July 12, 2010

July 12, 2010

Dear Friends,

A typical day?!

It was a typical day - full of housework, deskwork, interruptions and procrastination.  I felt like I was a good hour behind my day's schedule - also typical. I threw on my sports clothes for the obligatory 40 minutes of power walking.  I always dread it beforehand but grudgingly do it regularly in an effort to manage my chronic back pain.  I needed to get moving in order to shower and dress in time for an evening appointment.   As I raced down the apartment stairwell I almost ran headlong into our neighbor, J.   She was heaving a suitcase up the stairs with a somewhat weary but satisfied look on her face.  After a day at the office she was finally home - but her day hadn't been quite so typical.  She had returned early that morning from a 10-day vacation in Israel with a friend.  Her flight had arrived in Cologne early enough to get a full day's work in and so she decided to go straight to the office.  Impressive!  I like J.  She usually has a smile on her face, is easy-going, uncomplicated, likes to party but knows how to work hard (carrying a lot of responsibility in her job) and she's a great neighbor.  Good neighbors are really something to be thankful for.  "Hi J!  Welcome home.  Did you have a good trip?" I let loose as I ran past her. "It was incredible", she puffed, as she reached her front door.  But instead of putting her key in the door she set her suitcase down and turned toward me.  This I hadn't expected.  With my hand on the front door handle I turned halfway in her direction.  And then she proceeded to tell me how truly overwhelming it had been to visit a country with such a long and significant history, including the convergence of three world religions.   I walked back towards her as a listened, two voices battling within me.  The one saying, "Go, Go, Go; you gotta Go!"  And the other one saying, "Let it go and listen".  I sighed and worked at being attentive.  She went on to relate that she had been surprisingly confronted with her lack of basic knowledge about Christianity, especially the facts regarding the events that had taken place at the many sites she had visited.  I wasn't quite sure what she meant by being surprised other than it was a reference to her having grown up in Christian Germany, including the usual religion classes in school and maybe in the Catholic or Lutheran church.   Since we have been neighbors, J. hasn't shown an interest in Christian spiritual things.  I would describe her as well educated and enlightened but also open minded.  I believe she has some interest in Buddhism and/or Hinduism.  As her weary shoulders slumped she told me she was looking forward to just doing a no-brainer in front of the TV that night but concluded by saying she need to do some reading up on Christianity and the life of Christ.  "Aha", I said and then immediately suggested that a good place to start would be the Gospel of St. Mark because he flies from one event to the next without a lot of commentary - good for getting an overview of the events - and it's a short book; only 15 chapters, that she could even read in one sitting.  She flashed her signature smile and thanked me for the suggestion.  I walked out the door and crossed the street to begin my walking route thinking what an unusual conversation that had been; just out of the blue and with J., which I never would have anticipated.  And then I started to tingle all over as I realized that the Spirit had been hovering around us.  As I picked up the pace I prayed for his continued work in her life - that she would open up her mind and soul to a better way; and for me - that I would open up my eyes and ears to discover his presence and work all around me.

The last 4 weeks in Colorado have been a whirlwind of activity - reconnecting with faithful supporters, our 5 supporting churches along the Front Range and making new acquaintances who might be interested in partnering with us in the ministry in Germany.  We are exhausted but thankful for God's leading and encouragement through so many of you.  As we prepare to return "home", we want to ask you to prayerfully consider  becoming a part of this ministry by praying, increasing your financial support or pledging to financially support us as a new partner.  We are still in need of $1,500 of monthly pledged support.  Would you consider committing to $30, $50, $100, $150, $200, or $300 a month?  We want to express a huge thanks to all who hosted us and to the many who have been partnering with us so faithfully over the years.

Click here if you would like to give or give more.
Your partners for Germany,
Jason and Sue

May 25 2010

Dear Friends,

Here is our overdue update.

PURPLE SHOES AND AN iPHONE BLESSING

 

It was a nice warm evening and there were about 50 of us gathered out on the street and sidewalk in front of S's apartment. S is a model, fitness guru, DJ and a TV shopping channel personality. She had invited us to a party she was throwing simply because she had bought a new car and wanted to celebrate. I offered to say a blessing over her and her car and she jumped at the offer. She said that she had never had anyone speak a blessing over her before in her life. I chose the wonderful words of Psalm 121:2-8:

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life;

the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Finally the time came and S turned the music off and handed me the microphone. The guests gathered around us and her new little Fiat and I asked her to hold my iPhone so I could read the blessing while I dipped my thumb in olive oil and annointed her forehead and prayed for her.

We really didn't know that many people but after the blessing I had numerous very interesting conversations. I am not sure if it was because of my new purple shoes or the fact that I read the blessing from my iPhone or maybe because I am American - but I was asked several times "Are you really a Pastor?" -- an open door for me to share about my faith. I was able to invite several people to come to our next church service as well. At one point one group of people waved me over and asked me to explain what happened on Pentacost - which is a national holiday in Germany. What a joy it was for me to share with them in a perfectly natural way, starting of course with Jesus death and resurrection, ascension and then Pentacost and the hope we have within us!

