Who we are

The Greek Evangelical Church originates spiritually from the Apostolic Church that Jesus Christ Himself founded and historically from the Reformation of the 16th century. In Greece, the first Evangelical Church was founded in 1858 in Athens, where it continues its ministry today. Since then, many other Evangelical churches were founded in various cities and towns of our country, which increased mainly with the arrival of Greek Evangelical refugees from Asia Minor.

We derive our name “Evangelical” from the Greek word “Ευαγγέλιο” for the entire Holy Bible, which makes up the sole canon of our life and faith. We worship God with the propriety and devotion that is suitable for Him and with the simplicity of the first Apostolic Church.

What we believe in

Our faith is summarized in the words of the Nicene Creed (Nice/Constantinople).

“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten,
begotten of the Father before all ages.
Light of light; true God of true God; begotten,
not made; of one essence with the Father, by Whom all things were made;
Who for us men and for our salvation came down from Heaven,
and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man.
And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried.
And the third day He arose again, according to the Scriptures,
and ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father;
and He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; Whose Kingdom shall have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father;
Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified;
Who spoke by the prophets. In one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.
I look for the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.”

In more detail:
  •  We believe that the Bible, the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 of the New Testament, is by revelation, the divinely inspired and inerrant Word of God.
  • We believe there is a God who created the world with His word and created man in His image and in His likeness. This God is a triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).
  • We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ and in His incarnation through the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. We believe in His sinless life, in His miraculous power, His death on the cross for the salvation of the sinner, His physical resurrection from the dead, His ascension, and His glorious second coming.
  • We believe in the ministry of the Holy Spirit, by whom the sinner is born again; and that the Holy Spirit, through His power and the gifts He gives, enables the sinner to live a godly Christian life, serving and performing the Holy Will of God.
  • We believe that man is by nature sinful and separated from God, and that it is impossible to enter the kingdom of God and be saved by one’s own works, but only by faith in the blessed person and redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith the sinner receives Christ, trusts Him, and rests his salvation only in Him.
  • We believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic Church, that is, the innumerable multitude of believers of all nations and of all times, who are united as one body by the Holy Spirit with Christ as their head, having fellowship with the Lord and with each other.
Our purpose

The purpose of our Church is to worship our wonderful Lord as a family, to preach and teach the Word of God, to lead the lost and sinning person to Jesus Christ who’s the only way to salvation, and to offer Christian fellowship, encouragement and edification. Therefore, the only invitation we offer is an invitation for every person to come to Jesus Christ. It is that same invitation that He made: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11: 28). This call from Jesus Christ conceals within itself all of the mercy, all of the love, all of the forgiveness and grace of God, because it is addressed to all people: to people who are sinners by nature, and He calls them neither for punishing them nor for defending themselves, but to save, forgive and offer eternal life.

This heavenly and divine call is addressed to all, and the response that God awaits to this call is not to turn to a certain philosophy or religion, but that we personally go to Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, and was resurrected for our justification. It is this great commission that the Lord gave to His disciples and to His church, telling them: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15).

Brief history
The Second Greek Evangelical Church of Athens was founded in 1924 by refugees who were forced to leave their homes after the Asia Minor Disaster in 1922. On April 6, 1924, the historic document of the founding of the Second Greek Evangelical Church records that the church was established with 46 members coming from Churches in Smyrna, Magnesia, Caesarea, Moutalaski and Zintzidere (Flaviana). At the same first historical assembly, the Church made an application to be accepted in the”Synod of the Panhellenic Association of Evangelical Churches in Thessaloniki”. In his letter to Eleftherios Venizelos on July 29, 1928, Rev. Moschou stated that the Church “was organized according to the Presbyterian system and was a member of the Panhellenic Association of Evangelical Churches in June 1924 … also that it was recognized as a religious association in February 1927”. With the passing of time, other members were added to the Church in addition to the first founding members.
More

The refugees, having secured a living, looked to secure their own building for prayer and worship. Initially, they had gatherings in the Evangelical Church of Athens (Leoforos Amalias 50) and the Armenian Evangelical Church (Dourgouti area, in Neos Kosmos). The space of the Armenian Church, as Moschou writes in a letter to the president of the Greek Republic on 23 October 1924 was a unfinished former carpet factory without a floor and a roof. They asked, however, permission to worship temporarily in the chapel of Old Palace. Unfortunately, the permit did not last long, so they returned to Dourgouti. After much effort and with the help of many other brothers and sisters, they succeeded, in 1929, in finalizing the construction of the building that hosts the gatherings of the Church till today. The original construction plan was altered due to the Ministry of Education’s hesitation to issue a building permit because it resembled an Orthodox Church. The permit to allow the bell tower was finally granted five years later. It is the same bell that was used at the Greek Evangelical Church in Caesarea.

The Church, from those first years, has served with extroversion and sacrifice responding to any given circumstances. We praise God believing it was His plan was to plant the Second Church of Athens then, and to use it throughout the years to glorify His Name. It is up to each of us, everyone in their own generation, to live worthy of the call to which God has invited us to live, to bear witness to Jesus Christ, and to serve the purposes of His kingdom!