December Update

Dear Friends,

ROOM

The vision statement for our church is, “Raum schaffen für Jesus Christus” (Creating room for Jesus Christ).  This  photo is of the entry way to a possible permanent location for the church.  We have been longing for our own “room” – a space where we could expand our ministries with immigrants, children, women, discipleship, etc.  A space where we could meet during the week or in the evening.  A space where we won’t have to sound the clean-up alarm because the next group is coming in at 2:00 – just as the fellowship is sweet around the long row of tables where we are enjoying a bowl of hot soup, coffee and cake.  We are probably not the ideal renters for this landlord, but the leadership has had a strong sense of God leading us to this location.  Would you pray for God’s provision and this possibility, that has us so excited about room.

“Room” also seems to be an issue over the ages – and of the Christmas season.

“So Joseph also went up … to Bethlehem …
He went there to register with Mary,
who was pledged to be married to him
and was expecting a child.
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,
and she gave birth to her firstborn,
a son.
She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manager,
because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke 2:4-7

We are praying that you will be able to pause and take time to reflect, opening up space in your busy life for the Savior this Christmas season.

With the Joy and Peace of Jesus,

Jason and Sue

Thanksgiving update

Dear Friends,

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight;… He will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the streets.  A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.  In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth.  In his law the islands will put their hope…  I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness…  Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them.”  Isaiah 42:1-12

Because of their prophetic nature these familiar verses from Isaiah are often quoted or chosen as sermon texts during the Christmas holiday season.  I have always wondered why God chose to emphasize “the islands” instead of the nations or peoples, as is the case in many other Scripture texts.  The islands seem so small and insignificant.  However, since our ministry trip to the refugee camp, Moria, on the small Greek Island of Lesvos, I suddenly have a different opinion of the “the islands”.  As we stood on the shore of Lesvos, we could clearly see the Turkish coast 

towards the east and north.  I wondered what it was like to be standing on that shoreline, gazing at the shoreline of Lesvos.  Longing for safety, freedom, peace and  hope.  Fearfully stepping into a flimsy overloaded rubber boat, praying that the sea would be calm, pushing off, risking everything, risking the lives of your family as they cling to each other, eyes fixed on that distant shoreline.  It is my deepest desire that these hundreds of thousands who continue to set out for that distant coastline, those small Greek islands, will find ultimate peace for their souls.  That they will, indeed, “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them”.

Praise God with us for a number of amazing spiritual conversations with refugees and German acquaintances.  Pray that the Spirit would continue to work and for fruit out of these conversations.  Thank God that E. is recovering well from his emergency surgery.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to our US friends and we hope that our Canadian friends are still basking in thankfulness.  We are so thankful for you, your faithfulness in prayer and financial support over many years.  And for your friendship.   Without your support and encouragement we could not carry out the ministry that God has called us to.

Unfortunately, the weak Canadian dollar and some who have fallen behind in their giving has led to us taking a cut in salary.  Would you please check to see if your giving is current?  Tuesday, November 27, has become known as giving Tuesday. Maybe God has blessed you this year in such a way that you might increase your support of our ministry or consider a special year-end gift.  Thank you.

Many blessings,
Sue (and Jason)

October update

Dear Friends,
Here are some of the words we used to describe the refugee camp Moria on the Greek island of Lesvos after our first day there (Sept 22): Tents, tarps, crates, containers, cardboard, plastic, hanging sheets, ropes, string, cables, hoses, dust, garbage, squalor, extension cords, pop-up shops, barbers, smart phones, music, smiles, tears, smoke, stares, hellos, high fives, shouting, pushing, shoving, fights, police, documents, security, levels, gates, fences, locks, razor wire, unaccompanied minors, single women, single men, families, children, noise, fear, resignation, hopelessness, hope, meanness, friendliness - All this in a space less than 1 square Kilometer with 9000 displaced, traumatized people from over 20 (very) different nations and cultures in a space designed for 3000.

