months.

“Although the European Church is struggling, it’s not too late to turn the tide,” says Hansen Hoyt. “We know God hears and acts on the prayers of his faithful and we’re asking and believing for a spiritual revival throughout the Continent.”

Elena Santos, Algow’s national president in Spain agrees. “Our hope is to unify women across Europe in prayer as one cohesive voice calling our continent to transformation. We believe the Church can shine bright again across Europe.”

The Seattle-based organization celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, and is one of the largest international women’s organizations in the world with more than 200,000 women meeting together in 4,300 fellowship groups in 172 nations. Aglow recently opened new chapters in Iraq, Madagascar and Luxembourg and will add at least four more new nations in 2008. Each year, the interdenominational ministry serves an estimated 17 million people worldwide through prayer, evangelism, and works of compassion. Learn more at www.aglow.org.

 — 30 —