Prayermail "20 Years in Germany!" January 2012

Dear Friends,

20 years ago, on January 8, 1992, we left for Germany to serve Christ with Greater Europe Mission.  Sam was eight years old, Roy was four and we were both thirty-three.

Holm Family 1992

What an adventure that was for us. And to tell you the truth - it continues to be! - Seeing people come to faith, be baptized and then grow in their faith and commitment to the Lord; churches planted; training and mentoring church planters and their teams; directly leading three church plants ourselves and coaching another seven church plants in our region; influencing pastors and church leaders; casting vision among denominational leaders; modeling front line evangelism; seeking creative ways to share the Gospel. In a country where only 3-5% of the population attend any kind of church service regularly, there is still much work to be done. But it has been a great privilege for us to be a part of what God is doing in Germany.

The verse we chose 20 years ago is still our banner. "For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness, " made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." 2 Corinthians 4,5-7

Heidi, Sam, Roy Sue, Jason - Christmas 2011

We are humbled and so very grateful for God's provision through you as his people over the years. Without our faithful supporters, we would not be where we are today. We look forward to the next 20 years as we pray for and work toward seeing a second reformation and a church planting movement sweep through Germany and Europe.

Our heartfelt thanks for standing with us,


Jason and Sue


PS: Click here to see our current financial support needs. 

December Update

Dear Friends,
Here are the latest developments in our ministry that we would like to share with you:

Cologne Project
On October 20 we held an info evening for our church plant. It was a time of sharing our history, values and vision with those who have been attending regularly but are not yet fully committed. In addition to our start-­-team of eight, five people attended. It was amazing for us to hear what R. and C. had to say. R. told us  that if it weren't for this church, that he would never have considered drawing near to Jesus as he has the last several months. He said the very fact he was there that evening is proof that God is working in his heart. Both he and C. kept talking about "we" showing much ownership of the church plant. When we talked about how we value loving God and loving each other, C. suggested that we were being too cautious with our words and that we needed to be proactive and "evangelize" the city if we really love the people who live here! Please continue to pray for the Cologne Project - especially R. and C.

City Mentoring Program
In October, Tobi, our church planting intern, and I started a new City Mentoring Program phase one group. Tobi and I are co-leading the sessions. The participants are mostly contacts of Tobi's who are potential team members for the church he will be planting starting next summer here in Cologne. One coupleis commuting from Stuttgart (a 3 & 1/2 hour drive!) each month and spendingthe night with Tobi and Luci. They are considering relocating to Cologne just to be able to be a part of the church plant. It is exciting for us to be a part of mentoring and encouraging Tobi & Luci and their team that is forming. God's Kingdom is being advanced in Cologne!
City Mentoring Program group
Consultation
The Fall gathering of the Consultation for Church Planting was held in Frankfurt in November. In the morning, Erhard Michel, spoke on the subject of how Church Planting first became a top priority in the Evangelical Free Church of Germany. As he recounted the history, he credited North American missionaries who came after WW2 with the ground-breaking work that is now the foundation for church planting in Germany! Sue's father, Reuben Goertz, was among some of the names he mentioned. They were practitioners but also inspired the Germans to be about planting churches themselves. As we approach the two-year anniversary of Reuben's death, we want to acknowledge our gratefulness for the heritage that is ours and the rich tradition of partnering with European denominations and organizations.

turnaround 2013, together for church planting in Germany

In the afternoon we worked together on our plans for the National Congress on Church Planting set for June 2013. With the help of some of our talented GEM colleagues, we now have a logo and an initial flyer. The theme of the congress will be "Trendwende" which means "a change in course" or "turnaround" referring to the fact that the church in Germany is shrinking - in spite of some bright spots where church planting is occurring. We want to see this trend turned around and believe that one important way this could happen is through a church planting movement. Please pray for wisdom and unity as we continue to work on the program and seek to get the best speakers and workshop leaders possible.


Christmas
It was a beautiful November but the driest month on record in Germany. . The Christmas markets opened last week but the weather doesn't feel right. Nonetheless, as we enjoy the advent season here we are especially looking forward to being with family this Christmas. We will be in New York where Roy is searching for work and an apartment now that he has officially completed his remaining coursework at Juniata College. Sam and Heidi are coming from Denver and we look forward to spending a quick week together along with Sue's brother Sam and family and Sue's mom.