PRAYER TEAM IMPACT

It was an amazing and exhausting week (May 8-14) with the prayer team from Sue's home church in Ontario. We prayed through the streets of Cologne and met and prayed with reps from 5 different church plants in the area. You can't imagine what it meant for us to have them come because they were experiencing our context first hand, they began to really share our burden for the people of Cologne - to cry with us for the lost. Our German partners were overcome with this act of service. Instead of coming with a finished program and all the answers, these people came to listen and to pray. The language barrier dissolved as we poured out our hearts to God. It was so encouraging for us and for the German church planters we partner with. It might be an exhausting prospect, but I would love to have a constant flow of teams like this coming over. Thank you so much to the people of Calvary Baptist Church for sending us this team. Who's next?

MEETING WITH MEN: June 11

On May 9 we attended a birthday party of some dear German friends of ours (M and G, both lawyers) who we have been sharing the Gospel with. Toward evening I had a fantastic talk with R, a fellow that I had not yet gotten to know very well. He is a successful dentist/surgeon. After asking him if he minded giving me a little dental advice on his day off, he proceeded to ask me if I minded talking a little bit about the current situation in the Catholic Church from my perspective as a Free Church Pastor. The dialog that resulted was amazing as we discussed the claims of Christ and how our faith can impact us in our roles especially as fathers and husbands. He had never really heard the Gospel before and wants to talk more. He and M and I decided that we needed to get together regularly to continue talking about these things. We are going to meet on June 11, possibly inviting 1 or 2 other men to join us. Please pray for wisdom and boldness and that I would love these men as passionately as Christ does.

TREK TEAM IN COLOGNE: June 1-15

TREK stands for Tangible Minsitry, Real Relationships, Extreme Adventure, Kingdom Advancing; 9 weeks, 3 countries and 1 team. After attending boot camp,  the team will travel to Europe and partner with Greater Europe Missionaries (GEM) and nationals. In each of the three country locations, they will be engaged in tangible ministry while engaging in real relationships with their team, the missionaries on the ground and the nationals they will be serving. We hope they will catch a vision for what God is doing in Europe and bring hope to a lost generation, while having a blast doing it.

Preparations have been heating up. God has opened doors so that the team (6 college/grad school age students) will be spending time in various high school English classes in the area. Hopefully through these classes, they will start building relationships and be able to engage with the students after school in a park or the Christian Youth Café we are partnering with. They will also spend time on the University campus doing a survey in English in an attempt to get into conversations with the students there. Also planned are a couple of events at the youth café in conjunction with the soccer World Cup.

Please pray for the TREK team and pray for us as we provide the ultimate leadership for those 2 weeks. Pray for lives to be changed and for many young people to put their trust in Christ.

COLORADO TRIP: June 16 - July 11

We will be in Colorado to visit our 5 supporting churches there as well as numerous individual supporters. We are looking forward to connecting and sharing personally about what God is doing in Germany. If you would like to host a dinner party with some of your friends at which we can share about our life and ministry - please let us know. Please pray that God would give us strength for this trip coming on the heals of such an intense month of ministry. Pray also that our support shortfall would be eliminated through our encounters.

Your partners for Germany,

Jason and Sue

Movement in Germany!

March 23, 2010

Dear Friends,
There are few things that excite us more than getting together with other church planters,  to share stories and talk and pray about new opportunities and challenges. It's hard to top that - except - to meet with a group of young Germans that God has called together to plant their very first church. They are motivated and passionate and asking God exactly where they should move to. They are from all over Germany and together with their leader, Stephan, are meeting every 6 weeks in a different city to spend the day with local Christian leaders and getting to know the city. Stephen contacted me to see if I had time to spend with them on February 20. What a surprise when later that day, I got an email from Bjorn and Andrea, a young couple who graduate from Bible School this year, to see if I had time for them on February 20 to talk about them moving to Cologne to get involved in our church plant (www.koelnprojekt.de) while Bjorn pursues further studies here. We all ended up having a great lunch downtown followed by a time of prayer outside the cathedral for Cologne and for God's direction in their lives.

On March 12-14 we held our yearly GEM German field retreat, this time in a castle about 2 hours south of Cologne.  In addition to some limited business and planning sessions most of the time was devoted to fellowship, sharing and praying for one another. With children and a couple who came to minister to them, we were a total of 50 people this year. What a privilege it is for Sue and me to work with such a group of dedicated, gifted and fun group of missionaries. God is using them to have an impact on this country for His Kingdom. Please pray for me as I seek to challenge, nurture and lead them.

