'Ski Angels' taking Jesus' love to the slopes

Skiing and a skinful is a dangerous combination, but for a husband-and-wife evangelism team it’s the perfect chance to become “street pastors on skis”.

Lara and Will Sussman are bringing the love of Jesus to the slopes of Méribel in France through their Ski Angels initiative.

The couple, who run a ski chalet business in the French resort for six months every year, had just become new Christians when they began helping people who got into trouble on the slopes after leaving the pubs and clubs. Some drunken skiers can’t find their skis or descend the slopes safely.

Lara explained to Christianity Magazine: “We’d pick them up, put their skis back on, give them a hug if they were crying – and that’s how Ski Angels started. It was completely by accident.”

Five years on, they’ve trained more than 60 ski angels, known as ‘Altituders’, who are often gap-year students combining mission work with enjoying the ski season.

It can be life-saving work. They had to help a young man after he drank too much and became unconscious. They called emergency services, who had to stabilise the patient before transporting him to hospital. In a phone call to the young man’s mother, she told Will: “I’ve just become a Christian and I can clearly see that God has been working in this to keep my son alive.” 

They also reach the ‘seasonnaires’ working for the winter through a weekly ‘Beer and Burgers’ event which often attracts 200 people. While preparing each person’s burger, they get to chat, says Will, which led to one being baptised at the end of the season. 

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