What if the people most hostile to organized religion are actually the ones who teach you what the church is supposed to be?Tim Coomar is the Operations Director for City to City Europe and a former church planter in one of the most unlikely neighborhoods on the continent. With a British passport, a Sri Lankan father, and a Greek mother, Tim’s cross-cultural story prepared him for a unique calling: moving his family into Exarchia, the anarchist capital of Athens, at the height of Greece’s economic crisis and civil unrest.In this episode of Global Missions in the 21st Century, Tim takes us inside a world of street fights, Molotov cocktails, and social centers—and reveals the surprising "magnetic points" for the gospel he found there. He shares how the horizontal, anti-authoritarian values of anarchist communities forced him to re-examine what it means to be the church as a "one-another" community rather than a patron-client institution.From teaching himself to code websites in order to serve his neighbors to earning the trust of a community that decided whether he stayed or left, Tim’s story is a masterclass in incarnational mission, deep contextualization, and the long, slow work of friendship.Now serving church planters across 40+ European cities, Tim reflects on the lessons learned from the first wave of post-Christian church planting: why the "celebrity" model failed, how the real engine is the bond of the Spirit expressed in cross-denominational friendship, and why the second mountain of European mission requires a posture of listening and a commitment to the "we" rather than the "me."

---This conversation is part of Christ Our Redeemer Seminary's Global Missions in the 21st Century course and our "Learning with the Whole Church" initiative: a commitment to listening to and learning from the global Church, particularly those serving among the least-reached peoples of the world. As the Apostle Paul wrote, "the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'" (1 Cor. 12:21). The Church in the West has much to learn from brothers and sisters who have long labored faithfully in hard soil.Christ Our Redeemer Seminary is a partnership of churches in Auburn and Opelika, Alabama, equipping Christlike leaders for God's global mission.Learn more: christourredeemer.orgFind us on podcast platforms: Christ Our Redeemer Seminary Podcast