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
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