The day after the field retreat I was up early to head to the two day Consultation for Church Planting near Frankfurt. God used our special guest, Øivind Augland, from Norway as he shared with us about all the churches that have been planted through multiple denominations over the last decade in Norway. After learning how things began to move in Norway through a national congress with ministry leaders and practitioners - the 29 German participants in the room began to dream in new ways of how a movement could maybe begin in Germany. We immediately began planning a similar national congress for 2013. Please pray about this idea with us. We need to be certain that God is in it. We will need to form a working committee by this fall. Pray that God will work in the hearts of key denominational and ministry leaders so that they will not only attend but get behind this project. Please pray also that we will be able to recruit several key German business leaders to sponsor and promote the congress.

The church plant in Cologne has entered a new phase as we recently went through the difficult process of having one couple leave the start team. As things have been progressing this last year, it became more and more clear that some of our core values were not in alignment, leading to ongoing misunderstandings and stress. Although the separation has been difficult, we can see God's hand at work on many levels and are grateful that the situation didn't  explode. God helped us to part ways in a healthy way; blessing one another as we move on in separate directions. Praise God with us for that and pray that God will lead us clearly as we regroup and move forward.

 Rejoicing in the hope of resurrection,

Jason and Sue

PS: Please pray for our urgent financial situation. Some of you will be receiving a letter soon about this from the president of GEM, Henry Deneen.

February update

February 4, 2010

Dear Friends,
Yesterday the door to our parking garage got stuck. This changed the day for us and most of our neighbors as well. Our cars were held captive underground. Either we had to alter our plans, or at the very least our mode of transportation. Luckily we have excellent public transportation here. Some of us had to get creative. Others had to just do without. Fortunately the repairmen came today and were able to open the door and order the parts to get it permanently fixed.

Often in our ministry we have had the door get stuck and have had to get creative and change our plans. We often pray that God would either open or close doors for us so that we can know how He is leading us. But I am not sure that we are always very sensitive to the fact that He is closing the door. Instead we react by getting frustrated or looking for ways to get through the door by force. Ministry by force is probably never a very good idea. How often have we made plans, believing that God was in them, only to eventually see Him lead us in a completely different direction?
Actually, we do possess a force that can open closed doors. That force is persistent prayer. Jesus even admonished us to keep knocking at the door of heaven until the Father responds and gives us what we are asking for. We would like to ask you anew this year to join us in persistently praying for God to break through the spiritual darkness in Germany and grant us much spiritual fruit. Please pray with us:

- for our current church plant, Cologne-Project. Pray that our guests would go from being attenders to committed, reproducing disciples of Jesus. Pray that the networking we are doing with influential people from the art, design and business scene in Cologne would bear fruit. Pray that God's word would take root in people's hearts through our liturgical worship services and our small group ministry. Pray for unity and grace in our start team.

- for the GEM German field retreat March 12-14. Pray for me (Jason) as I lead this. It is mainly a time of sharing and praying and encouraging one another. We also will be doing some strategic planning.

- for the Consultation for Church Planting meetings on March 15-16 with special guest, Øivind Augland, from Norway who will be telling us about an actual church planting movement there. We want to learn from what God is doing in Norway and discuss and pray about principles that could apply in Germany. It is exciting to hear stories of movement occurring in modern Europe!

- Pray for God to provide in an astonishing way financially for two exciting, vital, cutting-edge ministries our GEMers are leading in Cologne. Cafe 362 is located within walking distance of 4 different schools and from the day they opened this last fall the kids are coming - many of them hearing about God's love for the first time in their lives. Pray for provision and the blessing of fruit. DBKunst is the new studio of Dave Byers, artist. He is a gifted potter and photographer and has opened his doors to all who would enter - telling stories of restoration and the gospel through his work. Pray for the needed funding for keeping this shop open.

Thank you so much for standing with us at God's door and knocking!

Yours,
Jason and Sue

Merry Christmas from Jason and Sue!

Dear Friends,

    The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.  They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.   Isaiah 60:1-3

    Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.  Luke 4:21

According to Henry Drummond, this is the Program of Christianity.  Upon reading Jesus message our hearts rejoice in their personal application even as we look around and see cause for despair in the great need and work that is yet to be accomplished.  Let's join hands as we proclaim the Gospel of hope and do the work of salvation.

Christ Jesus is born - Emanuel, God with us.

Joy to the World!

_____________________________________________________

As we write this Sue's father, Reuben Goertz (83) is in the ICU in Tulsa with several of his organs faltering. Please pray for him and the entire family. In the midst of this worry, we are excited as we count the days until Roy, Sam and Heidi come home to Cologne for the holidays. It has been 2 years since we last saw Sam and Heidi.

Thank you so much for standing with us as you pray and give.

finding hope in the Savior,

Jason and Sue

PS: Please pass on these links to your college age friends and family. Two exciting opportunities to serve the Lord in Europe next year: TREK: www.gemtrek.org

EXPLORE: www.gemexplore.com.

