Church Planting in Greece
Gorge Tolias, Union Mission partner and pastor of Glyfada church in Athens, shares what God is doing through church planting in Greece and beyond.
Greece is a country of over 10 million people, with roughly half of the population living in or around the capital city of Athens.
Greek Orthodoxy is the State Church and by far the most prevalent belief system in Greece, constituting over 90% of the Greek population. The State Church has been strongly opposed to Protestant theology. In addition to Greek Orthodoxy, Greece has a growing number of atheists who constitute 3% of the population. All of non-Orthodox Christianity in Greece composes only 0.02% of the population.
The presence of evangelicalism in Greece goes back to 1858, when the Christian magazine, “Star of the East,” began circulation in the country. Believers established the first Greek evangelical church at the foot of the Athens Acropolis in 1871. It was the first Protestant church established and legally recognised in Greece. Within a few short years, Greek evangelical churches were established in other cities throughout Greece and neighbouring countries.
Because of their small size and being relatively unknown, the evangelical church was often seen as a Western sect that denied Greek heritage and culture. This situation made the church inward-looking, isolated and disconnected from the city. The churches did not share a common vision for church planting and multiplication.
In recent years, God has been renewing a passion for church planting and multiplication in Greece. Several new churches have been planted in neighbourhoods around Athens, and there is a vision to further expand church planting in northern Greece as well. The church also began to develop creative ministries to share God’s love beyond Greece’s borders. It has maintained ministries for drug rehabilitation, support to the elderly, children’s camps, and composting/environmental programmes. It also maintains missions in Albania and Bulgaria, and an orphanage and school for underprivileged children in Tanzania. The refugee crisis that surged across Europe in 2016 was the impetus to begin welcoming and integrating families from the Middle East and North Africa into Europe. The church found ways to share God’s love through evangelism and discipleship, as well as through meeting practical needs.
In recent years, God has been renewing a passion for church planting and multiplication in Greece.
Today there are 34 Greek evangelical churches in Greece, 17 of them in Southern Greece and 17 in Northern Greece. The church also has 5 churches abroad. We have an urgent need for more pastors to lead congregations in Greece, as many churches are without a pastor. Many of those serving are lay people, as there is a need for further theological training and finances to support pastoral ministry.
Despite the challenges, we are encouraged and excited by the work God is doing in Greece to reach this nation and beyond. We have been blessed to see refugees coming to Christ, being baptised, and going on to teach others. Since COVID, we have also seen a growing interest among Greeks for fellowship and community in the church. By God’s grace, we will see more churches planted and more hearts turned to worship Christ. Thank you for praying with us for the nation of Greece.
By God’s grace, we will see more churches planted and more hearts turned to worship Christ.
Please pray:
For God to raise up pastors
For access to faithful, Christ-centred theological training
For Greek evangelical churches to grow into gospel-shaped communities
For more churches to be planted
Can you partner with us to keep on resourcing the work of church planting until the work is complete?