European Mission Fellowship held its annual Ballymoney conference in Ballymoney Baptist Church, NI, on 20 May 2023.
With approximately 130 people filling the church, Phil Dunn (EMF’s NI Representative) introduced the theme of the event: ‘Here we stand! Not ashamed of the gospel’. In a world that we all know is changing rapidly, Phil reminded us that we are called to stand firm, courageously contending for the truth of the gospel. This set the tone for the morning, which was to include mission news, panel discussions and book reviews.
The first main portion of the conference was a panel interview, chaired by Phil, with Tobias Haslund-Thomsen (EMF missionary in Aarhus, Denmark), Iliya Marinov (EMF missionary in Ruse, Bulgaria) and Trevor Watson (Crosslinks missionary in Sweden). They introduced their missionary work and shared some of the challenges faced in Denmark, Bulgaria and Sweden. Although these challenges differed in some ways, the panel concurred that evangelical faith across Europe has nearly been wiped out. However, if we lead from the front with the Bible and hold fast to its teachings, then we can have confidence that we are telling people good news. The panel members agreed that when challenged by ever-increasing secular worldviews, our confidence in standing firm grows when people see the transformational power of the Bible in our lives; our actions should match our words.
