Only 1% of French people know and follow Jesus. Many communities have no church and there is a great need to train pastors and plant more churches. The most active faith in the public sphere is Islam, where France has the largest Muslim population in the EU. An interesting stat that shows the need is that there are 40 spiritual mediums for every Christian pastor in France. Most people will never hear the gospel from another believer and the few born again Christians that exist are marginalized.
Renee Johannesen - Wife
Charlotte Johannesen - Daughter
Emma Johannesen - Daughter
Davey Johannesen - Son
Western Europe and specifically France is increasingly becoming a secular nation, and now it is one of the main host countries for Refugees who are seeking asylum. Almost 60% of French people say they are atheist or agnostic. France also represents the European country with the largest population of Muslims. Both the French nationals and all those who are currently seeking home in France, are in need of an encounter with Jesus and God is at work - - now we have the chance to be a part of it!
Jean coaches worldwide church leaders in Asia, Africa and the U.S.A. on how to conceptualize, plant, cultivate and multiply churches and ministries that are indigenous in nature. She makes sure to do this in ways that are culturally relevant, self-functioning, self-determining, self-supporting, self-propagating and self-giving, and that promote a healthy self-image and a healthy community-image.
Patrick works as the coordinator of 4 schools for Bethany International Missions in Brazil and Paraguay, and his role has mainly been to expand the school programs in partnership with other churches and missions. Patrick also helps with supervision and member care for expatriate missionaries in the South American region. Both Patrick and Nedra are writers and will have books published in Portuguese in 2012.
In Luxembourg the Pentecostal movement only has two small churches in two cities and only one of them utilizes the local Luxembourgish language. Of the 0.025% born again believers in the nation, most accepted Christ OUTSIDE the nation and those few often have go to churches in bordering France and Belgium. It is considered social suicide for a Luxemburger to profess Christ. We will be mobilizing church planters who speak Luxembourgish to reach towns and cities such as Ettelbruck, Mersch and Wiltz where there is no church and no known Luxembourger believers. In the Ardennes area of Belgium our partner movement (Franco-Belgian Assemblies of God) only has a handful of churches and most sizable towns have no evangelical church of any kind. We are targeting 30 district towns (including Bastogne, Saint Hubert, Dianne and Bouillon that desperately need a church and church planting teams because there is zero gospel access whatsoever for miles and miles around. In Flanders, the Dutch speaking northern part of Belgium, there are over 7 million people and 40 Pentecostal churches. The average church has 15 members and the averages age of a pastor is 60+. It is a movement on the brink of extinction unless something is done. The Flemish were historically Catholic or Reformed but today less than half of the administrative districts have any evangelical witness at all. The Belgian government recently identified 21 evangelical groups as dangerous cults and has eliminated the religious worker visa category meaning that we are severely restricted in getting missionaries into Belgium legally. This is why we are setting up the planting training hubs as close to the borders of Flanders and the Ardennes to be able to send groups across the borders to establish churches and ministries until they can get non-profit or BAM established to give them a platform to remain in the country.
We serve the nearly 1500 MKs living in almost 200 countries, territories and provinces around the globe. One of the leading causes for missionary families to leave the field is because of concerns or needs of their kids. Our goal is to serve MKs and their parents so they can continue in long-term ministry even in difficult and hostile environments. MKs face the same challenges that their non-MK counterparts face. The difficulty for many is the added pressure of constant cultural change and adjustment.
Our primary focus is both with the international community and the Spanish native. The International Church of Barcelona (icbspain.com) is a church home to over 70 nationalities, which reflects the diversity of Barcelona! We minister in both English (for the expat and foreigner) and in Spanish (for the local).
River Valley 500. We serve under Dareth & Thida Ly in Siem Reap, Cambodia for 2 years. They have been in Cambodia since the mid-90s working with children and young adults. They help run 3 schools and provide a place (The New Dream Center) for children from the floating village to live who want to continue their education past 6th grade. By living at The New Dream Center, these children are able to attend the junior high and high school across the street and have access to additional English and computer classes through Dareth & Thida’s ministry. They also hold a Sunday church service at The New Dream Center. In the late 70’s, after the Vietnam War, the Khmer Rouge killed roughly a 1/4 of the population of Cambodia. Anyone with a higher education or held a position of leadership were killed. Families were separated and taken to working camps, where they endured extremely long, hard days working in rice fields. Many were killed just to set an example of what would happen if you disobeyed and many others died from the harsh working conditions, long days and lack of food. This event has had a huge impact on the Cambodian people as they continue to deal with the effects of such trauma from PTSD to the lack of knowledge of what a healthy family unit should look like. They deal with a struggling economy, widespread corruption, the highest HIV rate in Asia and some of the highest rates of child sex trafficking in the world. They have prayed that God would use them; that he would reveal His plan for their lives and in February of 2016, He did just that. God has called them to be missionaries to Cambodia. Never in their wildest dreams did they think this is what He would have in store for them. God has given them a calling and theyre simply trying to be obedient servants; vessels to be used by Him to share His glory and truth to the people of Cambodia.
Chris and Brook are the Directors for the Chi Alpha ministry on the campus of St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
The territory of The Gambia was annexed from the French and became a British colony in the 1700's. It served as the main hub for the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It became an independent nation in 1965, becoming the smallest country on the continent of Africa. English is the official language. Poverty is at 48% nationwide. The Gambia is a 96% Islamic country. There are less that 0.01% evangelical believers living there now with no prevoius record of an Assemblies of God presence.