{"id":22708,"date":"2023-03-02T20:03:52","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T20:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifesworld.org\/?post_type=conexion&p=22708"},"modified":"2023-03-10T16:31:54","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T16:31:54","slug":"energizing-evangelism-across-europe","status":"publish","type":"conexion","link":"https:\/\/ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/energizing-evangelism-across-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Energizing evangelism across Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cWe are living in a desperately tumultuous, uncertain time. The world is in crisis. We are facing a pivotal moment in western civilization,\u201d says evangelist and author Becky Pippert. \u201cIf ever there was a time that the world needs to hear the good news of Jesus Christ, it is now. We must not fail to make a difference in this critical cultural moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Becky Pippert addressed these remarks to 100 evangelists and 40 academics during a conference organized by FEUER<\/a>, the Fellowship of Evangelists in the Universities of Europe, this past October.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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In a post-pandemic context, amid rapid cultural shifts and the rise of \u201ccancel culture\u201d, sharing the gospel on European university campuses can be challenging. But when evangelists in IFES Europe\u2019s FEUER network met in Greece late last year, they exchanged ideas and encouragement to equip and empower this mission. FEUER connects the national movements of IFES Europe with European evangelists committed to the public communication of the gospel in the region\u2019s universities. These partnerships are crucial to the success of mission work in the region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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We come away with so many ideas to steal and adapt in our own context and people feel motivated to ‘give it a go’<\/em>!<\/p>Michael Ots, field director for FEUER<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n

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\u201cThe courageous and creative approaches to public evangelism that we hear shared at our annual conferences are not just an encouragement – they are an inspiration,\u201d says Michael Ots, field director for FEUER. \u201cWe come away with so many ideas to steal and adapt in our own context and people feel motivated to ‘give it a go’!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Debates between Christians and famous atheists on YouTube, podcasts, book clubs and publishing projects were just a few of the diverse outreach ideas shared by members of this grassroots network during the recent conference. And many ideas have been shared and adapted between countries and student groups.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Reinvigorating student mission<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\u201cIn a post-pandemic world, we have been exploring how we can rekindle the idea of evangelism in Christian Unions, some of which have never seen mission done before,\u201d says Julia Garschagen, Director of the Pontes Institut.<\/a> For her, the conference was a chance to update those present on how the Pontes Institut, in partnership with relevant IFES national movements, is building bridges among science, culture, and faith in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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\u201cWe looked at the needs in these German-speaking student movements and realized that we needed to find students who are multipliers, people who have already seen and done mission and can bring along those who haven\u2019t so that we can restart missions in many cities,\u201d observes Julia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Together with her colleague Heike Breitenstein, they have started a program called Proclama<\/a> (Proclaim), which trains students and recent graduates in theology, apologetics, and communication skills, equipping them for public evangelism. It\u2019s an idea they have borrowed from a similar program run by GBU Spain<\/a> and the Spanish apologetics institute, Instituo Pontea<\/a> — a program they heard about during a previous FEUER conference. \u201cWe have just started our third cohort of Proclama students and this year we have eight students from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland,\u201d Julia reports. \u201cIt is really encouraging because often the students who do Proclama are the ones who get student groups excited to do mission weeks. They are able to give evangelistic talks themselves and train other students in how to do personal evangelism.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Julia also shared news of an event focusing on a new style of evangelistic dialogue being used in German-speaking IFES movements.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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\u201cWe’ve found that a lot of postmodern students want to experience and explore the gospel for themselves,\u201d she says. \u201cThey have a more existential approach, so we have been trying to introduce a dialogue model of evangelism that gets people engaged with a biblical text while also discussing an existential topic, for example \u2018I have a full calendar and an empty soul: how do I find fulfilment?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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This type of engagement is already bearing fruit in the east of Germany, one of the most unchurched regions in Europe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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\u201cI was recently in Rostok, in the far northeast region of Germany,\u201d shares Julia, \u201cit\u2019s the kind of place where there are a lot of atheists. You can meet people there who have never heard the name of Jesus. But this also gives you the opportunity to open the Bible without a lot of prejudice because many people there have never seen one before.\u201d She recalls leading one event where \u201cthere was a student who prayed the prayer and gave his life to Jesus. We don\u2019t see this very often, so this was a real day of celebration for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The word on fire<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n
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FEUER may be an acronym, but it is also the German word for fire (pronounced foy-yehr)<\/em>. It was Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones, the first chairman of IFES, who described preaching as \u2018logic on fire\u2019.<\/a> FEUER was established in 2008 to spark an increase in the public proclamation of the gospel throughout European universities. At the time, university \u201cmission weeks\u201d occurred regularly in less than five countries in the region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Mission weeks are a special series of events during which the gospel is proclaimed publicly and persuasively. This single, intense experience is a point of culmination for the ongoing personal witness of Christian students throughout the year as well as a catalyst for further witness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Over the last 15 years, FEUER has grown into a network of grassroots evangelists from 40 countries. The Lord has used this network to help many Christians rediscover a confidence in the public proclamation of the gospel. As a result, university mission weeks have been pioneered in 36 countries, regular mission weeks take place in approximately 25 of those countries, and many thousands of students have heard the gospel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Take what you learn and make it your own<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Nonetheless, there are still countries and cities where the idea of hosting a mission week is an unfamiliar concept.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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\u201cI hadn\u2019t really even known what a mission week was when I attended my first FEUER conference,\u201d says Nico Villanen from Finland, who was a student when he first attended the conference two years ago. \u201cWe heard that mission weeks are an amazing concept, but we hadn\u2019t seen it in practice, so a friend and I attended the mission week planning course at the conference.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Nico, presently a staff worker with HSSM<\/a>, the Swedish-speaking IFES movement in Helsinki, shared how his student group organized the first ever mission week in that city last April.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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\u201cWe were so blessed because on the first event of our mission week, there was one girl who accepted Jesus as her Lord and Saviour,\u201d remembers Nico. \u201cAt that moment, we thought, \u2018wow, if this is the peak and if nothing else happens this week, this is enough!\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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