Category: Blog

What do you know about Greater Europe Mission (GEM)…like, really know? Do you know why Europe is its focus? Do you know who began GEM or how it began? Many of us know about GEM in its current state; we know it is a mission organization that is passionate about spreading the Gospel across Europe and making disciples who go on to make disciples. For the sake of honouring its history and understanding its commission, let’s dive back to GEM’s origin and discover how it became the organization it is today.

In 1944, a 26-year-old US Navy Chaplain was sent to southern France to bring spiritual hope to men in battle. Knowing the importance of ministering to men within the heat of battle, he became the first chaplain to willingly set foot in the normally off-limit combat zones. However, this role was cut short when he rode over a land mine as he was motorcycling along a beach to reach the troops. Miraculously, he survived and went on to spend the next few months recovering in a French field hospital where he got to know some of the Frenchmen in the area.

Originally sent to provide spiritual assistance to his fellow Americans, Bob Evans instead realized that it was the local people in France that needed him more.

His short time spent in France was enlightening, and God impressed upon Evans a desire and a love for Europe and its people. He returned to America and went on to have a successful evangelistic ministry alongside the likes of Torrey Johnson and Billy Graham through the newly-established Youth for Christ, but he couldn’t shake his zeal for Europe.

The large-scale evangelism work he had done alongside his colleagues had roused the public into wanting to see more of these rallies where thousands of people would come to Christ. Evans realized that if this were to happen, the European church would need to be prepared to receive these new believers; but with only a small percentage of Europeans being reached, who would train them? With the encouragement and support from his friends and family, Evans, along with his wife, Jeanette, and daughter, Alyce, boarded a ship to France to start their own, new ministry.

In 1949, Evans began pouring his energy into the ongoing training of European believers, starting with the opening of a Bible school in Chotou, France, called the European Bible Institute, which was dedicated to training lay leaders in the fundamentals of the Bible. Soon opportunities opened for missionary work in many other European countries, giving rise to the establishment of Greater Europe Mission in 1952. Filled with qualified North Americans to help—not manage—the theologically inclined Europeans, these schools were the ideal place for Europeans to train for disciple-making.

In the 30 years Evans served as its director, GEM established 22 Bible Institutes across Europe—many of which are still in operation today.

Although it’s been about 75 years since Bob Evans established Greater Europe Mission, the organization flourishes on. With over 340 missionaries currently serving across Europe and North America, and partnerships with scores of ministries across Europe: from Bible-seminaries to 1000-year-old churches, from Christian camps to coffee shops, the peoples of Europe are being impacted with the authentic and relevant Word of the Gospel.

Is God calling you to be a part of this legacy? There is still so much need for the Gospel to be shared across Europe and for European believers to be encouraged and trained in the ways of disciple-making. Contact us today to find out how you can get involved!

Imagine, for a moment, being torn from your home, all you know and love, and sent to a new, unknown location. Sure, you could have stayed, but doing so may have brought more devastation. Now you cling desperately to the hope that you’ve made the right decision. You don’t know if you’ll see your home, your family, again. In fact, you have no idea what your future holds.

One of the most accessible ways of serving in Europe is with refugees. Over the years, millions of people have been displaced due to war, famine, or dreadful living conditions. These people long for refuge and new life in Europe. As God’s hands and feet, we have the opportunity and privilege of showing our neighbours God’s love in practical ways.

There’s an unfortunate stigma surrounding refugees, though, with society often viewing them as a problem. “Because refugees often arrive lacking basic necessities, many assume they are uneducated people who are accustomed to sleeping on the street and begging for food… this is rarely the case!” Rachel Carlson, a global worker who serves refugees in Greece, says. “Most refugees have left living standards on par with most of us —highly educated with businesses, cars, cell phones, and kids in school before suddenly losing their entire network of life, relationships, and stability.”

“He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. So you, too, must show love to foreigners…”

Deuteronomy 10:18-19 (NLT)

Working with an integration and refugee program offered by a Greek Church, Rachel shows love to foreigners by helping them become more self-sufficient while living in Europe. “Many of the refugee ministries in Athens are day-centers, which can serve possibly hundreds of refugees daily with food, language classes, laundry rooms, etc. My primary ministry is a bit different,” she explains. “Our center is a place where families live and go through a holistic integration program, focusing on about 15 families at a time, who are with us for 1.5 years on average.”

Sacrificing their time and energy in serving the newly arrived families, Christian workers often get the unique privilege of building relationships and trust among the refugees. This opens windows of opportunity for sharing the Gospel. “While refugees are at different points on their physical journey, so it is with their spiritual journey,” Rachel says. “We can help them take the next step toward Christ. [In fact], we have seen refugees come to faith and be baptized!”

Though every salvation is celebratory, the seeds that have been planted can also bring much inspiration. “One Syrian family with two small children was with us for about a year,” Rachel starts. “They were not believers but were part of our church integration program. The father showed up on a Sunday morning as their family was preparing to leave. He told our pastor, ‘We’re really grateful for the help and love you have shown to us Muslims. I didn’t become a Christian here, but you know something? I will never teach my children to hate Christians the way I was raised to as a little boy.’”

Though many missionaries move to Europe expecting to share the Good News with local Europeans doors for new ways of serving have been opened, and people groups from outside the continent are now experiencing God’s love through His faithful workers. May we show God’s love to all who are in need and uplift these workers in prayer who are not only making Kingdom impact among the European people, but also among those from surrounding continents!

