Europe
It's so wise that this thing is not centered around a person. And I think that's the challenge and the beauty, and I think it's a great blessing, especially in the European context. We have experienced this transition to something which is more organic, something which is more communal, something which is more collective. So it's not somebody running around and pulling everything together ... That's the beauty of it.
︎ GIOTIS KANTARTZIS, Church Planter and The Evangelism Project, Athens
Regional Affiliates
CTC EUROPE
CTC Europe (CTCE) experienced several new opportunities to catalyze and serve a Europe-wide movement of leaders over the last year. Because of the incredibly difficult soil of post-Christian Europe, church planters and pastors in Europe often experience loneliness and burn out in their ministry. CTCE made great strides in 2020 to develop a coaching network to help serve leaders across the region. Nearly 30 leaders are set to be certified coaches by the end of this year, which will enable over 100 church planters to be in a thriving coaching relationship. In addition, leaders across Europe experienced the power of a network providing opportunities to collaborate, connect with and be encouraged in ministry by one another through the CTCE Conference, online training and the Evangelism Project.
Hub City
LONDON
The London Project exists to be a catalyst for churches and networks to collaborate and see healthy gospel churches planted and impacting the city of London. The hub city publicly launched during CTCE’s conference, Loving the City, in May 2021. Much of the work of the London Project in its early months has been focused on meeting, building and establishing relationships with key leaders to introduce the DNA of the movement and to identify leaders.
Training & Coaching
CTE CONNECT
This past year created opportunities for leaders to connect virtually about shared ministry challenges. Specifically, CTCE Connects, a monthly network leader roundtable hosted by CTCE, convened leaders from 10-15 cities to discuss relevant topics, such as: how to be missional in the midst of isolation, and should the mission model of the church in Europe shift in this season?
TRAIN THE TRAINER
Because of virtual training and a new and improved Train the Trainer program, the training capacity in Europe significantly increased. In 2020, five cities ran local trainings, and four more are in the process of launching training this year.
COACH TRAININGS
With an emphasis on collaboration and ecosystem building, CTCE served the church planters of a European church planting organization called the M4 Group with a coach training. This built a bridge between CTCE and this great organization for possible collaboration in the future.
RCTC installed a coaching coordinator who developed a uniquely European coach training format and delivered coach training for leaders across Europe. Each training builds upon the others as these coaches meet each other and work together to serve the next generation of pastors in Europe.
It's a very big strength of CTC that encourages us to think, to think about our context, listen to our context, listen to each other, and think about what it would really mean to apply the gospel to our situation here in Rome or to our people's lives. I'm also struck by our conferences. It's not like we're just hearing from an American voice, or even from our own voice from the UK, which often happens in Europe, but a number of voices from all over Europe. CTC can share testimonies and invite people to speak. We had seminars [where we] learned from each other's experience. [Those are some] things that also attracted me to CTC and to be part of this network and have enriched our ministry a lot in the past years.
︎ RENE BREUEL, Church Planter and the Evangelism Project, Rome
Resources
EVANGELISM PROJECT
The Evangelism Project, a collaboration between RCTC and CTCE, brought together a diverse group of leaders from all over Europe to discuss sharing the gospel with the continent’s many cities and contexts in a relevant way. And this group isn’t just committed to learning for themselves. They’ve already begun to produce content together and motivate others to take up an invigorated, hopeful call to evangelism. The group is also partnering with leaders from several continents to develop tools that will help local trainers contextualize their messages and their ministries.
Faith & Work
CTCE & GFWI
CTCE has invited GFWI to join them to train 20 European leaders in faith and work theology and practice in a monthly cohort. The group includes participants from Germany, Spain, Russia, Italy, England, Romania and Prague.
LONDON PROJECT
Four different London-based leaders reached out for faith and work help just before the London Project launched, which allowed GFWI to build faith and work into the launch in a way that never would have happened had those four people (who did not know each other) begin working independently of each other. The group is going to be coordinating on a Gotham Fellowship as a multi-church holistic discipleship program in the coming year.
As we tried to work in the Balkans, [CTCE Director, Stephan Pues] was so generous. It was not like, “Okay, let’s centralize the thing where we control everything.” It was the exact opposite: “Go, whatever you need, take it, change it, adapt it, do it any way you think that is fitting your context.” So, where did he get that? I think that’s the ethos of this organization is to resource others and let each one do his or her homework in their own respective contexts.
︎ GIOTIS KANTARTZIS, Church Planter and the Evangelism Project, Athens
Metrics
7
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CHURCHES PLANTED
158
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LEADERS TRAINED