HOW EWF BEGAN - TWENTY EIGHT YEARS AGO!

 By Gwyneth Boxall , August 2004

We are so grateful for the prayer and financial support that so many of you have been giving over these many years.  Some of you have been supporting us all that time.  However, it occurred to me that there maybe people who have only recently begun to support us and are unaware of how the Lord led two very ordinary men to launch out in faith.

My late husband, Dennis Boxall, and his friend and colleague, Bill Macmillan, started the mission in 1981.  Both had previously been involved in other missions reaching out to those suffering for their faith behind the iron and bamboo curtains. 

For younger folk and recent supporters it may be helpful to sketch briefly what it was really like to be a Christian believer in communist countries at that time.  Conditions varied from country to country, year to year and from time to time with the authorities often playing a cat and mouse game with the Christians.  However, generally, it was illegal for Christians in the west to take bibles and other literature to their brothers and sisters.  Consequently God's word was often in very short supply.  There were well attested stories of a whole congregation sharing one copy of the bible, of people laboriously copying the new testament by hand and that of a pastor who had preached from one page for many years.  On receiving a whole bible the latter said, I always wanted to know what was on the next page."  It was not uncommon for believers, men especially, to be imprisoned for their faith, leaving their families dependent on the generosity of other Christians who had themselves very little of the basic necessities of life.  Their children were victimised at school, often suffering bullying and discrimination from the authorities and precluded from any chance of higher education unless they denied their faith.

For various reasons, in 1978, Bill and Dennis severed their connection with the mission with which they had been associated.  However while being engaged in secular work combined with preaching and teaching, their hearts were always in Eastern Europe.  So it happened that in 1981 after much prayer and planning they really took a leap of faith, and, just the two of them, started "East-West Fellowship."  It was a blessing for them to be able to count on the support of Christian leaders such as Tony Stone and others.  Bill was magnificent at travelling around his native Scotland enlisting support from various churches and individuals, many of whom we are still privileged to count as friends and colleagues today.  Dennis took on the "business" side of affairs as well as travelling in England telling people about the work.  Both men made frequent trips to iron curtain countries in a succession of quite old minibuses!  As well as bibles they took Christian literature, clothes, medicines, musical instruments for budding groups and brass bands and toys and sweets for the children.  They also took sleeping bags in case they had to sleep in the bus although this would have been an impossibility on the way out!  The bus was literally loaded to the roof and many times I have heard a clank as the rear touched the concrete of our sloping drive as they drove away!

Originally Dennis and Bill ministered in most countries of Eastern Europe and in those early years the trips were sometimes fraught with danger.  With the fall of communism in the nineties it became easier to travel in these countries.  However there was, and still is today, in outlying parts, a shortage of the basic necessities of life.  There is much corruption in official circles in some countries, especially those in the former U.S.S.R.  Nevertheless as conditions and supplies in the shops became easier, Dennis and Bill found that it was simpler to travel by car and take money rather than goods.  As well as being used for the relief of suffering, many, many people were flocking to the churches and finding the Lord, necessitating the building of more places of worship.

You may wonder why our work nowadays seems to be concentrated in Ukraine.  We know there is still a great deal of support needed in many countries.  Yet as they were a small mission Bill and Dennis prayed very much about where to concentrate their work and the Lord led them to Ukraine in an unmistakeable way.  During the very restrictive times Hungary had always been slightly less hard line in the treatment of their own and visiting Christians.  Bill and Dennis made contact with a wonderful couple in Miskolc in eastern Hungary, close to the Ukrainian border.  Laslo and Mary Bosz worked tirelessly and fearlessly for the Lord, however hard it was. As well as distributing bibles and materiel help to their own folk they also made frequent trips over the border into Ukraine.  It was much easier for citizens of one communist bloc country to travel to other iron curtain countries than it was for people from the west.  So Dennis and Bill left things in Miskolc for Laslo and Mary to take on to their contacts in Ukraine.  With the fall of communism the two men were able to go there themselves to meet the believers.  You will have read in previous issues of the newsletter about the development of this work.

Laslo, Bill(I997) and Dennis(2001) are all with the Lord now but the work of standing by our brothers and sisters who appreciate our help so much still goes on.  Colin and Glen rely on your prayers as much as Bill and Dennis did in those early days.

Gwyneth Boxall