Those serving at International Media Ministries remember the day well. On Feb. 7, 2002, Belgian Police detained four volunteers from IMM and across the street at the International Christian Academy in Sint-Genesius-Rode. They deported them from Belgium on accusations that they were working illegally on tourist visas. Everyone was in shock.
Brussels Ministry Center
Earlier in the day, Belgian officials arrived without warning at the IMM office, demanded passports and other documents, and asked that those in question not leave the premises. Shortly thereafter, four young women were escorted to a Brussels Detention Center at the orders of the Belgian Ministry of Interior, each interrogated, and locked for 15 hours in a cell without any personal effects, nor being allowed to contact friends, family members, or the American Embassy.
Bonnie Cooper, Julia Ryser, Trista Logering, and Kristi Hoggard were held in jail overnight and placed on a flight to New York the next day, after having only a Belgian waffle for food during their incarceration. A fifth woman, Carol Jezek, was not taken into custody because she was able to produce a return flight ticket but was told she had five days to leave the country.
Principal Anita van Gorp said children at the International Christian Academy (ICA) were traumatized as seven armed policemen and three plainclothes officers went from classroom to classroom and took away their teachers. “My children were frightened, there were ten men with guns,” she said. The English-language school had been working in Belgium since 1978 and had never previously had any problems with the authorities. Nearly all of the IMM missionaries’ children attended ICA.
“There was no indication we were out of step before they swooped in,” John Merrell, IMM Director at the time, exclaimed. “So, these four women were guilty of working without pay, volunteering, without permission from the government.” John was stunned that in modern European society, charitable deeds seemed to be against the law. “What is wrong with a nation,” he asked, “where someone gives without taking, and the reward is being treated like a criminal?”
Since that dark day, there has been much speculation as to why this event transpired. Two specific areas seem to shed light on the situation. The terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City had occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, just five months previous, and the topic of passports, work visas and tourist visas became a very delicate issue afterwards for Western powers. Authorities from many nations cracked down and scrutinized foreigners who were traveling freely in their respective nations.
A Wall Street Journal article penned in 2002 titled “Europe’s Terrorist Incubator” accused the Belgian Government of bureaucratic lethargy and even complacency in allowing Islamic religious extremist terrorist cells to operate out of their nation. A senior Belgian official was quoted in the article, commenting that “We are not really concerned, you know. Osama Bin Laden’s war is against America, not against us.”
The abrasive discourse and accusations encompassed more than Ministry Center in Sint-Genesius-Rode. An article in The Bulletin magazine published in the spring of 2002, stated that “The European Commission is taking legal action against Belgium over its practice of expelling EU citizens whose papers are not in order.” The Commission insisted that the practices are illegal and contrary to existing laws.
An official with the American Embassy, Oscar Hilderson, reviewing the events of Feb. 7, explained that IMM was not targeted per se, as told to him by the Belgian Ministry of Labor. “The problem was rather more complicated and concerned all organizations that call upon the services of volunteers.” He said. “It has been discovered that volunteer work is only vaguely described for the purpose of applying labor, social, and immigration laws… and some groups actually exploit these volunteers in a sort of ‘modern slavery.’”
The second area of scrutiny was suspicion. After the events of Sept. 11, 2001, there was awakened scrutiny of all “religious extremist” sects not officially recognized nor approved by the respective nations of the European Union. In March of 2002, EU member nation France passed a controversial anti-cult law that resulted in draconian measures being taken against Baptists, Evangelicals, Protestants, and even Mormon churches across the country. According to CBN News Reporter George Thomas, French security authorities regularly monitored religious services for “mental manipulation,” mingling amongst the congregations, listening, and taking notes. More recently, Christian Churches in Denmark are pushing back against a new draft law that would require all sermons in foreign languages to be translated into the country’s native language and submitted to the government for approval.
The persecution had been going on years before in Belgium. Christian Center, an Assemblies of God International Church and location of ICA, found themselves under fire from the Belgian Ministry of Justice in 1989, seeking “legal and fiscal prosecution of American missionaries,” and the confiscation of all properties associated with this “cult,” according to a letter delivered on behalf of the Belgian Attorney General. The pastor of Christian Center at the time, Lowell Harrup, was named in the document as the “guru” who fled Belgium to the United States on various occasions. The letter went on to state that, “In view of the moral, social and criminal danger represented by this cult, we request that this cult be radically stopped to not bring harm to the population.” The resolution? The case was dismissed due to not being factual. The Assemblies of God was, in fact, a legally recognized Protestant Organization within Belgium’s borders.
Fast forward to Feb. 7, 2002. The Belgian “Co-Director of the Commission who studied religious sects,” who published a 700-page paper on the topic, is now the Belgian Minister of the Interior. That Thursday afternoon, upon directions from the Belgian Interior of Affairs, the Rhode St. Genes police commissioner authorized a search under the pretext of looking for “Belgian children who may be attending the school” at ICA. Before the day was over, everyone was asked to present paperwork, missionaries were questioned, four young women were transported downtown, and the future existence of IMM and ICA was in question.
