DIFFERENT TIMES, DIFFERENT CHOICES, THE SAME HEART FOR MISSION

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Three generations of Teeuwen men felt moved by the need in Albania. What have they learned from each other about mission? And how do stories about courage and faith inspire the young people of today? Jacques (93), Andrew (57) and Joab (22) Teeuwen share on their connection with Albania and the power of stories.

A journey with far-reaching consequences

Immediately after his conversion in 1952, Jacques realised: “I need to share this news with others.” He and his wife Ruth (90) led an adventurous and international missionary life for many years. For thirteen years they worked in Papua (Dutch Papua New Guinea at the time), and Jacques made countless trips to communist countries behind the Iron Curtain. 

One of the journeys that stands out is the one to Albania in 1979. The country proudly declared itself to be the first atheist country in the world. A statement that struck a chord in Jacques. “I wanted to go there! Although Albania was a closed country, my travel companion and I found a way: go in ‘undercover’ with a communist tour group. This wasn’t without its dangers. The secret police searched our rooms for forbidden items, such as photo cameras or bibles. We would have been deported or - worse yet - arrested if someone found out we were Christians.” 

“God has to rise to the challenge and reveal Himself”

Jacques’ son Andrew remembers that time vividly. “My father often travelled undercover to countries to smuggle Bibles and it was always thrilling. But the Albanian trip was intense. I said goodbye to my father, wondering if I would ever see him again. At the same time, I was struck by his faith. I was as outraged as he was that a country or government simply declared that God did not exist. I thought, ‘God has to rise to the challenge and reveal Himself.’ So, as a 15-year-old boy, I decided to pray daily for Albania.” 

During his stay in Albania, Jacques did not meet a single Christian. As his plane took off, he prayed over the country: ‘Lord, give me this mountain for you’. He didn’t know that years later, his son - who is now the regional leader of Pioneers Southern Europe - would become a missionary in those same mountains and start a Christian congregation there. Andrew's love for that country and its people can be traced back to his father's one journey. “Eleven years after my father's reconnaissance trip, I had my very first encounter with an Albanian. Finally, I was talking to one of the people I had prayed for for so long. It was an amazing and emotional moment,” Andrew says, with tears in his eyes. 

Three generations of commitment

Jacques and Ruth passed on their heart for mission to their children and grandchildren. Andrew knew from a young age that he wanted to be a missionary. “When the Danis - an indigenous tribe in the jungles of Papua - discovered that the gospel had been around for nearly 2,000 years, their only question was: ‘Why did you wait so long to come here?’ Our son was very moved by this reaction,” Jacques explains. “That’s why he now works with Pioneers, an organisation that wants to take the Gospel to unreached people groups.” 

This heart for Albania continued into the third generation. Grandson Joab – who has just finished his Bachelor’s in Communication Sciences – will soon be going to Albania to prepare for a youth mission trip, and he was there in 2018 with his church’s youth group: “That was the first time I saw poverty up close. It was a wonderful opportunity to be able to help the people there.” 

“You have a responsibility to share your story”

The trip to Albania is only one of Jacques’ many remarkable stories which you can read in his Dutch book God verandert grenzen. Stories that, as far as Andrew is concerned, should be passed on. “The biographies and stories of heroes of the faith are uplifting and challenging. Courageous faith full of obedience and trust in God is one example. I see it as the responsibility of older people to pass on their experiences, to encourage younger generations.” Joab, Jacques’ grandson and Andrew’s nephew, feels the same way: “I feel inspired by the way my grandpa and grandma faced every adventure full of faith. They have been helping people their entire lives, without getting anything material in return. As young people, we can learn from that.” 

Modern-day missions: group chats and a surf school.