The week we volunteered with a team of Germans and Americans was physically and emotionally demanding. We helped people find a covered corner to sleep in while we told others that they could not take up so much space so that others could also have a place. We tried to guard the entry gates to areas where unaccompanied minors or new arrivals were being temporarily housed, constantly asking people to see their papers to see if they were allowed in - which they often resented because they were just plain weary of it all. We manned the information center where we faced relentless emotional pleas for more blankets or pampers and we often had to say a heartbreaking “no” because the supplies were so limited. We accompanied people as they borrowed a pick and shovel to try and improve their makeshift tents outside of the camp - especially as a wind storm approached over the weekend. As we hiked up and down the big hill that is the camp, we often found a small hand in ours or were high-fiving or fist-bumping with the refugee children – who were always a bright sport for us.

As we met together before our shift with other volunteers in the Euro-Relief office (the Christian NGO we were working with) in the middle of the camp, the din of throngs of jostling men lining up just outside the thin walls of the container to get breakfast for their families drowned out the voice of our supervisor as we were briefed for the day. This is daily life in Moria.  Most of the refugees spend hours every day just standing in line to get access to the basics, which are rationed to the bone.

Our hearts were broken a hundred times a day. But then we would hear someone say “my friend” or “sister” as they approached us with a need or request or just the desire to talk to someone and we would try once again to help and - perhaps give a little hope.

Why did we go on this trip?  What does it have to do with our ministry in Cologne?  For over two years we have been working with refugees who have managed the long journey to Germany.  Many of them have recounted the horror stories of flight including stays in refugee camps, especially in Turkey.  In addition to answering the desperate call for volunteer help in Moria, we wanted to get a get a real look at what most of the refugees have experienced.  It is sobering.  To hear of inhumane conditions is one thing, to experience it, another.  However, we also experienced God at work.  Sue had a long conversation with G., a young woman from Cameroon who experienced unthinkable abuse while in prison due to political oppression.  She was sweet and gentle, claiming that her hope was in the God who held her safe in his hand, quoting John 10:29.  I believe she is a Christ-follower through the witness of another worker in the camp.  PRAY for G. that she will seek and find fellowship, now that she has been transferred to the Greek mainland (an answer to prayer!).  Many spiritual conversations with confessions faith in Christ take place at the GEM Welcome Center which is just down the road from the camp.  Three Farsi-speakers were baptized in the Aegean Sea while we were there.  PRAY for the permanent and temporary workers who facilitate the many opportunities and programs that are offered there, for open hearts and minds, and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

Please keep praying for a new location for our church in Cologne to have a ministry center that could facilitate services and refugee outreach. We feel there is much potential ministry that could happen but for the lack of the right space which we experience presently.

Gratefully,
Sue and Jason

July update

Dear Friends,
At long last!  Summer vacation has finally arrived for hundreds of thousands of school children in our state of North Rhein-Westphalia.  The summer break is short here – just six weeks – those poor kids!  Statticians estimate that 20% of the Cologne population migrates out of the city to holiday destinations, far and wide.  You can literally hear and feel a quietness come over the city.  Despite the migration, we were thrilled about the great turnout and fellowship at our last church service.  As we fellowshipped together I made a note of the intercultural representation – German, American, Canadian, Turkish, and

Afghani.  I thought, “This is what heaven is going to be like – this beautiful mix of all peoples, all nations.  Praise God with us for this beautiful gift of intercultural fellowship and Pray for the individual members of our church, KoelnProjekt. (Photo: stained glass window design from Jason, done on his iPad, representing the diversity in the kingdom of God)


