Boyd and Ribka Williams have made prayer—and cultivating a rhythm of prayer—their ministry. It’s not just part of their ministry: it is their ministry. After 15 years in North Africa, the Williams moved to Belgium and started Prayer Hub as a resource and encouragement to their team and to other OM fields.

“After North Africa,” Boyd shared, “we talked about creating a community of prayer, so we spoke with Graham Wells (OM’s international prayer champion) about what’s happening globally with prayer. Some area leaders picked up on it. They asked, ‘Could we have a community of prayer within OM that helps to resource and mobilise prayer?’”

Prayer Hub emerged. “We created the vision: a space to meet daily to pray for the leadership, the ministry of OM, and the least reached people of the world. It’s specific and distinct.”

And Belgium is a strategic location for Prayer Hub. “Being here means that we are accessible to North Africa and the Middle East, north and central Asia. We can also be mobile if need be.”

Lots of people have access to a network of family and friends who can pray, but Prayer Hub specifically exists to stand with others in prayer for ministry.

“You can bank on us praying because that’s what we’re here to do.”

Boyd and Ribka understand that, for some people, prayer is difficult. Prayer Hub also hopes to help people develop a strategic prayer life by building stamina through experience.

“We can do that virtually or in person,” Boyd said. “Someone can come to us for a period of time, get themselves into the rhythm of prayer, and then take that back to their fields.”

Prayer Hub is more than just spoken or written prayers. Boyd and Ribka both have creative backgrounds, so they want to include the creative community in this ministry.

Boyd shared that “There are creative people who’d like to explore how their creativity can be expressed in prayer and worship. You don’t always need to have the words; there are other ways to express what’s on your heart. We like the idea of art as prayer.”

The impact of prayer is two-fold, both for the pray-er and the focus of the prayer. “I’ve seen that when there is substantial, dedicated prayer time for something, it bears fruit,” Boyd said. “The community of people who gather to pray blows me away. In North Africa, there is an opening to the gospel and more stories now of people saying ‘yes’ to Jesus. It’s been an encouragement to me to be able to learn from guys younger than me, spend time with them, and draw on their passion.”

Boyd and Ribka are currently the only full-time members of Prayer Hub, but they hope for more.

“If you’d like to explore the daily rhythm of prayer, we’d love to have you join us.”

“It is amazing to see what God has done with a few crazy people on bikes cycling to Transform, then South Africa, Malawi, the UK and other places,” reflects OM Sportslink* leader Chris Welman from South Africa, “and now back to the original spot connecting with the Transform conference in Europe. This warms my heart, and maybe it could inspire others to start…”

South Africa

Chris had first heard of this ride when a couple of leaders cycled to Rome, Italy, for the Transform conference. By then, he already had some experience with a similar cycling trip; in 2012, partnering with another organisation in South Africa, his team cycled from Johannesburg to Cape Town on a ‘road less travelled’, passing through a lot of small villages. In 2014, they reversed the trip, starting in Cape Town, ending in Johannesburg, this time adding outreaches and training at specific ministry points.

Malawi

By 2015, Chris was ready for a new challenge. He decided to bring a cycling team across the border into Malawi, a country where everyone cycles, and bicycles are used to transport literally any and everything.

Although the main focus was prayer, the team was able to also hand out audio Bibles and facilitate training in sports and orality. “We were nine people on bikes, and amazingly, felt that God had handpicked each one,” recalls Chris. “We saw much fruit coming from this Malawi tour, also from within our own hearts. It has helped me to focus my prayers.” Later Malawi teams have also stopped to pray in Mangochi along the former slave road.

Gert Daling (Netherlands) did his first Ride2Transform in Malawi in 2016, with a team of 17 people, and the following two years, he co-led the same outreach.

Highlights from Malawi

The areas through which the teams cycled are, for the most part, considered least reached, meaning people living there have had little to no opportunity to hear the gospel. Ministry teams were often placed in different locations along the way to train the local people, and the cyclists distributed audio Bibles in the local language.

“I remember coming up a hill in Malawi that we had passed in the two years before,” recalls Gert, “and someone specifically asked for an audio Bible because she had previously received one from us. She and her people had listened to it many times; now it was broken, and they needed a new one. These people remembered us, which gave us an opening to talk and a sense of building on past experiences.”