PPS: As the year draws to a close and you consider your budget for 2010 - would you prayerfully consider supporting us financially, either with a special gift or with a pledge of regular support? Perhaps you have been giving to our ministry and would like to increase the amount or send a special gift to help us out. Click here to download a faith promise pledge or click here to fill out GEM's secure online form.

November 9 - a significant day

November 9, 2009

Dear friends,
Today is the 20th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall. There is much talk about this in Germany with lots of television coverage and events celebrating this amazing event and the peaceful revolution that led to it. Unfortunately, most accounts fail to give enough credit to the role churches played in toppling the East German regime. The prayer and candlelight vigils for peace at the historic Lutheran church in Leipzig were the main catalyst that led to the toppling of the Wall. For years people on both sides of the iron curtain didn't dare to hope for it. As the groundswell grew, so did the tension and fear of violence. In my opinion, the only explaination for the lack of a bloody crackdown is God. In His sovereignty, he responded to the prayer of thousands and moved to break through what many thought was a hopeless situation.

Prayer is a force that we haven't even begun to understand. When the almighty God responds to our prayer, mountains move and walls come tumbling down! On this historic day, as your missionaries to Germany, we want to ask you to PRAY as you never have before for God to BREAK THROUGH the spiritual darkness that prevails in this important country at the center of the new Europe. PLEASE PRAY for His will to be done in Germany as it is in heaven! PRAY that thousands of people will turn their hearts to Him and that a second reformation will sweep through Germany and all of Europe and on to the rest of the world.

Yours for His Kingdom,
Jason and Sue

PS: In Germany, when talking about dates, we put the day before the month; just the oppisite as in North America. In Germany, today is 9-11-2009. Interesting, isn't it? On this significant day, please pray with us for a BREAKTHROUGH!

PPS: As the year draws to a close and you consider your budget for 2010 - would you prayerfully consider supporting us financially, either with a special gift or with a pledge of regular support? Perhaps you have been giving to our ministry and would like to increase the amount or send a special gift to help us out. Click here to download a faith promise pledge or click here to fill out GEM's secure online form.

Update from Ontario!

October 28, 2009

Dear Friends,
As we mentioned in our last update, it has been 3 years since our last Home Ministry Assignment so we have decided to take 3 shorter trips over the next year to the different areas in which we have a concentration of churches and friends who support us. We are currently mid-way through our first trip to Ontario and the Detroit area October 15 - November 18. Thank you for praying for us. We started out the trip with both of us being quite sick - to the point of having to cancel some of our meetings in Oshawa. I recovered quickly, but Sue has been struggling for some time, but I am pleased to say that she is now feeling better. Please pray for a full recovery.

Due to the continued weak dollar and the recession, we have a monthly shortfall of $1500. That is the main reason for this trip.

As the year draws to a close and you consider your budget for 2010 - would you prayerfully consider supporting us financially, either with a special gift or (more importantly for us) with a pledge of regular support? Perhaps you have been giving to our ministry and would like to increase the amount or send a special gift to help us out. Click here to download a faith promise pledge form or click on and print out the form at the bottom of this email to send in your pledge. Or click here to fill out GEM's secure online form.

After almost 18 years of ministry in Europe, we are humbled and grateful for all that God has done and for how He has provided so faithfully through people like you. Thank you.

Your missionaries to Germany,
Jason and Sue

September 22, 2009

Dear Friends,
A hopeless case... Those were the first words of my sermon about the 10 lepers Jesus healed (Luke 17:11-19) In those days, there was no cure for leprosy. People who contracted this awful disease were banned to the outskirts of town to a lonely existence of suffering. These 10 pitiful men cried out to Jesus to have mercy on them. In their hopelessness and great need they believed in the one who could fulfill their need like no other.

I finished the message with an illustration about the sweet spot on a golf club. When you find the sweet spot on your driver with the golfball you know it immediately. It feels so good. There are no extra vibrations; just a lovely PING and the ball sails perfectly down the fairway. For a moment, all is right with the world! There is no spot like the sweet spot.

The same is true in life. The sweet spot in life is the exact point where we recognize our hopelessness, our need, and allow God to fill it. It is the place in our existence where we recognize that we cannot, but He can! It is the spot where the creature reconnects with the creator. And like the one leper who came back to thank Jesus, the PING in our lives is the sound of our thanks and worship. The sweet spot. That's where we want to live our lives.

There were 40+ people at our CologneProject service on Sep. 13. Many of them were there to see Ralf and Julia's little Theo be dedicated - like Ralf's two bosses. How was I to know that they play golf, and know all about the sweet spot. One of them said he found the whole service so good that he plans on returning and bringing friends!

