Report European STM Forum 2007 in Moldova

OM International

Dear friends

Seventeen people from 10 different OM fields in Europe gathered from Feb. 26 – March 4 in Chisinau, Moldova to attend OM Europe’s second short term mission (STM) forum. After three days of training in OM Moldova’s base, another three days of outreach in villages followed. Together with twelve workers from OM Moldova, we went out to five different outreach locations to put in practice what we’ve learned and to proclaim the Good News ourselves.

Our goal with this year’s forum was not only to have a time of vision casting, training, motivation, and fellowship as we had last year. We felt, that as we want to encourage and motivate more people to get drawn into STM, it is necessary to experience ourselves what is involved in short term mission outreaches and not just talk about the issues.

Reviewing it, we can truly say, that this combined forum and outreach was very crucial in our effort to bring Global Challenge, TiM experiences and other short term mission activities again into our focus within OM in Europe. Moldova with its possibilities and challenges was a huge blessing to us all. Seeing such a fast growing ministry with our own eyes and being able to minister in villages, where nobody in the world would choose to live, was an unforgettable experience. To be out of the comfort zone and experiencing such a cutting edge mission trip was everyone’s highlight.

During the first days we purposely listened to God’s word by studying Ezekiel 37. Today’s spiritual state in Europe and Ezekiel’s “Valley of dry bones”, have much in common. Our “Christian” identity is mostly lost and we are becoming a mission field of neo-pagans, baptised and unbaptised. Did you know that in France today, there are more spirtist healers than doctors, lawyers and priests combined? Many (not just) Christians have given up on Europe. Fatalism is a huge tendency on our continent. But Jesus Christ can restore hope to European societies. God asks us to get involved in what He is doing and STM experiences are one way that we can use to bring people back to God.

To be able to be better equipped for our task, OM Europe’s STM Vision, Mission and Core Values where again explained. We spend a large part of our time reviewing, discussing and agreeing on common STM outcomes. Until now, they did not exist and it made it increasingly difficult, to measure the quality our STM activities in an appropriate way. The results are presently being tested by us and we hope to present them to you later this spring.

Workshops, sports & games and an inspiring prayer evening where also highlights of our days together. In addition to that, we did not just hear about OM Moldova’s ministry, but saw and experienced their passion and commitment to serve Jesus Christ in Europe’s poorest nation.
Therefore it was very sad for all of us, that only so few GC and TiM coordinators were present. We would recommend that such unique opportunities should be attended by all STM staff from now on! The next STM forum with outreach will probably take place sometimes in Feb./March 2009.

Thank you for your prayers and support. We love to serve your STM staff as best as we can, although we are challenged to do this in combination with our new roles as Field Leaders.

Philipp Eschbach & Trevor Warner

On behalf of Short Term Mission, OM Europe

Credit: OM International
© 2007 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it