Belgium is a mix of old culture, old traditions, old buildings, and new international people, new government entities, and new religious thoughts in a small country the size of Maryland.
This little country is home to over 10 million people, with 90% of the population living in urban areas. Many of the estimates that I have read say less then 1% of the population are evangelical Christians (submitted life to Jesus). This holds true for most of Western Europe.
The largest religious bloc is the Catholic Church, though few practice the faith or attend and type of religious service. Every city and town has empty Catholic churches littering the landscape. They are now housing pubs, condos, museums, and whatever a creative mind can place in a huge gothic structure. There may be a very small group of people gathering for a Catholic mass in one of the church buildings, but they are elderly grandparents at best.
Many of the people we met on our recent trip to Belgium told us that the “church” was old, cold, lifeless, dying, and didn’t matter to them. Most of the college students we spoke with had not attend a church other than for a wedding or a funeral. Church has no meaning, purpose or value to their lives. But, everyone was very open to discussing religion, God, and other faith questions.
The Church had lost all influence within the culture, but people are still open and ready to talk about spiritual things.
