“Passing the gospel back” to Europeans: understanding and practicing reverse missions
“I'm very honored to be a reverse missionary,” said Arianna Diecidue, a freshman at Triton Regional High School, Byfield, Massachusetts. She traveled on her first mission s trip October 6-16, 2024, with twenty-one other New England Baptists from two churches to Porto, Portugal.
“Before our pastor came to our church, I hadn’t known much about reverse missions, but he’s been gradually teaching us more and more. I think the concept of passing the gospel back to where we got it from is a very honorable thing. It’s very unique and it’s very important. It should definitely be discussed more in the Christian community,” she added.
Arianna Diecidue (right) and her close friend Sophia Armstrong traced designs onto cards in preparation for a Sunday afternoon painting party at Igreja Batista Local
Diecidue, who is 14, and her mother, Nese Diecidue, who also traveled to Porto, are members of New Life Community Church in Georgetown, Massachusetts. In November, their pastor, Lierte Soares Jr., was re-elected president of the Baptist Churches of New England (BCNE.net).
She has been learning about reverse missions from Soares and participating in the BCNE’s hybrid-learning option, the Multiplication Center, which Soares directs.
Reverse missions seminar planned. You’re invited!
From April 4 to September 5, 2025, Lierte Soares Jr. will teach a reverse missions seminar at the BCNE Multiplication Center and online to prepare a team for serving at and attending a September conference in Porto. Registration is free and is now open to everyone. If you’re interested in learning about reverse missions, apply to be part of the Multiplication Center:
https://www.bcne.net/multiplication-center-application
or email Lierte Soares Jr at liertesoares@icloud.com.
“It’s not reverse mission if you just stay in your own church,” he observed. “New England Baptists are going to Europe because we have a sense of gratitude that Europeans brought the gospel to us.”
Soares and the BCNE have been partnering for three years with Pastor Joao Melo in Greater Porto to plant Igreja Batista Local. The missions team practiced evangelism and prayer walking, participated in small groups and worship services, and held what Soares called “pastoral encouragement meetings” for Portuguese church leaders.
The team was inspired by their theme Bible verse for the trip, from when God commissioned Isaiah for a lifetime of service: “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am! Send me’” (Isa 6:8, ESV.)
The BCNE mission team was inspired by their theme Bible verse for the Portugal trip, from when God commissioned Isaiah for a lifetime of service: “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am! Send me’” (Isa 6:8, ESV.)
“As Christians, we really share a lot of the same values, obviously, and that shapes our character. So, I could really relate to the people that I met there, which was really amazing,” Diecidue commented.
“I hold very close to my heart the connections that I ended up making with people. Even though I had never been a part of that culture before, I was still able to really connect with people on the basis of our our shared love of Jesus and our Christianity—and that was really cool to see,” she added.
Two generations were “ready to serve” together
Nese Diecidue was born into a Muslim family in Istanbul. She moved to Massachusetts in 1989 and converted to Christianity in 2003. ”I am proud to say that I’m hoping I build a good relationship with the Lord,” she commented.
She also counts it as “a huge blessing to go back [to Europe] with my child to serve together on the same lands where I was born.” When the Diecidues decided to join the missions team, she said, they “had no expectations. We were just ready to serve whatever the Lord put in front of us in the way he wanted us to serve.”
“I just fell in love with everybody there, not just the members of the church we served, but everybody we met.”
Nese Diecidue added that she did not meet any followers of Islam in Portugal, but she did meet many “people who were brought up as Christians, but they no longer practice Christianity. They no longer want to be associated with the Christian church.”