for over 40 years Tom mahairas has been traveling to greece with the goal to preach the gospel to his own kindred.
this year, god has brought together over 15 Greek churches and various indigenous organizations in an effort to bring revival to the people of greece with Tom as the main evangelist.
Greece
Background -
Greece’s economic and social travails of the past few years have caused much uncertainty, upheaval and disruption. The massive deficit and debt, the crisis of the Euro and the threat of financial meltdown regardless of what actions are taken cause fingers of blame to point in all directions. Protests and riots are increasingly common and frequently violent. Regardless of how low the Greek economy must sink until it hits rock-bottom, it has amounted to a genuine shaking of the nation’s foundations. Pray that such shaking might drive the nation to cry out to God rather than to trust in the obviously flawed financial solutions offered by economists and politicians.
Population- Approximately 11,183,393
Greece was the first European country to be evangelized -
(Acts 16:10), but Christianity is now mostly a cultural expression. Less than 3% of the population regularly attend church. Evangelical churches represent less than 0.5% of the population, including all non-Greek evangelicals. The Macedonian call to evangelize is just as valid today.
The Orthodox Church was a rallying point for Greece during the long Ottoman and then German occupations. Orthodoxy became a deep part of Greek identity and contributed to an attitude of xenophobia. Other expressions of Christianity are seen as a threat. Renewal within the Orthodox framework tends to mean anti-heresy movements and increased monasticism. Most Greeks are ignorant of the gospel message and are unreceptive to any non-Orthodox witness.
Prayer Request
1) Courage to witness in a society where the extreme majority claim to be Christian yet do not have a living faith and relationship with Jesus. Greek society is not just secular and post-Christian, but is subject to a faith that is syncretistic – the amalgamation of Christianity, inherited superstition, atheism, paganism and such.
2) Wisdom in outreach and witness. Greek Protestants acknowledge that proselytism is unnecessary, but that evangelism is. Greeks are more likely to experience new life in Christ through a revitalization of the Orthodox Church than through Protestants drawing Greeks away from their Orthodox background. Pray for ways that allow evangelicals to urgently communicate the need for salvation while respecting the great legacy and heritage of Orthodoxy.
3) Unity in the Spirit. Unfortunately, divisions still exist even among the various Protestant denominations; division can compromise the message they preach. The Pan-Hellenic Evangelical Alliance works as a mouthpiece for all evangelicals and challenges illegal discrimination. Pray for all believing churches to join together and for the Evangelical Alliance to represent them with wisdom and clarity.
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