Missionaries Share Their Perspective on an Annual Conference
BY PHILIP C. PARSONS
For many years, CMML’s directors have strategically supported the annual Christian Workers’ Conference in Europe. The continent’s once radiant gospel light has greatly diminished. Centuries of spiritual awakenings yielded decades of spiritual blessings, but contemporary realities have rendered Europe a needy continent. Evangelical Christians make up fewer than 3 percent of Europeans.1 Ministry throughout Europe is challenging and often discouraging. So, in 1977, Joe Black (home with the Lord) and Richard Haverkamp (Missionary Prayer Handbook Day 9) suggested that missionaries come apart for a time of refreshment, and the weeklong conference has been an oasis ever since.
This year, the European Christian Workers’ Conference was held within walking distance of pristine Lake Annecy, and about 100 men, women, and children attended. Each day began with men’s and women’s prayer meetings followed by breakfast. The mornings were dedicated to ministry, while the unstructured afternoons allowed attendees to sightsee, hike, rest, and fellowship. In nine morning sessions, Stephen Shaw, a lawyer and a board member of Echoes International (the UK Brethren missionary service organization), presented on Jonah and Titus, two of God’s servants called to work in hostile cultures. Kathy M. (MPH Day 11) organized the afternoon sightseeing trips, and Matt Glock (MPH Day 10) and Tom Marinello (MPH Day 12) led the annual hike to a panoramic view of Lake Annecy.
Before dinner, the missionaries could choose to attend seminars. Paul Rabideau (New Jersey) gave three on the Lord Jesus’s compassion, anger, and joy. Stephen Shaw presented on the theology of work and the call of God from a vocational perspective. Evening activities included the missionaries’ ministry reports, a family game night, and a closing presentation by the children.
My wife, Mary, and I asked several of our fellow attendees why they value the conference. “Our Christian Workers’ Conference is about the long history we share with other Christian workers across Europe,” said Jean-Luc and Jeannie Tabailloux (MPH Day 10), regulars at the conference. “It is a multicultural, multilingual family reunion. As our speaker opened the books of Jonah and Titus, we felt like those walking with Jesus to Emmaus: ‘Our heart [burned] within us while He talked . . . and while He opened the Scriptures to us.’” (Luke 24:32)
Similarly, Bernd and Karin Flock (MPH Day 9) reflected, “The conference is where we meet ‘family’ who care and truth is spoken into our lives. Excellent Bible teaching is what we come for to be freshly motivated and challenged so we grow in our faith. We feed others most of the year; here, we are fed.”
Kathy M. said, “The conference for workers has been a yearly source of encouragement to my family and me—as a young widow, then as a single mother, and then as a wife raising foster children—for over 30 years! I wouldn’t ever miss it now.”
Colin and Maureen Crow (MPH Day 9) appreciate the conference because of the “fellowship, magnificent surroundings, the praise and worship moments with excellent teaching, and of course, the fine cuisine!”
As all the attendees would agree, the fellowship reminded them that they serve a sovereign God, and the teaching motivated them to expand their vision in Europe. n
Philip C. Parsons, CMML missionary care and security
Originally published in Missions magazine, November 2024. For more content, sign up for a free subscription (US) to Missions at CMML.us/magazine/subscribe
