Two years ago the nation of Greece received the nations on her doorstep for the Olympic Games. But where are the Greeks who will take the Gospel to the nations?
In the third and forth centuries the Greeks actively shared the Gospel to the people of the Balkans and far into the Caucasus. Now, while Orthodox Christianity is part of the national identity, few have a living faith in Jesus based on grace and relationship. As a result, it is estimated that there are only a handful of Greek missionaries in the world!
One of these is a man called Costas, who was a missionary to Irian Jaya.
Many years ago, back home in Greece, Costas was put on trial for giving out Bibles with young people from Youth With A Mission. The world watched as the nation that introduced the concept of democracy to the west appeared to have lost basic freedom of rights. A lengthy trial eventually resulted in their being found guilty of the same preaching made famous by Paul the apostle on Mars Hill in Acts 17.
The experience didn’t put off Costas and his family from sharing their faith. Years on, he and his sons have begun an organisation called Hellenic Ministries, which seeks to reach all of Greece with the gospel. Their goal is to see many Greeks follow in their father’s footsteps in missions.
During the Olympic Games of 2004 the family called believers from all over the world to go to where the Greeks were- as far as they could get from Athens! The people of Greece, particularly those from the Athens area, had spread to the 80 islands that comprise the nation, in order to avoid the international invasion
They reached 40 islands at that time, and have invited young people to come out this summer to finish the job. A group of young people from churches in the English midlands, led by a team from Youth With A Mission, plan to go out for two weeks to come alongside the Greek believers, making friends, sharing testimonies, and giving out leaflets.
Their object is to encourage Greek believers in sharing their faith, first to their own people and then to the unreached people of the world.
Pray that dozens of young Greeks would follow in Costas’ footsteps and take the Word of God to those in our world who haven’t had a chance to hear the Good News!
Written by Becky Mehaffey, YWAM
