December 2013 update

Dear Friends,

Along with many regular activities, including pastoring, counseling, weekly small group, street evangelism, etc., this past year was full of significant events and we are so grateful for all the Lord has done. Here are some of the highlights.

January
I attended the yearly GEM leadership meetings in Naples where God led me to resign from leading the German field staff, giving me much more capacity to pursue evangelism and church planting.

February

grand opening

We celebrated the grand opening of the Pastor’s Atelier. About 50 friends, neighbors and colleagues stopped by in the course of the evening. Many brought a gift of some kind.  I went from having zero to four plants in just one evening and I’m proud to say that they are all still living!

I participated as an assessor at the annual City Mentoring Program assessment meetings with about 20 young potential church planters, many of whom are already well into their internships in various church plants.

GEM field retreat

In my final responsibilities as GEM Germany field leader I was able to lead the field in an amazing Spirit-filled process of choosing and calling new leadership for the field at the annual retreat..

March

Sue started her Masters program in Intercultural Competencies at the Danube University in Krems, Austria and attended her first 4-day module. This is an exciting new chapter in our lives.

April

church retreat

Our church plant, Cologne Project, held a weekend retreat at which several former visitors stepped up to become active participants of the church.

I hosted my first mini-concert at the Pastor’s Atelier - a great way to meet new people and enjoy beautiful music as well.

20 year celebration

May

The Evangelical Free Church in Cologne-Porz (our first church plant) celebrated its 20-year anniversary. It was a wonderful day of seeing old friends, reminiscing and praising God for the many who have come to faith and been disciple in this ministry.

June

symposium

I co-led the Symposium for church planting in Germany in Stuttgart. It was a powerful 3 days with overwhelming positive feedback from the participants and speakers. We are beginning to see concrete evidence that God is working in new ways through some of the national church leaders who attended.


September

Most of the month I was in Colorado on Home Ministry Assignment visiting friends, family, supporters and our 5 supporting churches on the front range with a side trip to our supporting church in Missouri. It was an exhausting three weeks but it was a good time - especially getting to spend time with our son, Sam and Heidi.

November
I attended the annual City Mentoring Program conference in Frankfurt. With 50 participants, it was the largest group ever. All the church plants in the growing CMP network were represented. We heard reports from all of them and spent much time praying over each one. God is working!

The Consultation for Church Planting met for the first time since the Symposium. There was much enthusiasm among the participants as we reviewed the Symposium and began to get concrete about working together more across denominational lines in order to foster a church planting movement.

Whew! It was quite a year. Thank you for standing with us with your prayers, encouragement and financial support. It’s so good to know you are there for us.

As we enter the Advent season, we celebrate with you God’s indescribable gift - our Lord Jesus Christ! - the reason for our hope, joy, and dedicated ministry of church planting in Germany.

Your servants,

Jason and Sue

september update 2013

Dear Friends,
We have been silent for too long and much has happened since we last wrote.

The Cologne Project
We have been encouraged with a steady flow of new faces and a deeper commitment to the church among the regular attenders. A real highlight was our weekend retreat in April at which we had wonderful times of fellowship but also good discussions about what it means to be a church. We are in the process of disbanding the start team of 7 people and moving toward a preliminary leadership team that will guide the church through the next phases of growth and restructuring. We always have the best music and are slowly becoming known as the jazz church. It has been amazing to experience God speaking to us through the creativity of jazz music within a very simple, mostly unplugged, liturgical worship service.

Cologne Project retreat

The Pastor's Atelier
I continue to make new contacts and to see how God is using the Atelier to open new doors in people's lives. In May, June, July and August I hosted mini-concerts with young musicians who brought their friends. The beautiful music in the intimate ambiance of the Atelier lends itself to simple, relaxed encounters. The men's prayer group continues to be a highlight for my friends and me. As one of them recently commented: this is becoming a small church. Hallelujah!