Carol Sing Flyer

Carol Sing
On the fourth Sunday of Advent, Dec. 18, our church plant will be hosting a carol sing. Germans love to sing and we are hoping to draw a good sized crowd for this event. Our colleague, Kristi will be leading us and has also recruited other musicians who will accompany the singing and perform several pieces themselves. Tobi will be sharing a brief, evangelistic devotional. There will be candles and cookies and hot spiced Christmas punch and a couple of our neighbors offered to come and make waffles. Please pray that the true meaning of Christmas would shine brightly through the candlelight and warm fuzzies.




As you celebrate this Christmas may you above all know that "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. (James 1:17-18)


Your missionaries to Germany,


Jason and Sue

   

PS: Click here to see our current financial support needs.

September Prayermail

Dear Friends, 

For several years now I (Jason) have been the German field leader for Greater Europe Mission along with a team of three others. This is in addition to the church planting and evangelism that we do. It has been said that leading missionaries is like trying to herd cats and to some extent I agree. It takes independent people who follow God's call, many times with resistance from their own family, who then go through the humbling, painful and faith-stretching ordeal of raising their own support, moving to another country and learning the language and culture and then, with God's help, forge a new ministry and new partnerships. These are the kind of people I have the privilege of leading in Germany. I am humbled and very proud to be serving God with them. In this prayermail, I would like to introduce you to them:

Adam & Bethel in Cologne: evangelism, discipleship, church planting, field leader team 

Alex & Wendy in Frankfurt: evangelism, discipleship, church planting, marketplace

Angie in Koenigsfeld: music, discipleship 

Brian in Munich: evangelism, discipleship, church planting

Danny & Anne in Cologne: evangelism, discipleship, church planting 

Dave & Rachel in Cologne: dance, pottery, photography, evangelism, discipleship

Don & Susie in St. Georgen: music, evangelism, discipleship 

Jeffrey & Katherine in Leipzig: evangelism, discipleship, church planting

Jim & Evelyn in Bonn: Bible school, evangelism, discipleship

Jim in Cologne: evangelism, discipleship, worship, church planting

Joel & Tatjana in Giessen: seminary, evangelism, discipleship

Julia in Cologne: evangelism, discipleship, church planting, field team

Kate in Berlin: evangelism, discipleship, church planting, children's work

Kevin & Kathi in Cologne: evangelism, discipleship, church planting

Kristi in Cologne: music, evangelism, discipleship, church planting

Leslie in Berlin: discipleship, evangelism, language/culture coach, field leader team

Robyn in Badenweiler: evangelism, discipleship, church planting 

Stephen & Susan in Giessen: seminary, evangelism, discipleship, church planting

Warren & Celia in Cologne: evangelism, discipleship, youth 

Here is a photo from our spring field retreat. Not everyone was present as some were in the USA on Home Ministry Assignment.

God is using this exceptional group of people to expand His kingdom in Germany, Europe and beyond. In the last 6 months hundreds of people have been discipled. At least 10 new evangelistic Bible studies have started and at least 3 new churches have been planted in Germany. People are coming to faith. That is exciting! Please pray for us. Pray that God would break through the spiritual darkness in Germany even more and that His Kingdom would come in new and vibrant ways.


Pray for Germany as a country. As the most powerful economy in Europe, Germany is very influential in the world. Its economy, education, politics, philosophies and culture shape modern life and thought. Imagine what would happen if that influence could be harnessed to extend God's Kingdom in the world.


Germany is amazingly connected and therefore one of the most strategic mission fields in the world. Through it's diverse population and activities, Germany has connections with individuals and cultures from around the globe.  Economic migration from other EU countries, plus an influx of immigrants from 10/40 window countries, create unprecedented opportunities to disciple the nations.


Germany is needy.  That's right... needy.  Not in material terms, but morally and spiritually, Germany is adrift and in need of an anchor. It is filled with churches - often empty, abandoned or converted into museums, restaurants and shops. Take away the beautiful church buildings and you'll be hard-pressed to see any hints of Christianity.  Sadly, most Germans don't have a life-changing relationship with Jesus or know anyone who does.


We are committed to seeing God's Kingdom spread throughout Germany, Europe and to the world as we follow Jesus and lead others to do the same.


Thank you for standing with us.

Your missionaries to Germany,

Jason and Sue

PS: Click here to see our current financial support needs. 