Another year, a team member went into several mosques, giving audio Bibles to imams, and they also handed out audio Bibles to people of influence in the community. “We went to a school right next to a mosque, and before we knew it, we were standing in front of all these kids sharing our story and sharing about Jesus,” says Gert.

Europe

And in 2018, the Ride2Transform was back in Europe, with Gert leading the cycling team during the Transform conference in Spain. The team cycled through many towns without any known evangelical witness and stopped to pray in strategic places. Gert shares, “We were able to give out some Gospels of John, but not as much as we had hoped for. Yet it’s still important that the cycling happened. We don't know what God is doing through our prayers and through the few Gospels that were handed out. And for the coming years, the foundation has been laid to organise more Ride2Transforms during the Transform conference.”

A highlight for the team in Spain was the very first night’s accommodation. They stayed at a rehabilitation centre run by a Christian group. In the evening they worshiped together and shared their testimonies. Roger Ballester (Spain), who was driving the support vehicle, was specially moved by this fellowship; many times as he prayed he found his eyes filling up with tears.

“Even though we did not speak the same language, we still understood each other,” shared Gert, “many conversations with him and others were made possible through Google translate.”

The first Ride2Transform, in Italy

“The idea of combining a personal passion with ministry was the initial reason for the cycling teams,” explains Michel Di Feliciantonio (Italy). “In the first two Ride2Transform teams (2013-2014), we cycled through Italy; first from Turin to the Transform conference in Rome, and the following year, from Venice to Rome. Each year the route was approximately 850 km, and the longest distance in one day was 220 km.”

Along the way, the team visited churches, enjoyed fellowship over a meal and gave a presentation about OM. The second year, fundraising for Syrian refugees was included.

“For me, it was a great way to connect with local churches, share about ministry, get to know my fellow riders, test my limits and, through that experience, I also got to know the church I now pastor!” summarises Michel, smiling.

All three outreaches are still being done annually; Ride2Transform Malawi and Ride2Transform Europe are organised by OM. Please contact your OM home office if you’d like to join.

*OM SportsLink International serves to equip, empower and mobilise local OM teams and partners to be effective in ministering in and through sports, in order that athletes and coaches, local churches and communities can make the most of sports within their culture through sharing the gospel in relational and relevant ways.

“In the 1960-’90s, there was a great emphasis on going into Europe to share the gospel. Belgium was a strategic location—OM's building in Zaventem was a busy hub for teams travelling overland across Europe as far as India, and a vibrant place for mission-minded people to come, share their stories and encourage others to take God at His Word. But we also had teams reaching out in evangelism within Belgium itself,” Martin said. “However, in 1998, the Belgian government attempted to ban ‘evangelical cults,’ including all Protestant churches, until a Christian stood up in the European Parliament and pointed out that such a banning would get Belgium expelled from the EU. The campaign was dropped.  Nevertheless, by the 2000s, the focus of the mission world turned to the Muslim world, then China, with an emphasis on poverty alleviation in the Global South. Europe seemed forgotten.”

But the reality is that Belgium is a mission field. Less than 1.2 per cent of its population is Christian*, and 0.5 per cent of those are Belgian nationals. Out of the 589 official districts, each with an average of 19,000 inhabitants, 382 have no Bible believing church, according to Administrative Council of the Protestant-Gospel History (ARPEE) statistics. There is very little evangelical presence in Belgium.

Yet in the last 20 years, the Belgian church has more than doubled, as migrant workers have arrived from Uganda, Brazil, China, Philippines and Japan. Brussels has become a reached city, with 250 new Bible-believing churches established over the last five years, mainly immigrant ones.** Operation World now states Brussels is 8 per cent evangelised. Antwerp hosts 100 churches of which 12 are Belgian, the rest are immigrant churches. The growth is not through ‘church hopping’; people are genuinely coming to Christ. “There are five times the number of believers in Belgium’s cities than there were 20 years ago! This indicates to me that there is a harvest in progress,” Martin explained.

