STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN SONG FOR THIS BLOG ENTRY
Art by Jonathan Hopkins
Wow, it’s been a while. Sorry about that! I actually have several blogs in development, but I hit writer’s block with pretty much all of them. Then I got busy, forgot about them, the new Civilization VI expansion dropped, etc. etc. etc. But, one of my 2019 resolutions is to keep up with it, so I will do my best to write on here regularly so the two or three of you who are following it can stay up to date.
So, for my triumphant return to blogging, I thought it would be best to provide an update on my life plans and goals. In my inaugural blog, I mentioned that my new dream will be to go into full time, long term ministry in Greece. I noted that it was a rather wild idea that had come to mind and at that point was little more than a fanciful dream. Well, in the past few years, that fanciful dream has become my all-in, focused goal.
I got in touch with the good folks over at Hellenic Ministries (HM), and based on our conversations and reading their website, three ministry focuses stood out to me: refugee ministry, battered/abused/abandoned women and children, and church planting. My original thought was that I was just looking for something, anything I could do out there and these were the ministries that I felt I could get behind and serve long term. I’ve always had a heart for the rejected/discarded of society, possibly because I myself was an outcast for so much of my younger years. I’m also a big fan of small churches and a firm believer in their importance for the accountability and purity of the universal church and making sure they are raised right on grounded principles from the beginning. So, these seemed right up my alley. But, as I continued to talk with HM as well as other organizations like Operation Mobilisation (OM) and continued with my own research on the ministry needs in Greece, I’ve discovered that the need is actually quite significant and worth more consideration than just that. A few things I’ve learned about the situation there:
There is a severe shortage in the availability of properly translated Bibles.
Greece has a population of 11 million, of which an estimated 20,000 are evangelical Christians. This is because Protestantism is considered a heresy and is generally unwelcome due to the dominance of Greek Orthodoxy. As a result, legally practiced Protestant churches are extremely rare.
Despite being the birthplace of Greek Orthodoxy, less than 2% of the population attends church regularly on Sundays. This figure includes all Christians, including Greek Orthodox Christians, not just Protestants.
Because of their well-documented economic troubles, the unemployment rate is extremely high, as much as 40% in some demographics.
There are nearly 1 million refugees passing through Greece, mostly from North Africa and the Middle East, of which around 60,000 are currently stranded there.
The refugee situation has resulted in severe pollution and damage to Greece’s ecosystems.
Life jackets and dinghies brought and abandoned by refugees to Lesbos.
Please note that some of this data is based on relatively shallow research and conversations with contacts there. If anyone has insight that any of this is false, please feel free to let me know via email or leave it in the comments.
With such heavy needs, one would think that the mission field in Greece would be very ripe. Actually, at any given time, there are less than 100 missionaries active in Greece. At the time of this writing, there are less than 75. I say “at any given time” because the vast majority of mission work done there is done by short termers who stay for anywhere from a week to five months. There are very few permanent missionaries in Greece. There are two reasons for this. One is the aforementioned well-documented economic problems there. Because of the high unemployment rate and the influx of refugees, the government is extremely selective about who they give permission to stay in the country, lest available jobs become occupied by immigrants. Because Protestantism is considered a heresy (the second reason), evangelical missionaries are extremely low on the totem pole of people who are welcome.
This is the challenge I will be facing in my own aspirations there. As I understand it, getting permission to stay in Greece long term is going to be extremely difficult. My initial thought was that, since by the time I’ll be ready to head out there, I’ll have graduated from Torch and have two Bible-related degrees, I could get a job at a church with an English-speaking congregation and get some kind of work visa. I now know that that is completely out of the question. One of my contacts at HM, who we’ll call Satele for purposes of this blog, told me that basically anyone planning to work for a Protestant organization is not welcome at all. She told me of one missionary couple from the States who applied for a Financial Independence visa (more on that later) citing HM as their employer, and their application was roundly rejected. Any work for a church or religious organization would have to be affiliated with the Greek Orthodox Church to be accepted. While I am fairly open-minded about different theologies and in fact admire many things about the Orthodox Church and am a big believer/supporter of crossing denominational lines for Christian unity, I don’t see myself converting to Orthodoxy and/or taking a job at an Orthodox church anytime soon. Attending, sure. Working for, not so much. So, that’s probably out.
Satele Shan, Grandmaster of the Jedi order during the Old Republic era.
