Weekly Update
Monday, October 11, 2010
THURSDAY VOLLEYBALL
Above: Behind our house, families begin to gather for Thursday night volleyball. We were surprised how quickly the news spread about our initial meeting with a few moms from preschool and thankful for this opportunity to interact with the community.
Above: Warming up before the others show up. This will be our last time playing outside and we are looking continuing this relationship building outreach through renting out the public school’s gym for use on Fridays.
MINISTRY UPDATE
Our team recently reevaluated ministries and our team focus for the next few months. This is a great season of the church as we see evidence of people maturing and have opportunities to invest in lives of new believers. There are currently six people attending foundation of faith/baptism class, and we hope to have a Sunday baptismal service in early November.
Part of our restructuring of how we meet together as the body of Christ involved a focus on discipleship. Last year we were meeting as a large group once a week for a small group Bible study. This year, we split into a group for men and for women who met once a week. Now, we have split the men’s group into three smaller groups of 3-4 men which allows for more participation of each member, more one-to-one discussion, more mentoring and deeper relationships. Each of these smaller groups of men includes a mature leader, a maturing believer who has potential for leadership and a young believer who is new to the faith. The groups were intentionally divided up this way to create opportunity for mentorship and passing on responsibility incrementally to allow others to develop in their giftings as they are equipped for ministry.
“And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”—2 Timothy 2:2
Four men from our church continue to attend Bible school through an extension course. One Saturday a month, they travel to the school to turn in their homework and to receive instruction in theology. We praise God for this opportunity for these men (some of them brand new believers) to immediately have sound theological training and at the same time be involved in church planting from the beginning. Please pray for Dezső, Peti, Gabi and Tamás to be enriched spiritually as they go deeper into His Word and that they may be blessed by our Father to become humble servant leaders who live out what they teach.
SZÉKESFEHÉRVÁR TEEN CONFERENCE
Above: Roland readying to help as a driver for our trip to Szekésfehérvár where the teens from our church would participate in a Christian conference. Roland is a new believer who initially began hearing the gospel at our Friday night teen outreach. God has used these conferences in the past to stir the hearts of these teens and we were thankful for ten from our area participating. The theme of the conference was “Stepping Out”, and moving forward in faith in the calling that God has given to you. Many Hungarians struggle with fear and a feeling of inadequacy which stunts their Christian growth limiting their willingness to be bold in proclaiming Jesus Christ through their lives. The conference was structured in such a way that the teens would receive training on site and then go out to minister... some joined street evangelists, some went out for prison ministry, some to elderly homes and others to perform a evangelistic puppet show in the public square.
Above: Peti entering the meeting place which was decorated with shoes that went with the theme “Stepping Out”. Peti commented that the conference was very encouraging in his own struggles with fear and hesitancy in various areas of ministry. It was fitting that this conference came just before we had called Peti to offer a brief teaching in church (for the first time) on Sunday related to what he was learning in Bible School.
SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE
Above: Sunday was a day of firsts for those who are continuing to mature in their faith. Peti (pictured above) gave a brief message for the first time in our church and proclaimed the greatness of God’s love and it’s importance to affect the way we live based on 1 Corinthians 13.
Above: Gabi was also given an opportunity to offer a brief message on the importance of God’s word in our lives and the importance of how we handle the Scriptures with healthy fear. What a joy to see both Peti and Gabi stepping out (with fear and trembling) to share with the body what they have been learning in Bible School. What a blessing to see these young men maturing and discovering the gifts the Father has given to them to build up the body.
Above: Downstairs, Marcsi (Dezső’s wife) was also given the opportunity to teach the children for Sunday School for the first time. I can still remember meeting Marcsi years ago for the first time when she attended Bible study in our house with Dezső. To see her now and how Jesus has changed her is amazing! Praise Him!
Prayer Requests:
• Please pray for the spiritual growth of those new believers preparing for baptism, Erik, Ricsi, Roland, Eszti, Győző, Tamás and Ági. All except one are able to attend church and meet weekly with a leader for Bible study.
• This Saturday, our church will be traveling to the town of Heréd to perform a children’s concert. Please pray for opportunity to share the Gospel through our craft that we will also be providing. Pray for those participating from our church to be expectant of God’s using them to bless others.
• Pray for elderly church member Érzsi who broke her leg a few weeks ago. Pray for complete healing and for God’s provision for her family.
• Pray for church planter partner Miki to have the strength, wisdom and love needed to continue teaching his weekly Bible classes in public schools to children with no religious background and many who come from broken families.
• Please pray for our financial situation as our support levels have continued to be affected by the hardship in the US and the dropping value of the dollar.