The way evangelism is done has certainly changed over the years. Where Jacques spoke before large crowds, Andrews' method is personal conversations and Joab mainly embodies the gospel by helping people who are experiencing poverty. 50 years ago, Jacques and Ruth had to travel for two days through Papua to make a telephone call, but Andrew is now in a group chat with his Albanian congregation. Andrew says: “These days, the term ‘missions’ can sound old-fashioned. But when you understand what God's desire is for all nations, it takes on real meaning. At Pioneers we even have missionaries who run a surf school. And praying and giving are also crucial parts of the call. You don’t have to go all the way to Papua - you can be a witness anywhere!” 

VERSCHILLENDE TIJDEN, VERSCHILLENDE KEUZES, HETZELFDE HART VOOR MISSIE

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Drie generaties Teeuwen-mannen werden geraakt door de nood in Albanië. Wat leren ze van elkaar over zending? En hoe inspireren verhalen over moed en geloof de jongeren van nu? Jacques (93), Andrew (57) en Joab (22) Teeuwen aan het woord over hun betrokkenheid bij Albanië en de kracht van verhalen.

Een reis met verstrekkende gevolgen

Direct na zijn bekering in 1952 beseft Jacques: “Dit nieuws moet ik aan anderen vertellen.” Hij en zijn vrouw Ruth (90) leidden jarenlang een avontuurlijk en internationaal zendelingenbestaan. Zo werkten ze dertien jaar in Papoea – toenmalig Nederlands Nieuw Guinea - en maakte Jacques voor Open Doors talloze reizen naar communistische landen achter het IJzeren Gordijn.

Een bijzondere reis was die naar Albanië in 1979. Het land verklaarde trots het eerste atheïstische land ter wereld te zijn. Een statement dat Jacques diep raakte. “Ik wilde erheen! Hoewel Albanië een zeer gesloten land was, vonden mijn reisgenoot en ik een manier: ‘undercover’ mee met een communistische reisgroep. Niet zonder gevaar. Onze kamers werden doorzocht door de geheime politie op verboden voorwerpen, zoals fotocamera’s en bijbels. En we zouden het land uitgezet of - nog erger – opgepakt zijn als iemand had ontdekt dat we christenen waren.”

Jacques’ zoon Andrew herinnert zich die tijd nog levendig. “Mijn vader ging vaker in het geheim naar landen om bijbels te smokkelen en dat was altijd spannend. Maar de Albaniëreis was echt heftig. Ik nam afscheid van mijn vader, mezelf afvragend of ik hem ooit zou terugzien. Tegelijkertijd sprak zijn geloof me enorm aan. Ik was net zo verontwaardigd als hij dat een land of regering gewoonweg verklaarde dat God niet bestond. God moest die uitdaging aangaan en zichzelf openbaren, vond ik. Dus besloot ik - als 15-jarige jongen – dagelijks voor Albanië te bidden.”

Het evangelie heeft sinds de jaren 90 in het hele land vrucht gedragen. Er zijn van noord tot zuid en van oost naar west kerken die de naam van Jezus groot maken en verkondigen.

De gemeente die toentertijd in het noordoosten van Albanië (in Peshkopi) door het Pioneers team is gesticht, gaat nog steeds door. Zij wordt luchthartig als 'kraamafdeling' betiteld omdat er daar voortdurend vooral jongeren tot geloof komen die de stad dan verlaten en zich in de hoofdstad Tirana of in het buitenland bij een andere gemeente aansluiten. De gemeente in Peshkopi heeft in de jaren negentig in Kosovo een nieuwe gemeente gesticht, onder anderen door het uitzenden van twee jonge Albanezen naar Kosovo.

Er is ook een Pioneers team werkzaam onder de Roma in de buitenwijken van Tirana. Ze runnen daar een kleuterschool en geven praktische en geestelijke steun aan de inwoners van die wijken. Omdat de meeste Roma analfabeet zijn worden bijbelse verhalen mondeling overgedragen.

Tijdens zijn verblijf ontmoet Jacques geen enkele christen in Albanië. Terug in het vliegtuig bidt hij uit over het land: “Heer, geef mij dit bergland voor U”. Hij kon toen niet vermoeden dat zijn zoon jaren later zendeling zou worden in diezelfde bergen en er een christelijke gemeente zou starten! “Elf jaar na mijn vaders verkenningsreis had ik mijn allereerste ontmoeting met een Albanees. Eindelijk sprak ik iemand van het volk waar ik al zo lang voor bad. Een geweldig en ontroerend moment”, vertelt Andrew met tranen in zijn ogen.

