by Naphtali, Media Team Leader for Borderless | a ministry of Africa Inland Mission
My trip to Belgium began with a delayed flight. Kevin and I met up at a conference in Spain and were traveling together. After hours spent waiting in Barcelona, we landed in Brussels, hurrying to catch a train, then slowing to a wait at midnight, grabbing some Middle Eastern food before catching a bus.
We arrived at two in the morning, carrying our tired bodies and luggage on a 15-minute walk to Kevin’s house.
“We have a small castle,” Kevin told me as we walked. Kevin, his wife Els, and their five children live in a small Belgian city, home to a small castle and a 700-year-old church.
Often, when we think of the mission field, we imagine living in a remote village or a dusty, bustling city. As we walked the cobblestone streets of this small Belgian city, it was neither dusty nor bustling. All was quiet. Flowers climbed on trellises. Doors came in turquoise, red, and yellow. Bikes stood propped on doorsteps.
What we couldn’t see during our late-night trek was the global village living behind those brightly colored doors. During the day, you can get a haircut from a Moroccan barber, chat with Ethiopian neighbors a few doors down, and meet Middle Eastern men passing time together in the city square.
To connect with this global village, Kevin and Els live a life of intentional hospitality. “We wanted to move to a multi-cultural area,” they told me. Two of their five children are adopted and both have African heritage. Their table is a welcome place for friends to come and eat. Their hospitality extends outside the four walls of their home and into their community and beyond. Els works alongside volunteers who host events for refugee women, offering food, crafts, and games. She’s starting a school. Kevin spends time mobilizing for missions. He and Els disciple an Iranian couple and an Ethiopian couple. At Easter, they hand out Easter eggs to unreached neighbors, using this as a tool to share the gospel.
“We just repeat, repeat, repeat,” Els said.
Part of this repeating as a family of seven also looks like biking to school, sorting socks, trips to the supermarket, meals shared at the table, and whispered conversations as the littlest one naps. Their lives are lived moment by moment and day by day.
Spending a week with them reminds me how important it is to stay present to what is going on around me among the global village near where I live. Say hello to the immigrant I pass in the grocery store, invite someone from a different culture over for tea, invest in a refugee friend by hiring them for a sewing project. Time and again in my own life, just like Kevin and Els’, I’ve seen how my small, repeated choices can lead to precious friendships and opportunities to share the Gospel with people from the global village that has come to my doorstep.
Share your life. Share Jesus.
About the Author
Meet Naphtali. She serves as the Media Team Leader for Borderless, AIM's dedicated ministry to African immigrants and refugees. Part of her position within Borderless includes managing their social media, creating videos, finding stories, and photographing ministry. She enjoys engaging in outreach to the immigrant community around her, making friends and sharing the Gospel with people who may not hear otherwise.
Photo // While Belgium might not be all about the waffles, they ARE pretty good. Fun fact | Kevin is a photographer and took this photo.