ETOP 2010

European Training and Outreach MinistryIntroductionAnswers to PrayersConcerns for Prayer"I Will Make You Fishers of Men"Conclusion & Testimonies

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Cross Cultural Short Term Opportunity to Poland

Where is Poland? What little I knew of Poland came from reading World War 2 history, particularly about the 1939 German blitzkrieg in Poland. The only Poles I knew were the composer Frederic Chopin and Nobel laureate Marie Curie. Poland is located in central Europe, between Germany and Russia. We arrived in the capital Warsaw in mid-July—four from Malaysia, one from Germany, one from France, one from Denmark, one from China and two from the US to take part in the ETOP missions camp at the Warsaw Baptist Seminary outside the city. The newly refurbished dorm rooms were comfortable and Polish food was adequate. We settled in with little culture shock to two weeks of classes taught by lecturers from UK, Holland, Canada and South Korea. The topics ranged from modern European history and worldview to phonetics and the challenges of missionary life. One instructor shared about how he reached Moslems in Amsterdam and another told us the long history of Jews in Poland. On the first weekend we visited a Nigerian church in Warsaw that drew many Poles and then lunched at a working class Polish diner. After two weeks we set off on outreach traveling south by overnight train to join Polish Christians on a Jesus March. 'March' meant walking from town to town doing street evangelism. The Poles did praise and worship in the town square followed by preaching, testimony, drama and prayer for the sick. We camped out in local schools, slept on the floor and ate simple meals. The Poles were delighted to have us even though we didn't speak Polish. For many it was the first time they set eyes on Chinese. We came ready with tracts written in Polish explaining we were Chinese Christians and giving an account of the church in China in order to encourage the Poles that the church in the East was coming to their aid. After a week we traveled back north to join a Polish pastor working with orphans. With Pastor Paul Kugler we painted the bedroom of a destitute family and taught handcraft to orphans. We visited the port city of Gdansk, enjoyed the beach and swam in the Baltic sea. At church on Sunday we performed a mime, gave testimony and told the Polish congregation about the church in China. We were interviewed by a local daily newspaper, the Dziennikelbąski (http://dziennikelblaski.wm.pl/elblag-odwiedzila-czworka-malezyjczykow,4720). Polish hospitality is legendary and on our last evening with Pastor Kugler and his team we prepared a Chinese-Western fusion meal to thank them and celebrate the spirit of ETOP. This was a short-term mission like many others but we may have made history by being the first Chinese missions team to reach Europeans and planted the seed for a wider missionary movement.

...and one good turn deserves another

If not for Europeans, Asians would not have heard the gospel. But Europe, once the heartland of Christendom, is today a mission field. Since the eighteenth century Enlightenment, the European Church has been in decline. Churches stand empty and some are turned into clubs, restaurants and even mosques. Europe is increasingly secular, and the constitution of the European Union makes no reference to Europe's Christian roots. Faith has become a private matter and values like charity, honesty and faithfulness are being discarded with alarming consequences. One can scarcely believe this is happening on the continent whence missionaries once brought the gospel to the four corners of the earth. Europe today is a pagan continent.

One good turn deserves another. Asia owes Europe a gospel debt but are the Chinese ready to evangelize Europe? Too often they hold a narrow view of missions and reach out only to their compatriots. ETOP consists of two weeks’ training in Warsaw followed by two weeks’ outreach across Poland with Polish Christians (18 July – 13 August 2011).

Training topics:

1. Modern European history and worldview
2. European Culture & Diversity
3. Europe's Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants
4. Islam and Europe
5. History of Missions in Europe
6. Missions strategy and Europe
7. Paul the Cross-cultural Missionary
8. Cross-cultural Communications and Team-building
9. Personal Challenges of Missionary Life
10. Language Acquisition & Phonetics

Outreach consists of street evangelism and caring for widows and orphans.

Camp fees are $1,000 but short-term participants are welcome @ $35 a day.

Download application form at www.afcinc.org/ETOP
Inquire at mtai33@gmail.com

Jamie Taylor's Endorsement

One of the greatest challenges for the global Chinese Church in the 21^st century is an even greater active participation in cross cultural missions. As recipients of God’s gracious salvation as well as benefactors of the sacrificial dedication of countless of missionaries, it is imperative for the Chinese Church to look beyond the harvest field of “our own” and capture the divine imperative of also reaching the world’s three-quarters non-Chinese population.

Specially, through ETOP’s missional outreach to post-Christian and secular Europe, a strategic opportunity is available for Chinese Christians to become active in bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a people in desperate need of hearing the message of salvation and transformation

On board LOT Polish Airlines Flight 006 to arrive in Warsaw, Poland, after approximately eight hours. I gave thanks for God’s faithfulness as I was reflecting on the fact that I almost did not make it. As on previous Sundays, I started to request for a pass to take my mother out from her nursing home for a gospel meeting at the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church to be held at 3:00 pm. This was not possible due to a new rule regarding transportation, and I went to my apartment to pick up my luggage and get on with my trip.

There was enough time for me to take another look at my email, and I was surprised to read an email from Expedia telling me to contact as my flight had been cancelled. I quickly called and was transferred to an earlier flight. I then got on a taxi and made it while some others did not.