Above: Behind our house, families begin to gather for Thursday night volleyball. We were surprised how quickly the news spread about our initial meeting with a few moms from preschool and thankful for this opportunity to interact with the community.
Above: Warming up before the others show up. This will be our last time playing outside and we are looking continuing this relationship building outreach through renting out the public school’s gym for use on Fridays.
MINISTRY UPDATE
Our team recently reevaluated ministries and our team focus for the next few months. This is a great season of the church as we see evidence of people maturing and have opportunities to invest in lives of new believers. There are currently six people attending foundation of faith/baptism class, and we hope to have a Sunday baptismal service in early November.
Part of our restructuring of how we meet together as the body of Christ involved a focus on discipleship. Last year we were meeting as a large group once a week for a small group Bible study. This year, we split into a group for men and for women who met once a week. Now, we have split the men’s group into three smaller groups of 3-4 men which allows for more participation of each member, more one-to-one discussion, more mentoring and deeper relationships. Each of these smaller groups of men includes a mature leader, a maturing believer who has potential for leadership and a young believer who is new to the faith. The groups were intentionally divided up this way to create opportunity for mentorship and passing on responsibility incrementally to allow others to develop in their giftings as they are equipped for ministry.
“And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”—2 Timothy 2:2
Four men from our church continue to attend Bible school through an extension course. One Saturday a month, they travel to the school to turn in their homework and to receive instruction in theology. We praise God for this opportunity for these men (some of them brand new believers) to immediately have sound theological training and at the same time be involved in church planting from the beginning. Please pray for Dezső, Peti, Gabi and Tamás to be enriched spiritually as they go deeper into His Word and that they may be blessed by our Father to become humble servant leaders who live out what they teach.
SZÉKESFEHÉRVÁR TEEN CONFERENCE
Above: Roland readying to help as a driver for our trip to Szekésfehérvár where the teens from our church would participate in a Christian conference. Roland is a new believer who initially began hearing the gospel at our Friday night teen outreach. God has used these conferences in the past to stir the hearts of these teens and we were thankful for ten from our area participating. The theme of the conference was “Stepping Out”, and moving forward in faith in the calling that God has given to you. Many Hungarians struggle with fear and a feeling of inadequacy which stunts their Christian growth limiting their willingness to be bold in proclaiming Jesus Christ through their lives. The conference was structured in such a way that the teens would receive training on site and then go out to minister... some joined street evangelists, some went out for prison ministry, some to elderly homes and others to perform a evangelistic puppet show in the public square.
Above: Peti entering the meeting place which was decorated with shoes that went with the theme “Stepping Out”. Peti commented that the conference was very encouraging in his own struggles with fear and hesitancy in various areas of ministry. It was fitting that this conference came just before we had called Peti to offer a brief teaching in church (for the first time) on Sunday related to what he was learning in Bible School.
SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE
Above: Sunday was a day of firsts for those who are continuing to mature in their faith. Peti (pictured above) gave a brief message for the first time in our church and proclaimed the greatness of God’s love and it’s importance to affect the way we live based on 1 Corinthians 13.
Above: Gabi was also given an opportunity to offer a brief message on the importance of God’s word in our lives and the importance of how we handle the Scriptures with healthy fear. What a joy to see both Peti and Gabi stepping out (with fear and trembling) to share with the body what they have been learning in Bible School. What a blessing to see these young men maturing and discovering the gifts the Father has given to them to build up the body.
Above: Downstairs, Marcsi (Dezső’s wife) was also given the opportunity to teach the children for Sunday School for the first time. I can still remember meeting Marcsi years ago for the first time when she attended Bible study in our house with Dezső. To see her now and how Jesus has changed her is amazing! Praise Him!
Prayer Requests:• Please pray for the spiritual growth of those new believers preparing for baptism, Erik, Ricsi, Roland, Eszti, Győző, Tamás and Ági. All except one are able to attend church and meet weekly with a leader for Bible study.
• This Saturday, our church will be traveling to the town of Heréd to perform a children’s concert. Please pray for opportunity to share the Gospel through our craft that we will also be providing. Pray for those participating from our church to be expectant of God’s using them to bless others.
• Pray for elderly church member Érzsi who broke her leg a few weeks ago. Pray for complete healing and for God’s provision for her family.
• Pray for church planter partner Miki to have the strength, wisdom and love needed to continue teaching his weekly Bible classes in public schools to children with no religious background and many who come from broken families.
• Please pray for our financial situation as our support levels have continued to be affected by the hardship in the US and the dropping value of the dollar.
blog comments powered by Disqus