Sarah Crowther spent part of her summer vacation from college exploring Porto, the second-largest city in Portugal, which has been described as “a vibrant European city [where] tradition fuels creativity.” She visited the UNESCO World Heritage destination, not as a tourist, but as short-term missionary. From August 2-12 she sought and found a measure of “spiritual renewal.”

“In Portugal, I was moved by the vibrant church life. The warmth and devotion of the Portuguese believers deepened my appreciation for my own church, highlighting the universal bond we share in Christ,” said the youth ministry leader at Word of God Christian Fellowship, which nine Filipino-American families started in 2017 in the MetroWest Boston City of Framingham.

“I was struck by the importance of relationships in their culture, especially in a place where the evangelical church faces challenges. The emphasis on building genuine connections is crucial for sowing seeds of faith,” commented the Worcester Polytechnic Institute undergraduate, who is working toward an Environmental and Sustainability Studies degree.

As a second-year Mission Force participant and currently a leader-in-training, Crowther committed her life to Jesus Christ as a middle-school student not long after attending a BCNE YEC (Youth Encountering Christ) weekend. She supported the 2024 leaders and served the other participants in practical ways, “helping with the mundane tasks. It was through these small acts of service that I found my way of leading.” Servant leadership is a Mission Force key priority.

“This trip wasn’t about physical rest, but spiritual renewal. It allowed me to reflect on God’s incredible work—far beyond anything I could accomplish alone,” she stated. “I return[ed] home grateful and in awe of God’s ongoing work in my life and all the lives working within Mission Force.”

The Baptist Churches of New England Mission Force student-led team, in addition to Sarah Crowther, are Charlotte Mullane of Hope Chapel, Sterling, MA; and Josh Rowley, Jackie Souza, and Julie Souza of Celebration Church, Middleton, MA. Offering guidance are Joe Souza, the BCNE’s Boston Area Regional Coordinator and the immigrant ministries leader; and Edson Messor, the BCNE’s Latino Training Coordinator, and his wife, Marcilene Messor.

Since its start in late 2021 as a pilot program, Mission Force has been enrolling BCNE church members in good standing who are between 18 and 30 years old. Participants must be leading in ministry and “seeking ways to be equipped and empowered” spiritually and practically. They also must be at least a year removed from high school and be “maintain[ing] a close walk with the Lord.” They are expected “to go deeper in their faith and calling” and need a referral by a pastor, a Mission Force leader, or a former participant.

Mission Force has a lofty goal: to be “transforming the mission fields of the world into a mission force by empowering and equipping young adult ministry leaders to be fully used by God.” That commitment draws on Paul’s biblical command to Timothy: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity” (1 Tim 4:12, NIV).

Joe Souza, a Brazilian who also is the founder and senior pastor of the Celebration Church network, has been teaching a team of mission-minded young leaders to “chart a spiritual pathway” that will guide their lives for decades to come. The participants met with Souza once a month from March to July.

The young leaders have been reading and applying the principles found in Charting a Bold Course: Training Leaders for 21st Century Ministry (Moody Publishers, 2003). The book explains that “leadership development is a life-long process. Yet the church of Jesus Christ is in desperate need of strong leaders in this generation.”

Beginning by laying out a “Biblical Philosophy of Leadership,” the book by Andrew B. Seidel, Executive Director Emeritus of the Hendricks Center, Dallas Theological Seminary, offers a curriculum that tackles issues of pilgrimage, identity, integrity, intimacy, character, and relationships, as well as the biblical vision and practical skills needed to implement those issues in real life.

The Mission Force experience culminates each summer in a ten-day trip to Europe, the first of which was in 2022. Not everybody who takes the course goes on the trip. This year seventeen New Englanders—ten seminar participants, four leaders, and three leaders-in-training—invested themselves for five days in Porto and five days in London.

Each participant had to raise between $1,500 and $2,000 for the overseas tour. Since its start, twenty-six young adults have participated in Mission Force sessions, eighteen of whom have traveled overseas. They represented nine BCNE churches and two churches in Brazil.

When the New Englanders visited their European partners, they learned, Souza said, some of the same methods they are finding effective in advancing the gospel in what many consider post-Christian New England. In that regard, Souza added, “We think that Europe is probably a couple of steps ahead of what’s going on here in New England.”

Portuguese and British church leaders are encountering similar contexts and challenges “to the immigrant reality found here” in Metro Boston, he observed. In Portugal they visited small towns with older and traditionally Roman Catholic populations and urban settings with a preponderance of university students. Whether old or young, many Portuguese—and New Englanders—are resistant to the biblical message.

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When visiting London on the second part of the Mission Force tour, Julie Souza, daughter of Joe and Patricia Souza, said the New Englanders witnessed something they had never seen before. Outside the London Bridge Underground (subway) Station, they stopped short when they heard worship music. ‘To our surprise, people kept stopping to listen, to watch, to worship. I looked behind me at one point and there must have been forty or fifty people there, worshipping at a train station in the heart of London.”

“What in the world is happening right now? In that moment,” said Souza, a second-grade teacher at Frank M. Sokolowski Elementary School, Chelsea, MA. “It became so evident that God is moving and already has a plan for those people to be saved. He just needs people who will step out of their comfort zones and be obedient.”

As a result of the Mission Force experience, she concluded, “our team was truly impacted and encouraged to continue the work we were called to do here in New England. We look forward to seeing God opening doors in Portugal as we begin our partnership there, and the progression of an already existing partnership in London.”

“Mission Force has been a space for me to grow, learn, be poured into, and to challenge my thinking and actions as a ministry leader in how I am responding to the Great Commission and helping lead others to do the same,” said Charlotte Mullane, Partnership Coordinator and Administrative Assistant at Hope Chapel, Sterling, MA.

“Visiting London is always a refreshing, inspiring, hopeful, and insightful time as we hear about the way God is working there and as we learn from our gospel ‘coworkers’ there some unique ways of doing effective ministry,” she added. “Programs like Mission Force give me hope and excitement as I anticipate how God will continue to work through this generation towards the future of his Church and his kingdom.”

A Massachusetts native and a New England Baptist since 1970, Dan Nicholas is the BCNE managing editor

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