Jeff & Linda Brown - Germany
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September 2009
Dear Praying Friends,
Our church in Nuremberg has been in existence for a little over a year now.
To mark the event, the people celebrated with a group German coffee time on
a Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago. Here is what has been going on in the
ministry recently.
Church attendance showed steady growth for the first nine months of our
existence, but plateaued the last three months. In particular, many of our
people have been out of town during the past two months, and we were gone
for five weeks to the US. We have not had as many visitors as in the past.
One of the families of our original team is having a significant spiritual
struggle right now, and the husband has asked to be removed from public
ministry for the time being.
At the same time, we have experienced some positive events: two people have
come to Christ through the ministry of the church. One of our members is
holding a weekly Bible study with another woman who is very open to the
Gospel. One man, Oliver, joined the membership in June. More of our church
people are involved in regular ministry now than ever.
We have had three incidents that have tested and increased our faith. First,
one of our original team members was told in February he would be
transferred to another job within his company, and would need to move. At
the beginning of June he was told he was being transferred to another job in
Nuremberg. He signed his new contract in early July. Second, the apartment
of one of the couples of our church has become too small for their growing
young family. They found, what was for them, almost an ideal house, with
plenty of space in the yard for their children. They bid low and the owner
accepted. The house is 40 minutes away from the church. The couple, however,
decided to turn down the house because it is so far away from the church,
and would have meant that they would be able to do little ministry. That was
a very special moment for all of us when they informed us about their
decision. Third, another team member, who got an engineering job in
Nuremberg last August, was told that he was being offered a transfer to a
job site four hours away. His job here would be eliminated. He was given a
week to decide. One week later, his boss extended his time to decide by one
week. At the end of that week, his boss told him that he would be staying in
Nuremberg, and would only need to travel to the other site occassionally for
a day or two throughout the year.
For all of these team members, intense prayer was made, with the hope that
each would be able to remain in Nuremberg, for the progress of our church
planting effort. God answered in a very special way, all three times. More
importantly, our people have begun to learn as a group that faith must be
tested if Christians are to grow (Psalm 11:5). Also, if God has answered
this way three times in breif succession that he wants our team members to
stay here, then He has lots of ministry ahead, regardless of the fact that
our church attendance has levelled off in the last three months.
Finally, we were visited by Daniel and Jennifer Arnold, and their children
during July. They are members of another mission board than ours, and their
ultimate goal is to plant churches in another part of Germany. However,
before their visit was over, they told us that they have decided to do their
language study in Nuremberg when they come to Germany in 2010 They want to
be involved in our church during their time here. The people of the church
were quite happy to hear the news, as Daniel and Jennifer made quite a good
impression on them during their stay. We have attached a picture to this
e-letter.
So we are looking ahead. We hope you are as well. thanks so much for your
faithful prayers.
In Christ,
Jeff and Linda Brown
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