Among Jason’s many responsibilities and activities as Cologne area leader for GEM, is that of  occasionally filling in the pulpit.  Recently this was the case for J.’s church, a long-time GEM colleague in Cologne.  The German pastor of the church in which he ministers was called away due to a death in the family.  J. has had an amazing and blessed ministry both to Germans and refugees within this ministry setting.  Before the service started, J. introduced us to S., who would be leading the service that day.  S. is a refugee.  While I watched him, I was moved by his obvious love for the people of the church and his attitude of service.  As he led the service, his love for God and passion for evangelism were obvious.  After the service I asked him what his story was - how he came to faith.  After arriving in Germany, he started attending a church, made a confession of faith and was baptized.  Alrighty then.  However, he was quick to add that his motivation for professing Christ and becoming baptized was so that he might more readily receive a visa or official refugee status, allowing him to stay in Germany.  AHA – there you have it!  But God wasn’t through with S., even though he had accomplished his goal of refugee status.  He continued to attend the church because the fellowship filled a deep need in his heart.  Friends kept inviting him to small group studies.  He even agreed to attend a mini Bible college seminar on the exegeses of Scripture.  The final assignment was to exegete a passage of Scripture for sermon preparation.  As he intensely studied Scripture for this assignment  the Spirit grabbed ahold of him in a new way.  Now he can’t stop reading and studying the Bible.  In fact, he just finished the first year of a three-year Bible college course in Bonn, where another GEM colleague  from our area is teaching.  When he is finished he wants to be involved in evangelism and church planting.  Isn’t that an amazing story!  Where our heart and mind might tell us  to distrust, doubt, or even be suspicious, God keeps going.  False motives and intentions are no barrier for him.  Pray that God would enable and protect S. 
Along with the holidays we are experiencing an unprecedented heat wave and drought.  It seems like an odd request for this part of Germany, however, could you please pray for rain.  Hope you are enjoying and sunny and not-to-dry summer season.
Faithfully,Sue and Jason

June update

Dear Friends,

We want to accuse you of praying for requests that we mentioned in our last letter.  THANK YOU and don’t stop!  Sue was able to finish this teaching year with much more satisfaction and confidence compared to last year.  She is now exercising patience in the recovery from minor hand surgery.  

E. continues to deal with very difficult circumstances, but he remains committed to his new-found faith in Christ.  He still brings the occasional immigrant friend to our weekly small group which is often a challenge regarding language and culture but so sweetly infused with his desire to share his faith.  He also brought his ex-wife to our annual church grill fest which was the first opportunity for many of us to meet her.  PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY for E., for discipleship and growth and for his ability to deal with the challenges that face him.


I., a young immigrant from eastern Europe was also a first-time visitor at the grill fest.  She has come to Germany on her own, no family or friends, with the hope of somehow obtaining a long-term working visa.  Seeking anyone who could help she looked for an immigrant orthodox church from her country.  Her knock on what she thought was the church door was answered by an older German man who informed her that, no, this was not a church but the home of his family.  Sensing that she was needy he asked about her situation.  He quickly decided to offer her a room in his aging mother’s home in exchange for household help.  Because he and his wife have occasionally attended the jazz

concerts in Jason’s Atelier, he knew of the German language class being offered for refugees and immigrants, advising her to attend.  She has been attending faithfully for a month.  At her first visit, Sue invited her to the grill fest – and she came – and then to church on the following Sunday – and she came.  We sense that she is very lonely and also very concerned about her long-term future in Germany.  The story ​continues.  Last week four young women arrived in Cologne for a summer internship with GEM.  They “happen” to be housed in the same part of the city as I.  At last week’s class Sue worked with I. and three of the interns on beginner German.  Close in age, the girls were able share a number of laughs and enjoyed the session which led to the exchange of contact information.  The interns met with I. just to chat and get to know each other last Sunday.  PLEASE PRAY for I.  God works in amazing ways.

And speaking of language class, aside from several long-term refugee participants, several new refugees are participating.  PLEASE PRAY for A. and O. from Syria, Z. from Afghanistan and F. and F. from Eritrea.  PLEASE PRAY for several additional German helpers for the language class.

