"Make the church aware of the need

-- make the world aware of the message"

Craig & Dana Mathison

Missionaries to Eastern Europe

Directors for the Assemblies of God Missions

Craig & Dana Mathison are veteran missionaries from the Northwest District serving as Area Directors for Assemblies of God Foreign Missions in Eastern Europe.  They coordinate and oversee Assemblies of God missionary activity in Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia-Montenegro, including Kosova. 

Few regions in the world have experienced as much tumultuous change as have the former Communist countries of Eastern Europe.  The sudden downfall of Marxist totalitarianism has brought turbulent political, social and economic transformation to countries and societies ill prepared for the shifts forced upon them.  Age-old ethnic enmities have resurfaced with a vengeance and violence that has shocked the world and drawn the Western powers into military conflicts in the region.  Hundreds of thousands of women and children are being trafficked out of Eastern Europe every year and held as virtual slaves.

But in the midst of the tumult, God has been working and His church is very active.  In some areas thousands have been won to Christ and hundreds of churches have been started.  Other previously restricted areas are now suddenly open to the Gospel.  Where poverty and violence have been wreaking havoc, God’s people are proving to be His hands of mercy to the destitute, the defeated, the vulnerable and the displaced.

The Assemblies of God is very present and active in Eastern Europe.  Working together with its national partners they are touching the hurting, sharing the Good News, planting new churches and training leaders for the present and future.  From compassionate outreaches to abandoned children in the streets on to solid theological education, the Assemblies of God are endeavoring to strategically make a difference so that a strong church is raised up in every nation of Eastern Europe to carry forward God’s work.

As Area Directors, Craig & Dana have been crisscrossing Eastern Europe, encouraging missionaries, meeting and listening to national leaders and working to bring together the spiritual, human and material resources that will permanently change this area.