Drie generaties van betrokkenheid

Jacques en Ruth gaven hun zendingshart door aan hun kinderen en kleinkinderen. Zo wist Andrew al jong dat hij zich wilde inzetten voor de zending. “Toen de Dani – een inheemse stam in de jungle van Papoea – ontdekten dat het evangelie al bijna 2000 jaar bestond, was hun enige vraag: ‘Waarom hebben jullie zo lang gewacht met hierheen komen?’ Die verbazing raakte onze zoon diep”, vertelt Jacques. “Daarom werkt hij voor Pioneers, een organisatie die onbereikte volken wil bereiken met het evangelie.” Andrew is tegenwoordig regioleider van Pioneers Zuid Europa.

De betrokkenheid bij Albanië bereikte ook de derde generatie. Zo gaat kleinzoon Joab – net klaar met zijn bachelor communicatiewetenschappen – binnenkort naar Albanië als voorbereiding op een jongerenreis en was hij er in 2018 met de jongerengroep van zijn kerk: “Dat was de eerste keer dat ik armoede van dichtbij zag. Een geweldige kans om mensen daar te mogen helpen.”

‘Je verhaal delen is een verantwoordelijkheid’
De reis naar Albanië is slechts een van Jacques’ vele bijzondere verhalen die u kunt lezen in zijn boek God verandert mensen*. Verhalen die wat Andrew betreft doorgegeven moeten worden. “Biografieën en verhalen van geloofshelden zijn opbouwend en uitdagend. Moedig geloof vol gehoorzaamheid en vertrouwen op God is een voorbeeld. Ik zie het als verantwoordelijkheid van ouderen om hun ervaringen door te geven, om jongere generaties aan te moedigen.”

Joab ervaart dat ook: “Ik vind het inspirerend hoe mijn opa en oma met vertrouwen ieder avontuur aangingen. Ze hielpen hun hele leven mensen, zonder daar fysiek iets voor terug te krijgen. Daar kunnen we als jongeren van leren.”

Moderne zending: groepsapp en surfschool

De manier van evangelisatie is door de jaren heen wel veranderd. Waar Jacques voor grote menigten sprak, is Andrews’ methode het persoonlijke gesprek en geeft Joab het evangelie vooral handen en voeten door mensen in armoede te helpen. En terwijl Jacques en Ruth vijftig jaar geleden in Papoea twee dagen moesten reizen voor een telefoongesprek, heeft Andrew een groepsapp met zijn Albanese gemeenteleden. Andrew vertelt: “Zending kan tegenwoordig ouderwets klinken. Maar als je begrijpt wat Gods verlangen is voor alle volken, krijgt zending echt betekenis. Bij Pioneers hebben we zelfs zendelingen met een surfschool. En bidden en geven is ook een opdracht, dus je hoeft niet naar Papoea te gaan. Getuige zijn kan overal!”

Geïnspireerd worden door meer verhalen? We delen ze op www.pioneersnederland.org

* Het boek van Jacques Teeuwen is verkrijgbaar bij de christelijke boekwinkel of via internet

Before the Throne - A Missionary's Journey

When Jordan flew to the Balkan Peninsula two years ago to plant churches among the Roma people group, he had no idea he would one day be sitting here, in a crowded café, sipping espresso and telling his story against the backdrop of bad American pop music. He also had no idea he would be saying things like, “I really did block out a lot of the difficulty that was waiting for me when I got here,” or “I feel like I got here and just was embarrassingly humbled. Embarrassingly.” But he is saying these things, because that is exactly what happened.

“I romanticized it entirely,” he confesses, imagining that working with the poor meant “getting dirty, and just meeting all their needs, and being this hero and, um, doing it all in the name of Jesus.”