On the other hand, Satele and her husband apparently had little trouble getting long term visas, though they had to hire a lawyer to do so. She theorizes that at least a part of why the path was smooth for her was that they are from Australia, who apparently have close relations with Greece, which I had never heard previously. You’ll recall Australia is #2 on my bucket list, and I found it rather humorous that my #1 and #2 bucket list locations are so intimately connected. Maybe I should just move to Australia for a while and see if that helps and kill two birds with one stone. Well, two closely-connected stones. Actually, in Australia, those birds would likely kill me first. Anyway, Satele said that if I want to go that route, I can expect the legal fees to cost me somewhere in the vicinity of $1,700 to $2,265. Not an insurmountable amount, but I’d basically have to start saving up for that right now.
Outside of that, there seems to be three reliable routes to staying in Greece long term. One is a student visa. As much as I would love to attend university in Athens and hope to do so eventually, this would of course come with its own headaches, like how I would pay for it and if I’d be able to balance school work and missionary work, which will be almost a full time job. Plus, there would be no guarantee that I’d be able to stay once I’m done with school. Typically, as soon as you’re not a student anymore, they promptly kick you out.
The second is a Financial Independence visa. This means that you have a job and a source of income outside of Greece and but choose to live within, thereby funneling money into their economy without taking a job away from someone already living there. The requirements are quite stringent, but not beyond the realm of possibility. I am researching this to see if I can pull it off.
The third is to marry a Greek woman. Ha! Oh come on, you found that funny. When someone suggested this to me, it occurred to me that I’ve actually never met a Greek woman in my life; the only two Greeks I’ve ever known were both men. So, I have no idea what they’re like. Though, recently I have been seeing several memes about them on the Greek Facebook pages I follow which leads me to believe this might not be a very good idea. Nonetheless, as amusing as the thought of being a mail-order husband sounds, I think I’ll take a hard pass on this option.
One of the first images that came up when I googled “Greek women.” I can definitely work with this.
So, lots to think about and work out. This in addition to the ethical issues of me going into missions that I’ve been and still am wrestling with. As I mentioned in my first blog entry, I’ve never been particularly missions-minded. By that, I don’t mean that I oppose missions or anything like that, but for myself, my mindset has always been to serve the community I consider my home, rather than go to a foreign country to offer aid. This is why my initial thought was to try to find a job out there rather than being a missionary. The reason I first got the idea to be a missionary in Greece was really just because I really wanted to live in Greece and that seemed to be the most straightforward route and legitimate excuse to get there. I was starting to really think about what I can do after I’m done with seminary, as it was, and still is, becoming increasingly clear that I will likely not be returning to the U.S. as it’s getting more and more difficult to sustain a living there. So much so, that my parents are actually considering moving back to Korea as well. And I sure as hell don’t want to stay in Korea any longer than I have to… especially if my parents do end up moving back here (ba-dum ching). So, I’ve really questioned whether this is really an appropriate reason to become a missionary. Part of me feels like I’ll never be of a true missionary mindset and that I’ll just be using these organizations to get a shortcut to what will essentially be a happy early retirement.
But, I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine who we will call Kira for purposes of this blog. She suggested that, if things are really that grim in Greece, perhaps I’m actually the kind of person they need. Perhaps Greece needs more people who already have a truly deep-rooted love for the country and their culture, rather than people who just have a general notion of going into missions “wherever God leads them.” Perhaps Greece needs people who want to live there, make their home there, serve as members of their community, and seek for their well-being as they would seek the well-being of their own home, rather than outsiders who see them as a charity case to put in some missionary work for when they get the time. Perhaps people who see becoming a missionary as a lifelong move to a new home rather than as a mission trip they will return home from is exactly what Greece needs.
Kira Carsen, loyal companion to the Hero of Tython.
I can see her point. I may not have a missionary’s mindset, but I love Greece and want to live, work, and serve God there as much as anyone else. Or maybe I’m just grasping at more straws to continue justifying how badly I want to go there. I really don’t know.
But yeah. Lots to think about. It’s going to be at least two years before I can really start thinking about my long-term options, so plenty of time to think about it and see what happens with this and what doors are opened for me. Who knows. Two years is a long time, and maybe by then some of Greece’s immigration policies may even change, making it easier for me to go there (doubtful but hey). For now, I am completely all-in with this, with no backup plan whatsoever. I seriously have no idea what I’m going to do if this doesn’t work out. Guess I’ll just return to California and mooch off my parents for a little longer. If that doesn’t motivate me (and my parents, for that matter) to make this work, I don’t know what will.
For now, the next step is summer 2020, when I will hopefully participate in Operation Joshua (OJ). HM requires that potential long termers participate in three short term trips before being considered for long term commitment, and OJ 2020 will hopefully be the first of my three, as well as my first time finally setting foot in Greece (and Europe, for that matter). Excited!
If none of this works out, I guess I can always just go to the island of Syros and take care of a bunch of cats.
Thoughts? Concerns? Suggestions? Leave them in the comments!