God is doing incredible things in Europe. After much prayer and planning, a School of Missions program has been established in Western and Central Europe. Church evangelists, women’s ministry leaders, staff, and volunteers across countries joined together to form the European School of Missions (ESOM) which will equip disciples with a desire to serve God’s kingdom, of different ages and backgrounds, with the necessary training to evangelize a growing agnostic society.
The European School of Missionsbrings to life years of faithful effort on the parts of European leaders and US missionaries, who saw the growing need to train the future generation of leaders to serve in Europe. Among this group of dedicated men and women were Scott and Lynne Green, who formerly served in the Berlin Church ofChrist. These visionary men and women believed that it was time to inspire the young generation of disciples in Europe “so that the servants of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17). Many discussions and much prayer led up to the eventual program start in Les Diablerets Switzerland this August, where33 disciples began their journey.
Program directors John and Carol McGuirk, missionaries in the Paris church, stressed the importance of this program to not only strengthen these disciples’ relationships with God and knowledge of the Bible but also to unify young disciples from across Europe to foster relationships that would carry on into the future. More than just a school, this is a new chapter for Europe.
Each day during the first session, ESOM students were taught and engaged through powerful messages given by staff from all over the world. This was truly a collaborative teaching effort that brought together many mature disciples who can impart wisdom on important topics and provide mentorship to this young cohort of dreamers.
Micha and Dani Brück from Munich encouraged the group on the topic “The Joy of Walking with God.” Joey Harris, a Bible teacher from Augusta, Georgia, passionately taught Old Testament interpretation. Thierry Fender from Geneva shed light on the important topic of Christian counseling. Finally, Mathis and Myriam Wosegien from Berlin and Tom McGuirk, a new missionary in Paris, began to help students grow in their ability to study the Bible with people in secular Europe. They taught that two essentials of studying the Bible with Europeans are building relationships and being able to conclusively prove that Jesus is Christ.
To conclude our first ESOM session, John, Carol, and Tom McGuirk spoke to the group about building spiritual momentum in our ministries and the faith and effort that is required. Students were overjoyed to join this program after many months of anticipation. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Students will continue their three-year journey with the next session taking place in Berlin, Germany.
We are grateful to God for putting this in the hearts of the disciples in all participating churches and for guiding the way forward. Please keep Western and Central Europe in your prayers with all the faculty, staff, administrators, and students who continue to persevere in faith to make this long-awaited vision come to reality. The future looks bright in Europe and we cannot wait to see all that God will do.
