Well, here I am late once again for a blog update. I want to keep up steady posts, but sometimes life feels like it is on autopilot. It is not that nothing is happening; it is just that often it does not feel like it is “story worthy.” All along, my intention here has been to intersperse current events with stories from the journey so far in the first term. That way you will be able to read about people and things happening, but also get some background on who these people are and how we have come to be where we are. So this post is a heads up for what you will see in some of the future posts. Think of these stories as a combination newspaper/history book. I will always make it clear which is which.
But, today we will be posting a “Briefs” column. What are the little things that have been going on?
A couple Germans on our leadership team for the new church plant (Netzwerk Gemeinde) went to a training weekend to learn about some new material available to us. It is a curriculum for training new leaders that gives people the basics of a theological/ministerial education in two years. They are so excited about this stuff. We have been looking for such a program and this one landed right in our laps. The material is newly translated into German, and it looks like we might get to be the pilot program!
God has been working on the Netzwerk Gemeinde membership. We lost a few people when we divided up into three cells, but we expected that and knew it needed to happen. Now several new faces have appeared: some new Christians, some Christians new to our part of the world, and some atheists who are curious. The atheists just so happen to be coming to the group I am in, so we are having an interesting time trying to feel our way forward.
The established Baptist church here in Dresden had a special service yesterday to commemorate the 150 plus years they have existed. (I never did catch if it was 160 or 170.) They have such a rich history. They have been through so much, and have influenced so many. In all their years, they have started over 16 new churches, but nothing in the past 30 years or so. The current pastor wants to change all that, and that is why we are in the midst of these two new church plants with their support. However, nothing resists the advancement of God’s Kingdom more than the Church. A member of the church council finally had it with everything in our meeting last Friday. He wrote a letter to all the council members complaining about all the Missional work being done and how he is not being fed anymore. I wonder how many in the church feel the same frustrations?
Finally, Amy was able to put on a show of art on October 3rd in an old church building downtown as a part of a Bible Festival. We had a ton of foot-traffic and were able to distribute some literature and actually had a couple of people come to our new church as a result.
2 comments:
I must say that I don't believe Saxony to be in a state of hopelessness at all. On the contrary, the development and growth is exciting. And the people have a deep sense of history thus creating their own spiritual identities based in natural peace. Isn't that what is important? Peace. Isn't that what your faith believes in too? There isn't only 1 path to finding a pure heart. And faith in religion certainly doesn't always bring about peace as history shows. Why are so many Americans presently living without health care and losing their homes and jobs??? It all happened under a fundamentally religious politician. To me that reigns fear and hopelessness.
I am sure you are doing wonderful loving work within the community and that's great. But I just so happened to come across this blog and was struck by the words fear and hopelessness regarding the fact that people of this region don't believe exactly as you think they should. I personally believe this region to be full of hope for the future.
Hey, Anik, thanks for your comment. Look for more in the next post. You raise a lot of interesting points that I wanted to clarify.
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