Croatia

The lands that today comprise Croatia were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the close of World War I. In 1918, the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes formed a kingdom known after 1929 as Yugoslavia. Following World War II, Yugoslavia became a federal independent Communist state. Although Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, it took four years of sporadic, often bitter, fighting before occupying Serb armies were mostly cleared from Croatian lands.

Before the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the Republic of Croatia was the most prosperous and industrialized area after Slovenia, with a per capita output perhaps one-third above the Yugoslav average. Today, the economic situation of Croatia is weighed down by a high unemployment rate.

During the school year, CRM staff minister with the local theological seminary in Osijek – from teaching, to helping students improve their practical ministry skills and preparing them for full-time ministry. Students come from Croatia and neighboring countries.

The country is 87% Roman Catholic, 4% Orthodox Christian, and 1% Muslim, but through the influence of CRM staff, this politically turbulent Balkan region is being infused with trained Christian laborers. Even the Muslim populations are being penetrated as these laborers are being sent out.

CRM staff also work with a local church in its outreach efforts. During the summer, they host several international teams who run camps for English, sports, and music. Because evangelical churches are generally looked upon as sects in Croatia, people would normally never set foot in a church building, but when English classes are held there, the church building is viewed differently. And the classes provide environments where Christ is presented.

Staff are also involved in an economic development project that helps the developing ministries support themselves.

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England

Less than 1% of the population of Great Britain attends a Church of England service on any given Sunday and by all outward appearances, established religion in the U.K. has become a casualty to the general post-Christian, post-modern cultural evolution characteristic of Europe.

But such an observation is woefully superficial in understanding the reality of spiritual life in Britain. When one looks underneath the surface, we find signs of renewal and fresh expressions of orthodox Christianity. While manifested through forms that may defy traditional definitions, God’s Spirit is quietly birthing new things throughout the U.K.

CRM-UK is part of this spiritual renaissance. Working through innovative leadership across a broad doctrinal spectrum, CRM personnel in the UK are quietly coaching and empowering a new generation of leaders for these new expressions of the body of Christ.

Enterprise International is actively prospecting business opportunities in the region. As we develop our import-export company and our data network businesses we are also seeking business partners and opportunities that will allow God to impact the U.K. through its Christian business leaders.

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France

France, a land of aesthetic beauty and romantic charm, has been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Atheism, secular humanism, rationalism, intellectualism, occultism, and nominal Catholicism have more than tipped the scales of this post-Christian nation scarred by the religious and world wars of it’s storied past. Add to the mix a significant and mobilizing Muslim population, and a general paranoia of cults, and you begin to understand why France has earned a reputation as being “hard.”

God has called us, however, to go and “break up the hard ground,” beginning in the heart of France: Tours. An ancient Gallo-Roman city, Tours emerged as the main cultural center of the Loire Valley and capital of France during the 15th and 16th centuries. Worldwide, the Loire Valley is known for its famous chateaus, but the French know it as the “heart of France.” Rich in art, history, and culture, it has been the home of or given birth to the likes of Descartes, Rabelais, and Leonardo Da Vinci. It’s religious past is significant too: namely, as the birthplace of atheism, the stopping point of the Western advance of Islam in 732, and as the ministry base of St. Martin, the apostolic bishop of Tours, who died in 397.

Our ministry focus is two-fold: First, to facilitate and encourage leadership development and unity in the body of Christ by engaging pastors and church leaders to collaborate and to pray togther. We believe that unity will be the catalyst for revival.

Second, to reach the lost through innovative and relevant evangelism: i.e. “Café theology,” open mic night, music festivals, gospel choirs, etc. These diverse activities serve as stepping stones allowing us to establish relationships and create a sense of community where people feel like they belong while they sort out what they believe. Ultimately, we are facilitating the entire process of relating, to belonging, to step-taking, to believing, to reconciliation, to redemption, and finally healing.

