Hello PRC family! With a recent wedding and move to Germany, ministry with EMI has taken on some new responsibilities that are helping move the mission forward in new ways.
I appreciated EMI being willing to allow me to move to a country where we do not have an office and with that they have let me dream upnew partnerships throughout Europe.
We do have a presence in the UK but, our director of that office retired last year leaving our UK office in limbo. Our staff has slowly dropped to part time and some have moved on. Our hope is that during my time in Europe, I can help get motivation and vision in this office so we can have it up and running as a mobilizing office of Europeans and potentially be able to take on projects.
With the recent Ukrainian crisis, this would be an incredible opportunity for Europeans to serve their European brothers and sister. This has taken quite a bit of initiative but, it’s been a full two months of making connections and creating traction here in Europe to get EMI’s name out to see if there are projects we can assist on. With the Ukrainian crisis at hand, there is a lot of opportunity to support countries taking in refugees and getting funding to some of those projects.
Wednesday I will be heading to Poland to visit a ministry that has been taking in refugees and recently bought a hotel that will be in need of renovations. This ministry doesn’t have much funding toward this but is trusting God’s provision. Our hope is for EMI to somehow assist in this process.
I was able to fly down to Egypt a few weeks ago to meet with our current Middle East office director, our Middle East & Asia regional director, and the upcoming new Middle East office directors. I am still part of the discernment team for the new Middle East office launch but with Spencer being in the military we will not be able to move with the team when the office is planning on opening. With my role in business and development with EMI, this group met together to vision and talk through appropriate ways to launch a business as mission in our new countries of interest.
I plan on helping support this new office launch not only through prayer but through getting the funding needed to start this business and be a support in this business as mission model that we hope to create in what currently is a closed country to Christians. With all of this happening, I have recently decided to pursue my MBA in International Business and plan on beginning that this summer. The vision trip for this office is scheduled for August but I will not attend this trip as I don’t think it’s time for Spencer and I to step in in that way. I will be having meetings after their vision trip though to talk through more specific business strategy.
I recently went to London to meet with the chair of our UK board and help do some recruiting at an event for volunteers and potentially staff. As I got off my flight in Heathrow and got to the Underground, I had an hour long ride to the middle of the city. I sat next to this young atheist woman who was a Harvard grad who was now studying her master’s at Cambridge in Gender Studies specifically on the abuse religion has perpetuated specifically through the complimentarianist view. We sat and chatted for the entire hour as I had just taken a class through EMI and specifically got to study this as a topic of interest. As I heard this woman’s story of religious abuse in her own life and her pursuit for justice for herself and others, my heart broke as I saw someone experience evil with the name of Jesus painted over it. I shared that what she experienced was not Christ’s intention and His love for empowering women. She had great knowledge of the scripture but, we talked through how Christ was one to go against the cultural norms of His day and speak dignity and equality in to women who were deemed lesser. I also explained how sadly the church is not immune to the desire of power as humans are prone to. Her thoughtfulness was sincere and her heart was soft. I have been praying for her to experience Christ through her research and I ask that you would pray with me as I believe the Lord loves her and wants Him to know her personally.
I would love if Pulpit Rock could continue to pray for more opportunities like this as the church in Europe is “in a state of numbness” as my German friend said. There is a knowledge and history here of Christianity but a lack of relationship with Christ. I pray for more open and meaningful conversations to happen with people who don’t know Christ and for me to be prepared to share the true Gospel. I’ve been recently praying through the message of the Gospel compared to an offended message of doctrine over the hot topic of the day. I ask that you pray I stay close to Jesus and usher people in to His presence rather than sharing my opinions on secondary issues that aren’t central to the Gospel message. I believe that’s what the community around me is yearning for and I pray for opportunities to do so.
Love & miss you family! Praying for you!
Brittany (& Spencer) Harmon
