Answers to Prayer

1 The slow, but steady growth of the small evangelical witness

2 Flemish areas have long had far fewer Evangelicals than the French-speaking south, but in the last 10 years have had the greater growth

3 A growing mutual respect between historical Protestants and evangelical networks

Challenges for Prayer

1 Belgium is a deeply divided nation

2 The Protestant Church is only now recovering from the destruction of its 600 congregations by the Spanish Inquisition

3 The population is culturally Catholic but rapidly secularizing

4 The nation was shocked in the 1990s by the exposure of murderous paedophile rings, some with Satanist practices

5 Protestantism has hardly grown over the past 30 years

a) The division between the EPUB and evangelical networks was heightened by the former's efforts to claim to speak at government level for all Protestants

b) The strengthening of fellowship and ministry links between denominations

6 The lack of Belgian, and especially Flemish, Christian workers and pastors is crippling

7 Vision for growth

a) Of Flanders' 308 administrative districts, 116 had no evangelical witness

b) Of Wallonia's 281 administrative districts, 168 had no evangelical witness

8 Goals for achievement by the year 2015

a) Increase Francophone churches

b) Increase Flemish churches

c) In 2000, the Flemish Pentecostal churches (VVP) launched the vision of planting 120 churches

d) BEM's ongoing vision for distributing gospel packets with a personal explanation

9 Specific outreach challenges:

a) Belgium, as a nation, is spiritually one of the neediest countries in Europe

b) The provinces with the greatest need – Flemish Brabant and East Flanders, also the Francophone Liège, Namur and Luxembourg

c) Brussels is a strategic city

d) Antwerp has only 40 or so evangelical congregations

e) North Africans (predominantly Moroccan) have increased through legal and illegal immigration

f) Turks and Kurds have proved hard to reach

g) The German-speaking cantons on the eastern border were neglected by Evangelicals until recently

h) The student population of 135,000 in 17 universities and colleges

10 Christian media ministries

a) Christian literature

b) Christian bookstores

c) Christian radio and TV

Geography

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Area 30,518 sq.km. One of the Low Countries, often called The Crossroads of Europe.

Population (2000) 10,161,164 +0.14%AGR

Capital Brussels 2,450,000; capital of the EU and HQ of NATO.

Peoples

Indigenous 90%; Foreign 10%.

Literacy 99%. Official languages Flemish, French and German. All indigenous languages 4. Languages with Scriptures 3Bi.

Economy

Wealthy service and export-oriented economy, but unemployment relatively high at 9. HDI 0.923; 5^th/174. Public debt 97% of GNP. Income/person £26,730 (85% of USA).

Politics

Became a nation in 1830 as a constitutional monarchy.

Religion

There is full freedom of religion, but official recognition given to selected main religions.

Churches in Belgium

Missionaries from Belgium

83 in 20 agencies

Missionaries to Belgium

473 in 53 agencies

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