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Hungary

The nation of Hungary, located in the heart of Europe, has always been an important bridge between the East and the West. From the 13th to 17th centuries, it was the eastern defense, first against the invading Tartars and later against the Turks. Hungary was then part of the great Austro-Hungarian empire until the end of the first World War, when two-thirds of its land was taken away. After World War II, it became the western edge of the Iron Curtain. Presently, Hungarians are glad to be back where they feel they belong historically and culturally–as part of western Europe and a member of the European Union.

In spite of this, Hungarians are still wrestling to establish their own identities after the emergence from Communism in 1989. After a brief season of spiritual openness, people turned to materialism and became impatient and discontent with the corrupt national leadership and slow growth. This, coupled with the confusion of post-modernism, has made Hungary a chaotic place where people long for authenticity and genuine role models. Although Hungary has been a “Christian” nation for over a thousand years, today only 16% of Hungarians say they attend church regularly, and most research experts estimate the percentage of evangelical believers to be only 2-5%. Hungary is a place of great opportunity for the Church and for mission, giving those with the commitment and patience to raise up and support strong, godly leaders much to do.

Enterprise International is actively prospecting business opportunities in the region. As we grow our data network businesses into Hungary we are also seeking business partners and opportunities that will allow God to impact Hungary through its Christian business leaders.

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Poland

CRM’s ministry in Poland started in the mid-1990s, when an American couple was led to establish a training / mentoring relationship with one of the largest evangelical churches in Warsaw, the capital of Poland.

From 1998-2002, they worked with evangelical churches in the northern part of Poland, focusing on transforming one church in the city of Gdansk into a cell-group-structured church.

They are currently developing an evangelistic home-group structure in a small mission church in Gdansk, which is focusing on discovering God’s pattern to reach Poles for Christ and to disciple them.

A second phase of their ministry is working with pastors from several churches in the northern region of Poland. They are helping these pastors lead their congregations to a mature and zealous Christian lifestyle, which would eventually bring the gospel to new families.

The majority of Polish people have no awareness of the gospel of grace. Polish evangelical churches are small and often lack the proper approach to their unbelieving neighbors. Many young pastors are struggling with overwhelming obstacles in their work and often are left without a mentoring relationship.

This is why, as we recruit new staff for this ministry, we want to expand our training / mentoring relationships to pastors in other regions of Poland, with the vision of meeting this urgent need.

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Romania

Romania is the Oregon-sized country that won its freedom in the bloody December 1989 revolution. CRM has ongoing ministry in Iasi (pronounced “Yash”), the former capital and seat of Romanian Orthodoxy for the northeastern region of Moldova. Iasi is a university city of about 400,000 inhabitants. CRM ministers to students, helps start churches, trains and equips emerging leaders, and sends out Romanian missionaries.

Two of CRM’s ministry divisions are present in Romania: InnerCHANGE and Enterprise. The primary emphasis of CRM’s Romanian ministry is on economic projects through our Enterprise division. For over 13 years Enterprise staff have started and developed small businesses in Romania. These include three second-hand clothing stores, a complex including a hotel, restaurant and conference center, and a small housing development company.

Ministries supported by these businesses in Romania cross the border to the Republic of Moldova where there are some one thousand villages with no Christian church. Iasi is a mere fifteen miles from the border, so it was a natural progression to reach out to this neighboring, former Soviet satellite which still clings to a form of Communism.

Unlike the ministry in Romania, the focus in Moldova is on planting churches in rural villages where no Christian church exists. CRM helps to facilitate this through the vision of a native Romanian ministry, Ecclesia. The Romanians employ, to great effect, a Celtic form of outreach to these impoverished communities. CRM supports these indigenous missionaries and their projects to bring the Gospel to a country of five million people whose economy completely imploded with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

An InnerCHANGE team is also present in Romania. The team’s primary focus is on ministry to orphans and at-risk youth. They have created a program combining practical life skills development with mentoring for teenage orphans preparing them for independent living as adults. Another mentorship program being developed is one that pairs adult Romanian Christians with teenage orphans seeking to gain personal and practical help in preparation for entering adulthood.

