Project Brussels 91

Project Brussels'91 Unified Evangelistic Strategy

Johan Lukasse was used to praying 'Lord, Bless Brussels'. But he was shocked when God answered ... "I am willing to bless Brussels. When are you going to start?" Suddenly he realized how complex, confused and how large a place Brussels really was. But, God had spoken. He began to visit colleagues, pastors in the city, leaders of churches of different denominations, and discovered that they all felt that yes, this was God's time for Brussels. They decided they must reach the city before '92 - when Western Europe was scheduled to open its internal borders and move toward unity.

Beginning to work together

In 1989, a small group met together and agreed that it was God's initiative to make a strong, united effort to reach everyone in the city with a clear presentation of the gospel, but that no one church / parachurch organization could accomplish this. Together they began to see Brussels as God sees it. They were moved with compassion and a willingness to work together. Eventually a set of guidelines was worked out so that everyone would feel safe in cooperating. "Cooperation in Project Brussels '91 meant that;

	Each church or organization was to keep its identity.
	Each church or organization was to respect the other's identity.
	Collaboration was to be limited in time and substance to the goals of Project Brussels '91.
	By coordinating efforts they would have an impact on all levels of the population."

After their initial meeting they chose a group of 11 people - called the Coordinating Committee - from both churches and parachurch organizations. A monthly prayer meeting and a Friday morning meeting started, open to all the churches. Particularly in the Friday meeting, "God started to move among us. He gave us love, and soon a number of reconciliation's occurred."

A Statement of purpose

As more churches and organizations accepted the vision as their own, a clearer statement of purpose was seen to be needed. This is what was developed. "Through Project Brussels '91 we expect to reach the following goals:

	to reach each inhabitant of Brussels with the presentation of the gospel given in their own language and appropriate to their own background;
	to bring together individuals, churches, and parachurch organizations;
	to advance church growth and mobilize members;
	to have a home bible study in every neighborhood of Brussels by January 1992."

Along with this, there was a general realization of responsibilities to the poor, and that it would be impossible to preach Christ to them unless mercy was also showed them.

3 Point plan to reach the city

The next struggle was how to reach the city. Eventually a plan with three prongs emerged:

	An inventory was made of what churches wanted to do in evangelism in '91. The Project Brussels team would encourage and motivate them and ask them to carry out their plans under the collective, 'Project Brussels '91' banner, using the same logo and similar presentations in advertisements, invitations and publicity. In this way there would be a greater collective impact.
	Hand out attractive, well presented packages to everyone in Brussels. Each pack would contain one of the gospels, a brochure explaining the gospel, several challenging articles geared to a secular, philosophical, scientific mind-set. There was a simple presentation for children, a response-card with different options and the first lesson of a Bible Correspondence Course. The material was in a variety of different languages. They were presented as a gift from the evangelical Christians of Brussels. They were well received, even by Moslems.
	The third principle was labeled specific activities. During 7 months of Project Brussels more than 100 concerts and 200 open air meetings were organized. There was great variety; preaching, drama, children's activities, sports, youth rallies, barbecues, and rock concerts. Each organization contributed something out of its own expense.

As the year progressed, the people of Brussels became aware of what was happening and started talking about it.

Research

To discover how to reach Brussels more effectively, some research was done on the 'mission force' and the 'mission field'. The results strongly indicated that not everybody could be reached using the same gospel presentation. So different task forces were organized to plan different approaches for the various groups identified. The group studying how to reach the poor discovered that there are many kinds of poverty, so they formed even smaller task forces - one to reach prostitutes, one to reach refugees, one to reach the homeless. Another task force wrestled with the problem of approaching politicians. Members organized dinners and made cultural presentations. They invited chamber music groups to play in the homes of some ambassadors. "It was a remarkable experience seeing God provide our needs with people from different churches and organizations. Our multiple presentations of the gospel almost matched the cultural, racial and religious diversity in Brussels."

Follow Up Work

Churches were asked to claim a part of Brussels where they would be responsible for the ongoing presentation of the gospel to those who had shown some interest. It was suggested that interested people be invited to home Bible studies called discovery groups. These became halfway houses leading to the church where people could feel at home, ask questions and express doubts and reasons for what they believed.

Evaluation

	The unity that was achieved has to be considered a success, given the all prevailing anti-God, anti-Christian mentality of Brussels.
	At least 40 people appear to have made genuine commitments, with 100 indicating some kind of decision.
	37 discovery groups got going, some with 15-20 people, some with 2-3.
	Despite well planned follow-up, many churches and individual Christians were too slow to pick up on peoples interest.
	Research from the churches was too slow in arriving, at least while mutual trust was building. When the information arrived it was too late to use as Project Brussels was in full swing.
	Overall, the outcome was considered positive. Each home received a literature package. 670 people wrote in some kind of response, 45 people completed a quiz and received a Bible or New Testament. Phone calls came in - most positive.
	A number of new ministries sprang up.
	Moslems responded much more positively than was dreamed possible. After a second visit, 40 of them invited people back to their homes to discuss the Bible or to compare the Bible to the Koran. Some became Christians.

© Viv Grigg and the Encarnação Alliance Training Commission
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Last updated: 05/15/09.