“Just as the city of Rome’s strategic location enabled powerful spreading of the gospel, so, too, do I believe that the whole country of Belgium, by being spiritually transformed, has its strategic part to play in Europe and the world, and that OM’s contribution is in helping a church planting movement to grow, even though Belgian Christians have in the past said: ‘You do the work, and we will provide the harvest!’”  Signs of change were evident when, in November 2017, a European prayer breakfast welcomed 400 committed born-again believers, coming from every nation in Europe, to enthusiastically pray!

Subsequently, in January 2018, OM Belgium launched its Vibrant programme to encourage nationals in reviving struggling churches to reach the unreached in Belgium. OM Belgium plans to start two model church planting projects, a visible demonstration that communities can reach out to their neighbours and bring the gospel to transform their areas and districts, in spite of the cultural mindset that says it can’t be done. The plan is to form small groups, which when they grow to 12 people, can attract more people as an official church through a website, then form offshoot churches as numbers increase. “The average size of the local church in Belgium is 30 people,” Martin said, “which seems to be a good cultural shape resembling a meeting in a local café, like a local unit of community. There are now 45 church-planting churches, but our vision is for 70.”  He readily acknowledged, “It’s not about OM making it happen; it has to come from the local believers seizing the vision and running with it themselves. Two couples are ready and willing to start the ministry, but unless the Lord endorses the vision, it will not happen. We need pray-ers and workers, essentially French and Flemish speakers, but people can learn those: I did!” he laughed.

“A key aspect is to develop the next generation of believers, particularly those leaders, artists and thinkers with a Christian mindset who can cause cultural shifts in society. The church needs to help equip young believers to be able to answer society’s questions, even those yet to be asked,” Martin said. The fACTOR programme, OM’s new volunteer-mentoring programme of personal discipleship, is for exactly those influential believers of the future. Inspired by the concept of Francis Schaefer’s L’Abri and by a recent volunteer to the ZavCentre listening to missionaries’ stories of what God was doing in and around the world, fACTOR aims to train young leaders through serving in the conference centre as well as receiving training, reflecting, mentoring and seminars.

The OM team is currently 38 strong, but Martin hopes it will extend to 45 by 2019, and grow to 70 within the next five years, from many nations. He also has a vision for international church participation in OM Belgium’s vision: “I would love to encourage international churches from wealthy nations to sponsor those less wealthy to send volunteers and develop migrant language speaking communities. There is a 500-person Spanish-speaking church in Brussels with no one to get alongside them, for example.”

“We would love to see believers from all over the traditional Protestant world coming to Belgium throughout the 2020s. But we need to prepare. In one of Jesus' parables, the sower sows, but nothing appears to happen. Then suddenly shoots come up, and not long after that the harvest is ready. This is exactly what happened in the 2/3 world, where vibrant communities now transform societies. I believe the Belgian harvest is coming, through a movement of God, as Europe returns to the mission focus of reaching the unreached.”

*Operation World [2010] figures state that if 1.5 per cent of population or less are Christian, the nation/people group is considered 1/3 least evangelised.

**Figures for immigrant believers are published government estimates.

He had gone to Belgium for the weekend to visit his wife who was working with the EU. Fredi had continued his job in Germany, as a customer service operator at an airport check-in. He intended to move permanently to Belgium as soon as a job opened up for him there.

While visiting Belgium, Fredi and his wife attended an international church on the outskirts of Brussels. The speaker their very first Sunday there was David Navarra, who was serving with OM in Belgium. “What he shared touched my heart, but I was not bold enough to talk to him,” Fredi recalled.

However, the second time they attended, David was again the speaker, and his message really hit home for Fredi. “He had brought a suitcase to the pulpit and preached on lost luggage, exactly in the line of my work at the airport!” Fredi exclaimed. He then gathered all his courage and spoke to David.

Pieces of his calling started to come together, and the following summer Fredi came to help at OM’s ZavCentre guest house in Belgium.

“I came to help as a volunteer and found OM praying for somebody to manage the guesthouse. All the circumstances came together like pieces fitting into a puzzle, and I knew this was the place God had for me,” Fredi concluded. He quit his job at the airport and joined OM full time through the January GO conference as the new ZavCentre manager.

