September 2015 update

A relentless flow of refugees is inundating Germany, which has proven to be the most generous European country, taking in hundreds of thousands. Our hearts go out to these people, all who have an individual story to tell. Very few of them speak German, so we have decided to offer beginner German classes in my atelier. In July I advertised that I was looking for local volunteers to teach German, inviting those interested to come to an informational meeting on July 28. I set up 6 chairs around the table, thinking that would be a great start. I was overwhelmed when in the end 15 people attended! There was so much good will in the room that night. Now we are offering 2 classes a week teaching a total of 20 refugees from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia. Relationships are being built with both the volunteers and the refugees. As trust grows, spiritual conversations have occurred and it is just a matter of time until we can begin inviting people to church. Please pray for strength and stamina and opportunities to share the gospel.
 
The neighborhood is watching as we connect with so many refugees, treating them with respect and love. Most people are very positive and appreciative that we are doing this. But not everyone. The neighbor directly above my atelier has complained all along - mostly about noise from my concerts. Recently after some of the refugee kids had visited me and started doing some hip-hop and break dancing for maybe 15-20 minutes - he wrote another one of his poisonous emails and took things up a notch - threatening to do everything in his power to get me evicted. It's very frustrating as he refuses to talk with me face to face. He just sends emails. Well, I have since blocked his address so I will no longer be seeing those. There really isn’t anything he can do. He’s never even called the police as he knows I am well within my rights.

Last week another reclusive neighbor who basically keeps to himself walked out of the house as the refugees were out in front taking a break from German class. There was also a volunteer there who heard him let out a string of racial slurs as he went by. Please pray for these men. Also pray for peace in my heart and inner strength to persevere.


In early August, we facilitated an art outreach with former colleague, Leah Heinemann, which went very well resulting in making friends with several neighbors I hadn’t met yet. Accompanying Leah were her daughter Elly and husband Dan Maclean.  Elly and Dan met while doing mission work in Afghanistan, working there for 7 years. They moved back to the US a couple of years ago but feel God calling them to Germany to work with refugees. We felt God drawing us together while they were here.  They recently informed us that they have decided to come to Cologne to work with refugees and our small church plant. We are very excited about this development. Pray that God would enable them to come soon - maybe as early as next spring.
 
Our search for a new location for our church services continues. We had high hopes about renting the fellowship hall of a catholic church not too far from our present location but the church council voted against the proposition.  This is very disappointing for us since our meeting with the priest was so positive and he seemed to think that we would be approved. Please pray that God would provide us with a suitable meeting place soon where we can also offer children’s church.
 
Please pray in general for our church plant. We have seen little growth. In fact we recently said goodbye to one of our core couples who has moved out of town and will be looking for a new church home in their area. Please pray that God would draw people to himself and to our church. We long to see men, women, boys and girls come to faith, be baptized and lead others to faith.

In Christ,
Jason and Sue