Dear ACSI Europe Friends!

For the sixth year in January, Christian school leaders gathered in the European Parliament in Brussels to meet with Christian MEP's (Members of the European Parliament) to report and discuss the challenges Christian schools are facing in the various countries of Europe. ACSI Europe is blessed to be part of this important meeting.

Topics usually involve freedom of education, Christian schools and their role in the post-Christian Europe, political agendas threatening Christian schools, and such.

Mr. László Tõkés, one of our MEP speakers of this year's meeting, captured the essence of the greatest challenges the European Christian community is facing today. He said, "In the context of the above, the escalation of migration and the rapid spread of Islam do not imply as much an external threat, but rather it confronts us with our internal weaknesses and the reality of our own crises. In other words, we should not beware of the power of "foreign gods" and of Islam - but rather the terrifying weakening of our own Christian faith, culture, identity, and moral standing.". This statement is powerful because Christian schools are called to make a difference, and a positive impact on society exactly in the above mentioned areas, the Christian faith, culture, identity, and morality.

Let us pray that our Christian schools and communities could be revitalized for the enormous task ahead of them. 

While in the region, Paul Madsen and Laci Demeter also visited five Christian schools in the Netherlands who recently connected to ACSI through the partnership agreement between ACSI Europe and the Reformed Christian Schools (7 schools, 25 campuses, nearly 2300 teachers and 22.500 students) in Holland.

Our first visit was at Gomarus Christian School, where we met with the students who attended the ACSI International Student Leadership Conference (SLC) in September. It was exciting to hear from them on how they are implementing their Action Plan they developed as part of the conference. At the end of our meeting, we prayed together to be courageous as they seek to revitalize their Christian school community through prayer and loving encouragement for each other.

Our next stop was at Revius Campus of Wartburg College in Rotterdam. The Guido de Brès campus has been quite involved in ACSI activities, especially in the Student Leadership Conferences for several years.
We had the opportunity to meet with the school's leadership about how ACSI Europe's services might broaden the school's connections within the global Christian school community.
We also had a chance to share with students about our ministry focus, and the possibility of the school's involvement in SLC in September this year.

Our first time visit at the Amersfoort Campus of Van Lodenstein College allowed us to share with the school's leadership team about how the school might benefit from the services of ACSI Europe. We look forward to welcoming them to our international leadership events, their teachers to our online international collaborative projects, and their student group to our student leadership conference in the near future.