July / August 2020
A post recently popped up on my Facebook memories from three years ago. At the time our family had just arrived here in the city of Berlin and we were desperately trying to cope with a new way of life and find a foot hold in this new place that had brought so many unknowns.
Facebook seems to be the last place these days one might find encouragement, but in this moment, I found a reminder that strengthened my resolve and gave clarity to our purpose. The post started with a simple statement and question. WE ARE ALL SLAVES TO SOMETHING. WHERE ARE WE RUNNING TODAY?
It’s easy to see what people are enslaved to on a platform like Facebook. Our posts and our comments reveal the shackles of our heart. It’s easy to entangle ourselves in politics, sports, our businesses or our families. We can say that Facebook is not indicative of our real lives, but ultimately what is on our lips or our keyboards is what we are writing on our hearts.
I say this, because this is a reminder that I need desperately every day, to stay focused on what really matters and not let the attempts of the enemy to draw me away from my purpose. Looking back on this post, I see it as a stone of witness to me three years later as Paul’s words cut through the noise in an increasingly volatile world.
“But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed. And, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”
Romans 6:16-17
These words cut to the heart of our condition, because we all will ultimately choose the master we will serve. Before Christ, sin reigned and bound us under its tyranny, but Christ’s work has beckoned us to follow a new Master. He is a worthy Master, and nothing is more valuable than speaking His praises. So those of us who have submitted ourselves to His Lordship will be about the work of His coming kingdom, instead of being swept away by the division and false ideals of the failing kingdoms of this world.
We will gladly be in the service of our coming King, because nothing can stop His coming kingdom. We will live with the urgency of the early church, because we are convinced that our Hero is at the door. May we be found faithful when He is revealed. May our lives be lived in sincerity to His imminent return. May we be found to be slaves of righteousness that follow the way of Christ that responds in a different way than those living as slaves to sin.
“Once your feet ran to the temples of demons; now they run to the church of God. Once they ran to spill blood; now they run to set it free. Once your hands were stretched out to steal what belonged to others; now they are stretched out for you to be generous with what is your own. Once your eyes looked at women or at something which was not yours with lust in them; but now they look at the poor, the weak and the helpless with pity in them. Your ears used to delight in hearing empty talk or in attacking good people; now they have turned to hearing the Word of God, to the exposition of the law and to the learning of the knowledge of wisdom. Your tongue, which was accustomed to bad language, cursing and swearing, has now turned to praising the Lord at all times; it produces healthy and honest speech, in order to give grace to the hearers and speak the truth to its neighbor.”
Origen
Ministry Update
We are thankful that we have been able to resume our normal outreach to the city over the past month. This has included resuming our weekly ministry to children in Reinickendorf through soccer as well as in the refugee accommodation in Wilmersdorf. We are also excited about our work within the local church and opportunities to support other gospel church plants in diverse people groups across the city. We recently put together an update video of our year with a focus on where we are going in the coming year. You can find this video below and we hope it communicates how we are working here in Berlin to shine the light of the gospel to the men, women and children of this great city of refuge
*If you know our ministry well, you can skip to 2:25 in the video to hear our vision for ministry for the coming year.
Family Update
We had a wonderful trip to the United States in July to visit family and update as many of our ministry partners as we could with the current restrictions that are in place. We look forward to seeing those of you we missed on our next trip and are so thankful for all those that encouraged us while we were there. We were thankful that we had no issues traveling back and forth and thankful that we have a better grasp of the climate that we are living in, in 2020, that is valuable for helping us better understand how we can serve and invest in those we are living life together with, both far and near.
We are thankful to have had the opportunity to spend a short weekend with our church staff just outside Berlin this past weekend. It was a refreshing and encouraging time. One of the greatest blessings of where God has placed us is the people we get to serve alongside. We are thankful and grateful for each one of them.
The girls are back in school and they are adjusting well to new classmates and teachers. We are thankful for how resilient they have grown and how they are learning to live for Christ in tough places. They have a new friend that greets them when they get home that has helped with their transition back to school. Maggie is the newest member of our family and she has brought much joy to our home. We have recently had many opportunities to invite those that are hurting into our home and we have been amazed to see how God uses even the smallest among us to encourage others.
We have a young lady living with our family for the next month before she starts Bible school in October (just because there were not enough women already in our home:). She has been a joy to have in our home and the girls are excited to have a big sister for a short time!
Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Recently, many of you have contacted us to check on how we are doing financially or have increased your giving. We praise the Lord for you that you would think of us, even in challenging moments like our present time. You are a testament of God’s grace and how we are meant to bear one another up in love.
I know many of you would prefer to give special gifts. We have two current needs, one personal and one ministry related. The first is for Quinn. She will be having a surgery in the coming months to open her airway by removing polyps in her nose. She has struggled with her breathing for a number of years and we believe this will help her sleep and help her concentrate better in school. We do not know the exact cost yet for this surgery, but we were hoping to have a reserve of 1000 Euros for this procedure.
Also, we will be restarting our Open Table ministry to refugee men this month. Last year we had a generous donation that helped us fund this monthly gathering. The Open Table allows gospel workers from across the city to invite refugee and immigrant men for a monthly dinner. We break into small groups after dinner and have deeper conversations. It has become a great platform for creating opportunities to talk about the gospel and draw these men into church plants and gospel communities across the city. We plan to provide dinner free of charge for these evenings and we are budgeting 150 euros to cover this cost each month. We plan to run this ministry every month through June, so our hope would be to raise 1500 Euros to cover this cost for the next year.
You can give to these two special needs on our giving page, which can be found at the link below.
Prayer Update
Pray for us as we seek to navigate the current climate with the pandemic and host a soccer tournament this fall.
Pray for ongoing discipleship with Arash.
Pray for Quinn and her coming surgery.
Pray for our church retreat this month and the kickoff of community groups this month, that new families and individuals would be encouraged to connect.