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Russia

Despite the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 and the ultimate fall of Communism in Russia in 1991, despite incessant economic, political and social crises, the Russian Federation continues to be a major voice on the world’s stage. Russia makes up more than 10% of the earth’s land mass, but contains less than 3% of the world’s population; it is a land of contrasts and contradictions that often defies description.

An admixture of European and Asian cultures and mentalities, many consider the growth and strength of the church in Russia to be a strategic link in world evangelization. But despite the heroic evangelistic efforts and influx of missions resources since Communism’s fall, evangelical Christians today make up less than 1% of the Russian population in a Church that is severely marginalized in the society. Even the dominant Russian Orthodox Church, with its nationalistic ties and the cultural sympathy of most Russians, considers less than 5% of the population pious believers. Generations of totalitarian oppression, atheism, and propaganda have left the society skeptical of the truth and relevance of the Gospel–and especially of its Western expressions and methods. This heritage has left the Russian people mistrusting and narcissistic, and the Russian church divided, rigid, and insular.

Since 1991, CRM has envisioned long-term teams in Russia, who would not settle for the “open window” missions mentality. CRM teams have taken the time to make language acquisition a priority and the development of Russian churches under Russian leadership the invariable principle of ministry. First working in St. Petersburg, then in Irkutsk and Kursk, CRM teams have worked alongside national training facilities and a variety of Russian churches and organizations to encourage the integrity and depth of Russian leaders and the development of their vision for the impact of the Gospel in their land. This is slow, personal “soul” work–tilling the soil over the long haul for the fruits of genuine church growth.

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Scotland

Located in West Central Scotland approximately 100 miles from the English border, Glasgow is host to two CRM teams: NieuCommunities and Re:Hope Next Generation Church and Church Planting Training Centre. Originally founded circa 1175 AD, Glasgow is now Scotland’s largest city with over three-quarters of a million people and an additional 2 million in the surrounding communities. Glasgow is very Scottish, energetic and diverse; a cosmopolitan city full of contrasts. With three universities and almost a dozen colleges, Glasgow is home to more than 45,000 students.

The NieuCommunities team ministers in a variety of ways, and uses different formats and contexts to connect with the city’s vast array of inhabitants. One way is through the Glasgow City Mission, providing weekly volunteers to their understaffed facility. Every staff member on the team is committed to and involved in Bible study groups steeped in discipleship and development.

Re:Hope Next Generation Church and Church Planting Training Centre is calling Scotland’s emerging generation to dedicate the entirety of their lives to following Jesus no matter the cost. It is about calling people to become passionate about God, and living catalytic lives in an apathetic age. A godly people, a people of the Word, a people of prayer, a people on mission: together. The Church Planting Training Centre further prepares the emerging generation to multiply reawakened faith throughout Scotland, the UK, Europe and beyond.

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Serbia

More Information Coming Soon!

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Ukraine

Ukraine is positioned geographically and politically between western Europe and Russia. It became independent of the USSR in 1991, but struggled to break out of its communist heritage. The Orange Revolution in 2004 raised the hopes of the nation, but much needed (and painful) economic and social reforms are still required before life for the average Ukrainian will improve.

CRM Enterprise is working in Cherkassy, a town located in central Ukraine, two hours south of the capital Kiev and four hours south of Chernobyl, the site of the world’s largest nuclear accident. Business projects include Kafe Kreative, a cool place to eat and hang out; eKreative, a website technology design business; and Spohad, a contemporary portrait studio. These Kingdom enterprises employ over 20 people and each month generate profits which support local ministry.

One of the ministry projects funded by these businesses is Mission Impossible, a project giving young Ukranian people the opportunity to get involved in short-term mission trips. Teams of young people have served in Ukraine and have also been sent out to Siberia, Tanzania, Kenya, and Central Asia. The aim is for a new generation of young people to get excited and passionate about their faith, and to develop their leadership skills in the Church and society.

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