Praise God with us for the lives that were touched that day. Pray that God would continue to work in the hearts of those who came. Pray that we would be wise and bold as we engage with those from our individual networks at other social gatherings. One of our dearest friends who we have shared much with is opening a new store downtown and we have been invited to an opening night party. Pray for good encounters and open hearts.

Our field is growing. Emilee Head arrives in Cologne on Sep 23. Emilee will be helping us with the church plant and be looking for ways to reach out to the homosexual community in Cologne with the healing love of Jesus. Please pray especially for a good apartment she can share with a roommate.

Please also be praying for the upcoming City Mentoring Program (CMP) conference on Oct. 2 in Berlin with 70+ participants. CMP is program to train and mentor men and women, who have a strong passion, the potential, and mix of personality, ability, education, and spiritual gifts, to lead major city church plants - or more correctly, major city church planting movements - in city centers of German-speaking Europe. This is the first time we are bringing together participants from around the country for a day of training and vision casting. I will be taking part in a panel discussion with several other veteran church planters. Please pray especially for Stephen Beck as he leads this conference and ministry.

It has been 3 years since our last Home Ministry Assignment. Instead of coming home for 3-6 months, we have decided to take 3 shorter trips over the next year to the different areas in which we have a concentration of churches and friends who support us. Please pray for our upcoming trip to Ontario and the Detroit area October 15 - November 18. Pray for safe travels and that God would go before us. We need quite a bit of new financial support as we have lost support due to the recession and continue to suffer under a very weak dollar. Let us know if you want to get together while we are in your area!

Your missionaries to Germany,
Jason and Sue

more pictures from our July 5 service

Prayermail 20 July 09

July 20, 2009

Dear Friends,
We had 20+ people at our CologneProject service on July 5 - a warm summer day. This being our third monthly service, we were more relaxed about our liturgy but intense about lovingly preparing everything carefully to honor God and inspire our guests to worship with us. This time we had 2 musicians: Abel, the Spanish guitarist who participated in June, accompanied our singing and Dorothee, a relative of one of our team members, travelled up from Frankfurt to perform on her Cello doing several pieces throughout the service and playing quietly during communion. The acoustics were ideal and her music filled the room, even drawing tears from some it was so beautiful!

I preached on Luke 6 about logs and splinters. Why did Jesus always have such hard words for us - calling us hypocrites and like the blind leading the blind. The answer: His great love for us. He wants us to recognize the truth about ourselves so that we can grow. He relentlessly pursues us, never giving up on us because he wants so much more for us! He paints a picture of a people who don't judge or condemn each other and who forgive each other and are so generous with each other that the blessing will overflow - pressed down, shaken together and running over! After the service we had a delicious meal in the courtyard and enjoyed getting to know the guests that came.


One of our values is to do everything simply but well. During the next weeks we will be working on getting our web site up and running and starting to plan a retreat for October - inviting about 30 believers and not-yet-believers to join us. Included will be morning devotions, evening vespers, cooking together and having significant times of fellowship at the table and a special interactive session to discuss the claims of Christ. Please pray for us as we plan. Pray that God would already be moving in the hearts of those He wants to attend.

After a two month wait, we have finally received notice from the German authorities, that the CologneProject received official non-profit status! This is another milestone in the development of the church plant for which we are grateful.

Because of lacking financial support, we are planning a 4 week fund raising trip to Ontario starting mid October. The recession has hit us hard. Last month we had to take a 30% salary cut. Ouch! Please pray for us in this regard - and give if you can. Thanks.

Your missionaries to Germany

Jason and Sue

invitation to the next KölnProjekt service this Sunday

Prayermail June 25

June 25, 2009

Dear Friends, Thank you for praying for our second CologneProject worship service on June 7. The service went really well. The atmosphere was great and the meal afterward was delicious. 24 people attended service.

Check out this story on the GEM website about a couple we met the week before at an Italian restaurant who came to the service!

Please pray for our next service on July 5. Abel, the young Spanish guitarist who was referred to us, had such a good time on June 7 that he was more than willing to come back and accompany our singing next time. We have also invited a cellist to perform several solos. We are praying for at least 30 people to come. Pray for me as I prepare my sermon on Logs and Splinters (Luke 6:36-42). Pray that the neighbors and friends we are inviting will come and sense God's love and presence and respond to His word.

Our City Mentoring Program group has it's last meeting this Friday in the form of a celebration meal in our home. Please pray for the 10 participants and the potential of at least 4 new church plants they represent. Pray for us as we seek to follow up with them, encourage them and mentor them. Pray also for the contacts we have had for our next group which will start in the fall.

We try hard to avoid talking about money in our updates but feel compelled to do so this time. This is the second month in the last 3 that we have had a significant reduction in our GEM salary and have not been able to be reimbursed for our incurred ministry expenses. God is working in our ministry as never before. There are so many open doors and exciting opportunities! We are 100% dependent on God providing through His people and churches in North America. If you are able to send in a special gift, pledge to begin support or increase the amount you already give - now would be a good time! Please let us know if you can help.

