By Matt Norman, CBF field personnel

The core of the ministry in which we are engaged in Barcelona and in the European region in partnership with the International Baptist Theological Study Center (IBTS) is relational. We seek to create and assist in the development of “safe” spaces. These are spaces where the fullness of the gospel message can be expressed; where people can come to recognize both themselves and others as valued creations of God and live out this understanding in practical ways in their lives.  

 “What does this look like?” you ask. It looks like a meeting with pastors and educators from Africa, now living in Europe, seeking to partner to develop Christian ministers despite the difficulties of funding, administrative red tape, religious persecution and prejudice. It looks like hours of conversations with pastors as they describe their places of ministry and the challenges that they face. It looks like gatherings intentionally designed so that people can feel welcome and safe to ask their questions about God and be encouraged to develop the faith that they sometimes didn’t even know that they had. It looks like calling the ambulance for someone that doesn’t speak the language well enough to be understood over the phone and then racing to their apartment so that you can go to the hospital with them. It looks like preparing food for those who have none; praying for those who don’t know how to pray; crying alongside those who are in pain.  

Creating safe spaces looks a lot like listening to people and being vulnerable. It means receiving from those who have very little because learning to receive is an act of hospitality, a humanizing act. Sometimes it means vocalizing that you don’t have all the answers because God is bigger than our understanding. Occasionally it means hearing from someone that you haven’t heard from in several months that they appreciate the space that you made for them and that they are now following Jesus.  
 
This brief list describes what the ministry of developing “safe spaces” looks like. But the one core ingredient for doing this work is the willingness to open yourself to another. I believe this type of vulnerability is a Christlike act and this is risky but at the same time transformative; and isn’t that what safe spaces are about?