Andrew Birch, Mission Director for the European Mission Fellowship (EMF), talks the organisation’s growing to en about vision for the continent of Europe.
Andrew, what’s the vision you’re developing?
We (at EMF) are praying to be able to support at least 15 new missionaries (or missionary couples) over the next five years (up to the end of 2026), as they plant new churches in some of the hardest places in Europe, with a particular focus on the Balkans and the Nordics.
Why do you want to do that?
Because EMF exists to help to make Christ known in Europe, and the way we do that is, primarily, by supporting missionaries – or ‘gospel workers’ – as they evangelise, make disciples, and plant and pastor churches.
Europe is the spiritually neediest continent on the planet, with fewer real Christians, gospel churches, and faithful missionaries – in proportion to the population – than in the rest of the world. So, the more workers we can help to support, the more of Europe’s 750 million people will have the opportunity to hear the gospel.
Why the Balkans and the Nordics?
Although all of Europe desperately needs the gospel, some places are even more needy than others. The Balkans and the Nordics are two very different regions: the Balkans are relatively poor, while the Nordics are relatively wealthy; the Balkans have been ravaged by war, whereas the Nordics are in the ‘top ten’ on the ‘happy countries’ list. But the deadly combination of fast-growing secularism, gospel-less religion, and the scarcity of faithful Christians and churches, has turned many of the countries in those two regions into spiritual deserts!
So, what’s the plan?
We’re praying for, and actively looking for, the right people to support, especially in those two regions, but without ignoring other countries. Those ‘right people’ would be reformed evangelical Christians with a clear call from God to be involved in new gospel work, with the enthusiastic backing of their churches. We’ve set up a new fund, the EMF Gospel Growth Fund, as a way of enabling our supporters to get behind this initiative.
Although fulfilling this vision will (obviously) take a lot of extra finance, what we need most of all is the support in prayer of the Lord’s people.