June Prayermail

Dear Friends,

Last week, Thursday, was Ascension Day - a holiday in Germany. We normally have Bible study on Thursdays but decided to have a meal with a couple of women who come regularly. Because we hadn't seen them for a several weeks, we also invited our neighbors, W. and H.  They responded affirmatively and immediately asked if they could invite a common friend of ours, S. Thursday afternoon Sue noticed that another neighbor was visiting with W. and H. and decided to ask if she too, would like to join us for supper. In the mean time, the original invitees were also inviting more people with the final count of 12 around our table!  We grilled 4 different kinds of sausages and some of the others brought various salads (our neighbor H. makes a potato salad to die for!). Well, among other things, S. just happens to be a DJ so at some point she started playing with the remote to my computer, on which I have a lot of old rock and pop songs, and before we knew it the dancing started. It was so much fun! A number of the guests left sometime after midnight leaving W., H., S., Sue and I sitting around the table conversing about our stresses in life.  What followed was an amazing opportunity to share with them about our faith and how it centers us and gives us strength for all of life's challenges. We were able to share the gospel in such a clear way. It was amazing.

On Friday night our church plant hosted a choir from our Alma mater, Grace University. We were thankful for the good attendance and were able to make several new friends for the church. A couple from Dortmund was in town visiting friends and had googled to see what was going on Friday night. The search brought up our concert so they came and had a great time. In closing at the end of the concert, I simply invited everyone to come to our worship service on Sunday. The couple from Dortmund showed up once again. Very interesting. As usual, we were dissatisfied with the attendance on Sunday morning but thankful for the meaningful time of worship. Our special music was especially unusual - a husband and wife accordion duo. They played Simon & Garfunkel, Dvorak, and Shostakovich. Fun!


Please continue praying for these dear people who we long to see come to a living faith in Christ: H. & W., S., R., C. and J.

We want you to meet Tobi Saenger, his wife Luci and their three-year-old daughter, Talita. Tobi is a German Bible school grad and his wife Luci is from Brazil. They moved to Cologne last summer to plant a church but have agreed with us to first do an internship in our church plant until next summer through the City Mentoring Program. We are really happy to have them and have enjoyed working together. Please pray that our working relationship would be mutually beneficial and would prepare the Saengers well for their own church plant.

Not too long ago, while Tobi and I were working out on the street as "Contact Person", 3 young Muslim men came up to talk with us. One was quite devout, the other one nominal and after a few minutes of talking with the third one he told me he was an atheist. I asked him a few probing questions and then gently challenged his worldview, adding what I believe. I talked about Jesus and how he shows us who God is because he is God. Suddenly, he interjected: "You know, if I had a New Testament, I would read it to find out more about Jesus. Whoa! I was floored. I told him that I just happened to have one in my bike saddlebag and would be happy to give it to him. At first he did not want to accept it but I assured him that I had more and that I would love for him to have it. As I went to hand it to him, I held onto it and looked him in the eye and said that I would give it to him only if he was really going to read it. He said that he really wanted to read it. I suggested that he start in the gospel of Mark and wished him God's blessing. I regret not having noted his name. Please pray for him. Pray that he would actually read God's Word, encounter him and place his trust in Jesus.

Your missionaries to Germany,

Jason and Sue

PS: Click here to see our current financial support needs. 

Prayer update March 2011

Dear Friends

The romantic valentine's day concert on February 11 was amazing. The concert, which had been advertised in the newspaper, in personal networks, and through various outreach efforts, drew a full house of one-hundred-and-twenty people, only eight of which were from the church plant! In addition to all the beautiful music, I presented a few love poems, including 1 Corinthians 13. I also shared briefly from Scripture about God's love, and concluded my mini-message with these words:

 

"Tonight we celebrated romantic love. When you fall in love, you are overpowered by it. Love takes over and it's as if you've been waiting your whole life for that moment. You have the feeling that until that point, you were 'incomplete'. Is it possible that this is also true for us and God? Could you be waiting for God's love to fill the void in your heart?"

 

After the concert people not only commented about the beauty of the songs, poems, and Scripture, but many asked about the church, and showed an openness towards God. Here is a link to a few video excerpts from the concert.

   

 

Pray that those who attended will not only have been moved by the music and texts, but that they would also be overwhelmed by God's love for them. Pray that the seeds planted would bear much fruit!  May each one of them let God become the One who speaks these words from one of the love duets which was sung that night:

 

    No more talk of darkness, forget your wide eyed fears.

    I'm here, nothing can harm you, my words will warm and calm you.

    Let me be your freedom, let daylight dry your tears,

    I'm here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you.