I began to read some information sent to me about my trip, sitting relaxed and enjoying the flight. “For several reasons, Poland is an ideal place to train and prepare Chinese for European missions. Situated in Central Europe, it has a population of 38 million. It is flanked by Germany on the west, Belarus and Ukraine on the east, the Czech Republic and Slovakia on the south, and the Baltic Sea on the north. Ninety-eight percent of the people are Poles and over 90 percent are Catholic.”

Arriving in Warsaw, I found no one to meet me with an ETOP sign. I walked around the airport several times and decided to approach a man carrying a sign and soliciting customers. I made gestures and pointed to a phone number, and he very politely dialed the number on his cell phone. I was connected with Jacek who came earlier to be told that my flight was cancelled. He came an hour later, and we both thanked the gentleman who helped me.

It was a pleasant day as I rode in a car for less than one hour from the airport to Warsaw Baptist Theological Seminary. The traffic was not like New York City, but more like a small town in America. I did not see any skyscrapers, but most buildings were old and in European styles. Poland is the most religious country in Europe, and I saw quite a few cathedrals and churches.

I found myself in a very nice and cozy room on the second floor of a dormitory, and Michael told me my prayers for a single room were answered. Having unpacked, I walked into a class already in session. We sat around a long table in a large room located in the basement to hear different speakers, sometimes also to view their PowerPoint presentations.

Dr. John Coffey, our lecturer on the first day, gave us an overview of what is happening in Europe to prepare our hearts for the work of missions. I missed parts of the lesson and was relieved when he handed out to each of us a sheet of resource material summarizing most of the topics he covered. I have relied on the information in writing the following report.

Click here to view more pictures.

The advent of religious freedom is on a scale unknown in Europe’s history. The downside of this new freedom is that it has not necessarily led to effective use by the Church or to significant growth-- increase in membership. Some concerns for prayer include hot spots, trends to watch, and the Church in Europe, and the unfinished task.

Hot Spots

1. The Balkans with its long history of violent conflict is an exception in the era of relative peace. The ending of the Serbian dictatorship in 2001 still leaves unresolved problems for the future of countries including Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia, and Macedonia. Pray for all leaders involved in seeking to settle problems and establishing an effective demilitarization.
2. The Caucasus where many major powers (Russia, Turkey, Iran, and the West) have conflicting interests over the oil-rich region. Evangelization is a challenge resulting in many ethnic groups still unreached.
3. Pray for a new Russia to emerge to provide for effective government with respects for human rights and freedoms.
4. Areas of conflict including Northern Ireland, the Basque region of Spain, and Chechnya in the Russian Federation need peace.

Trends to Watch

1. The massive culture-change as post-Christian worldviews dominates the media. Younger Europeans have moved away from the Judeo–Christian heritage to New Age thinking, reincarnation, and the occult.
2. The debate over the degree of democratic accountability has intensified. Pray that the emerging Europe may not lose its spiritual heritage and that the Holy Spirit may be poured out on these nations.
3. Racism and treatment of immigrants – a challenge to Christians to demonstrate Christ’s love and that the power of the gospel transcends culture.
4. Persecution has not been stopped from a secular society, governments, and the Orthodox Church.
5. The growth of Muslim communities through immigration and a higher birth rate is a trend. It is the majority religion of Bosnia, and would be of others.

The Church in Europe

1. Pray for continent-wide revival to reverse the decline in church attendance. A survey showed the number of young people in Sunday Schools declined from seven in ten in 1960s to two in ten today. Pastors and Christian workers are expected to decline in numbers in the next two decades.
2. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s intervention for growth in the 21st century. New opportunities were often missed or misused.
3. Pray for a return to relevant biblical theology, preaching, and lifestyle in the mainline denominations. The liberal theological institutions are losing their influence and the evangelical churches have done better.
4. Pray for healing of scars from the past, when divisions exist in denominations between the legal and illegal, or registered and unregistered.
5. Pray for leaders to overcome an inferiority complex so they could play a role in restoring moral, ethical, and spiritual standards in a society that has lost its way.
6. Pray for wisdom for those handling relationships with the dominant Orthodox Church, building links with then global church, and training a new generation of workers.

The Unfinished Task

One of our lecturers summarized for us reasons for Europe to be in the midst of being re-evangelize as follows: dependence on God and the Holy Spirit, the gospel message as the ultimate solution for conflicts, the fall of communism, and peoples’ hearts beginning to feel anxiety and dissatisfaction. The mapping of Europe indicating where mission workers are needed is shown below.

1. Parts in Western Europe are truly post-Christian including North Germany, parts of Sweden, rural England and Wales, and much of France. Many of these areas have not had much meaningful exposure to biblical Christianity for several generations.

2. We see the need of planting many vibrant, witnessing groups of believers in southern Europe, eventually to become churches. About 24 nations have less than 1% Evangelicals, and of these, 11 have less than 0.2%. Others are nominal Christians belonging to Russian, Serbian, Greek, Macedonia, etc. churches.

3. Young people are a challenge as only in few countries has Christianity any meaning for them. Besides those who have been diverted to be fascinated by the occults and New Age spirituality, 25% of them are unemployed.

4. There are unreached peoples groups including Muslim ethnic groups, Roma minorities from Balkan States, the Jewish Remnant, and many ethnic minorities of the Russian Federation.