Bold Witness in Difficult Soil
When NEXT interns land on the mission field, they are exposing their hearts and minds to what God is doing around the world. They’re broadening their perspective and relying on the Holy Spirit in ways they haven’t needed to before.
It’s hard to say exactly what interns might experience while on the field, but through their willing, open hearts, we have seen God move in ways that are big and small – and in all things, we’re thankful for the way he commissions, empowers and gives interns a glimpse of what He’s doing.
Rylie, a 2025 NEXT intern in Eastern Europe, experienced ministry in a totally unexpected way during her internship. Entering her internship, she brought ideas and experiences she collected from her hometown, where Christians evangelized on the street and as a result, people gave their lives to Jesus. When she was met with the work in Eastern Europe, which has been around for nearly 25 years with very few coming to the Lord, she felt confused.
“I think my biggest downfall of this summer was, I constantly said ‘God, I don’t think you’re here, I think this place is literally void of you because I don’t see you anywhere. I don’t hear you,’” she described. “And then I was like, ‘wait, you actually are here, just not in the ways that I’m used to.’”
As she got to know the long-term team in Eastern Europe, they began to help her understand and contextualize what being a missionary looks like, especially in a spiritually dark place.
In a place where it sometimes feels as though all they’re doing is pulling up rocks and trying to find people who want to hear about Jesus, Courtney, a long-term worker in Eastern Europe, said that one of their greatest jobs is to “proclaim bold witness, no matter what the soil is like, and trust that the Spirit is moving to bring people toward him.”
Believing that God will do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20), the long-term team in Eastern Europe has been saturating the area in prayer, setting out on prayer walks three times per week. They have been specifically praying that through “visions, dreams and everyday, normal things like cups of coffee, people would encounter Jesus and run into the truth of the Gospel, even if we aren’t the ones that are engaged with it,” Courtney said.
Eastern Europe hosted an English camp for kids and teens.
And every once in a while, God gives them a glimpse of this taking root.
This summer, when the team hosted an annual English camp – which consisted of 64 campers, two short-term teams, six NEXT interns and four local volunteer teams – they decided to take a step of boldness and make it more directly biblically based. Instead of just including topics around Christian morals and characteristics, they took time to talk about scripture and learn stories from the Bible as they engaged in learning English.
As a result, more kids and teenagers were spiritually open and asked spiritual questions – including Luka*, a camper who connected with Rylie.
One evening, Luka* asked Rylie why she was in Eastern Europe, which naturally led to a discussion about religion. As the conversation progressed, Rylie was able to share a bit of her testimony with him. Luka* was especially intrigued that she hadn’t always been a Christian. He went on to share more of his spiritual journey, which included researching everything from Buddhism to Greek mythology.
Since returning to the U.S., Rylie has been able to chat with Luka* on occasion – and it came as quite a surprise to hear that he has since had a personal encounter with Jesus, and attended a couple of church services.
Rylie, a NEXT intern, connected with her group at English camp in a meaningful way.
Rylie has encouraged him however she can, including pointing him to the long-term team there, who can journey with him in his heart language. She also continues to pray for Luka* and other campers, as well as for Eastern Europe as a whole.
Courtney said this chain of events is very encouraging to her as a long-term worker in Eastern Europe, as it’s not often someone takes a step forward like this. And it’s especially rare for them to use the language Luka* has used to articulate where his heart is.
As teens have typically been the ones who are more spiritually open, Courtney hopes that they’ll see a movement come out of the youth that could then change their families and communities.
We’re so thankful for the long-term team in Eastern Europe, and for the willingness of our NEXT interns to jump into cross-cultural ministry around the world!
Please join us in praying for Luka’s* heart, and for the ongoing ministry in Eastern Europe.