God bless you.

Loving Greetings,

Jason and Sue

June 6 Prayermail

June 6, 2009

Dear Friends,

Please pray for our second CologneProject worship service tomorrow (June 7) at 11:00 am German time. Our first service on May 3, with 22 in attendance, went well considering how stiff and nervous we all were. There was also some tension afterward in regard to my gospel sermon. Some thought that I came on too strong. We are working through that but in the mean time we are excited about the service tomorrow. The theme is: God's extravagant love (1. John 4:7-12) We have a Spanish guitarist doing music and a German actress doing the scripture and dramatic readings. Combine that with an American preacher (yours truly!) and we have a very international flair.

Pray that those we have invited will actually come. Pray for unity and a spirit of love and grace. Pray that God will speak to all of us and that many will stay for the dinner we are providing afterward. Fellowship around the table is key to building relationships and engaging with people on a heart level.

Thank you for standing with us as we seek a breakthrough in Cologne.

Loving Greetings,

Jason and Sue

Prayermail 27. April 2009

April 27, 2009

Dear Friends,

Please pray for our first CologneProject worship service set for May 3 at 11:00 am. After almost a full year of planning, praying, laughing and dreaming it is hard to believe the time has come. We are very thankful for the 3 other creative couples who have joined us on this journey. As we began planning this first service we had the opportunity to teach our German friends the expression "where the rubber meets the road". The differences in our backgrounds and expectations were uncovered as we went from discussing our liturgy to actually deciding on what elements we want included in our first service. We are very excited about this and are getting encouraging confirmation from the very people we hope to reach. We have commissioned a communication designer to design a logo and corporate design for our printed material and web site. As he interviewed us to get a feeling for what we are all about he became quite animated and ended up giving us a price well below half of the market value for his work. The owner of our rental location is granting the rooms free-of-charge for this first service. At a recent party celebrating the new offices of our architect couple, we spoke with several different influential business people who were very interested in what we are doing and plan on coming to check it out. Please pray for the many remaining details that need to be covered before Sunday. Pray that God would be glorified this weekend and that people would be inspired to put their faith in Him and join us in giving Him glory.

To begin with we are planning 4 monthly services to be held in a restored factory building. The space is normally used for various kinds of receptions, business or artistic events. We have decided that we want to do a soft start without advertising, simply inviting a few friends and neighbors. We need to practice our liturgical style and don't want to put ourselves under too much pressure. During this time, we will be working with our designer to get our web site functional and contacting musicians and artists to make guest appearances in our services. This Sunday we have the joy of having our friend Floria Nica, a concert guitarist, playing for us. If we feel that we are ready, we are thinking of planning a grand opening for September to which we will invite many more people including business leaders and dignitaries.

Please also be praying for our next house concert on May 16 with our colleague Durand Robinson who has a wonderful, folksy voice and musical style of story telling. We already have several neighbors and friends who said they want to come. Pray for good connections as we mix our church friends with our other friends.

Thank you for standing with us as we seek a breakthrough in Cologne.

Loving Greetings,

Jason and Sue

February update

February 18, 2009

Praying for a breakthrough

Last month Sue and I celebrated the 17th anniversary of our arrival in Germany. We are grateful for all that the Lord has done; for the people who have come to faith and the churches that have been planted. We are thankful but not satisfied. Germany remains a very needy mission field.

Recently our mission leadership approached us with an idea that we immediately embraced. Cologne has been named a "breakthrough" city by our mission, along with Sophia, Bulgaria. The 9 GEMers who live here have been praying intensely about what a breakthrough in Cologne might look like. The vision God has begun to reveal to us is to see His Kingdom breaking through the spiritual darkness in Cologne through a movement of rapidly reproducing churches. We are urgently asking God for thousands of new and growing Jesus followers across Cologne. To start with, we are on a manhunt for at least 100 Persons of Peace (Luke 10) who would then be a part of the planting of scores of new churches.

Prayer is not just the basis of breakthrough but our primary strategy. In order to see breakthrough, we ask you to join us and pray persistently and unashamedly until God acts. To that end, we have begun a new wave of prayer walking in Cologne. Going out two by two, at least twice a week and simply praying; praying for the people we see, for the schools, hospitals and businesses we pass. And as God leads us, we are engaging with people along the way, offering to pray for them and trying to discover if they are open to spiritual things and hoping to ascertain whether they are a person of peace or not.

Breakthrough cannot be achieved on our own. We desperately need to mobilize and partner with existing churches, local believers, and students passionate about church planting, and other Mission focused groups - both European and North American.

