Grant and Raise Dicks are a young couple from Christ Covenant Fellowship who will be moving to Hungary next year to help plant churches and evangelize to the Hungarian people.
Before becoming members of CCF, Grant and Raise both had similar upbringings. Grant was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Raise in Lynchburg, Virginia. Both grew up in Christian households whose churches sent out missionaries, however Grant and his family moved to Budapest, Hungary when he was fourteen years old. That exposure to Europe and mission prompted Grant to pursue ministry outreach. After meeting Raise in Hungary when she interned with his family, they both would fall in love and marry in 2020. Since joining CCF, they have been eager to begin their calling as missionaries.
In an interview conducted by a Liberty University strategic communication student on March 22, 2022, the young couple was asked what they hope to be doing as missionaries in Hungary. “I’ve desired to be a resource for the church in Hungary, to be assisting in the planting of more churches as they don’t get planted there very often,” stated Grant. “New pastors are not raised up very often either, and so that’s the hole that I hope by God’s grace to help a little with when we move back to Hungary.” Grant would go on to describe the challenges that Hungary faces, as the Roman Catholic based country is in dire need of evangelism with only 3% of the population claiming to be Christian. Raise would also go on explain the current state of the country and what they hope to accomplish there as a church.
“The Hungarian people are very closed off to outsiders,” Raise said when asked what it was like being Hungary. “They love to garden, they love to be close to their friends and family, but they’re very closed off to outsiders and their history shows that too.” Raise would also go into why she felt so convicted to serve alongside Grant. “My heart really grew for the Hungarian people and they asked if I would come back and live there for the long term to serve with them in their church. My heart was really hurting for the people of Hungary, not just the unbelievers but also the believers, because a lot of Americans go as missionaries to Hungary as we’ve found, except they go and create an American bubble to where they stay safe inside of it, and they don’t even learn the language—which it’s considered the second hardest language in the world.”
Grant explained afterwards what their primary goals were as young missionaries. “Our goal is to be there as long as God allows us to be there,” he said faithfully. “We would love to spend the rest of our lives in Hungary, and if we can find a way to retire in Hungary then we will. Of course, God can lead in whatever direction he wills, and we want to keep listening…There’s a big need for more churches to be planted, and so from that point after planting we kind of just hope to be a resource. We hope that church is a church that plants other churches through training up leaders, and we hope to be involved in that just as a resource for discipleship and teaching.”
As they prepare themselves for this calling overseas, Grant and Raise have asked for the support of prayer from the church, that they would be patient and humble in preparation, receive financial assistance, have more people willing to serve alongside them, and most importantly that their mission there would be effective in leading people towards Christ.
April 24, 2022
Written by Jonathan Tatum