Please pray about a new workshop that I will be conducting in Oct-Nov called My Life Workshop. (www.mylifeworkshop.org (http://www.mylifeworkshop.org) I am excited about this new tool that was developed by our friend and colleague Dietrich Schindler to reach post-moderns with the Gospel. Please pray as we begin to promote and invite people to the workshop. Pray that God would lead 12 people who are far from God to sign up.

The Symposium for Church Planting in Germany
As part of the ongoing work with the Consultation for Church Planting in Germany, we hosted our first major conference in June in Stuttgart - but for strategic reasons decided to call it a symposium. As part of the steering committee that initiated and led this gathering, I must admit we were somewhat nervous going into it. We have no official status or organization backing us so financially it was a personal risk for the four of us. We sought to recruit the best speakers but then told them we couldn't pay them and they would have to pay their own expenses.

We needed 80 participants to sign up in order to break even. In the end we had 120 participants and a program of speakers, discussion groups, workshops and debate that was thrilling to witness. The Christian press was there and their reporting was extremely positive. Never before has there been a conference like this that included almost the entire spectrum of evangelicals in Germany to talk about church planting and the need for Germany to be saturated with new churches. We are thankful to the Lord and for your prayers and support.

Sue's Masters program
Sue has been very diligent in her Masters study in Intercultural Competency.  This summer she successfully completed a very challenging internship at the University of Cologne - creating and teaching a two-day block course for students preparing for studying abroad.  Word has gotten out and she has already been asked to teach the course at additional venues including the European Institute for Church Planting. She loves it but is also being stretched and challenged. There is no end to our dinnertime discussions over the topics she is learning about. So much of it relates directly to our lives and ministry here.

Rocky Mountain High
I am going to be in Colorado Sept. 6-23 to visit family, friends and our 5 supporting churches on the Front Range. I would love to see as many of you in Colorado that I can. I will be staying in Denver, close to our son, Sam but have plenty of weekdays open to meet for a meal, coffee, etc. I'm also hoping to meet new folks who might be interested in joining our support team. If you would like to host an informal evening get-together - please let me know. The next trip we are planning is for early 2014 to Ontario and Michigan.

The Family
In May I took a spontaneous trip to visit Roy in New York. His job as building superintendent was eliminated meaning Roy was out of a job and out of an apartment. He has been staying with friends in the city looking for work and a new living situation. Please pray for him. He is open to moving if you know of anything in your area. In July Sue's mom, Elinor (87) and her sister, Connie, came to visit us for 2 weeks. We had a great time together. One night we had my men's prayer group with their wives over and at one point I asked mom to share her story. They are still talking about her strength, wit and fluent German and her story of God's grace in her life.

Thank you for standing with us!

Jason and Sue 

March Update

Dear Friends,

Here are some of the things happening in our lives:

The Pastor's Atelier

The grand opening on February 16 was a blessing. Over the course of the evening 50 guests stopped by. In addition to our ministry networks, several of our old and new neighbors came. The atmosphere was relaxed and there were lots of good conversations and new connections made. Thank you for praying for this. Please continue to pray as this new ministry context keeps growing.

 

In the last couple months 3 different prayer groups have been initiated at the Atelier. Our church plant has begun a monthly morning prayer gathering. Kristi has started an artists prayer group that I host. And just recently, I have started an early morning mens group with a few of my friends and neighbors - some of whom are not yet believers. It was so exciting to see them respond positively and indicate their desire to meet every week (Tuesdays at 7am). One of the men commented that although he was very suspicious of the Christian faith he could envision meeting regularly like this in the Atelier, i.e. but not a church.

We have discovered that people seldom make a decision for Christ in an instant. Usually it is a series of mini-decisions - in other words, a process. In the near future I hope to start a discovery bible study with some of our contacts who are interested to help them along in their process.

