Athens Recce July 2025

Tristan and Robert T went to Athens, Greece, between 18-21 July for a recce mission. The aim was to meet with Farsi-speaking church leaders and to seek insight into the refugee situation in Athens. We would be discerning whether or not there is an open door for Flame to send teams to minister to Farsi-speakers there in the future.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and met immediately with a senior Farsi-speaking Pastor who has had a church in Athens for more than 20 years. In the height of the refugee crisis, he had 2,000 people coming through his church every month!

We had a good meeting, hearing many of his stories, and also how the situation has changed significantly over the past few years. Refugee's still regularly come through Athens, but it is rare for them to stay for the length of time they used to and they are in far fewer numbers. However, there are a group of Farsi-speaking church leaders who have chosen to remain in Athens to pastor churches and serve the people as they come.

We met that night with our Farsi-speaking hosts, a lovely man and his wife who lead a church. We had good fellowship, which strengthened throughout the weekend. Over Friday and Saturday we had plenty of time to hear their stories, what the situation is like in Athens, and discuss our ministry and how it could potentially serve their people. On Saturday night it was also a blessing to have dinner with an American missionary family who serve in our host's church. They have vision for Farsi-speaking pastors and churches to unite together more; which we believe would be very beneficial.

On Sunday we had a good time praying with our hosts. It was a blessing to meet in their home and pray, and believe the Lord brought some breakthrough in her life. That evening we visited the church and Tristan preached on freedom from fear. There were 12 people in the church who were a mix of Farsi-speakers, western missionaries, and a Greek. However, there were 7 people watching live on zoom (3 of whom were in a prison for refugees in Athens). We believe that they in particular were really impacted by the teaching.

On Monday morning we returned to our hosts house to pray again. We ministered into a difficult situation for him, but we were grateful that he was in agreement with what we said. I believe he has renewed direction and wisdom into the situation, and we pray he will continue to seek the Lord on it. Our hosts had been very grateful for the ministry we brought them, and the teaching at their church the day before. They wished that others who normally come on Sunday would have heard the message, as "it was what they needed to hear", but at least it was recorded.

We praise God that He blessed us with good fellowship and that He began to do healing work in the people we met. I believe there is a hunger for this ministry as the host's wife has been praying for the gift of healing for many years and hopes that Flame's ministry may be able to support her discipleship in the healing ministry. We need to seek the Lord about how/if there is further ministry in Athens. There is warmness on both sides, but the Lord needs to make the way clear.