NEW BRANCH IN GREECE

by Korky Davey

In 1994, Damianos Papadopoulos completed his training with OAC Great Britain and returned to Greece to begin an evangelistic ministry.

Damianos and Evodia graduated from the Greek Bible Institute in Athens in 1981. Over a period of three years Damianos attended the OAC seminars at the College and was supported by the other students on an evangelistic trip with OAC to Malaga, Spain.

Called by God as an evangelist, Damianos fulfilled his military service for 2 years in Alexandropolis on the border with Turkey, where he spent most of his spare time preaching on the streets with his sketchboard to Turks and Greeks alike.

On leaving the army, Damianos and Evodia were married and returned to their home village in Mylotopos, where there is a strong evangelicial church.

He was used by many organisations in evangelism in nearby Thessaloniki and, while working with Campus Crusade, a number of students came to Christ during his ministry on the University campus. His call as a street evangelist is recognised by the Northern Synod of the Greek Evangelical Church, whose president is a fellow student from his Bible Institute days.

Damianos and Evodia spent a total of six months training with OAC in Bristol. The Lloyd Johnstone Trust provided them with an apartment in Bristol.

So what does the future hold for them? Damianos writes, "We'll return to begin a new ministry to take the Gospel to towns and villages, which is not happening at the moment.

Evangelical churches in Greece will help us because the church is a strong family. This sort of ministry has proved fruitful in the past, but open-air preaching in Greece is sometimes difficult because the Orthodox church believes we are a cult."

Damianos will spend two days a week doing evangelism with his local church, as well as running a children's club, training other fellowships and lecturing at the Greek Bible Institute in Athens.

Korky Davey is the Director of OAC West Country. He is a well-known figure in the Greek evangelical church, having made regular trips to Greece over the last eleven years.

Those wishing to support the Papadopoulos family financially may do so through Europe Now: contact our office for more information.