Hello Church Planters,
There is so much in this NEWS that will encourage you. There are ministry ideas, requests for prayer, comments from other planters, etc etc.
Share with us what is happening where you are! Share your struggled and prayer needs. Encourage and support each other – in bringing life to lost people.
You would find it difficult to believe how many emails planter Laverne Byng can write in one day – and still do her exercise routine, teach at the gym, build friendships, plan for the weekend away with women from her gym (and possibly talk non-stop as well). She ends her last email (I mean – not necessarily the last, but the last received in the last
hour!) – saying, “Peter, get all these church planters in special prayer.
Hold us up in prayer.” And, yes, we will. Laverne is being joined by Rianne Belder and Velda Cox for a weekend with friends from her gym – enjoying friendship and getting to understand each other more.
Pray for each other.
Christian regards
Peter Roennfeldt
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CHURCH PLANTING NEWS – 22 Aug 03
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In this issue:
# CLUB 39 KICKS OF NEW YEAR WITH SPECIAL PRAYER & TEENS!
# ASHFORD CHURCH PLANT – sponsors children’s ‘Noah’s Ark Holiday Club’!
# CONCERT TOUR SUPPORTS CHURCH PLANTING IN HUNGARY # KOBANYA CHURCH PLANT CONCERT – LEADS TO CITY INVOLVEMENT!
# COPENHAGEN NORTH WEST GROUP – CHALLENGED & TRUSTING!
# SPECIAL PRAYER REQUESTS …
# FaceOut – PRAYER, SMALL GROUPS & BAPTISM (Denmark) # 19 WOMEN + KIDS + LAVERNE = NEED FOR VERY SPECIAL PRAYER!
# X-CHANGE 03 – FURTHER COMMENTS!
# MISSION G’CAMPS – INSPIRE MEMBERS TO PLANT CHURCHES # MAKING ‘LIFEgroups’ EASY … something that may help your small groups!
CLUB 39 KICKS OF NEW YEAR WITH SPECIAL PRAYER & TEENS!
“We´ve got a good start in Club 39. We had our Crew kickoff last Sunday and ended it by laying our hands on each other praying,” writes Daniel Lambdan. “We were really blessed. We came together three times during the week to pray for it. Yesterday (Tuseday) we opened up for the teenagers. We had 15 of them come. A couple of them couldn´t be there more than 15 minutes but they still came just to say Hi pretty much! That shows that it means something for to them! I am so much looking forward to see what God is going to do this year! We have exciting plans that I will tell you about later.”
ASHFORD CHURCH PLANT – sponsors children’s ‘Noah’s Ark Holiday Club’!
Five action-packed and fun-filled days (11-15 August) attracted an average of 20 children each day to the Bockhanger Community Centre in
Ashford (England) for the ‘Noah’s Ark Holiday Club.’ Through games, songs
and crafts the children learnt the famous story of Noah – and created their own ‘Noah’s Ark’ (complete with animals and Mr. Noah) to take home.
Parents attended a special Friday programme when children received a certificate of attendance from church planter Fernand Lombart. The children’s ‘Noah’s Ark Holiday Club’ was sponsored by the Ashford Seventh-Day Adventist Church Plant and Churches Together In Ashford (CTA) – and given strong promotion by Sue Pavlou, the Bockhanger Community Centre Manager.
CONCERT TOUR SUPPORTS CHURCH PLANTING IN HUNGARY
“Some German friends who are professional musicians have been on tour in Hungary – conducting 11 concerts for church plants and churches,”
writes church planter and Hungarian church planting director, Laszlo Szabo.
“They played classical guitar music. It was a very successful outreach tour – making contacts.”
KOBANYA CHURCH PLANT CONCERT – LEADS TO CITY INVOLVEMENT!
“We advertised that income from the concert from our visiting German friends in Köbanya (a suburb of Budapest) would be used for the children of families in social need,” says Laszlo Szabo. “We got many sponsors, new contacts – and the full support of the social department of the local urban district. We were given the use of a very nice room (free of charge) in the most popular cultural centre of our district.”
The concert in Köbanya attracted a lot of interest and good income. However, instead of accepting the money the city social department came up with a different idea. “They suggested that we organise a program for 25 children for 6 days,” says Laszlo. “They sent the children to us (actually 30) – as well as some workers to help. We all went to a beach.
We played – and had a lot of fun with the group. God blessed us. We invited the children to spend Sabbath with us and more than 30 came. We had a special ‘Egypt day’ – telling the exodus story, showing pictures about Egypt and eating African food.”
COPENHAGEN NORTH WEST GROUP – CHALLENGED & TRUSTING!
The group from north west Copenhagen feel that God was working in their group ‘on full power’ during the X-Change in Finland, says planter Tina Kjeldal. The week was “so valuable for us,” says Tina. And just when the group returned to Copenhagen they learned that a brutal murder took place in their area – “and the kids there are top 10 in the media.” Tina writes, “The needs are big and we trust God to help us meet them.”