Our aim is to recruit and train national as well as international young people to plant churches, offering them a 1-2 year internship. The initial focus will be prayer walking, and connecting with people of peace - with expansion to disciple making and church planting.

Recruiting multiple short-term teams from North American churches that will come for 1-2 weeks and join with us in prayer walking and finding persons of peace is also a part of the strategy. We also hope to recruit many more long-term church planters to move to Cologne.

Please pray with us as we enter this new and exciting phase of ministry. We expect great things from God.

Also, please continue to pray for our other church planting efforts:

The liturgical church plant in Cologne: We had hoped to hold our first service on March 1 but have decided to postpone. We just need more time to formulate our shared values and to determine what our liturgy will look like.

City Mentoring Program: There are 11 people participating in our present phase 1 group. We meet every 3 weeks for a 3-hour session to discuss the various aspects of church planting. Our most recent session on Monday was all about developing a philosophy of ministry. It is energizing to be speaking into these people's lives. One couple drives 3 hours from northern Germany to participate.

New Missionaries! We have had three new missionaries arrive on the field and another 3 expected still this year. God is answering our prayers for more workers to join in the harvest! Please pray for these people as they go through huge adjustments living in a different culture and learning the language.

The next consultation for church planting is scheduled for March 23-24, our first 2-day meeting. We have the privilege of having Michael Frost speak to us. He is the co-author of a fascinating book on post-modern missions: "The shaping of things to come." This book is really challenging my thinking and I highly recommend it.

Thank you for standing with us.

Your missionaries to Germany,
Jason and Sue

Christmas 2008

October Prayer Letter

October 20, 2008

Dear Friends,
The Lord is giving us so many new opportunities to reach the German people we love, through church planting and evangelism. We want to ask you to pray intensly that God would move in a powerful way. We invite you to join us and thousands of others on Thursday, October 23, for a special day of prayer for Europe. Please go to www.GEMission.org/pray/strategic and check out the strategic and current prayer requests with pictures.

Here are some things that we especially want you to pray for:

- Pray for the cell phone film brainstorming meeting on November 2. Pray that God would give us an excellent idea.

- Praise God for the good attendance at the first two monthly worship services in Hennef. I will be preaching there on November 9 on the subject "What if God were silent?"

- Praise God for the 20 German participants at our first City Mentoring Program recruiting/training day on October 10. Pray that many of these experienced church planters would catch the vision to multiply themselves by signing up to be mentors for young church planters.

- Pray for the third Consultation for Church Planting set for November 24 in Frankfurt. Pray that this meeting of key church planting leaders would result in concrete steps toward a church planting movement in Germany.

- Continue praying for our liturgical church plant in Cologne. We have set a target date of March 1 for our first service. There is still much preparation work to be done until then. Pray for unity as we discuss our shared values and for God to lead us to just the right place to hold our services.

In an effort to increase the intensity and level of strategic prayer we would like to challenge you to consider organizing a small prayer team of 5-8 people and come over for a week of intense prayer in Germany. The week would include strategic prayer walks in and around Cologne and informational prayer meetings with our German led church planting teams in the area. If you are interested, please let us know.

Your missionaries to Germany,

Jason and Sue

september update 2008

Here is your update in video form. Enjoy

July Prayermail

July 27, 2008

Dear Friends,
Last Tuesday I met with two German Christian media talents to discuss ideas for a new way to use cell phone and internet technology to spread the Gospel in German speaking Europe and eventually all of Europe. Andreas Kranzler is an independent filmmaker that I know from our former church in Cologne. Chris Cuhls is a multi-talented young media producer who has worked on major secular and Christian productions. It was exciting to see how we shared values related to excellence, cultural relevance, risk taking, etc. A joint vision began to emerge for producing an evangelistic series of short films (2-3 minutes) targeting 18-28 year old Germans in a format that can be played on and easily forwarded to cell phones and video ipods and also platforms like blogs and youtube. We envision the segments to be intelligent and catchy, with touches of irony and humor but dealing with issues that are on the minds of young people today and with just enough bait to get people excited about catching the following episode.

We are planning on meeting again at the end of August and inviting several more creative people including a couple of screenplay authors to brainstorm potential story concepts. We think it is important to include people who themselves are in the target age group - including several non-christians on the project would also be helpful in challenging the message and keeping us relevant.

I am excited about the potential this project can have for reaching 20 somethings in Germany and Europe for Christ - using cutting edge technology that can propagate and spread like wildfire. My role is one of catalyst and networker with maybe some creative input. Please pray that God will give us excellent ideas and people of excellence who will want to work on this with us.