God’s calling will often draw people out of their comfort zones. When it sends them into entirely new and foreign lands, life can take on a whole new set of challenges. Though God equips those He calls and blesses those who are obedient, serving far from home in a different culture with an unfamiliar language – often in a spiritually dark climate – is not always easy.

“Even with pre-field training and letting people know how difficult it can be, it always seems to catch people by surprise,” Spiritual Life team director, Jonathan Bourbeau, says. “It takes leaving something behind and going into something new; there’s a dying and a coming alive, but that process is stressful and not easy.”

The goal for workers of Greater Europe Mission is to reach and disciple others, but when locals aren’t receptive to the Gospel and the workers aren’t seeing the results they’ve been praying for, burnout becomes a real possibility. “Burnout happens a lot. It happened to myself and my wife,” Jonathan remembers. “We weren’t sure what to do. Then, a colleague was very gracious to have [qualified] people walk alongside us.”

Scripture is clear on the importance of community and coming alongside each other for encouragement, help, carrying one another’s burdens, sharpening, and building each other up. For the missionary verging on burnout, questioning their call, or distracted with homesickness, help is essential.

GEM has recognized the importance of supporting its missionaries and has set up a resource of pastoral and professional care within the organization for this very purpose. Made up of GEM’s previously existing Member Care and Spiritual Life Team, GEM Wellness offers specialized support to help GEM workers and their families flourish spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically, and relationally. Take for instance the Nichol family, who in a time a need, received the necessary tools and support from GEM Wellness to joyfully and effectively continue God’s work. To listen to their story, click here.

To ensure missionaries are serving in healthy ways, GEM Wellness has developed strategic teams to cater to the whole person:

Many people turn to counseling at the eleventh hour, after things have gotten so bad that they’re left feeling defeated, but GEM has realized the importance of addressing this issue not just reactively, but also proactively. “Investing in people at the front end is important for their growth and development,” Jonathan insists, “especially for the transformative life that will have an impact.” If we want our missionaries to be effective, it’s vital that they remain healthy through all seasons of life.

GEM doesn’t leave missionaries to do God’s work alone. Available for those anticipating hardships or actively experiencing them, GEM Wellness is passionate about providing proper support for all, knowing that through this, missionaries will be equipped to be impactful and effective in their ministries.

Let’s continue to support our missionaries! Why not reach out to one you know now? It might bring them more encouragement than you realize.

If mission work has been on your heart and you’re looking for an organization that truly cares for you and wants you to thrive on the field, consider connecting with us by clicking here.

Adrian couldn’t wait for the end of the week. The excitement of Easter always delighted him, and he relished all its festive celebrations. Painting hard-boiled eggs red on the Thursday before Easter has been one of his favourite memories of the holiday, and this year his friend Andrew would join him and his family. The best part? Breaking the eggs on Sunday! Perhaps this year Adrian will have the strongest egg of all…

This time of the year, children in Greece, like Adrian, are blessed to have two weeks off school to honour this important holiday. In fact, it’s the biggest Christian holiday of the year for the Greeks and is oozing with traditions – some of which start weeks before the holiday is even celebrated.

For instance, the devout Orthodox start their traditions early with forty days of lent – fasting specifically from red meats, meat by-products, and fish with backbones – which begins on Clean Monday, a day where you’ll notice an abundance of airborne kites. Additionally, at this time you may notice some households yielding a seven-legged woman shaped out of salty dough, whose legs are individually broken off in each of the preceding weeks before Easter.

Symbolism is key, and Greece’s unique Easter eggs are a notable example. Dyed typically on Holy Thursday, these hard-boiled eggs are dyed red to symbolize the blood of Christ shed on the cross, while the hard shell represents the sealed tomb of Jesus which will be ‘cracked’ open on Easter Sunday.

The delightful aroma of sweet bread began to waft throughout the house as Adrian and Andrew finished cleaning the red dye off their hands. His mom was busy in the kitchen preparing for the weekend, and although she said the bread was to be saved for Sunday, Adrian couldn’t wait to have a taste!

The often-braided sweet bread, also known as tsoureki, is an important Easter staple that contains the distinctive flavourings of citrus and mahlab. Presented with a dyed-red egg baked onto the top, it’s the perfect way to break the fast that many had been on in preparation for Easter.

Interesting how one can go from hopeful preparation to bittersweet sadness in just a day’s time, Adrian thought. With his family by his side at church, he watched solemnly as the epitaph – a depiction of Christ’s lifeless body in its tomb – was approached and kissed by all congregants. Sadness filled the air on this Friday, and the sound of beautiful, yet mournful chants and hymns filled Adrian’s chest with emotion. 

After a period of waiting, locals meet once again for the liturgy on Saturday evening.

With Christ’s resurrection believed to have happened exactly as Saturday becomes Sunday, midnight, the whole village or city will gather, after a very late church service, to light candles representing the Light of the world coming forth from the tomb. Sorrow turns into joy. Fireworks often light up the sky at midnight, followed by a breaking of the fast with soup made from the organs and intestines of the lamb they will be roasting the next day.

After visiting the church and eating a late bowl of soup, Adrian grabbed his dyed-red egg in preparation for its cracking. He locked eyes with his father, who held up his own red egg, then brought it down upon his dad’s, cracking it open in the process. Smiles wide throughout the room, Adrian and his family, together with countless other families across Greece, called out, “Christ is risen, He is risen indeed!”

Whether we celebrate with commemorative traditions or with quiet times of reverent reflection and worship, through the preparations, times of sorrow and of celebration, may we never forget the sacrifice and resulting hope that God has gifted us! 

Happy Easter!

*Thanks to Mark Doebler, currently serving in Greece, for your input!