Mission Possible is founded by the Danish European Mission. Since its foundation in 1964, the work of the Danish European Mission has been focused on countries where Christians are persecuted and the Gospel is only spread to a limited extent.
Pictured: From left, employee Wolfgang Kleischmann, founder and working chairman Hans Kristian Neerskov, accountant Poul Knudsen, secretary Solveig Kühn, secretary general Alfred Kronborg Hansen and Hella Hansen, secretary with special responsibility for books and treaties.
The Danish European Mission was founded by Hans Kristian Neerskov (May 12, 1932 - March 31, 2017). He first trained as a merchant before studying theology and becoming a priest. A few years before the founding of the mission in 1964, while reading the Gospel of Matthew chapter 28, Hans Kristian received a personal call from God to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations". This biblical call to mission is the foundation of the work of the Danish European Mission.
Read more about Hans Kristian Neerskov who founded Danish European Mission
Bible smuggling and translation
During the Cold War, the Danish European Mission first and foremost realized its calling in countries that were closed to mission and where Christians were persecuted. The Danish European Mission organized Bible smuggling to the Eastern Bloc, where it was difficult for Christians to get a Bible.
Read more about Bible smuggling: Bente smuggled around 45,000 Bibles into Eastern Europe
Read more about Bible smuggling: God told Romanian pastor that Bibles were on their way
Read more about Bible smuggling: Michael smuggled around 800 Bible parts into the Eastern Bloc
Several Danes were involved in this Bible smuggling work, traveling in small groups and smuggling Bibles into Eastern Europe and Russia in secret compartments in cars, in their jackets and suitcases. In addition, a more systematic effort took place based on the secret base in southern West Germany, which the Danish European Mission supported when Alfred Jensen was Secretary General.
In addition, parts of the Bible were translated into many minority languages in the former Soviet Union in collaboration with the Institute for Bible Translation in Stockholm (IfB). The visionary behind IfB was the Christian Bosnian, poet and linguist, Borislav Arapovic, whom the Danish European Mission chose to support by financially backing the founding of IfB in 1973 in collaboration with Ljus i Öster in Sweden and Misjon bak Jernteppet in Norway.
During the Cold War, in cooperation with IfB, Danish European Mission donors supported the translation and publication of the Bible in the following minority languages of the former Soviet Union: Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen (New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs) and Uzbek. After the end of the Cold War, the Danish European Mission supported the translation of the Bible into Karakalpak and Turkmen (The Whole Bible).
Persecution information in the face of political headwinds
In often fierce political headwinds, the Danish European Mission provided information about how Christians and other dissidents in the communist Eastern Bloc were subjected to systematic discrimination and punished with imprisonment and labor camps in Siberia. Under the auspices of the Sakharov Committee, which the Danish European Mission was involved in and which was founded at the request of the Soviet dissident, nuclear physicist and Nobel Prize winner, hearings were organized at Christiansborg. The employees of the Danish European Mission also met with politicians and Neerskov often contributed to the public debate.
During the Cold War, a large part of public opinion in Denmark was left-wing, and the social model that the Soviet Union tried to develop was seen by some as exemplary. However, the revelations of the actual conditions in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 largely confirmed the Danish European Commission's analysis of conditions in the East.
From the communist to the Muslim world
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Danish European Mission decided to focus on the Muslim world, where Christians are subjected to violent persecution in many places and the Gospel is only spread to a limited extent. The persecution was best demonstrated by the Islamic State's brutal expulsion of Christians and other non-Sunnis from large parts of Iraq and Syria.
Today, the Danish European Mission's donors mainly support projects in the Muslim world. In addition to continued Bible smuggling and translation, the work is largely characterized by the mission equipping local Christians to make a positive difference and demonstrate the Gospel in a practical way in their communities, which are often characterized by poverty, war, terror and oppression of women. In the relief and development projects, it is not only Christians who are helped, but also other people in need.
Danish European Mission continues in the calling that launched the mission in 1964, and continues to help persecuted Christians and give them tools to demonstrate and spread the gospel so that all people have the opportunity to hear the gospel of salvation and eternal life in Jesus Christ.