    Let me be your shelter, let me be your light.

    You're safe, no one will find you, your fears are far behind you.

We had our first CologneProject church retreat Feb. 18-20. It was a good time of fellowship and getting to know some new people and regular attenders. We took time in each of our sessions to discuss the 5 main values that we have as a church plant:

1. We seek that which is genuine and good.

2. We want to be well networked in the community.

3. We want to love and be loved.

4. We want to boldly take risks.

5. We want to live creatively.

Please pray that out of our ever increasing network, that more and more people will choose to follow Christ with us in community.

Jason and Sue

PS: Click here to see our current financial support needs. 

Prayermail February 3, 20111

Dear Friends

On Friday, February 11 we are putting on a romantic valentine's day concert. Our GEM colleague, Kristi is a trained musician with a beautiful soprano voice. It is a joint venture along with P, a gifted tenor and L, a talented pianist who is co-owner of the location in which our services are held. They will be performing a colorful selection of solos and duets from musicals and operetta; some schmalzy, some humorous and some, just simply beautiful. My name also appears  o

on the flyer as I will be reading Goethe and Shakespeare and 1 Corinthians 13 and sharing a few brief thoughts on God's love. So far L has confirmed with over 60 of her friends who will be attending! We expect probably another 40 from our networks. We are looking forward to meeting many new folks, having a good time and sharing just a little bit about God's love. Please pray for God to bless.

At our last church breakfast+devotional I talked about one of my favorite places in Cologne - the dump. I always get pumped up and excited to go there. Owners of a Cologne license plate can dump their junk for free! As I spoke, I began to draw a diagram on the flip chart. The dump we go to is actually a transfer station and they have a whole series of containers for furniture, small appliances, big appliances, grass/leaves/branches, metal, general garbage, toxic stuff, paper/cardboard, glass, etc. Whenever the need arises, I am grateful and happy to pay the dump a visit because I always leave with a light heart and a spring in my step. I continued to explain that there is a place where I also love to go because I can get rid of my junk there as well and proceeded to draw a simple cross. I can "dump" all my burdens there and also find forgiveness for my guilt. At the end I had someone read Matthew 11:28-30: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

After the devotional, as we were still having breakfast, C got up and came over to sit across from me. He was confused. He said that it was nice to know that we could "dump" our stuff at the cross - our frustrations, worries, fears, loneliness, etc. But he had a problem with equating all those things with guilt. I assured him that they were not the same thing but that our guilt was probably one of the biggest things that we carry around with us unnecessarily and can bring it to the cross and experience God's forgiveness. We talked for about 20 minutes and I suggested he start reading Romans. In fact, I said, I would be happy to come and read with him and ask some guiding questions to help him understand better what it means to follow Christ. Later, as he was leaving, I repeated my offer. Would you please pray that he takes me up on it?

Thank you for standing with us as we seek to be a part of what God is doing here in Germany.

Jason and Sue

PS: Click here to see our current financial support needs. 

December update

Dear Friends,

We have had an unusually cold start to December - the perfect weather for visiting the amazing Christmas markets in Germany.

Here are some updates and prayer requests for you:

JAMBAG 

It was an awesome evening with about 40people attending this artistic event in Cologne, which we hope will expand our church plant's sphere of influence andwill help us build relationships with artists and art lovers in the city. It was a lot of fun to see how people participated in the improvisations - often outside the area of their normal artistic giftedness - and usually in unconventional ways! There was dance, song, drama, pantomime and all kinds of sounds from instruments and whatever else was lying around. It was fascinating and everyone had a good time. There were some spiritual discussions that took place and 15 new people signed up to get our church plant email updates. Pray that these new relationships will result in spiritual fruit. We are definitely planning on repeating JamBag sometime in the spring.

CONSULTATION FOR CHURCH PLANTING

We had our biggest group yet at our latest meeting on Nov 22 in Frankfurt. Over 30 leaders of church planting ministries gathered to work toward seeing a movement of church planting started in Germany. We spent a good portion of our time planning a national conference to be held in June 2013. Our goal is to have church planting practitioners, denominational leaders and decision makers come together for 2 days of inspiration and networking - hopefully resulting in concrete action steps toward a church planting movement. Please pray that God will poor out his blessing. All of our efforts are worthless unless He is the one working through us.

