We go wherever the Lord leads—often to countries where Christian work is scarce. As we pray, God deals with us about cities that He wants us to pray for and travel to when necessary. Frequently, we know nothing about them before we travel there. So far we have visited 20 such cities: Burgos, Spain; Mons, Belgium; Paris and Avignon, France; Rome and Livorno, Italy; Grindelwald, Switzerland; Utrecht, the Netherlands; Edinburgh, Scotland and Bristol, England, UK; Berlin and Greifswald, Germany; Ballina, Ireland; Riga, Latvia; Nyköping, Sweden; Oslo, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; Oulu, Finland; Coimbra, Portugal; and Haifa, Israel. And the Lord has prompted us about many more.
The need is great. In Spain, for instance, most young people distrust organized religion. Evangelical Christian groups have reached a few hundred of more than a million university students.[1] Utrecht is the religious center of the Netherlands. But as of 2013, 61 percent of its people claimed no religion.[2]
Since we’ve asked to be sent where no one else will go and the need is greatest, we’ve often ended up in places where fewer than one person out of a hundred is saved. Many of these places are nominally Christian, but the people have no living relationship with God. Often these areas have a long history of building obstacles to preaching the Gospel. For instance, Burgos, Spain, is the most traditionally Roman Catholic city in a very Roman Catholic country. Rome is the administrative center of the Catholic Church. Avignon, France, is the Catholic Church’s former administrative center. Livorno is home to the Italian Communist movement. Grindelwald, Paris, and Utrecht are three of the most expensive places on earth to live and work. That has stopped many, but we can’t let it deter us. Haifa is the center of the Baha´i Faith cult and full of all sorts of religions. I didn’t know most of this before we traveled to these places. When we first visited these cities, we were aware of no churches there that preached the living Word of God and the fullness of the Spirit. But we’re doing all we can to change that. Praise God!
[1] http://www.operationworld.org/country/spai/owtext.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utrecht#Religion