Our Story
Because Europe has so few evangelicals, opportunities for leadership training are rare. This leaves the church weak and ineffective.
We offer training, networking and encouragement that ignites passion and strengthens the church.
We remember the surprise of learning how few evangelical Christians and churches there are in Europe. This means that opportunities for leadership development are rare. The resulting lack of competent and confident leaders weakens the church, decreasing its effectiveness.
Many of these leaders serve in small churches throughout Europe and do their best to lead with little training … all while working full-time jobs.
They are worship leaders, vocalists, techies, and creatives. And we understand them.
Many are insecure, alone, and without community … but their hearts burn to be encouraged, trained, and networked.
Our training ministry began as a one-off seminar in Brussels to encourage the few leaders we felt we could touch. We expected a few, but more than 125 showed up!
That was the beginning of a growing call on our lives to serve God’s purposes in Europe. Over two decades, it has opened doors to:
- Establish the European Worship Institute, through which we have organized more than 75 training events in nine European countries as well as Turkey, Morocco and Indonesia.
- Serve as worship pastor of a 500-member international church in Brussels, Belgium.
- Serve on the church planting team for a new international church in Paris, France.
- Tour with EXO, a popular French worship band, in Europe, Africa and the Caribbean.
Jeff and Kathy Slaughter, missionaries. to Europe.
Why Europe?
While Asia, Africa and South America have all experienced a spiritual awakening, the European church is in decline. Once a vibrant missions-sending continent, today’s Europe is a spiritual wasteland of agnosticism, atheism and a seedbed for other faiths.
In this environment, with the average church size just 40 members, leaders face daunting challenges.
Clearly, the European church needs our help.
Vision / Mission / Goals
Our Vision
Our vision is to see these leaders:
- Grow in their faith and skills so that they feel confident and qualified.
- Build community so that they feel connected to others.
- Encouraged so that they are inspired to serve long-term.
Our Mission
Our mission is to train, network and encourage worship and digital media ministry leaders through training events such as workshops, seminars, conferences, camps and masterminds.
Our Goals
Our goals for the next five years are to:
- Organize training events reaching 300-500 leaders a year.
- Develop training opportunities for leaders involved in digital media ministry.
- Lead online masterminds for at least 30 leaders annually.
- Recruit and train national organizers in at least five European countries who have a heart to carry on the work of the European Worship Institute in their countries.
We believe that accomplishing these goals will make a significant impact as well as provide a model for training, connection and encouragement for these leaders.
We’re excited about these goals but we know there will be challenges. And we know we can’t accomplish them alone.
Will You Join Us?
Would you prayerfully consider supporting our ministry with a monthly pledge or a one-time contribution?
We’re trusting God for the following amounts:
- $15,000 in one-time contributions for our 2022 ministry budget for travel and live events.
- $1,000 per month in new regular support pledges for our personal budget.
For more information about making a contribution or joining our monthly support team, please see below.
Your financial partnership sows into the lives and ministries of leaders and churches across Europe and even into neighboring countries such as Turkey and Morocco.
Your contributions are tax-deductible through our 501c3, Cornerstone International.
Stay Connected
However God leads, we would love to stay connected to you. The easiest way to do that is to register for our email newsletter which features stories and photos of what God is doing through Elevate Europe and how you can be involved by praying, giving and even going!