QuarterChurch
Our startteam is becoming increasingly excited as the vision for the church comes into focus. We are discovering shared values and, to top it off, we like each other! Please pray for Monika & Reinhard, Ralf & Julia, Magnus & Christine and us. Pray that God would give us a spiritual unity out of which would flow much energy and power for our work. At a recent conference we learned about a theory for speeding up the conversion process. For most Germans the decision to trust Christ is a process that often takes years. The theory is that the more Christians one gets to know, the faster the process becomes. He/she sees and experiences more of Jesus in each life and the Christians, in turn, begin to love and pray for this person. To this end, we have developed a VIP list on which each of us has included several friends. We have begun praying for each others friends and are planning at least one party or event each month so that we can get to know them. In June it was Reinhard's birthday. On July 31 it will be Monika's birthday party. On August 30 Ralf and Julia will be having an open house in their new apartment. We would especially like you to pray about the Hauskonzert we are hosting in our apartment on August 22 to which we have invited all our neighbors and a few other friends. Floria is a Romanian Christian who is studying classical guitar in Cologne and coming to our new small group. She will be performing along with a friend of hers from the music school. We already have some neighbors who have said they will be coming.

Please continue praying:
Pray for Sascha and Anke Rützenhof who will be moving to their target city of Mönchengladbach Septemer 1. Pray that their core group would continue to grow in size and unity.

Pray for Adam Gascho and his team "Cologne in Motion" as they contemplate making a big change toward a house church model. Pray for courage and faith but also for lot's of love and grace as they discuss this change.

Pray for the church planting team in Hennef. They are due to begin holding monthly public worship services in September. Pray that God will bless them with a good place to meet and that many new people in Hennef will be touched with the Gospel. Pray for continued unity and joy in the leadership team of Wolfgang and Petra, Paul and Anna.

Pray for Uli and Nanja Thomas as they move to Rheinbach this summer to start up as associate pastor at the Ev. Free Church with a view to work toward a daughter church plant in nearby Euskirchen. Uli is a participant in the City Mentoring Program. We recommended him to Pastor Andreas Hildebrandt a few months ago. Praise God for how he worked in the church body to call Uli and Nanja to come even though the church initially was not looking for an associate pastor!

Thank you so much for standing with us in prayer and support as we minister with and reach out to the great German people.

Your missionaries to Germany,
Jason and Sue

May Prayermail

May 27, 2008

Dear Friends,
Lately we have felt like kids – full of visions and dreams and cool ideas; high-fiving each other in the kitchen for the latest enhancement of the plan. The last few weeks have been exhilarating and exhausting! Here is the latest:

www.viertelkirche.de

Don’t bother clicking on that link yet because there isn’t anything there yet. We just recently reserved this Webaddress. ViertelKirche means QuarterChurch. God has been deepening and expanding our vision for a high church – free church from one church to 86 – one for every neighborhood, or quarter, of Cologne. We believe that there should be a witnessing fellowship within reach of every person in town.

Thank you for praying about this. Since we wrote last, we have had 2 small group meetings with 4 of us at the first and 6 at the second one. We are using the ancient practice of “lectio divina” in which we read the same passage of scripture 4 times with reflection and sharing in between. It has been encouraging to experience how God speaks through His word – without a lot of commentary.

God has also led 3 other couples to join with us to form a start team. From the outset, it has been important to us to set the right tone so we have each shared 3 names of people we know and would like to pray for – people we want to invite to come into a relationship with God and into the new church. Then, as we envisioned these people actually coming to faith and attending church – we read Luke 15 where Jesus tells three parables illustrating how important the lost are to him. After that we spent some time praying for these people.

Please pray that God would give us courage and unity as we begin to work with the start team to sharpen our vision and determine our shared values and formulate a mission statement.


Consultation for Church Planting

On April 14 the second German Consultation for Church Planting took place in Frankfurt. Thank you for praying. There were 24 people in attendance representing many of the national church planting ministries and denominations in Germany. It was a great day of seeing such a diverse group of people come together in a spirit of unity. After some good discussion, we unanimously approved a mission statement, vision statement and strategy. This is what we came up with:
Mission Statement: The consultation fosters church planting in Germany through cooperation at a leadership level of State Churches, Free Churches, Ministries and Movements on the basis of the Lausanne Movement.
Vision: Saturate Germany together with living churches.
Strategy: Networking, Learning, Research and Goal Setting.

We agreed together that we don't want to just talk and discuss strategies. We realize how much we need to do it in the power of Jesus. We don't want to say that lightly but want to also be much in prayer together as we meet.

We scheduled future meetings for Monday 24, November in Frankfurt and then again from 23-24 March, 2009, in Kirchheim for a two day consultation including a guest speaker. We are trying to book Michael Frost - Founding Director of Centre for Evangelism & Global Mission at Morling Theological College in Sydney and well known expert on reaching Post-Christian cultures.

It is exciting for me to be involved in the steering committee for this. It is hard to say at this point where this is all headed but we sense that God is moving as these various groups are willing to work together and focus on what we have in common (which is much) rather than on our differences (which are few).

Your missionaries to Germany,
Jason and Sue