Dr. Kostas Trigkas, a Greek dentist who now serves as a church planter and evangelist with the Free Evangelical Churches in Greece, has shared his journey from a busy dental practice in Athens to full-time gospel ministry among refugees and Romani communities. In a feature published by the EFCA blog on 25 June 2026, Trigkas described how a period of personal struggle led him to rediscover Scripture and eventually to a calling that has placed him at the heart of minority evangelical witness in one of Europe's most secular contexts.
Greece, where evangelical Christians represent well under one percent of the population, presents unique challenges for church planting and discipleship. Trigkas served for seven years as lead dentist with Hellenic Ministries, providing dental care to refugees from Iran and Afghanistan — a professional role that opened doors for gospel conversations in communities otherwise closed to traditional missionary approaches. During the same period, he engaged in church planting and evangelism among the Romani people in southern Greece, travelling regularly to villages about an hour and a half from Athens where, he reports, communities were receptive to the gospel message. Trigkas also served on the executive committee of the Free Evangelical Churches in Greece and as secretary of the Christian Medical and Dental Association of Greece.
Trigkas's path to ministry began unexpectedly. While working at his parents' dental practice after completing his dentistry studies in Prague, Czech Republic, he experienced a season of burnout and loneliness. His mother had given him a Bible in modern Greek, and turning to its pages he discovered passages that spoke directly to his situation. "I found Psalm 34 very comforting, especially verse 18, which says 'the Lord is close to the brokenhearted,'" he recalled. Biblical studies and theological training followed, alongside preaching opportunities that gradually reshaped his vocation. Trigkas's story illustrates the growing role of bi-vocational ministry in European contexts where traditional full-time pastoral models face financial constraints, and demonstrates how professional expertise in fields such as healthcare can serve as a bridge for gospel witness in hard-to-reach communities across the continent.
Source: Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) / ReachGlobal — blogs.efca.org
