Children and Youth Ministry Worker

Athens is a city that juxtaposes bustling, vibrant life with great need, both when it comes to local Greeks and migrant peoples. The Greek community is full of people such as students, low income families, the unhoused, and the mentally ill who may not have the opportunity to express themselves and process difficult experiences. Greece’s difficult economic situation has resulted in uncertainty and instability in people’s financial situations, and many Greek people experience a lot of hopelessness and uncertainty both in the present and about the future. At the same time, Athens is at a crossroads between Asia and Europe, and Greece is a stepping stone for many from the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa hoping to find asylum in western Europe. The refugee community in Athens has experienced being oppressed and uprooted by conflict, while often facing an uncertain future.

Although the country is devoutly Orthodox in theory, many young people find themselves distrustful of and at odds with the Orthodox church, and the percentage of young Orthodox people who actively engage with their faith is small and dwindling still. At the same time, there exists a vibrant evangelical community—but it, too, faces its challenges, given its extremely small presence in the country and its close-ranks mentality due to opposition from the Orthodox church.

Regardless of religious background, most youth in Greece struggle with a deep hopelessness due to distrust of the church and government’s ability to create a safe community for them to flourish and thrive. While we work to address and support this need practically, much of the hopelessness also has roots in spiritual oppression and there is a need for people who carry the hope of Jesus that goes deeper than seemingly hopeless circumstances.

On our team, we are searching for people who first and foremost love children in the way that Jesus loved them—as the first inheritors of the Kingdom of God, as the those to whom we look as examples (Matthew 19:14)—and who are deeply convinced to carry on Jesus’ teachings about loving the poor and marginalized. We hope that a goer in this position would be able to creatively work alongside local partners and churches to build resiliency in a child’s spirit to help prepare them to face the culture of hopelessness in which they are growing up, to build relationships between local community and Christian organizations serving children, and help strategize for continuing sustainability in serving children in the city.