You don’t become a missionary by raising money and flying to a foreign country. You do it by being obedient to God. Tell people about Jesus where you live. Get out of your comfort zone. Sell something precious and apply it to your debts. Make a sacrifice. Develop better friendships. There is an old saying: “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.” While this is not to be taken literally in this sense, (please, don’t start wearing the national garb of the country you want to go to just yet). However, somewhere in the process, we have to make a conscious decision that there is no going back.
Dan and Joy West have had a rich missionary career, yet at a time in their career when they might be tempted to stay in their comfort zone, Dan and Joy are starting over.
More than 30 years ago, the last evangelical church in the municipality of Bergen, Netherlands, closed its doors, leaving no evangelical witness for two generations. But a small yet passionate group of Christians believed God for a miracle in their community.
For most of his life, one of missionary Rich McLane’s passions has been hunting. His wife Lori enjoys playing the trumpet. When they became missionary church planters in Poland years ago, who would have guessed these passions would converge to reach more than 120,000 hunters throughout the country?
EXIT TOUR is an outreach sponsored by churches in Poland. AGWM personnel, Curtis Hobbs tells the story of a recent outreach of their church. “The goal was to create a youth group from those who attended the various evening activities. A Christian hip-hop group from England, a youth motivational speaker from Australia and young people from our church went into schools during the day, performing in assemblies, talking about making good life choices (a Christian psychologist spoke on alcohol and drug abuse), and then their testimonies helped the youth hear about Hope in Jesus. Every Polish school has an hour of religion class each week. So the outreach group would visit individual classes and interact more with the youth and again invite them to the evening meetings. “The evening meetings had themes such as ‘I Want to be a Millionaire’, ‘Family Feud’ and the last night there was a concert presented by the hip-hop band. Each night during a break in the activities, one of the band members or other team members would share their testimony about how Jesus had saved them and changed them for the good. During the concert Friday night more than 30 youth responded to the invitation to know Jesus personally!
“Since that night, an After Party provided another opportunity for these youth to meet in our new facility and build relationships with each other as well as with the young people from our church. The following weekend a youth group from England came and hosted a ‘British Night’ to help continue building relationships. At each follow up event there have been three or four youth who responded to Jesus.”
EXIT TOUR is an outreach sponsored by churches in Poland. AGWM personnel, Curtis Hobbs tells the story of a recent outreach of their church. “The goal was to create a youth group from those who attended the various evening activities. A Christian hip-hop group from England, a youth motivational speaker from Australia and young people from our church went into schools during the day, performing in assemblies, talking about making good life choices (a Christian psychologist spoke on alcohol and drug abuse), and then their testimonies helped the youth hear about Hope in Jesus. Every Polish school has an hour of religion class each week. So the outreach group would visit individual classes and interact more with the youth and again invite them to the evening meetings.
“The evening meetings had themes such as ‘I Want to be a Millionaire’, ‘Family Feud’ and the last night there was a concert presented by the hip-hop band. Each night during a break in the activities, one of the band members or other team members would share their testimony about how Jesus had saved them and changed them for the good. During the concert Friday night more than 30 youth responded to the invitation to know Jesus personally!
“Since that night, an After Party provided another opportunity for these youth to meet in our new facility and build relationships with each other as well as with the young people from our church. The following weekend a youth group from England came and hosted a ‘British Night’ to help continue building relationships. At each follow up event there have been three or four youth who responded to Jesus.”
One of the most dynamic and powerful works of the Holy Spirit in our day certainly is the Pentecostal revival among the Gypsies Streams of this revival started in the decade of the 1950s. God began to pour out His Spirit upon the diverse ethnic groups of Gypsies in Europe and around the world. Because of prejudice and ill reputation, many leaders were skeptical about the conversion of Gypsies, but over time, these leaders recognized that God is no respecter of persons. France has more than 150 000 baptized Gypsy adults. There are some 2150 preachers trained in their own Bible school with almost 300 students studying every year. The French missionary work, called ‘Life and Light’ (founded by Pastor Clément Le Cossec), reaches into 30 countries, supporting over 30 missionaries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and India. The French Gypsies brought the Gospel to neighboring countries such as Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy.
Spain has also experienced phenomenal growth as today there are over 200 000 baptized believers, some 600 Gypsy churches and 2500 preachers. The “Gitanos ” have evangelized Portugal and South America as well. England has been marked by the same kind of development since 1975. Today there are over 15 000 born-again Gypsies and Travellers, many of whom were instrumental in reaching Ireland, Canada, and the USA. . In Eastern Europe, we see similar growth. In Romania, there are some 110 000 converts and hundreds of Gypsy churches with about 200 preachers. Bulgaria has some 70 000 Gypsy believers and over 120 Gypsy churches and preachers. Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary are currently experiencing a mighty move of the Holy Spirit. There are over 10 million Gypsies in Eastern Europe. Only 3% have knowledge of the Gospel.