“The officer asked me to sign some papers,” Bonnie explained. The American Embassy, who became immediately involved in the incident, began offering counsel. “I asked the officer if he could tell me what the papers said. He read me as much of the document as he could in English.” It said that the Ministry of the Interior was charging them with working illegally in Belgium, and by signing the papers, the volunteers were not admitting guilt but were merely agreeing that they understood the reasons for their deportation. “The officer then took inventory of the items I had on my person,” Bonnie explained. “He let me keep my inhaler, but took my purse, sealed it in a bag, and put my name on the outside.”
Each woman was questioned. “It seemed that they couldn’t understand the volunteer concept,” Kristi said. “They thought I must be drawing some pay for teaching.” The questioning intensified before government officials announced that the Americans must be deported for failure to have the proper paperwork. The four stayed together in a holding cell, behind bars and a locked door for a total of fifteen hours. The cell contained one eight-foot-long bench attached to the wall. The floor was littered with food wrappers and empty juice boxes.
“We were really shocked, we couldn’t believe what was happening,” John’s niece Julia, a detainee, recalled. “I was never in any physical danger, but my parents didn’t know that. My hands were shaking, but in my heart, I was extremely calm. People kept looking through the door of the cell to see us,” she said. “I guess no one could believe there were four American girls in this jail.”
According to Bonnie, after asking for blankets to keep warm, they were given four mattresses and four blankets from other cells. “Three of the four blankets smelled of urine and body odor, so we elected not to use them,” she said. “We tried to sleep. However, throughout the night, there were officers coming in and out of the room, talking to each other, and to the other people inside the other cells.”
A decision was made by the missionaries not to appeal the deportation of the volunteers, as this may have resulted in them spending even more time in the Belgian detention center. The next morning, they were allowed to freshen up, were warned not to “make a scene,” and escorted to the departure gate for an outbound flight to New York. They were then given their passports after boarding the plane. Terry Hoggard, the current pastor of the International Church at that time, and his wife Ruthanne, accompanied all four women (including their daughter, Kristi) to the US to ensure that they arrived safely.
With the safety of the volunteers assured, Assemblies of God missionaries and leadership began to focus on the long-range ramifications for the future of the missionary efforts in Belgium, and perhaps missionary efforts based in other EU nations. One thing was clear, IMM was now at the center of this conflict.
Greg Mundis, Area Director for Europe at that time, stated “This is a spiritual battle, and it will be won only in the spirit. The ripples will be far beyond Belgium, throughout the European Union.” A call was put out to all Assemblies of God churches in the US to pray. All missionaries in Europe were called to fasting and prayer.
Ministry heads held meetings with American Embassy officials, Belgian Advocates, and with one another, always keeping this scripture in front of them:
3 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 [a]We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. – 2 Corinthians 10: 3-5
A valiant effort was put forth to navigate this new reality. Concerns were made about affecting the missionary standing of other organizations in pursuing redress with the Belgian Ministry of Labor. The American Embassy was concerned that relations between the two countries not be damaged. There was a missiological desire to fulfill the Great Commission, but at the same time to honor the laws of the host nations, to honor God, Christ, the Church, and to walk with integrity.
IMM was told by the Belgian authorities to stop operations. “Preaching” was the only missions work to be allowed. For the missionaries of IMM, working in the framework of “normal” in Belgium was over. However, despite the government stoppage, the media missions effort moved forward. “During 2002, IMM programs - broadcast by partners around the world - reached more people with the Gospel than ever before,” said John Merrell, IMM director during that tumultuous time.
Urgent broadcast deadlines for Bangladesh were met using media equipment in private homes, which began airing to an actual viewing audience of 50 million that year. IMM training continued in Denmark, Russia, and Amman, Jordan, where a new media ministry center was launched. Previous projects such as The People Who Met Jesus were licensed for translation into 11 languages to be used in the Philippines, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Iceland. The children’s program Winds of Adventure was given the rights to overdub and broadcast in the countries and languages of Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, India, and Pakistan. IMM’s broadcast partners continued to broadcast into North Africa.
“In review,” John explained in his 2002 summary, “It is obvious that the vast majority of ministry taking place at IMM in 2001 reached into the Muslim world. The same in 2002. I am convinced the recent events, which closed the IMM facility, are a direct result – in a spiritual sense – of this most effective ministry. There is now a clear understanding that the political crisis was used by God to redirect IMM.”
This was confirmed in July of 2002 when the AGWM Executive Committee approved IMM’s relocation from Brussels, Belgium to Madrid, Spain, where media missions efforts continue to reach into the closed nations and the searching populations, providing answers that point to Jesus Christ.