Fredi’s original plan had been to attend Bible school. But he subsequently realised OM’s fACTOR programme in Belgium provided a great combination of practical work, prayer and Bible study. This, together with one of his favourite parts of the job—meeting the many people coming to ZavCentre from all over the world—gave him the assurance he needed that this, indeed, was God’s tailor-made plan coming together to fulfil his calling to ministry.

Dave explained that Bible teaching and one-to-one mentoring make a real difference in the volunteers’ lives. He added, “ZavCentre is a base for world mission; ‘the world’ comes through ZavCentre, and the volunteers are exposed to first-hand information about what God is doing in other parts of the world.”

There is always a lot of work to be done at the centre. Nevertheless, the leaders find it important to manage the schedule in such a way that the volunteers are not getting too tired while they learn about serving others: guests, fellow volunteers and other team members. “Seeing how it encourages them to be creative and take initiative has been a great joy,” Dave said. He shared about the small, measurable and obvious signs of growth, evidence of what takes place on the inside: spiritual growth and personal maturing. One long-term guest away for the weekend returned to find volunteers at the train station holding up a welcome back sign. Other volunteers delivered hot soup to a sick guest. Simple acts of caring, such as helping a mother carry her baby up the stairs, were offered often—and freely. “These guys learn to love people as never before, often through simple acts of kindness. And, of course, it is also benefitting the guest experience,” Dave explained, smiling as he recalled the joy of seeing one of the young German volunteers go up the stairs to the balcony for a personal quiet time before the beginning of the work day.

Volunteer Melissa went back to the USA after finishing her commitment. A few weeks later, she returned to help at TeenStreet in Germany. Two German fACTOR participants also returned to help at the GO conference and recently came back to Zaventem for another week. “The work they did included cleaning bathrooms and helping in the kitchen,” Dave described, “but the relationships and mentoring helped them grow spiritually. I believe the evidence of success is shown by people returning and growing spiritually.”

OMer Johan Menheere (NL), another fACTOR leader, shared that the mentoring part of the programme includes asking the hard questions and sometimes having to confront issues with the aim of developing people to follow Jesus—whether they end up in missions or elsewhere. “It is important to receive them well and send them out well, or, indeed, if people are returning home... The important thing is to support them wherever God wants them to be,” Johan concluded.

ZavCentre is part of OM’s ministry in Belgium, on the outskirts of Brussels, hosting overnight guests and small conferences. The OM team there is also involved in church planting, youth work, running the GO conference in the Netherlands and helping at TeenStreet in Germany.

Although Milena grew up in a Christian home and kept the faith, she struggled to believe that she was loved and valued. A deep personal experience of God’s love changed her heart, convincing her right down to the very depth of her being that she was, and is, loved and precious to God. This gift of God’s love is the essential message she desires to pass on to other women, especially women in difficult situations. “At first, I thought of going to the Philippines or maybe South America,” Milena recalls, “but during the interview with the OM Germany staff member, Europe seemed a good option too.”

Milena has returned to Brussels, and is now working with OM Belgium where she has recently started learning French through the LAMP2* method. “I can’t wait to know enough French in order to share with the women of Brussels how much they are loved, valued and precious in the eyes of the Lord,” concludes Milena.

*Language Acquisition Made Practical, an interactive and relational way of learning a new language.

In the car on the way to the OM office in Zaventem we heard on the news that something had happened at the airport. At that moment we were not yet aware what was to come. We had just arrived at the office when we got the emergency call from the Red Cross station. So we went back home, into the uniform and then straight to the local Red Cross station where the ambulance and other volunteers were waiting.

Slowly it dawned on us that this Tuesday would be different.

The leader asked us if we had any objections to going to the airport. An inner calm came over us and Sara told him that she was not afraid, because she knows where she goes if something would happen. He looked her in the eyes as she reaffirmed, “I have no fear, as mad as it sounds, let's go.”

The ambulance took us to the airport, where we encountered disturbed and injured people walking toward us. Chaos had broken out and everyone looked to people in uniforms for help. In the background, coordination and organization was going on.

After a short while, a bus stopped near us. Part of the team, including Sara, began to help the less wounded people onto the bus and accompanied them. They were people that could still walk and had stable vitals. The bus drove with a police escort on the highway to the military hospital. During the drive, we were just there for the people - reassuring that they were safe now, putting another bandage on a wound that was still bleeding or trying to find out what language they spoke, to inform them where we were going. At the hospital a team was waiting for us and took the people into their care.

