PARIS, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Evangelical Christian churches are growing in Europe, with most of their membership immigrants from Asia and Africa.
The evangelical movement comes at a time when the traditional European churches are shrinking, the Washington Times reports. While only about 2 percent of the population belongs to evangelical churches, they are also influencing the practices of protestant denominations and the Catholic Church.
"Non-belief, doubt and secularization continue to progress, but increasingly we're witnessing a spiritual turning in recent years," said Christopher Sinclair of the University of Strasbourg. "What's striking about the evangelical movement is that it's growing. You can see this throughout Europe. It's answering a spiritual need."
Unlike evangelicals in the United States, those in Europe have stayed outside politics.
"We evangelicals in France are a minority among a Protestant minority," said Etienne Lhermenault, general secretary of the Federation of Evangelical Baptist Churches of France. "So we have a minority mentality. Our American evangelical friends have a majority mentality, even if they're not exactly the majority."
