Ruben and Priscilla Kamps are on a two-year placement at the mission post of Gistel under the guidance of Herman and Adrie Spaargaren. They want to use this time of training in order to better understand how a church functions (teaching, pastoral ministry, administration, etc.)

Although he has Dutch nationality, Ruben was born and grew up in Belgium following the arrival of his missionary parents, whose ministry brought them to Bruges and Ichtegem. At 18, he decided to study at the ETF (Evangelical Faculty of Louvain) where he only stayed for one year preferring the more practical training which he followed at IBV. When he was offered a position as teacher of protestant religion classes he realised that he would probably never be able to have a pastoral ministry unless he had undertaken full-time theological studies. It was then that Herman Spaargaren (BEM worker in Gistel) offered him a two-year placement. Priscilla – a real life-partner for Ruben –is Belgian. She was born in Ostend and grew up in Ichtegem, where she met her future husband at the evangelical church. She is a nurse in a rest home in Eernegem and as she is gradually discovering the gifts God has given her, she is seeking to use them for the benefit of those around her. At present Ruben is teaching some protestant religious education classes in a secondary school, but he would like to have the opportunity of consecrating himself 100% to church life, feeling that this is his place.