Christians in the U.S

Dr. Bob,

I thought Springfield, MO was the buckle. Home of the Baptist Bible Fellowship International and the Assemblies of God Headquarters. Talk about a good college basketball rivalry.

The SBC even has a few good size churches here. Methodists galore. Somehow the Catholics even managed to come up with their own high school.

And, we're just down the road from Branson, MO. Cheaper than the Grand Ole Opry, diverse talent, and outlet malls galore. And, lets not forget home to Bass Pro Shops.

Come visit any time.

 

"where would places like Ede and Barneveld be in relation to your swathe of Bible-belt territory?"
"
Ede en Barneveld are part of the Veluwe. Both are part of the Biblebelt.
http://www.ede.nl/info.asp?id=137
http://www.barneveld.nl/

 

Wow...if you were going to be in the Nashville area, Dr. Bob, would be great to meet you. Let us know if you ever come through this way.

 

Bill, Christianity in England is predominantly an urban phenomenon. Thus you will tend to find (relatively - don't forget the proportion of Christians in the UK is much lower than in the US) high numbers of churches in London and the South East, and also in the north of England in the 'M62 Corridor' (Liverpool through Manchester to Leeds). In addition, university towns and cities tend to be highly churched; this is because Christians students tend to have the time and the energy to be much more radical and activist, particularly through the campus Christian Unions. The rural Anglican parish churches are virtually empty as a rule, and the few traditional evangelical churches are also in decline. That's another thing about the parts of English Christianity which are flourishing - they tend to be more charismatic in flavour, whether Anglican, Baptist, evangelical or the specifically charismatic New/House/Restorationist churches and Pentecostals. Also, being based in often quite deprived urban areas, a lot tend to have some form of social action as a string to their incarnational bow, but interestingly without neglecting the gospel of salvation.

You asked about England, but I can't finish without mentioning the other nations of the UK. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are a different story: in those Celtic lands the evangelical tradition, though waning, is still in evidence, often centred around the chapel. They tend to be more fundamentalist in outlook than their English counterparts. Hence, I suppose if you are looking for an equivalent to the US Bible belt, you could do a lot worse than look there.

Yours in Christ

Matt