The Need

When you think of overseas mission work, you might not immediately think of Europe. At least, we didn’t until we started looking into the need for the Gospel in Hungary. Though it was the baseball ministry through OM that caught Patrick’s eye initially, once we started researching what was going on in Hungary and in Europe as a whole, we realized that this once ‘religious’ continent is in desperate need of Christ — and now, knowing what we did, how could we not go?

In the book Europe: Restoring Hope, missions expert Deborah Meroff records these statistics:

• Of the top 12 atheist/agnostic countries in the world, Europe has nine.
• Less than 2 percent of Europeans are actively following Christ.
• By contrast, the fastest-growing religion in Europe is Islam.

In addition to the overwhelming tide of secularization Europe is experiencing as a whole, Hungarians are dealing with the effects communism left behind. Hungary was under communism for 40 years after World War II, and during that time, religion in general was crushed and subdued. The generation that grew up under communism did so without much familiarity with faith, and they’ve now raised their kids and grandkids in the same cycle of non-religion. It’s not that most Hungarians are actively rejecting Christ; it’s that, despite Hungary now being fairly Westernized, they’ve never heard of Jesus.

Something else that communism left behind in Hungary is a culture of shame. If you make a mistake in work or life, you are likely to be shunned and thought of as disgraced for it. The concepts of grace and forgiveness are somewhat foreign to Hungarians.

The baseball ministry of OM is working to turn some of this around. Secular leagues that have started in Hungary since the ministry league’s conception in 2002 have noticed how the Christian coaches with OM are different. They show love and encouragement to players. They are dependable and trustworthy. These secular leagues are actually asking for Christian coaches. As Terry Lingenhoel, the founder of the baseball ministry and mission worker in Hungary for 25 years, says, “We could place at least 10 coaches today if we had them.”

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. – Matthew 9:37