Jordan’s journey overseas began with a simple statement uttered by one of his trusted mentors: “You know, I see you as more of a missions guy.” A month and a half later, he found himself walking on Pioneers’ campus in Florida, feeling more and more confident that these were “his people” and that God was calling him to spread the Gospel among the unreached – he just didn’t know where yet. After meeting with several potential teams, he heard of the opportunity to work with the poor and marginalized in Eastern Europe, and it caught his attention. “I romanticized it entirely,” he confesses, imagining that working with the poor meant “getting dirty, and just meeting all their needs, and being this hero and, um, doing it all in the name of Jesus.” To Jordan, nothing could’ve sounded more appealing.

To be fair, he is good at those things. Poverty doesn’t scare him, and neither do the sacrifices that keep most of us from moving to the other side of the world to tell people about Jesus. And while it can take missionary recruits years to raise enough funds to get to the field, his natural boldness and singular focus got him there in six months. Everything happened so quickly and easily, what reason did he have to doubt?

He didn’t, not for a long time. Because at first, the flavors were exciting, the language seemed easy to pick up, and the people were kind and receptive; it was every bit the adventure he imagined it would be. However, unlike the short-term mission trips he’d gone on in his twenties, he didn’t have a ticket home when the honeymoon ended. When the food became bland, he woke up in the Balkans. When the language became complex, he woke up in the Balkans. And when he saw the flaws and weaknesses in himself, his teammates, and those he was trying to reach, he woke up in the Balkans. “You feel, or at least I felt,” he says, “lonely and insignificant, and helpless like a little child.”  

Even the ministry became a source of discouragement as, with each passing day, he realized how far they were from their goal of reaching the Roma with the Gospel – much less helping them escape the clutches of poverty. Worse, his team went through an intense time of conflict, resulting in half of them going back to the States and half of them starting over. Months turned into a year, and eventually his disillusionment brought him to a place of bitterness, frustration, and anger. “And then in my case,” he pauses, “loneliness and even bits of depression.” Not quite the wave of self-edifying momentum he rode to the Roma’s front doorstep.

Like many of us do, Jordan responded with heavy doses of self-medication and escapism; food, drink, too much sleep, not enough sleep, too many Skype calls home, not enough Skype calls home, movies, school – he turned to anything and everything but the One who could truly help. Of course, nothing did. “I would look out my window or sit on my balcony and just see this lively neighborhood that just didn't care that I was there,” he says, his voice equal parts amusement and regret, “I had come to save all of them, but they didn't care.” At the end of his first year, “The Lord felt extremely far away, and I felt extremely small.”

And that’s when Jordan saw it. “You've been relying on yourself,” he realized, “and not the God who is big.” On his own, he was never supposed to be significant; it was always supposed to be God.

As it turns out, he was right. He was small – but that wasn’t the problem. When he finally turned to God for help, God didn’t build him up or feed him nice-sounding platitudes about all his hard work and effort. On the contrary, “He affirmed that I was small, but that He was big.” And that’s when Jordan saw it. “You've been relying on yourself,” he realized, “and not the God who is big.” On his own, he was never supposed to be significant; it was always supposed to be God.

Not much changed in his circumstances after that realization, but a lot changed in his mind and heart. “You start understanding,” he explains, “that as you've walked away from situations that you thought impossible or that you didn't have enough energy for or didn't have enough language for...God did.” He still went about his daily tasks, still labored to learn the language (a process that never really got easier), and still worked hard to begin new and impactful ministries. But now, he knew by whose strength he did these things – and it wasn’t his own. The odd thing was, being aware of his weaknesses only made him feel more capable. “The difficulty didn't go away,” he admits, “but the ability to deal with it greatly increased as I sought the Lord through it.” 

He laughs as he thinks back to the moment he begged God to send him somewhere challenging, somewhere he could do great and significant things for the kingdom. While parts of that prayer were well-intentioned, “basically, it was like a bravado thing.” A bravado thing that God answered by putting him in a new place, using difficult situations to reveal the pride and arrogance in his heart, and then disciplining him until those things were gone – or at least, Jordan would tell you, smaller. It wasn’t how he thought God would answer his prayer (and it certainly wasn’t how he wanted him to), but it was how he needed him to answer it.

