Why Europe Is Strategic

Did you know . . .

• Islam is the fastest-growing religion in Europe due to immigration and Muslims' above-average birth rate (three times that of Europeans).


• Muslims make up an average of four percent of the population in Western Europe.


• An estimated 15 million Muslims live in the European Union.


• Workers cannot be kicked out of a European country for sharing the gospel, like they can in countries where many Muslims come from.


• Workers from non-European countries can relate to the stress of moving to a new city, learning a new language, and finding new friends, just like their immigrant neighbors.


• You can be involved in reaching the lost in Europe?

How can I be involved?

• Seek His guidance. Ask the Father to reveal how He can use your strengths and talents to aid the work in Europe.


• Adopt a European city, or a people group and commit to praying for them. Learn about their home culture. Get your small group to pray with you.


• Take a vision trip. Go to the city you've adopted in prayer. Get to know the needs of the work, and ask the workers how you can help.


• Consider making a long term commitment of prayer support, personnel support etc.


• There is much to be done. Don't count yourself out yet, and ask Him to make his will known in your life!

Living Life

Before working overseas, we believed we weren't qualified. Well, we still think that some days. We thought to be a worker overseas meant being someone who is super holy, super disciplined, super knowledgeable, and someone who is just super in general. So of course, we wrote ourselves out of the equation. Surely He doesn't want us! How could we be used? We are sinful, imperfect, insecure, and lacking in many areas, and we don't have any special worker skills. Well we tried these arguments with Him, and it just didn't cut it. He told us to go, so we went. And now that we are here, we've learned a little secret about overseas work: what we did in the states to serve Him, is the same thing we are doing here.

In the states, we invested into the lives of people He brought our way. We were purposeful and intentional with our lives, and we sought out those we knew were lost. However, the way which we did that was simple. We lived our lives, opened our eyes, asked for diving appointments and then the "work" began. There was nothing "super" about it. I enjoying cooking so I joined a cooking club with internationals. Through that, I made a friend. Through her, I made another friend. We developed authentic relationships in which I could share my faith, but more importantly, live it out. My husband opened up his eyes to his workplace. There, he was able to build a solid relationship with a man who was really seeking for Truth. In both of these situations, there was nothing extra special about how we met these people. There was no program geared for us meeting unbelievers, we simply met them as we lived our life.

In Europe, our life is no different. We have become friends with one family. How did we meet them? It was really quite simple. They own a store that provides services we need. So one night, we went in and through our child, a conversation was started. Because we were able to connect easily, we started going back to that store when we needed things. Over time, acquaintances have turned into a friendship. And then one day, we were invited into their home. We celebrated a birthday with their family, and felt truly welcome into their North African home. Now we have a relationship on which to build upon. We pray that we will be able to share the Hope we have one day. We seek to live out our faith so that we are transparent as glass, and that some day, our new friends will know why we love Him like we do.

Starting Out

Inside a European mosque.

We recently returned from another city where a cultural center was in place. In this city, there is an even larger mslm population than our own, and workers have been there a lot longer. The center was started and funded by believers from another North African country. At the center immigrants can take classes for computer, Spanish, English etc. We were able to tour the small facility and see how one group of workers are using the center to reach out.

It's easy to look at this center and ask the question, "So, when do you tell them about Him?" It's easy to be critical and say the center is not a means for us to engage people. But during our 2 week Islamic Studies class, we learned some valuable information about the culture:

• Women immigrants living in Europe need a place to gather and socialize with other women. Some women are only allowed to leave the home once during each day, so they want a place where they can be with other women. Because places they would normally go can't be found in Europe (take for instance, the Haman), women need a place to gather. Can we use a center to meet their social needs, as well as teach them a valuable skill? Can the relationships we build during these classes carry over into our daily lives?




• Immigrants need to learn the language of their current country. Many countries in Europe aren't thrilled to have so many new immigrants. So an immigrants chances at starting a language exchange with a native are slim to none. Are language classes offered at the cultural center a practical way we can help?




• Being a worker in Europe has it's good points and bad points: Good-we can openly share what we believe without fear of being kicked out of the country. Bad-we live in one culture, but are building relationships with another-it can be hard to have a legitimate reason for meeting a NA. We can shop at their stores, and eat at their restaurants, but what other more stable ways can we build relationships? Can a cultural center give us more long term access to people who need to hear the hope we have?
  

A cultural center is something we'd like to see here in our city. There are currently people working to get it up and running. We don't disregard some of the cons of having a cultural center. Centers take lots of funding to get up and running, they require people to staff the classes, and it can be a big drain on ones energy. However, while we don't plan on putting all of our eggs in one basket, we do feel a cultural center would be one way to reach into the lives of immigrants in our city. Here we hope to create more of a Internet cafe and classroom center so that it can be self-sufficient. A cultural center is not for everyone, or for every city. But we trust that if He wants this to happen as a means to engage people, than it will happen in His timing.

Beginning Thoughts

Usually people acted pretty passive when we told them we were headed to Europe.
"Oh, that's nice," they'd say.
"We will be working with immigrants from NA."
"Ohhhh. Really? They are in Europe??"
"Yeah. In fact, you'd be surprised how many there are."
"I had no idea . . . "

Thus it begins. We are here to share our stories, learning experiences and ways you, yes you, can be involved in lifting these people up, and sharing the truth with them. Only He knows how you can be apart of bringing new life to a people in desperate need of hope.