GEM German field leadership

After 6 years of being GEM Germany field leader, I felt that God wanted me to move on. With ca. 30 missionaries (pictured below at our recent yearly retreat) and a constant flow of people interested in possibly coming to serve, it was a lot of work in addition to our work in church planting and evangelism. We are grateful for having had the privilege of working with such an inspiring, talented group of people. God has already raised up a wonderful new leadership team from within our ranks. Please pray with us for a smooth transition and for even better things to come. Pray for me to be in step with the Spirit as to how to invest my time now that I have more capacity for church planting, evangelism and discipleship. 

 

CMP Assessments

From Feb. 20-23 I took part in the yearly City Mentoring Program church planter assessments. There were 20 German and international candidates including spouses and fiancés. I was one of 9 assessors responsible for observing and interacting with these promising young potential church planters as they went through preaching, team, evangelism and conflict resolution exercises as well as intensive interviews. The goal is to identify those who are gifted and called to either lead church plants (or even initiate church planting movements!) and those who are called to be a part of a team. We are so thankful for the present wave of interest among Bible school and seminary students for church planting. Please pray that this trend would continue and increase exponentially.

MA Intercultural Competencies

After much thought, prayer and research - Sue has decided to pursue a Masters degree. She applied and was accepted at the Donau University Krems (near Vienna). She attends her first of 10, fourday modules next week. She is excited about the program but nervous about returning to school after so long. The subject matter applies directly to our ministry in Germany but also to business English training. Please pray for her as she jumps into this. Pray for strength and for the adjustment to being back in school.

As Easter draws near we are reminded once again of the hope the resurrection gives us. We pray that God will bless you with a renewed sense of that power and hope!

Your missionaries,

Jason and Sue

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

January 2013 update

Dear Friends,

The pastors atelier is up and running. (www.facebook.com/pastorenatelier) I have even started painting again! Almost every day I am there I meet new people who walk by and are curious. A couple of days ago a young couple was looking through the window as I arrived. They asked if I was the pastor. We introduced ourselves and went straight to a first name, informal basis. I explained some of the things I want to do there and in the end I said that I simply want to be a blessing for the neighborhood. That captured their imagination and Irena looked at me and said very honestly - "Wow! that's awesome. We could always use more blessing in our lives."

 

Now that the renovations are over and I am starting to spend time there, I think that I will be able to begin to form relationships with folks from the neighborhood. I put a digital picture frame in the window with text that gives people an idea of how this is much more (or much different) than just an art studio. Here are some of the things I am hoping will happen there: inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue, sack-lunch discussion groups, prayer meetings, mini-concerts, foundations of the faith courses, networking with other area artists, etc. I am praying that more and more contacts will grow from acquaintances to intentional discipleship relationships. Please pray for the grand opening planned for February 16. We're inviting neighbours, shopkeepers, fellow GEMers, church family and local Christian leaders. 

We continue to work with C & R who remain open and full of questions. C wrote us a very heartfelt new year's greeting expressing his gratitude for how God has used us and the church plant in his life this last year to help him draw closer to God. He closed his message by saying how much he is looking forward to this next year with God, the church family and us. This is encouraging to us, but at the same time we see how far he still has to grow.

We feel that the church plant is poised for growth this year. We came through a difficult year with increased unity, love and commitment to one another. In addition to our worship service and brunch, we have decided to offer a 3rd monthly gathering starting in January - a prayer service at the atelier. We are planning a weekend retreat in April with the goal of deepening our relationships to one another and the Lord.

We had a wonderful time with our kids here for the holidays. Lot's of long talks around the table. They are all doing well but continue to face the challenge of making ends meet, paying school loans, etc. Sam and Heidi are considering a move to New York where Sam wants to attend a sound design/DJ school and Heidi is hoping to get an internship with a fashion designer. A special prayer request is for funding for Roy to get new hearing aids - costing several thousand dollars. If you can help us with this special need, please let us know.

  

Gratefully yours,

Sue and Jason

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