Planting God’s Word Across Borders

August 2024

By Kelly Mehee Shin

Refugee and migrant participants gather at Koinonia Education Center in Athens to study Scripture together, sharing a space of learning, fellowship, and spiritual growth.

Planting God’s Word Across Borders

After the Encounter retreat in April 2024, more people gradually began joining Athens Grace Church. As they attended Sunday worship, listened to the Word of God, and became part of the church community, we began to recognize a new and important need.

The refugees who came to our church had very different backgrounds. Some were from Iran, others from Afghanistan, and some had lived in Türkiye before coming to Greece. Along their journeys, they had encountered different churches, missionaries, ministries, and organizations and had studied the Bible under different spiritual leaders.

As our community grew, these different experiences sometimes led to very different understandings of the Bible, Christian faith, church leadership, and ministry.

Rather than judging or criticizing these differences, we began asking a more fundamental question:

“What does this community need in order to grow on a healthy foundation of God’s Word?”

We realized that Sunday worship alone was not enough. People needed an opportunity to study the whole Bible systematically, deepen their personal relationship with God, understand Christian discipleship, and learn about the Church, ministry, and the responsibilities of spiritual leadership.

They needed a common biblical foundation.

Bringing Biblical Training into the Church

For several years, we had already been helping refugee seminary students study through Grace Mission University in the United States. Some were pursuing formal theological education in preparation for pastoral ministry.

As we observed their studies, a new idea began to grow:

What if we could bring the foundations of this kind of biblical and theological education to the members of our own church?

Not everyone could enroll in a formal seminary program, but we could provide structured biblical training for those who wanted to know Scripture more deeply and prepare to serve others.

In August 2024, Iranian, Afghan, and Kurdish refugees living in Athens gathered at Athens Grace Church for our first classes.

We met separately from Sunday worship and studied together for three or sometimes four hours at a time. We studied Scripture systematically, asked questions, discussed what we were learning, prayed together, and shared personal prayer requests.

We did not want this to become simply an academic program. We wanted students to grow both in their knowledge of Scripture and in their personal walk with God.

Bible College of Athens

At first, we called the program Bible College of Athens, because it began among students and church members living in Athens.

The studies were organized into three-month courses, with certificates of completion for students who completed each course. Our vision was to connect these courses into a structured one-year Bible training program.

But our goal was never simply to distribute certificates.

Our desire was to raise disciples who knew God’s Word, lived according to His Word, and were prepared to serve others. We also hoped that those who faithfully completed their training and demonstrated spiritual maturity could eventually help lead small Christian communities and Home Churches.

From Athens to Europe

As the program continued, we realized that the vision could not remain limited to Athens.

For many refugees, Greece was not their final destination. Some eventually moved to Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, the Netherlands, and other parts of Europe.

Again and again, people we had come to know and disciple in Greece would leave and begin another chapter of life in another country.

This raised another question:

“What if their biblical training could continue even after they leave Athens?”

Online education made that possible.

Even after moving to another European country, students could continue studying Scripture, joining classes, praying with us, and growing as disciples.

Gradually, we began to understand that God's vision for this ministry was larger than one city. What began as Bible College of Athens would eventually grow into Bible College Europe—a vision for biblical training and discipleship that could continue wherever refugees moved throughout Europe and Türkiye.

Making Disciples Who Make Disciples

Our purpose was becoming increasingly clear.

We did not simply want to produce knowledgeable church members.

We wanted to make disciples.

And we wanted those disciples eventually to become people who could disciple others.

Wherever they went, we wanted them to stand firmly in their faith, serve others, share the Gospel, and help build healthy Christian communities.

Refugees might continue moving from country to country.

But God’s Word could travel with them.

Reflection

When we first began serving refugees, we thought they needed food and clothing.

Then we discovered that their children needed education. Families needed safe shelter. Mothers needed opportunities to work and support their children.

When the church was planted, we discovered yet another need:

They needed deep roots in the Word of God.

We could not determine where each refugee would eventually live. Movement was part of the refugee journey.

But we could help plant God's Word deeply in their hearts.

Someone who studied the Bible in Athens might eventually move to Germany. Another might settle in the United Kingdom. Another might find a new home somewhere else in Europe.

But if they were firmly rooted in Scripture, they could continue following Christ, sharing the Gospel, and perhaps one day help establish another community of faith.

What began in Athens was therefore not simply about establishing another school.

It was about making disciples among people who were constantly on the move—and preparing those disciples to make other disciples wherever God might lead them.

We could not stop refugees from scattering across Europe. But perhaps God could use that very scattering to carry the Gospel even farther.