PLEASE PRAY for the consultation for church planting in Germany in Hannover – June 18-19 that Jason was involved in planning. PRAY for a breakthrough in moving toward a shared vision and a church planting movement.

Jason turns 60 on July 1! Germans love to celebrate the big round number birthdays so we have invited over 60 people to help us celebrate the night before. It will be a grand mix of friends, neighbors, church family, volleyball group and GEM colleagues. Both of our boys are coming for the week as well, which is very exciting for us. PLEASE PRAY for a blessed celebration and Gospel conversations. PRAY that the believers present will be real salt and light to those who don’t yet know the Lord.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY for a more permanent church location.  Nothing in sight at the moment.  However, you have been praying and we have been witnesses to the outcome.  In the middle of it all is an incredible, almighty, sovereign and loving God who is at work.

Gratefully,

Jason and Sue

Dear Friends,

Are you still basking in the joy of the Resurrection?  We had wonderful time of celebrating with our church family as we remembered, worshiped and feasted together, starting on Thursday evening and ending Sunday afternoon.  It’s interesting to note that the celebration, the sense of euphoria, seemed to be lacking among the disciples after the Resurrection …

“Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberius.  It happened this way:  Simon Peter, Thomas …, Nathanael, from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.  “I’m going out to fish,“ Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.”  So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.”  John 21:1-3  

Although they had witnessed the empty grave and Jesus had physically joined them at least once before this account (and some of them possibly two or three times), they seem confused, down, and filled with uncertainty.  So much so, that Peter decides to go fishing.  Whether he was actually thinking of returning to his former life and work or that he just needed to busy himself as a distraction, as a way of coping – we don’t know.   Either way, the experience of the Resurrection had not yet translated into the transformation power of the Resurrection for the motley crew of disciples and followers of Jesus.  But the euphoria is yet to come – on Pentecost - with the amazing, life-giving, transformation power through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Did you know that Easter is culturally celebrated for 7 weeks in Germany?!  How awesome is that!  Each Sunday has a celebratory name and theme, starting with Easter and ending with Pentecost.  So, we are still celebrating ; ).  

This is a reminder to us that we are on a journey, both in our personal lives and our public and ministry lives.  And here we are in April 2018.  Our last letter to you was in December 2017 Sorry about the long pause.  As you all know, we were on the road for 7 weeks in September/October and then in November/December in the USA and Canada, visiting churches and supporters.  This was an intense time of travel and meetings.  We are thankful to report that our monthly support deficit has been reduced from $2700 to $400 a month.  Many of you also gave special gifts that transported us into the black.  Thank you so much.  It also was an intense and amazing time of conversation with many of you about our ministry.  We definitely felt God’s leading in these conversations.  We arrived home in early December and plunged into all the preparations for Christmas that had been left unattended while we were gone.  As we stopped to catch our breath, we both came to the realization that we were exhausted – and also the realization that we are catching up to our age – not quite able to produce the energy that was available to us 26 years ago when we arrived in Germany.

But, we continue to be very busy.  Sue has had a full teaching schedule at the State School for Public Administration and also was asked to lead a workshop in intercultural competence at our annual GEM Germany gathering.  Jason has juggled his roles as pastor, Cologne city leader, GEM Germany leadership team, and leadership on the newly resurrected (!) Consultation for Church Planting in Germany. 

And we are experiencing some setbacks that make us long for Pentecost moments.  E. has continued to deal with difficult family issues that are testing his faith.  The location that we were so hoping to rent as a stable church facility has fallen through.  PLEASE PRAY for these two requests.  Also PRAY for Sue’s ongoing teaching, presentation, and training assignments.  PRAY for the nation-wide Consultation for Church Planting event on June 18-19.  Yes, and also PRAY for physical health and wellbeing.  We are more convinced than ever of our calling and the current responsibilities that HE has given us for ministry.  Thank you for partnering and standing with us.

Thankfully,

Jason and Sue