Dear Friends,
I have been asking you to pray for the City Mentoring Program phase one group. In May the 8-month training that I co-led came to an end. There were 10 participants - most of them students at the Bibleseminar Bonn (http://www.bsb-online.de). It is always encouraging for me to see how God works in the hearts of these young potential church planters as they wrestle with their calling. Here are a few of their comments at the final session.
Arthur: I'm leaving the course with double-courage. I want to ask unbelievers questions about their faith and to listen to them, get to know them deeper. I want to dare things for Jesus.
Simon: I can see how the spiritual life of a church planter needs to find its source in Jesus. I want to be much more consistent in following Jesus and see His kingdom as the goal, in which he can use me.
Emilius: The course has opened my eyes to the subject of church planting. The practical examples of the missionaries were very valuable. I want to conduct demographic studies of my home country, Lithuania, and share what I have learned about church planting there.
Stefan: The course helped me to see what the church should be and how I can best serve God.
Fabiana: The course has challenged me to reach out to my neighbors.
Raphael: I am looking forward to my contact with non-Christians.
Pray for these young participants as they continue on their spiritual and ministry journey, that the Spirit would move and enable them for God's kingdom.
In mid July I was contacted by a friend of a friend who is working on a post-doctoral project that she is hoping will eventually be presented in several churches and museums in Cologne. The Pentateuch Project is a series of photo compositions inspired from scenes and events from the first 5 books of the Bible. She wanted to do a power point presentation of the project in order to garner more support. She asked if she could do it at my atelier and I agreed. The presentation was interesting. However, even more interesting was that the local catholic priest also attended with whom I have recently had contact in regard to renting a small church building in the area that is no longer used regularly for services for our church plant - Cologne Project. We had a very pleasant conversation after the presentation. Please pray that they would make the decision to rent to us. It would be a great location for our church plant to grow.
Please continue praying for the “Blue evening in Nippes”. Pray that we would be able to make many new contacts for the Gospel through this event on September 5th.
Thank your for your prayers for us in June as we spent three weeks visiting supporting churches and individuals in Ontario and Michigan. Although the travel and schedule were exhausting, we were so encouraged by many of you; your hospitality, encouragement, support, genuine interest - for reminding us again of how much you share this ministry with us.
Yours for Germany,
Jason and Sue
