CHICAGO, IL (March 17) - The rapidly increasing influx of immigrants into Europe poses the biggest challenge and opportunities for missionaries on the continent, says Jan Epps-Dawson, who with her husband, Richard, serve as European regional coordinators for the Department of World Mission of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

Immigrants rapidly are becoming a greater percentage of the population as they pour into various countries looking for work, and as the birth rate of Europeans declines, says Epps-Dawson. Four percent of Germany is now mostly Muslim Turks and 10 percent of France is comprised of Muslim immigrants, she adds.

That has led to something of an identity crisis. "Europeans are questioning who they are, trying to go from past to present to future," Epps-Dawson says.

The immigration increase, especially of Muslims, has brought a backlash of nationalism in some areas, she observes. Many Christians are succumbing to prejudice -"they're letting fear drive them," Epps-Dawson believes. "As Christians, we can't do that. We have to learn how to establish relationships."

Other churches also are questioning how to minister to immigrants. "Traditional mainline churches don't know how to reach out to other cultures," says Epps-Dawson, explaining they are too rooted in the past. "The church is too irrelevant."

Past feelings about religion by Europeans presents another challenge and requires that relationships be built over a long period of time before people will even consider conversion, Epps-Dawson says. "You can't do anything quickly and expect it to last."

"There's so much religious baggage," she adds. The type of baggage depends on whether the countries are part of the West or Eastern bloc. "In the East, the suitcases are empty - they're eager to open them up," Epps-Dawson says. "They're ready for God to come in." In the East, "A lot of (the people) have been Christians already; it's a matter of loving them back into the arms of Jesus."

Citizens of former Soviet bloc countries who became Christians knew "they were giving up privileges," Epps-Dawson says. "Being a Christian means changing your lifestyle."

The West is entirely different. "Their suitcase is full," Epps-Dawson says. "You have to pull stuff out first." She adds, "In the West, it's so heavy, they don't even want to open it because there's so much stuff in there." The people in the West also have become "acclimated" to the culture, she says.

She relates the story of one woman she considers typical. "She was baptized, confirmed, and married by the state church, but didn't know what Jesus had to do with Christianity. She wanted to know. That's the state of the West."

A deep suspicion of religious groups also exists, Epps-Dawson adds. "There's a phobia of sects. You have to be part of a large church to be accepted. You can't be doing your own thing."

That is a major reason the Covenant has decided to work with other evangelical denominations that are interested in reaching out, rather than establishing its own new churches. The unique Covenant identity means the denomination can be a "bridge builder" in countries that distrust new religious organizations, Epps-Dawson says.

"Our focus is going to be reaching the marginalized in Europe," Epps-Dawson says. Reaching out to Roma (gypsies) in Spain is a prime example. "They are the most highly discriminated group in the country," Epps-Dawson says. She notes that the largest evangelical populations in Spain and France are among the Roma populations.

The populations with which the Covenant is working are settled and not transient. Discrimination has kept them from finding housing, however. The Covenant church in La Coruna, Spain, has been working extensively with Roma. That includes partnering with Habitat for Humanity to develop housing.

Covenant missionaries in Malaga, Spain, are training the first two groups of Roma pastors. Like the church in La Coruna, they also are working with job development. The La Coruna church, pastored by missionary Robert Reed, "is going gangbusters," Epps-Dawson says. With more than 100 attendees, Vida Nueva (New Life) is one of the largest evangelical churches in the city.

More than half of the attendees are immigrants, many from parts of Latin America, who also suffer discrimination. A new program - The Scattered – is being developed to locate and work with Christians from Latin America so they can become the new missionaries in Spain.

Epps-Dawson says she is excited about work in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where missionaries Fred and Kelly Prudek have been developing leaders and are working with a Brethren congregation to plant a church in a bedroom community that currently has no stores or churches. The church has bought an abandoned barracks once used by Soviet troops.