Doulos Missions International
The Need
Although old-style communism has crumbled, its devastation can clearly be seen in the lives of Eastern Europeans spiritually, economically, and emotionally. The moral decline that ensued over the past sixteen years in many of these countries has been accompanied by an increase in crime, substance abuse, prostitution and family breakdown.
The nation of Hungary, where Len and Jennifer are based, has the highest suicide rate per capita of any country in Europe. Many countries in Eastern Europe still have less than 1% of their population professing to be evangelical.
Indeed Europe is a very dark continent. Thousands upon thousands of towns and villages still remain without an evangelical witness, often mired in empty tradition. As Jesus said, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Len and Jennifer see this as a time of great opportunity for the gospel.
Why We Exist
Doulos Missions International exists to bring glory to God by helping to fulfill the Great Commission.
Our Vision
DMI envisions indigenous churches and disciples of Christ multiplying throughout Eastern Europe until every person in every town and village in Eastern Europe has the opportunity to hear the gospel, respond with faith in Christ, and participate in a community of worshipping believers.
Our Strategy
Believing that anything healthy reproduces, DMI works with indigenous leaders to make disciples and plant healthy, reproducing churches with evangelistic passion. From our central base of operations in Budapest, Hungary, Len helps indigenous leaders throughout Eastern Europe be more effective at making disciples that multiply and plant churches that multiply. We accomplish this primarily through one on one consultation with these leaders and small group training seminars.
Our Goal
We are trusting God for 200,000 new disciples and 16,000 new churches in the next 15 years.
What Leaders Are Saying
“I just want to thank you for the weekend we've spent together. It was very inspiring for me, and I'm thinking about that since then…I think your message is foundational. I've never heard such a practical teaching. You are a great presenter... It was good to see, that you speak about your practice.” - Dr. Maté Kerekes, leader of the youth group at Hungarian Free Christian Fellowship in Budapest.
“I think you're teaching is so essential. And it's incredible that many churches don't teach anything about it. The basis of it is sharing Jesus with others and than making them disciples. And the goal is multiplication.” -- David Vadnai, worship leader in the youth group at Hungarian Free Christian Fellowship in Budapest.
“I believe you are a gift from God to me. Something has got to change in the way the church makes disciples and I believe that what you are bringing is going to be key.” -- Laci Mezes, pastor of Hungarian Free Christian Fellowship in Budapest.
“This ministry is missing in the Budapest church, but is truly needed. This is God’s message for this church.” -- Dr. Győri, elder at Hungarian Free Christian Fellowship in Budapest.
Our HistoryDoulos Missions International began in June 2006 with a vision for helping the indigenous leaders of Eastern Europe plant churches. Our roots, however, go back to the mid-1980s and early 1990s, when God began creating a special place for Eastern Europe in the hearts of DMI founders Len and Jennifer Lacroix.
Len Lacroix was serving in the U.S. Army when he gave his life to Jesus Christ in February 1986, and he committed his life to go wherever the Lord would send him and do whatever the Lord would command. That year, he was sent to Berlin, a city 120 miles inside communist East Germany, to help patrol the Berlin Wall as a recon scout. He served there for about 18 months and saw firsthand the scourge of communism.
In 1989, Len felt the Lord’s call for him to pray for Eastern Europe. And later that year while in Bible school, he formed a small group of students who prayed regularly and saw God open doors in these countries for the gospel.
Len and Jennifer weren’t married at that time, but she, too, was feeling God’s call toward missions in general and Eastern Europe in particular. Just before enrolling in graduate school at Regent University, Jennifer went to Romania on a short-term missions trip to work with orphans. It was there that the Lord began to touch her heart with a special love for the people of Eastern Europe.
Len and Jennifer met at Regent while studying for Master’s degrees in World Missions. During their time at Regent, Len went on a short-term mission trip to Bulgaria (1993). And in 1995, he returned to the region as an intern teaching at a Bible school in Kiev, Ukraine.
Len soon began a 10-year career in healthcare, eventually managing large projects across multiple regions in what became the largest private health insurance company in the country. Even as a Project Management Professional, he continued his efforts to reach people for Christ. He and Jennifer married in 1997 and began raising a family. The couple became active in a church, where God began to teach them the relational aspect of New Testament church life, as well as the importance of accountability to work through important issues in family life.
When Len left the corporate world in 2006, it became clear the Lord was calling the couple to take a step of faith and follow His calling to serve on the mission field.
They named their new organization for the Greek word Doulos, which means slave or bondservant. The Apostle Paul used this word to refer to himself: “For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Cor 4:5)
Len and Jennifer are now based in Budapest, Hungary, where they base DMI’s service to Eastern Europe.
The Lord has spoken to them through His Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20, saying, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” On the day they made a contract with the Lord on June 8, 2006, in which they dedicated themselves to helping fulfill the Great Commission in their own generation, He made divine provision for them to establish a missions base in Budapest. There are indigenous leaders in Eastern Europe who are called and anointed to make disciples and plant churches, but they need someone to come and help them. Now the Lord has opened up this door, enabling Len to travel in and out of the countries of Eastern Europe to help indigenous leaders.
Partnering with DMI
We hope the idea of making disciples and planting churches in Eastern Europe excites you as much as it does us. Our ministry partners share a passion for reaching people for Jesus Christ, and we’d love for you to join us in this effort.
One way to help is by partnering with us financially. You can give securely online at
www.dmiworld.org . Or you can send a check or money order payable to Doulos
Missions International to the following address:
Doulos Missions International
PO Box 5526
Manchester, NH
03108-5526