ALLEGRO

 Allegro is a hand bell quartet from Calvary Church in Longmont, where I was the minister of music while attending Denver Seminary. They were here from Nov 30 to Dec 9 playing in the (freezing!) streets of Cologne, in the hospital, at a Christmas  market, etc. It was an awesome and exhausting week. Most Germans have never heard hand bells before   and were immediately attracted to the beautiful sound. We were able to hand out over 160 invitations to our church and chat with quite a few people. We are thankful for this committed team and their partnership with us to reach out to people here through beautiful music. Please pray that God will move through all of the contacts we made while they were here.

CHRISTMAS - TO SHARE OR NOT TO SHARE

Iris, a university student in Cologne, came up to talk to me while Kristi and I were doing our Contact Person outreach. She noticed my American accent right away and wanted to talk in English.

Iris: What are you standing for? (I think she meant - why are you standing here?)

Kristi: Yea, Jason, tell her what you stand for!

Jason: I stand for peace, love and justice, to name just a few.

I then began to tell her that I was a pastor and that Kristi and I were out trying to meet new people and tell them about our new church...

Iris: Well, I'm an atheist.

Jason: Really! Why?

Iris: Well my mom is protestant and my dad is catholic and so we never went to church anywhere and they gave me complete freedom to believe whatever I wanted to. So I came to the conclusion that I don't believe in anything like God or any other higher power.

Jason: Aha. So what do you believe?

Iris: Well, I believe in some of the same things you do; world peace, justice, love.

Jason: That's good. We have something in common then, don't we?

Iris: Yes. And even though I don't believe in God, I really like Christmas.

Jason: Well, I'm sorry, but you can't have it. We are not going to share it with you.

Iris: (disappointed) Oh, no. Well can I at least have the presents?

Jason: I'll have to think about that.

I then explained to her the meaning of Christmas and how it leads to Easter, the most important celebration for believers. She listened respectfully.

Jason: You know what, I have reconsidered. We will be happy to share Christmas with you. (Handing her an invitation) We would love to have you come to one of our church gatherings.

Iris: No promises, but I will consider it - and look at your website.

As she went to leave, I wished her a nice day and God's blessing.

One of my favorite verses is John 3:17, "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." As we share the light of Christmas with those still in darkness, we cling to and celebrate the best news ever proclaimed to mankind.

We wish you a merry and blessed Christmas,

Jason and Sue 

september update

Dear Friends,

Jesus told us to go and make disciples. In a city of 1 million, like Cologne, we are sure that God is at work and there are many who would be open to the Gospel and following Jesus if only someone were to explain it to them. But how do we find those people. We are continually working at trying to expand our existing network through our church plant services and events but we are also looking for new innovative ways to find people that are open and seeking and that God is preparing.

One of our new ideas is called "Ansprechpartner". In English we would say "contact person" but the German word literally means "a person to talk to".  It is used in a variety of contexts - from the contact link for information on a web site to that of a counselor, therapist or friend with a listening ear. Recently, Kristi (one of our new missionaries) and I stood in the busy pedestrian shopping district and held up signs with the word "Ansprechpartner." We drew plenty of smiles and several pedestrians who actually come up to us and asked "for what are you the contact person? Why are you here? Is this candid camera? We responded by saying that we are simply there to listen to whatever people wanted to say. We're "all ear" so to speak. No gimmicks, nothing to sell or have people sign up for.  Over the course of an hour, we talked with maybe 15-20 people. Most of the contact was brief but there were several who wanted to talk more and were interested in knowing a little more about our church plant.  Please pray for us as we continue on our search for people who want to talk and go deeper.

Please pray for the CologneProject. Not paying rent in our present location has proven to have a significant down side as our landlord has informed us several times that we would have to cancel or change dates because he has booked paying customers. Pray for us as we look for a more stable venue, especially in light of our desire to move toward having 2 services a month this fall. Pray that our small groups would grow in depth and breadth. Pray that people who are coming regularly would move from being spectators to participants.

Thank you for praying for us as we traveled in the U.S. this summer. We had great connections in Colorado with our supporters. Pray that new people we met would be moved to joining our support team and commit to supporting us on a regular basis in prayer and finances.

Pray for the next mens discussion evening to be held sometime in September. This second time we want to have a theme and will be using a booklet about the virtues to guide our discussion. Pray for open hearts and that R and H will respond to the Gospel.

Keep praying for a second reformation in Germany! Pray that the church will break out of the stronghold of tradition and that a groundswell of new disciple-makers will impact this post Christian society!

Thank you for standing with us.

Jason and Sue