SPECIAL PRAYER REQUESTS …
* Pray for the team in north west Copenhagen – as they relate to a hurting community.
* Pray for ALmaarMERE Church Plant (in the Netherlands) – where they are experiencing the pain of defining their mission and target group.
FaceOut – PRAYER, SMALL GROUPS & BAPTISM (Denmark)
“We had another very good meeting in FaceOut last Friday evening,” writes Pia Elkjær. “The prayer session was unique. We got together in small groups and prayed for each other. Its a real blessing that we now pray for each other in on a much deeper level than just some few month ago. I sense a love growing that is touching our lives and opening our eyes to new dimensions.”
A baptism is planned for a coming Friday evening. “This person has been studying with the group in Faxe and he wants to be baptised and attend our little ‘church group,” says Pia. FaceOut is also planning some small cell groups for kids as well.
19 WOMEN + KIDS + LAVERNE = NEED FOR VERY SPECIAL PRAYER!
“Ha, you guys would have loved to see Jesus in action (teaching) this morning (just joking),” writes exercise instructor & planter, Laverne Byng. “I had the women gather around in a circle after the gym class so I could give final instructions etc on the weekend. While in the circle I shared my values. They were in accordance and nodded. I wondered if this is how it was with the sermon on the mount (just joking). I mentioned about the special room for prayer (no problem here). But I then went on to say, that we are all on a journey together and we could use some of the prayer time to get together and share from a spiritual point of view. (Health is more than physical). They nodded and looked pleased about it (could just be me misinterpreting but…). One girl said to me afterwards that ‘the women know you Laverne and they can see from you that these values are part of you, just from the way you relate to them. So it was nothing strange.'”
X-CHANGE 03 – FURTHER COMMENTS!
* ‘I was so blessed and inspired when I went home, and I’m trying to inspire everybody in our church as well.’ – Marie Karlsson (worship leader in Orebru)
* ‘A taste of Heaven. The week did us as much good – more, probably – as any holiday we have ever had.’ – Bryan & Isobel Webster (planters in
Scunthorpe)
* ‘I just want to say, that I also will remember the week for the rest of my life.’ – Daniel Larsen (planter in Copenhagen)
* ‘The songs keep ringing in our ears and they remind us of all that happened there. We are fully committed to the new project. We see for the first time opportunities all around us and not just difficulties.’ – Salvatore Bognandi (international plant in Stockholm)
* ‘I saw a lot of my group changing, we opened ourselves for God. That was really great. Now we pray more together, and understand how important that is. It brings us closer together and to God. It is wonderfull. He really changed my life.’ – Esther Kok (small group coordinator in Amsterdam)
* ‘I got to experience both the abundant joy and also the deepest peace in my soul! I don´t know when, if ever, I have had so much fun – and it was with and in the name of the Lord!’ – Daniel Lambdan (planter in Club 39,
Sweden)
MISSION G’CAMPS – INSPIRE MEMBERS TO PLANT CHURCHES
“We had 800 people registered but on Sabbath there were at least 1000,” says Laszlo Szabo of the G’Camp Mission Conference in Hungary a week ago. “This is a real mighty movement and I hope to see it grow even more.
God has blessed us. We announced that Peter Roennfeldt and Jon Paulien will be the speakers next year – and the people really happy about it. The topic will be ‘Adventist Mission in the End Time.’ We have also decided to open it to non members.”
Over 1,200 members gathered at Friedensau, Germany for the German G’Camp Mission Conference – from 12-17 August. On Sabbath the numbers rose well over 1,500. Peter Roennfeldt was the guest speaker – relating to the theme ‘Prayer, the Holy Spirit & Mission in Post-Christian Europe.’ Peter Roennfeldt also conducted workshops on ‘Praying in the Spirit’ and ‘Rediscovering Church for the New Generation in Europe.’
MAKING ‘LIFEgroups’ EASY … something that may help your small groups!
At the planters X-Change in Finland we introduced the ‘LIFEgroups Bookmark.’ If you don’t have one – contact your country church planting coordinator or leaders and they will be able to get one made-up for you. Some countries have already translated this into the local language. The idea is simple. On the bookmark is an outline of the key aspects of a holistic small group – with suggested time frames for the group to walk through a small group session together. These are the main features – Welcome, Word, Witness & Worship. Here are some ideas for the first three features – # Welcome – 10 mins (sharing)
Who did I meet new this week? What 2 things did I learn about that person?
# Word – 25 mins (discovery learning)
Reading: a scripture or book/article
Discovery Questions:
1 What is new to me?
2 What do I not like in this story?
3 What do I not understand?
4 How will I apply this story to life?
5 Whom can I tell this to?
# Witness – 20 mins (outlook)
Plan a LIFEgroup fun-social event (once every 8 weeks) to which new friends can be invited.
Discuss LIFEgroup themes to which new friends may be invited.