I want to introduce you to Anneli Johnson, a new staff who we helped to send to the world last fall. I met her last year at one of our training conferences for our new staff. Anneli and her team are presently living in Sweden and their three-fold vision is to reach university students there, build strong partnerships with local church members, and together care for and share the gospel with the thousands of refugees from the Middle East who are there. Let us share about her vision in her own words.
“It seems that every generation and every time has opportunities and challenges, but for some reason God has seen fit to place you and me in this age. This is the age when millions of refugees from closed Muslim countries are flooding into a post-Christian Western Europe. God has brought some of the world’s least-reached people to the most postmodern continent in the world, where we are allowed to be missionaries.
If we scan the pages of history, perhaps no age of the church has been entrusted with a greater opportunity. The Lord has brought us together and entrusted us with gifts, resources, and the Holy Spirit, so that we would not watch this opportunity pass us by but rather step into what He has for His church today.”
Anneli has stepped into that work together with The Every Initiative, a Cru strategy to engage students and local Christian believers with outreach to this great influx of refugees into European lands. This year she is co-leading a team expanding into the city of Orebro, and trusting God to allow her team to engage this diverse community of refugees and students. She will be pioneering with this team of 2 other staff and 3 interns.
