PA49
Nola Leach CHIEF EXECUTIVE
August 2020
REACHING INTO EUROPE I hope this letter finds you well and that you’ve been able to enjoy some old and new activities over this summer period, including reconnecting with friends and family. A story in the Book of Acts that has always inspired me tells of the Apostle Paul’s nighttime vision of a man urging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ Paul acted on this promptly by sailing to northern Greece where he established the church at Philippi, and the evangelisation of Europe began! Paul crossed the sea all those centuries ago to help the people of Macedonia. Two thousand years later, CARE has been given the opportunity to be part of the response to a fresh plea from Christians across mainland Europe ‘to come over and help’. Europe has largely embraced a secular worldview that regards the Church as irrelevant and its participation in mainstream society unhelpful. While CARE has, along with others, been privileged to help equip Christians in the UK to engage in social action, this hasn’t been the case in other European countries. Back in 1986, Charlie Colchester, CARE’s co-founder and Director working alongside Lyndon, had a vision for Europe that led to CARE being one of the first UK evangelical agencies to bring a Christian influence in Brussels within the EU and its institutions. After the collapse of Communism in countries such as Romania, Hungary and Poland, there was an