I (Sara) prayed to God for wisdom and to help me to remain calm. The best help we, in our uniforms, could give to people at this moment was to calmly reassure them. Knowing that the hospital would take good care of the people we brought in, the bus took us helpers back to the airport where we found our ambulance and the rest of the team again.

The next ambulance ride was with a severely injured person to the University Hospital in Leuven. He was awake and talking to us, which was a very good sign. I prayed quietly for the man and for the doctors and nurses who would be treating him. It is such a blessing and a privilege to be able to put people in God’s hands in such a moment.

Later, we were asked if we would help to carry body bags, because the undertakers were stuck in traffic. We both felt a peace upon us that told us that this was the right place to be. It was strange to load a box of empty body bags into our ambulance, getting ready to go back to the airport. It was a very special moment with a peculiar atmosphere.

Upon arrival at the airport we had to wait a bit, so it could be determined whether the situation had changed or not. With our colleagues we discussed how we would deal with the images that we encountered, how we could process them and why we were there at all. We mentioned that the OM team was praying for us at that very moment and how they would also be there for us later on.

We were already getting into the protective clothing when, just in time, the undertakers arrived. In hindsight we are very grateful for that.

We went to a school sports hall where people with small or no injuries needed care – they were affected. All afternoon we treated this group and just listened to their stories. Many were simply shocked and could not even comprehend what had happened. We also met people who - for some reason - were very calm and turned out to be brothers or sisters in faith. God places his people always in the right place at the right time.

At the end of the day Leonard went back to the airport because a policeman got injured while cleaning up things. They were sitting in the Starbucks cafe at the airport and Leonard put a bandage on while the restaurant music was still playing. Other helpers made use of the available coffee and cake. Coffee cups were still on the tables as if people had just left for the bathroom. But in the background the entrance hall was destroyed and all sorts of things where scattered on the floor. It was surreal and strange.

The day after, we served at the first aid station in the military casern. A number of stranded passengers had spent the night there. They were in the airplanes that had just landed when the bombs went off. It was good to care for uninjured and not really traumatized people after the hectic day earlier. On Thursday and Friday the whole department helped with cleaning and filling up at the Red Cross station.

We’ve been serving in the OM Belgium guesthouse, ZavCentre, for about four years now. Three years ago, we joined the Belgian Red Cross as volunteers - out of conviction and enjoyment for the ambulance and first aid posts duty. It’s a great way to get to know the language and culture better and be in touch with well-religious but non-believing Belgians. Again and again we get to discuss our faith and are being asked what it is that makes us so different.

Our service right after the bombings was heavy, but special. We were thankful for the opportunity to be a light to the Belgians and live out our faith.

*Names changed

Tienen—the “sweetest” town in Belgium – is home to over 30,000 inhabitants and OM Belgium’s music team. Nicknamed “sweetest” after the sugar beet farms and sugar refinery, the town also boasts a sugar museum as well as the Suikerrock (sugarrock) Festival every summer.

The living room concerts have given church members an arena to deepen relationships with their non-Christian friends. The team provides music for the evening, but also deliberately and carefully poses questions about faith through the songs they choose and the stories they tell. So far, the concerts have been a blazing success.

The team, with their music, has also made their home into a popular hang-out place. On Sunday nights their living room is filled with up to 15 youth. Music, movies and games often lead to deeper talks.

To enhance the ministry, as well as train others to do the same, the team recently organised a custom-made outreach for a seven-person band from the UK. The one-week outreach was filled with street evangelism, as well as sharing the gospel in the religion class of a local school and, of course, living room concerts in private homes.

“One of the purposes of OM Belgium is to create opportunities for international teams to see and participate in the vision of long-term missions, and how they can contribute to the on-going work in the country,” said team leader Matt Swanton. 

He shared how one outreach started with a focus on the youth of the local Evangelical church, creating a space where the team and youth could meet, talk and get to know one another. They also gave opportunities for the youth to ask difficult questions about faith, life and whatever was on their hearts.

