GEM History
Since its founding after the second World War, GEM has grown into a community of disciple-makers committed to seeing Europe transformed by Jesus.
Answering the call
By the end of World War II, Europe was in desperate need of hope and healing. Decades of devastation and destruction had taken its toll, and the long legacy of Christianity in Europe was slipping away. As Europe began to rebuild, a wave of GEM missionaries answered the call to carry the light of Jesus into the darkness.
Bob Evans and the founding of GEM
In 1944, Bob Evans, a 26-year-old US Navy Chaplain was sent to southern France to bring spiritual hope to men in battle. He became the first chaplain to willingly set foot in the normally off-limit combat zones. However, this role was cut short when he rode over a land mine as he was motorcycling along a beach to reach the troops.
Miraculously, Bob survived and went on to spend the next few months recovering in a French field hospital where he got to know some of the Frenchmen in the area. During his recovery, he realized the deep spiritual needs of Europe would only increase after the war.
His short time spent in France was enlightening, and God impressed upon Evans a desire and a love for Europe and its people. He returned to America and went on to have a successful evangelistic ministry alongside the likes of Torrey Johnson and Billy Graham through the newly established Youth for Christ, but he couldn’t shake his zeal for Europe.
In 1949, Evans began pouring his energy into the ongoing training of European believers, starting with the opening of a Bible school in Chotou, France, called the European Bible Institute, which was dedicated to training lay leaders in the fundamentals of the Bible. Soon opportunities opened for missionary work in many other European countries, giving rise to the establishment of Greater Europe Mission in 1952. Filled with qualified North Americans to help—not manage—the theologically inclined Europeans, these schools were the ideal place for Europeans to train for disciple-making.
In the 30 years Bob served as its director, GEM started additional Bible institutes in Germany, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Austria, adding graduate-level seminaries in Germany.
GEM's first Annual Conference in 1954
Expanding into a community of disciple-makers
After establishing fruitful European Bible Institutes, GEM missionaries began recognizing deeper spiritual needs across Europe and embraced different expressions of Christian ministry and outreach throughout the continent. Greater Europe Mission broadened the scope of ministry from education to include evangelism, creative outreach including sports, camps, music, the arts, business as mission, church planting, and discipleship multiplication.
Accentuating GEM’s defining shift towards becoming a truly international mission, Jon Burns became the first European to lead the organization as GEM President and CEO in 2014.
Then, in 2022, GEM closed its US office and relocated the International Headquarters to Frankfurt, Germany. Furthering the belief that they must continue to engage European Christians in missions.
Today’s Greater Europe Mission holds to its historical vision: to see Europe transformed by the love of Jesus. As geopolitical and economic shifts change the landscape of Europe, GEM presses forward with missionaries from North America, Europe, and other parts of the world to see more Gospel workers in more fields across Europe, sharing the love of Jesus and making more disciples.
Worth the Risk
What Would You Put on the Line to Share God's Love in Europe?
Two missionaries, separated by six decades and two very different wars. One common goal...which could very well cost them everything. Worth the Risk explores two extraordinary lives that God has used to impact France: Bob Evans, soldier, WWII chaplain, missionary, and founder of Greater Europe Mission, and Jazz Jones Becker, a modern-day missionary facing the challenges and trials of ministry in post-modern Europe, including terrorism and religious strife. What was true about the spiritual climate of Europe 75 years ago? What is true today? And what is always true? Get your copy today!