Several years ago God gave our church the vision of a mission partnership on every continent. Our church had always been involved in missions through giving money, praying for missionaries, and sending teams for a week at a time. In January 2004 our church began to feel that God wanted us to be involved at a deeper level. We began to pursue some long-term partnerships with missionaries on different continents. This led to three families from our church going as missionaries to South America, South Asia and Africa.
Then in the summer of 2007 our executive pastor, Kyle Goen, began noticing the country of Belgium. He began to feel that this might be a country where God wanted our church to become involved. In Belgium only 1/2 to 2 % of the population are Christ-followers. 80% of people say they are Catholic, but of these only 4 - 8 % attend church on any given weekend. Many people in Belgium do not have any idea what it means to have a relationship with Jesus. We feel God wants us to be a part of making that happen. We will be part of a team of five families who are committing to live in Belgium for at least three years.
We have a three-fold vision. We hope to start an English-speaking international church in Brussels. Brussels is the home of the European Union. It is a very cosmopolitan city. Out of that church we would train internationals, who are living temporarily in Brussels, to start churches in their home countries when they return. Also out of that church we would train native French-speakers to start French-speaking churches in nearby French-speaking cities.
No comments:
Post a Comment