The new president of Greater Europe Mission, Henry L. Deneen, spoke to The Christian Post last week about the opportunities and hope he has seen in spreading the Gospel in Europe, where Christianity is fast declining.
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(Photo: Greater Europe Mission)Henry L. Deneen, the new pressident of Greater Europe Mission.
Deneen will become GEM’s new president effective on Sept. 1.
CP: What attracted you to Greater Europe Mission and to accept the position of president?
Deneen: The things that the Greater Europe Mission has been doing in trying to build bridges, trying to be salt and light there in Europe … with all the different people groups there, with all the immigrant population that was there …. It just felt like it was an exciting place to be, to minister and be a part of what God is doing.
CP: How is your own experience in missions?
Deneen: I actually represented a company while we lived in France called SITE which stands for Specialist in International Training and Education (Our family had lived in southern France for four years …). I was representing them, trying to push forth initiatives not only in France but also in North Africa. We work in Sudan, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, trying as a follower of Christ to be salt and light in those countries to engage business people and educators and others in some of those countries.
And even before I was married, my wife was a missionary in Hong Kong for a couple of years. And then, while we were living in South Carolina before moving to France, we led college students on mission trips both in the United States and internationally. So we had quite a bit of exposure to missions and cross-cultural ministry over the years.
CP: What new strategies do you hope to implement during your presidency?
Deneen: Well one thing I’m going to do is to know our field personnel – finding out what they’re doing, what they have seen some success in, and ways they have not only brought value to the people of Europe but engaged them in positive ways. So what I will be doing is some assessment coming in as the new president.
But some of the things we are trying to do are to ask questions of how we can successfully build bridges with other cultures. How can we effectively be salt and light and really represent the person of Christ? How can we use skills from businessmen and businesswomen in starting businesses and relating to people in offices and in their neighborhoods sometimes out of traditional way that we have done it in the past?
I’m excited that those possibilities exist out there – new initiatives not only continuing what has been done in the Greater Europe Mission but also looking at some of the new possibilities of ways to engage people throughout Europe.
CP: Can you explain more the role you foresee for GEM missionaries under the context that the mission group wants to work alongside native Christians rather than lead?
Deneen: The overarching point … the ethos of Greater Europe Mission is to be collaborative – that is to come alongside other people who have the same desires we do [such as wanting] to be salt and light [and] to make a difference in these societies. GEM wants to work alongside other mission agencies and churches both internationally and indigenous that have the same goal.
But our desire is to work with people who live in Europe to empower them, to work alongside them, and possibly introduce other people from the west who could come in and engage with them and work alongside them. Continue >>
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