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Joyce ministers to tens of thousands during her recent trip to England, Germany and Sweden.
By Christine Caine
Just 100 years ago, more than 70 percent of the world’s Christians lived in Europe. However, today more than 250,000 towns, cities and villages all across the continent do not have a single Christian church.
Time magazine has called Europe “the darkest place in the world, spiritually speaking.” But, together with your help, we are committed to changing these statistics and the spiritual landscape of these nations.
I came from a staunch Greek Orthodox background and grew up knowing “religion,” but I didn’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ. To me, God was always distant, aloof, angry and inaccessible. Then, twenty years ago, I encountered Jesus Christ in a real and personal way, and from day one I had a passionate desire to reach Europe with the true lifechanging Gospel.
In 2004 my husband, Nick, and I had the opportunity to share our heart for Europe with Dave and Joyce Meyer, who also believed in our dream and agreed to help support our mission. Thus, in 2005 we launched Project Europe.
The goal of Project Europe is to help build strong, contemporary, life-giving churches through leadership training, church planting, conferences and mentoring. By the end of the first year, we had visited fifteen European nations and were already heavily involved in launching and developing new churches, training leaders in existing churches, and evangelizing the region.
We found that Europe was much more open to the Gospel than they had been in the past. In fact, people were hungry for authentic Christianity and truly wanted to have a real relationship with God. They were very open to the Word, and everywhere we went, we met people who watch Joyce on God TV and love her ministry.
Europe is a continent full of a lot of pain because there has been a history of division, dislocation, war, loss and grief. There has been much abuse, brokenness and dead religion, and these people are now ready for truth and reality.
It is a continent where women historically have not had a strong voice in the church and where religious tradition and rituals have kept people bound. And Joyce’s straightforward, practical and transparent teaching style is precisely what they need.
This past November Nick and I had the wonderful opportunity to join Dave, Joyce, and their team as she ministered in several countries across the continent.
Our first stop was Abundant Life Church in Bradford, England. Before our team even arrived for the first session, cars were parked along the street several blocks away. In fact, people were already standing in line—even waiting in the rain—for the second session, which wouldn’t start for more than two hours.
Within a two-day period, Joyce ministered to nearly 13,000 people in a total of six services! Even before we left town, we heard countless testimonies of lives being touched and transformed. We want to thank Pastors Paul and Linda Scanlon for being such great hosts to our team and all the people who attended this conference. It was also an extra blessing to have Joyce Meyer Ministries’ UK staff join us for these special meetings.
While in town Joyce also took the opportunity to visit the newly opened Mercy Ministries home near Bradford—the very first Mercy home in the UK. Mercy Ministries is an international outreach for troubled young women who struggle with eating disorders, addictions, physical and sexual abuse, and other issues.
For years Joyce Meyer Ministries has helped support Mercy Ministries where Joyce’s teachings are an instrumental part of the healing process. It was such a blessing to see the girls’ excitement when they met Joyce. Several of them openly cried because of the profound impact Joyce’s teachings have had in their lives.
Next, we traveled to Karlsruhe, Germany, where Joyce spoke at the launch of the Women of the Word conference. This conference, which was broadcast via satellite from Karlsruhe to 109 other locations, was truly a watershed event for Germany. In all, 30,000 people attended the conference!
The theme focused on showing how men and women can stand side by side in ministry, which is a relatively foreign concept throughout much of Europe. Other teachers included John and Lisa Bevere, John and Helen Burns, Berin and Lisa Gilfillan, Bobbie Houston, and Deborah Cobrae. In addition, Hillsong’s Darlene Zschech led worship for the event.
Joyce shared two powerful messages on the difference between religion and enjoying an authentic relationship with Jesus. These powerful teachings definitely challenged people’s established mindsets and spoke life and freedom to the audience.
The German people received the teachings with such an openness, and it reinforced the fact that people no longer want to play religious games—they want the reality of a life-transforming relationship with Jesus Christ! People want to walk in freedom and let go of dead religion.
The altar calls at the end were also very powerful, with more than 85 percent of those in attendance standing in order to be set free from religious bondage. After the meetings, you could visibly see the change in the people’s countenance!
As I walked among the people in the foyer, I could see the hunger in their eyes as they took the opportunity to purchase Joyce’s books. They were so grateful that they could receive lifetransforming messages in their own language! It is exciting that Joyce Meyer Ministries now has an office in Germany so they can more easily obtain these resources anytime.
At 10:30 that night, we got ready to fly to Sweden, only to be told at the airport that it might be too foggy to actually land in Sweden, which would cause us to land in another location. After taking some time to pray about it, we decided to take a chance and fly, sticking with our original plan. I must say, I never felt more grateful than when those tires hit the runway in Stockholm—even though it was 1:00 in the morning!
The following evening we were full of faith and excitement to be in Uppsala at the Word of Life Centre. I knew there was a hunger and expectation in Sweden for Joyce’s ministry, and when we walked in on Saturday night to a fullcapacity crowd, it was obvious that this was going to be a defining moment for this nation.
Joyce taught a powerful message on being transformed from the inside out. You could have heard a pin drop as she shared her own personal testimony, connecting with the hurt and pain of so many in the audience. This was most likely the first time that many of these people had heard someone discuss this subject so openly. Although there are many cases of hurt and abuse in Scandinavia, it is rarely talked about publicly. That night we saw firsthand the power and freedom that come with bringing things into the light.
On Sunday the people returned with an even greater hunger! Joyce spoke about the importance of dropping our “masks” and authentically living as Christians from the inside out—not from the outside in.
Joyce candidly shared about the many wasted years of her own life trying to earn God’s love and obtain people’s approval by constantly trying to do the “right Christian thing.” She showed how exhausting it is to remain on the treadmill of boring, dead, religious works and painted a compelling picture of how wonderful it is to live in the grace of God.
It was obviously a “now” word for Europe as 90 percent of the people stood for prayer, wanting to embrace an authentic relationship with Jesus and gain freedom from dead religious performance. Their response indicated that it is a new day in Sweden, and they want to be untangled from the shackles of religious bondage to embrace the freedom of a life in Christ.
“This may be my first time in Sweden, but definitely not my last!” Joyce proclaimed, expressing her delight in being there. At these words the crowd erupted, clearly eager for Joyce to return.
Friends and partners of Joyce Meyer Ministries, I want you to know that God is using you to help bring the UK, Germany, Sweden and the rest of Europe to a whole new level. Your support not only allows Dave and Joyce to minister in person, but it enables them to televise her life-transforming teachings throughout Europe in several different languages, including German, French, Spanish and Ukrainian.
You are also helping to sponsor groundbreaking programs like Project Europe. Through Project Europe, Nick and I continue to work at a grassroots level in these nations and currently have ongoing relationships with more than 100 churches in over ten countries, including France, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
The future is so exciting…and it is obvious that God has a great plan and purpose for this continent. Friends and partners, thank you so much for being a part of that plan, and thank you for bringing the light of the Gospel to those who are living in darkness. 
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