Questions like: “Who is Jesus?”, “What led you to believe [in Jesus]?” and “Why do Christians not respond to issues like abortion and gay marriage?” gave the team opportunities to share their testimonies, as well as do their best to give biblical answers.

“Yeah, our work was pretty cut out for us,” recalls Matt, “but praise God our answers were faithful, biblical, clear, gentle and helpful. This totally didn’t happen in our own strength. Please pray for the youth, that their hunger for truth will lead to a deeper love for Christ.”

Another opportunity to share in a local school’s religion class led to more challenging questions from the students and their teachers, and the team is now looking for good ways to reconnect with students and teachers, and continue teaching about Christ.

“Overall, we are unbelievably thankful for what God has done,” concludes Matt. “We have a lot of follow-up work to do. Pray for endurance to pursue new friends, faithfulness to tell them how much God loves them and persistence in friendship also when they’re not interested.” 

Jonathan and Grace Meyer work with the local church and OM Belgium to reach the Belgians for Christ. As in most of the Western world, they find personal friendship evangelism to be the most effective.

“With this,” shares Jonathan, “it is also important to organise events providing opportunities for the church members to engage and invite their friends, neighbours and colleagues, as well as events that build up and encourage the local believers.”

One such event was the very first Valentine's Daddy-Daughter Dinner & Dance, which was a great success. For the Meyer family, it was also an opportunity to invite a neighbour who has a daughter the same age as their eldest girl. Jonathan was thrilled when the neighbour accepted the offer, and they had a great time getting to know each other better—and the girls, of course, had a blast!

The church also planned a showing of the movie Fireproof at their building, followed by a breakfast to discuss the movie and marriage. This time, a few elderly neighbours came to the movie night, as well as to the follow-up breakfast.

In reaching the younger as well as the older generation of Belgians, it is important to introduce the church in a fun, friendly and personal way, they say. It breaks down the preconceived ideas they have about church and Christianity, and provides an open door for sharing about Jesus and/or extending an invitation to another event or church service.

“The older generation in Belgium are Catholic and go to church to pray and burn a candle,” explains Jonathan, “but most of them don't read the Bible or attend mass on a regular basis. This is in stark contrast with the younger generation of Belgians, who don't seem to have much interest at all in religion, mostly because they don't see the point in Catholicism. The child abuse scandals that have plagued the Catholic Church worldwide, including this country, have also left a bad taste for Christianity among the younger generation. It doesn't help that the government labelled all Evangelical churches as sects 20 years ago. Thankfully that has now been reversed, but we are still looked upon with sceptical eyes.”

Pray that God will open the eyes of the Belgian people, that they would see His love clearly. Pray that they would understand that being a Christian is far more than religion, but rather that it's a personal relationship with Him. Pray also that God gives wisdom as to what events to organise, as a tool to help the local believers reach out and engage their circle of influence with the Gospel.

To read more stories about the work of OM Belgium, go here.

Their next-door neighbours are a very outgoing retired couple who love to engage in conversation.

"They must be keeping a close eye on our back yard," Jonathan said, "because within minutes of being outside, one of them is bound to come out to say hello!”

A few days before the church’s Easter service, Jonathan made sure to work in the back yard, hoping to engage in natural conversation with their friendly neighbours in order to invite them to the service. And sure enough, they came out to chat and accepted the invitation.

A lot of the older generation in Belgium are Catholic and go to church to pray and burn a candle, often without ever reading the Bible or attending mass on a regular basis, Jonathan explained. He recently found out they don’t even own a Bible.

Their neighbours really enjoyed the Easter service and enthusiastically sang along, even though the songs were unfamiliar to them. They expressed that they loved the warm family feeling they experienced.

Praise God for the work He is doing in this couple’s life! Pray that God will open their eyes to the Truth, that they will wholeheartedly accept the gift of a Bible and start reading His Word. Pray they will understand that being a Christian is far more than religion but a personal relationship with Him.

Click here to learn more about Belgium and OM's work there.

OM Europe’s Transit Challenge Team helped a group of believers from the Leuven church reach out to their neighbourhood in Tienen 18 months ago. They started meeting in town once a month, and over time, their meetings became more regular. 