There is also a growing work in the Scandinavian countries, such as Norway, Sweden and Finland. TV programs are broadcast in the Gypsy language in more than 15 cities throughout Russia and Eastern Europe. There are some 40 million Gypsies in the world, half of whom are in India. To this day, 700 to 800 000 Gypsies from various ethnic groups know Jesus Christ as their Savior, with a total of 6 500 preachers and pastors. The task to reach this vast mission field is still unfinished. Gypsies have their own language, mindset and traditions. Please pray the Lord of the harvest to send many more workers to these people for whom Jesus died!
One of the most dynamic and powerful works of the Holy Spirit in our day certainly is the Pentecostal revival among the Gypsies Streams of this revival started in the decade of the 1950s. God began to pour out His Spirit upon the diverse ethnic groups of Gypsies in Europe and around the world. Because of prejudice and ill reputation, many leaders were skeptical about the conversion of Gypsies, but over time, these leaders recognized that God is no respecter of persons.
France has more than 150 000 baptized Gypsy adults. There are some 2150 preachers trained in their own Bible school with almost 300 students studying every year.
The French missionary work, called ‘Life and Light’ (founded by Pastor Clément Le Cossec), reaches into 30 countries, supporting over 30 missionaries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and India. The French Gypsies brought the Gospel to neighboring countries such as Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy.
Spain has also experienced phenomenal growth as today there are over 200 000 baptized believers, some 600 Gypsy churches and 2500 preachers. The “Gitanos ” have evangelized Portugal and South America as well.
England has been marked by the same kind of development since 1975. Today there are over 15 000 born-again Gypsies and Travellers, many of whom were instrumental in reaching Ireland, Canada, and the USA.
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In Eastern Europe, we see similar growth. In Romania, there are some 110 000 converts and hundreds of Gypsy churches with about 200 preachers. Bulgaria has some 70 000 Gypsy believers and over 120 Gypsy churches and preachers. Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary are currently experiencing a mighty move of the Holy Spirit. There are over 10 million Gypsies in Eastern Europe. Only 3% have knowledge of the Gospel.
There is also a growing work in the Scandinavian countries, such as Norway, Sweden and Finland.
TV programs are broadcast in the Gypsy language in more than 15 cities throughout Russia and Eastern Europe.
There are some 40 million Gypsies in the world, half of whom are in India. To this day, 700 to 800 000 Gypsies from various ethnic groups know Jesus Christ as their Savior, with a total of 6 500 preachers and pastors.
The task to reach this vast mission field is still unfinished. Gypsies have their own language, mindset and traditions. Please pray the Lord of the harvest to send many more workers to these people for whom Jesus died!
Leaders in the various university ministries of Students for Christ-Europe gathered for a weekend of prayer in Poland. Many encouraging things occurred. Briefly, God spoke specifically to several from His Word or from a word shared by a colleague. There was great unity of purpose in the vision to reach students on the continent. Participants were jubilant to hear of the advances that had occurred over the last year. There was intercession for the particular challenges facing each one on the horizon of 2015 and for the launch of new projects. Blair Bonin, AGWM personnel and director of Students for Christ-Europe also reports how the Lord helped him to speak into the lives of several colleagues at their request. The active work of the Holy Spirit was also evident to Blair in that as he was sharing with the group from a Scripture portion, his wife Dina was at home praying through that same passage without prior knowledge of it. God gives similar thoughts by His Spirit!
Blair also tells of how God never ceases to amaze in the journey of life with divine appointments. He relates, “During some down time in Krakow, I was able to share my faith with a young Polish man whom I unexpectedly encountered in the city square. After considerable dialogue, he allowed my colleagues and I to pray for him that God's Spirit would continue speaking to his spirit.”
Another instance of a divine appointment occurred on the trans-Atlantic flight back to the USA. Blair tells that, “My seat assignment was right next to a university student from Lebanon; our conversation inevitably turned to faith along with accompanied prayer at our parting.”
Leaders in the various university ministries of Students for Christ-Europe gathered for a weekend of prayer in Poland. Many encouraging things occurred. Briefly, God spoke specifically to several from His Word or from a word shared by a colleague. There was great unity of purpose in the vision to reach students on the continent. Participants were jubilant to hear of the advances that had occurred over the last year. There was intercession for the particular challenges facing each one on the horizon of 2015 and for the launch of new projects.
Blair Bonin, AGWM personnel and director of Students for Christ-Europe also reports how the Lord helped him to speak into the lives of several colleagues at their request. The active work of the Holy Spirit was also evident to Blair in that as he was sharing with the group from a Scripture portion, his wife Dina was at home praying through that same passage without prior knowledge of it. God gives similar thoughts by His Spirit!
Blair also tells of how God never ceases to amaze in the journey of life with divine appointments. He relates, “During some down time in Krakow, I was able to share my faith with a young Polish man whom I unexpectedly encountered in the city square. After considerable dialogue, he allowed my colleagues and I to pray for him that God's Spirit would continue speaking to his spirit.”
Another instance of a divine appointment occurred on the trans-Atlantic flight back to the USA. Blair tells that, “My seat assignment was right next to a university student from Lebanon; our conversation inevitably turned to faith along with accompanied prayer at our parting.”