“You have in your mind how God is going to work, or how he does work, and he always surprises you for the better.”

“You have in your mind how God is going to work, or how he does work, and he always surprises you for the better.” That is a truth Jordan holds to tightly as he looks to an uncertain future, one that may or may not include a return flight to the country he’s finally started feeling comfortable in. Regardless of whether or not he does come back, he is glad to draw from the lessons God taught him here, lessons of humility, remaining faithful in times of difficulty, and drawing from the strength of his Maker rather than his own meager reserves. They are, he suspects, lessons he will continue to learn the rest of his life.

“I know who is in control,” he says in a café in the middle of a crowded, lost, vibrant city in Eastern Europe. “I know who is in power, and I –” he pauses, “I know where I stand before the throne. And it's far down.” It isn’t with pride in himself that he says these words; it’s with pride in the King who does sit on the throne. He is, Jordan would tell you, the only one worth taking pride in anyway.   

9 Obstacles to Faith in the Former Communist Countries of Europe

Many Pioneers serve in nations that are currently communist or have been communist within recent history.  Current communist nations include China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, and North Korea.  Previous communist nations in Europe include Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union. 

What happens to a people group that has endured communism?  What barriers does communism create for Gospel receptivity?  The list below was compiled with input from Pioneers located around the globe, serving in nations that are currently or formerly communist.  

1. Communism creates a culture of secrecy.  Christians who survive communism are forced to hide their faith or be punished for it.  When communism falls, the believers have already developed a habit of hiding their faith and an unwillingness to share it—making evangelism very rare. 
    
2. Relatedly, under communism Christians often become desensitized to compromise.  Many are forced to sign certifications that they do not practice religion or to register in some way that promises they do not have a faith.  These seemingly small compromises add up and lead to a worn down desire and drive to be obedient to the Lord. 
    
3. Communism triumphs the material world, science, and intellect.  The spiritual world is completely rejected.  In order to be a true communist, one must be an atheist.  Any faith in anything other than science or what is seen, is viewed as weak. 
    
4. People who live or have lived under communism find the concept of grace very hard to digest.  Communism teaches that you get what you deserve.  The compassion of Jesus is totally foreign.  Grace is too good to be true. 
    
5. On the opposite side of the same coin, communism produces people who work to earn favor.  Work and productivity are highly valued.  People cannot imagine not working for their rewards on earth and in heaven. 
    
6. In communist cultures leaders are not kind or trustworthy.  Examples of leaders who lead sacrificially are not existent.  Therefore, people cannot imagine a good God who is trustworthy.  
    
7. Under communism the collective good of the people is considered far more worthwhile than the independence of individuals.  People do not think for themselves.  The culture does not value or promote freedom, unalienable rights, or personal responsibility.  Citizens are required to play their part in society and individual joy and ideas are squelched. 
    
8. People under communism are very afraid of the repercussions they will face if they believe. Following Christ often means the loss of a job, community, family, and the possibility of imprisonment.  Even in countries where communism no longer reigns, people are very afraid of doing anything outside the norms of their culture.  People are mocked or shunned if they make choices that are different from everyone else’s. 
    
9. Missionaries often find life in communist or post-communist cultures very difficult and oppressive.  Many are unable to stay due to government restrictions or personal trials related to their dark surroundings.  The high burnout rate of missionaries leads to a discounting of the message they have brought.  Additionally, many are taught that Christianity is a western religion that seeks to undermine the communist government. 

Pray for people groups around the globe who currently suffer under communism or have been raised under communism and have not yet shed its oppression.  Pray that the God of Grace would move hearts to believe and follow Him.  That His grace would be found sufficient for them (2 Corinthians 12:9) and that He would be exalted among the nations and in all the earth (Psalm 46:10).