I called my friend Josh last night and chatted with him for a long time about missions in Europe specifically Western Europe. There are more Christians in Congo then in all of Western Europe. I found this interesting because so many people seem to want to go to Africa on mission trips when that really is not where the plentiful amount of the harvest is. I am not saying some are not called to Africa, but it is something to really be prayed through- are we just sending and going there because they are cute people and respond well to us? In Italy for example (which would be a sweet place to be a missionary haha) there are 60 million people. Of those, only 250,000 are evangelical and of that number 150,000 are immigrants (we don’t even know how many of these are actually Christians as with all statistics) so do the math that is .17% of Italians are Christians. We flood the country for spaghetti and site seeing yet Josh only crossed paths with 26 missionaries in the entire country. Every country is different like Germany for example has more Christians, but Spain, France, and England are very similar to Italy.
Building relationships is the key to a successful ministry in European missions; making most callings not a short-term calling. There are two major barriers for the missionaries and just believers period in Europe. It is not so much the lack of missionaries, but just the extreme rebellion against organized religion. Most young Europeans think all religion is like the Catholic Church and seeing how corrupt the church has gotten, want nothing to do with it. Another major barrier is like America they are primarily very well off and do not see their need for a Savior. “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” Revelation 3:17 I am praying so hard for the nations of Europe along with America that we would all set our minds on things in the light of eternity and live for what really matters. See the emptiness and nakedness that we are in with out Christ.
I think for the 3rd graders I will have a slide show with maps and pictures and try to creatively present the information to them! I am going to make cut outs of each country of Europe and write on it the percentage of Christians in the country and attach candy and challenge them to pray for their country. I will let you know how this all goes! J
I went to the passages exhibit today and was blown away! It was so cool to see how sovereign God has been in getting the Bible into our hands today. I am so much more thankful for every precious word I read out of it now. What a gift from such a loving father! I was mesmerized at the end, when they had an electronic map that would light up somewhere in the world that the Bible app was being downloaded. It had a counter that like our national debt continuously climbed in the amount of times the Bible had been downloaded. This was a much more encouraging growth! lol I sat a watched it for a long time and Vivian pointed out that Asia never ever lit up. This broke my heart as I looked at the literal darkness over the large area. I guess somebody is going to have to take them this light to them! J hehe
Bible study has been going really well. We have been going through 1 John and exploring many questions with them. I find so much encouragement from the positive outcomes every week. It goes to show how faithful God is when we are faithful to step out boldly to do what he has called me to do. I do not want them to feel like a project and have been so excited that most of the girls have been coming to another Bible study I do every Friday morning for all high school girls!
I am feeling very called to go to Kazakhstan sometime in the future. I have a little cousin from there and have done a report on them once and lately I have been waking up with the nation on my heart. I have sent out for some contacts in the country and have a couple of people I plan on interviewing with respect to that area – my aunt, uncle, and a cousin- who have all been, a missionary (if I can find one), and AJ Kalmykov who was a missionary in Russia which is very similar to Kazakhstan.
No comments:
Post a Comment