As I mentioned in previous post, I'm working through John Naisbitt's Mind Set! (2006) and his predictions of future trends that shape our world. His past books Megatrends (1982) and Megatrends 2000 (1990) were amazingly accurate in describing the world in which we now live. One chapter is dedicated to Europe (or more precisely the European Union). And since I live and minister in Europe, I paid close attention to Naisbitt's prognosis, which is best summed up in the first paragraph of that chapter.
The "Statue of Europe" has two hearts and 25 mindsets. The 25 country mindsets are stirring a mixture with ingredients that do not blend: tradition, ambition, welfare, and economic leadership. Her two hearts beat in different rhythm, one for economic supremacy and one for social welfare. Proud and ambitious, each one wants to be right. But to reach either goal, they have to compromise, and neither side is willing to do so. My experiences make me believe that Europe is much more likely to become a history theme park for well-off Americans and Asians than the world's most economically dynamic region as it has proclaimed it wants to be. Economically, Europe is on the past of Mutually Assured Decline.
The hurdles for economic growth in the Europe are:
- High taxes and big governments
- Less innovation
- Slow productivity growth
- Restrictive labor laws
- Declining export market share and the raising protectionism.
What are the implications for the church? If Naisbitt's prognosis is true, will the economic hardships in Europe lead its inhabitants to look to God? Will the past promises of humanism, of which Europe is so proud, be recognized as weak and empty?
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