Robbie & Lizzie Bellis

Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Planting a church and sharing the gospel to make disciples in Louvain-la-Neuve.

Belgium, like much of continental Europe is materially affluent but spiritually poor. Only 1% of the population of Belgium are evangelical Christians. The vast majority of Belgians will live and die without personally knowing an evangelical believer or having ever set foot in an evangelical church. Robbie &Lizzie moved to Belgium in 2011 for Robbie to train at the Institut Biblique de Bruxelles before becoming Assistant Pastor in a French-speaking Church in Brussels. In 2019, the family moved to Louvain-la-Neuve, a university-town about 30 mins south of Brussels, where we started a new church in 2020.

Louvain-la-Neuve university buildings and student housing are intertwined with locals, families and retired folk. With 25,000 students at the Louvain-la-Neuve University as well as many locals who live here and in the surrounding towns, it is an exciting mission field. We have sought to plant a church with God’s word firmly at its centre, with expository preaching as the heartbeat of our life together.

Our twin aims are summed up in Matthew 28:18-20 – we want to make disciples of Jesus by reaching out in evangelism (leading to baptism) and by building others up (teaching them to obey everything Jesus taught). We currently have 18 church members and two pastor/ elders, Robbie and James (another Crosslinks Mission Partner). On a Sunday, there are around 30 adults and 10-15 children at our service.

Robbie & Lizzie have four children, Lola (11), Caleb (8), Mia (6) and Zoe (3). They were all born in Belgium and are enjoying life at the local school and picking up French well. Lola enjoys trampolining, Caleb enjoys Rugby, Mia is enjoying learning to read and Zoe is growing to like school more and more! We’re so thankful for your prayers!

Prayer Points

For God’s word to dwell richly among us (Col. 3:16), for God to work through his word in the preaching and singing on Sundays and in the mid-week Bible studies.
For God to grow us as church family in our evangelism – for gospel conversations with non-Christians and that God might bring new birth to some this year.
Please pray in particular for a monthly evangelistic Kids club that Lizzie organises – may God use it to save some of the children.
For Robbie & Lizzie to keep growing in our love for Jesus, for each other and our children to put their trust in Jesus as their rescuer and their King.
For God to equip the men of the church to live out their God-given responsibilities in the family, the workplace and the church.