Stories from Greece
Over Easter two teams from across our extended family of churches spent a week in Greece. We were partnering with a ministry in Greece that has a focus on church planting. The two teams went out to different places in Greece, one team went to Crete, and one to Ioannina, which is about 4 hours’ drive north of Athens. Over the course of the trip we were able to build greater connection with the Greek team, supporting them and learning from them as we helped with various projects.
We’ve collected some of the testimonies from the trip to make this blog! As well as people’s stories and photographs from the trip, you will also find some things to pray for the ministry in Greece.
“While we were in Greece we saw God do some amazing things. Several in our team were quite ill, and God met us in that as we prayed for healing. There was one night in the back of the van where I had really blocked sinuses. We prayed and they completely unblocked straightaway – it was quite dramatic! One of our team had a fever, and we prayed for her and it went instantly. It was amazing to see God’s healing power at work in us.”
“We went out to Greece to get to know the team there, learn from them, and serve them where possible. It was really special to get to know them, see what they’re doing, and be able to serve them and learn so much from them.”
“We had the pleasure of seeing God at work in the hearts of the people we were working with. Before we arrived they had gone through a time of challenge, where their team had to restructure suddenly and they didn’t know what to do. They went into the week praying for breakthrough, and we got to pray through that with them. We went up into the mountains and prayed over the city and prayed for breakthrough – and we saw it! It wasn’t breakthrough in the way that they team were expecting, but God dramatically challenged their mindset in what they were doing in the city. We prayed over the university, and they were given clear vision for how they could see students there get to know Jesus. We saw a change in them throughout the week as God spoke to them, encouraged them and helped them regroup after a really challenging time.”
“Please pray for more workers to join them, especially in Ioannina which is a very small team. The work that they do with refugees there is incredible – they have an amazing lady on their team who became a Christian and had to flee her home country, and now she leads this refugee ministry. Please pray for her - it’s lonely work, as she’s on her own much of the time. Pray that God comforts her, encourages her and brings her more workers. Also please pray for the student work that they’re hoping to start, that we can see real breakthrough with the students there.”
“In Ioannina we had the opportunity to host a group of Muslim refugee women for a meal in the evening. We did this twice – the first evening we hosted 16 of them, and the next evening we hosted 32 of them who were interested in hearing the gospel. On the first night one woman shared that there was a time recently where she was unwell and in the hospital, and had a profound moment of encountering Jesus Christ in a dream. When she woke up she had been completely healed, and the doctor discharged her from the hospital the same day.”
“We met a couple from a refugee camp in Ioannina who recently became Christians, and they were sharing their stories about how coming to know Jesus Christ and relationship with him has transformed their lives. They talked about issues that they were having in their marriage, and how since coming to know Jesus there is a tangible sense of peace surrounding their relationship. They also said that the biggest witness to the gospel of Jesus was the way that community was modelled to them. In the past missionaries came into refugee camps and would force the gospel on them and preach at them – and that never worked. But there was a Christian missionary couple who were there week after week and built community with them. For him that was the true testament to the gospel, the fact that someone could love him so much, week in week out. This was a challenge to us, that the way we model community is a huge testament to the gospel. Please pray that the two of them would continue to be able to model community in a way that attests to the love of God.”
“For me the most powerful part of the trip to Greece was meeting people from different countries who were on fire for God, and serving him with everything they had. One of the phrases that we studied together over the course of the trip was “Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness”. I’ve come away from the trip to Greece feeling refreshed in my faith, and determined to put God’s kingdom and his righteousness as my number one priority in life once again.”