At the beginning of September, members of the Leuven church involved in the new church in Tienen were blessed and sent out by their home church. As they were the first Flemish witness in Tienen since 1999, there was ample reason for celebration!

Frits and Suzanne from OM Belgium have helped develop vision and strategy for the church plant in Tienen over the past year. This input is likely to change as OM Belgium moves from assisting the church in casting vision to helping them in community outreach.

“We hope to send a team of young people to launch a youth centre at the Tienen church,” reports Karen, leader of OM Belgium’s IMPACT team in Zaventem. “Please pray that there would be no delays in visas or support for those thinking of joining this team. Also pray that we would be able to effectively help the church reach its purpose in Tienen, Leuven, Belgium and beyond!”

When Andrew Bridges (UK) joined OM Belgium as bookkeeper in 1991, OM International’s Central Financial Controlling Office was still based at the conference centre in Belgium. The conference centre also managed a fleet of 120 vehicles and 2 buses, and 120 young people would gather for OM’s Love Europe outreaches each summer. As the Euro had not been introduced by then, it was Andrew’s job to ensure that all Love Europe teams had cash made available in the various currencies. He was also responsible for managing the personal accounts of OM Belgium team members, years before the monthly allowance system was introduced. “At the end of the year, I had to reconcile 14 different currencies, of which only 3 remain today,” remarked Andrew. “Thanks to the Euro, life has become much easier!”

20 years on

When asked what had changed since he joined the team 20 years ago, Andrew replied, “We have watched our children grow up, and dads become granddads. As team dynamics have changed, more focus has been placed on children’s ministry, and outreach teams now work in both the French- and Flemish-speaking areas of Belgium.” Due to changes in legal procedures, OM Belgium has also since been forced to close their garage, and space made available for new offices and a smaller workshop. The introduction of an allowance system has also greatly reduced the amount of paper work in the finance department, and different departmental accounts have been set up. Although OM International’s Central Financial Controlling Office has since moved to Carlisle (UK), a bank in Leuven still manages OM International’s accounts.

Move to Belgium

“I was first employed by the Ministry of Revenue (UK) as a Bill Payer,” said Andrew. “It was my job to verify the information before bills were paid.” In 1987, Andrew and his wife, Mary first applied to join OM, but were faced with the challenge of raising more support than the gross income of a civil servant in those days. A year later, Andrew was offered an overseas posting with NATO (UK Military Representative) as Registry Clerk in Brussels, and accepted. Responsible for 350 files and two staff offices, Andrew settled into his new role quickly, but about 6 months later, wondered whether his move had been right. “At about that time, the way accounting was done in OM underwent a huge change, and by 1991, the initial problems of the new system had been ironed out,” said Andrew. Although he wondered how God could use him in missions, Andrew finally decided to join OM Belgium in 1991. “OM said they would train me to do my job,” he said. “And they did!”

Next step

Although raising personal support has remained a struggle for Andrew, with Mary employed as a teacher and OM Belgium willing to pay the shortfall, Andrew has been able to continue as bookkeeper since. “Our main reason for relocating to OM International’s headquarters in Carlisle (UK) is the education of our children,” said Andrew. “When our 16-year-old son failed his 4th year, we realised we needed to do something to improve his options. My poor mobility and health have also made reaching deadlines as a bookkeeper more difficult and we felt it more prudent to leave now before the task becomes beyond me. We put our house on the market in January 2011, and three days later, it was sold. We took this as a clear sign from God that it was time to move, and have since found a place for our son in a good school in Scotland, near to where our second daughter lives.

“I have loved my job as a bookkeeper because I like to serve the Lord in a practical way. I believe He gifted me with an ordered mind and the ability to understand figures. I’m not afraid of lots of details or repetitive procedures; something a bookkeeper has lots of. If people have queries, it is very rewarding to be able to find the relevant details quickly and efficiently. I look forward to supporting the finance department in Carlisle soon.”

Bookkeeper needed!

If you have a financial/ administrative background, are passionate about details and accuracy, enjoy working behind the scenes, are familiar with MS Office, can meet deadlines and speak English and either Dutch or French, OM Belgium would love to welcome you onto their team!

For more information, please contact: personnel@be.om.org