A Bit About Pastor Jim Griggers

My wife and I along with our three children (Christopher, Joy and Daniel) first came to Europe on Mother's Day 1980.  At that time we were commissioned by our home church to start a church in the tiny Principality of Liechtenstein.  Over the years that was possible, and we were also privileged to start a church among the US Military in Wildflecken, Germany as well as a German language church in Bad Brückenau, Germany.  During those years we were privileged to help two other churches get back up on their feet.  One of these was almost defunct in the city of Heilbronn Germany.  This church had a mixed congregtion (German and English).  The other work was in Ulm Germany, where the very capable missionary John Beach was starting a church.  We were also privileged to do work during those years in the city of Bad Ischl, Austria and in Schweinfurt Germany.  A quick glance at a map will show you how difficult this was, but the Lord gave us an added amount of strength, and many souls were saved and added to the local churches.

 

After finishing the work in Liechtenstein, we packed our things and returned to the United States, where my home church promptly gave us a commission to start a church in Up-State New York.  After much prayer, we started working in the town of Gloversville, NY.  Over a period of just over three years the Bible Baptist Church of Gloversville was started and turned over to a pastor.  This church was signally blessed in being able to support a great number of missionaries as well as taking care of their pastor. (I might add, that the church in Liechtenstein was also very blessed in their missions program, and gave almost as much to their missions program as they did to their general fund).

 

May 16th 1996 we were asked to take over the work in the city of Bludenz, Austria.  This work had been struggling for many years and were not able to meet their expenses.  They did own a small basement facility, which was no where near full during the Sunday Services.  We actually came back to Austria in September 1996 and took up the task of making this local congregation become self-supporting.  Since that time, we have sold the basement facilities and have purchased a much larger building not far from the Bludenz City Centre. Within a year after arriving, we were able to ordain two Austrians to help in the work as deacons.  Shortly thereafter, we set up the Bibelinstitut Bludenz (Bible Institute), and began the work of educating leadership for the church.  At this point, we have had several men and women graduate with a three year diploma.  Another four or five have earned their Bachelor of Theologly Degree, and two of our men have earned the Master of Religious Education Degrees.  If you wish to view some of these, there are several photographs which can been seen on our homepage. www.volksmission.org or www.bibelinstitut.org

 

The newly purchased building in Bludenz has now become too small, and we had to cut a hole in the floor of the fellowship hall (concrete almost a meter thick), so that we could gain proper access to some basement storage rooms.  This allowed us to renovate three rooms and these have now been added to the Sunday School space. The church is now supporting ten missionaries (approx 220 Euros each per month). The average attendance to Sunday Services is now somewhere between 150 and 170, with most of these being adults.  The Sunday School has approximately 50 children up to the age of twelve. At this point the church is completely self-supporting with the exception of the pastor.  The pastor's salary is being placed into escrow and this is almost to the point that they can fully pay the salary of their own pastor with all the state required insurances and benefits.

 

Oh yes, as you probably know, in the meantime our three children are grown and living in the United States. Christopher is married and has given us one grandchild. They live in Kentucky. Daniel (the youngest) is still single and is living in Indianapolis, IN.  Joy and her husband are living in Manhattan, NY and serving in a church there.