Orange, Stephen and Dawn, Belgium
October 2007 prayer letter
Dear friends
We arrived in Brussels safely, but not without the usual logistic issues, at the end of August - since then, we have been settling in a little, cracking through a mountain of move related admin (please note updated contact details below), starting at the French speaking Eglise Protestant Evangélique de Bruxelles-Woluwé (notice the slight change of name from previous incarnations - but it is still the same church at Woluwé St Lambert), helping the children settle into school here and trying to finish some work for Vaux sur Seine. It is high time, therefore, that we provided you with some fresh fodder for your prayers.
We're preaching through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) as a church at the moment. It's been a salutary reminder as we kick off here that "professionalism" in ministry is an easy trap to fall into - doing and saying the "right" things, but nevertheless being far from the humbling cross centered ministry we have been entrusted to. It's not unknown for such "professionalism" to seep into prayer letters, so do bear that in mind both as you pray for us, and as you read the rest...we are so grateful to any time carved out to pray for this small corner of the harvest field, and trust that we'll be able to join you praying for concerns where you might be.
1. Church
Working this year under the formal title "ancien en formation" (with the increasing appearance of grey hairs the "en formation" bit is all too apparent) which is the equivalent, in some respects, to a curate/assistant pastor (depending on your churchmanship) Steve is in many respects "shadowing" the full time teaching elder at the church, Jim Moore (a US missionary who has worked for most of his life in France) - gleaning from his experience, and getting a feel for pastoral ministry. In practice, that means doing a little bit of everything: preaching (once a month on average- next on 18th Nov, then 23 Dec), leading services, leading some home groups, doing some pastoral visits and leading the small youth group, and then observing other things that are going on (eg mid week training courses run by Jim, elders meetings, etc.) All that is plenty to be getting on with - and we're grateful for a good start.
In addition to praying that this first year would be one where we both learn significantly what serving here in the long term might look like and involve, any prayers for the following things would be appreciated:
a. the youth group - there are 5 regulars, 3 irregulars, and 2 possibles at the mo (7 girls, 3 boys). Most are from Christian families, and yet few seem to have a decent grasp of the gospel. This year we are going through Mark's gospel with them (once a fortnight in our house, once a fortnight in the church building)- do pray for some solid commitments to Christ and some proper understanding of the scandal of the cross. We are being helped by a 19 year old girl called Kylie working with OM and placed at our church - do pray for us to help Kylie grow in her own ability to encourage others.
b. home groups - Dawn and I both go to (and Steve leads) home groups that happen fortnightly on a Thursday and Sunday evening respectively. The latter we have just started to pick up a few of the students coming to Woluwé who have not really been catered for mid week. The former is broader, and a little more challenging in terms of past baggage being brought to the group. In both we are going through John's gospel - it'd be terrific to see greater understanding of the wonder of the gospel as we seek to submit to what the Lord is saying to us through his word (rather, as ever the danger, of seeing what we'd like to see in the text, or what an overzealous leader might want them to see in the text...)
c. Young couples: the Lord has blessed the church with the arrival, in the last 1 to 3 years (since we've been away!), of a number of young couples (some with children, some not) - we rejoice that there is a nascent work amongst these couples (6 in total), and pray for our involvement in encouraging what in a sense is the next generation of the churches' core. There is scope for some 1-1 work here - do pray for opportunities.
d. Evangelism- the church leadership is conscious that there has been little church wide organised evangelistic initiative in recent years. Do pray for a thoroughly gospel centred evangelistic course to take shape and be implemented. A recent meeting amongst the members showed an encouraging number of people who'd be interested in such a course. It'd be great to see, in time, a good off the shelf evangelistic course either translated or written here - such that there'd be an easy alternative to Alpha, which many see as the only "option".
e. Children - we are encouraged that the children's work is well organised by a faithful team of women. It would be good nevertheless to see some of the content develop over time - do pray for patience and wisdom as we work towards that!
f. elders: Jim Moore has recently started some training amongst the elders (3 plus Jim, and 1 "en formation") and their wives: the outworking of that is that once a fortnight Dawn and I meet with an elder and his wife to study and pray re the role and responsibility of leadership in the local church. This is a great chance to build a long term sound biblical basis to what the church is about - do pray for these sessions and for them to bear fruit in the long term. More generally, do give thanks for a good relationship with the church leadership, not least Jim, who Steve meets with once a week, and for patience in those areas where we'd like to see change at a greater pace.
2. Family
Knowing that some of you might be frustrated that the above focuses exclusively on the "public" ministry we are involved in, and hence revolves more around Mr O rather than Mrs O, we're of course grateful for your support of us as a family. The lion's share of that day to day task revolves around Dawn (although, of course, we fully understand Dawn to be integral to any of the ministry mentioned above - integral, principally, by focusing, as we understand the Lord to wish her to, on our family life). With thankfulness to God for that in mind, do pray/give thanks for any of the following:
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that Jemima and Max, after some initial shenanigans, are settled in a motivated, if quite crowded, local school and are both continuing to make progress in French (and even Flemish).
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that we are well settled in our home - which is proving an excellent base for Mrs O's ministry of hospitality (that her husband gets invited to participate in every now and then), which includes a home group and youth group that meets here both fortnightly.
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that both Dawn and baby girl (no 4 - due in early Feb 2008) are so far doing well.
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that Zebedee has inherited his mother's sense of humour and general insouciance.
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that we're slowly making some good contacts both with other parents and with neighbours.
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do pray for some of those contacts to grow into good long term opportunities.
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do pray for ongoing stamina for Dawn as Feb approaches.
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do pray for family life to reflect priorities that are the right ones (ie to be more concerned for an understanding of grace amongst the children than for the carpet to get a regular hoover...)
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pray for remaining admin related stuff to get done (income tax is a bit of a worry).
Dawn and I were grateful, too, to get away for 2 days (leaving the children to throw up with their grandparents) to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. Praise the Lord that so far he has kept us together. Pray that we'd continue to use our marriage, as Christopher Ash (oh yes, and the bible) would say, in the service of God.
Much love to all of you - as ever, we'd 1) love a recent photo of you if it's been a while 2) like some recent news to pray for you. Our habit at the mo is to pray, with laptop open, for all those who send us prayer news when we gather (briefly) at the breakfast table. It helps the children to see who it is we are praying for, so the photo isn't just for display purposes.
Steve and Dawn, Jemima, Max, Zebedee & ?
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39 avenue Josse Smets
1160 Bruxelles
00 32 (0)2 675 2027
00 32 (0)473 12 19 24 (GSM/mobile - Steve)
00 32 (0)472 30 24 38 (GSM mobile - Dawn)
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