I don’t know about the rest of you, but it seems that summer might suddenly come to a close here in the Czech Republic. Last week we were in the 30s (celsius), and this week we are in the high teens/low twenties. And it feels great!
Thankfully, we’ve gotten to thoroughly enjoy summer activities here. And with autumn comes the reboot of several ministry items: Regional Bible Studies, Youth Ministry, Men’s Groups, Women’s Groups. And Bennett has started up in školka (CZ equivalent of Kindergarten).
Recent Summer Activities
školka
We’re thankful that Bennett has taken well to school so far. He has always enjoyed learning, and he’s a hard worker. But being away from home for 4 hours at school with a new teacher and new students was sure to be a stretch. Add the flurry of the Czech language, and you wonder how a kid is going to do.
He’s been great. He has a great attitude. We’re challenging him each week to learn a couple new Czech names and Czech words and he’s been able to do that. We see some minor changes in his demeanour and attitude with this new adjustment, but we anticipated that. Pray we’d shepherd him well through these!
Baptisms
There have been 5 baptisms in the last two months. (We only got pictures of four of them, unfortunately.) This is an indicator of people taking church membership seriously, which is encouraging. And there are more to come! These new believers come from such vast and challenging backgrounds. I wish I could tell you their stories in depth.
Similarly, we’ve had a handful of visitors (and repeated visitors) come to church. These are unbelievers who were reached through our evangelism emphasis a few weeks ago! One person in particular has come 5 weeks in a row now, and has even brought a friend or two. Pray God would save her!
Study Groups
Regional Bible Studies are a new thing this year! There are four of them, and we’ll meet every other week. You may wonder: What’s the big deal? The big deal is: This is a church consisting primarily of first-generation Christians, and yet some of those first-generation Christians are helping lead these Bible studies. We will get to host one of these studies in our home. Jared will only teach studies on occasion, because we want to keep the teaching opportunities to the Czechs as much as possible. Pray God would use these studies to deepen fellowship, love for God’s word, and radical change in the lives of believers.
Men’s and Women’s Groups have also started up! The women are focusing on the Proverbs once a month, while the men focus on 1 & 2 Timothy, as well as “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life” by Donald Whitney.
Pray men and women would learn how to speak God’s word to one another, and help each other respond to the word with lives of obedience.
Pray also for the Youth Group, which meets every other Friday. There are a few young men from the church helping organize and run this. They will also get teaching opportunities. Pray for spiritual growth, both in the students’ lives, and in the lives of those leading it.
Other Blessings
Claire’s mom (Mimi) was here for two weeks! It was so great to show her what life is like here, what the church is like here, and why we love this country and these people. She is home safely again, and we had a wonderful time with her.
Jared got to preach again, from Titus 1:5-6. He had the chance to challenge the church’s men to pursue a life of godliness, leadership, and love. You can view/listen to the sermon here (with translation).
We are making friends with an unbelieving family from a neighbouring city. We will hang out with them again Friday the 20th. Jared already had a very deep Gospel conversation with the husband. Claire has also began to have personal conversations with the wife, who is pregnant with their second. They have said that we, along with another missionary couple they’ve met (some of our friends in Pilsen), are unlike any other ‘Christians’ they’ve met in the Czech Republic. Such ‘Christians’ have only been a cause for frustration and disbelief for them, since they are described as ‘walking contradictions to what they believe.’ We praise God for whatever good they see in us, for it is because of this that they are willing to attend church some time. Pray God would save them one day.
Until Next Time
As always, we are grateful for your loving support. The ongoing prayer for us is that our language acquisition would be steadily fruitful. Our teacher (Dana) has been sick for two weeks. This has required that we take a different initiative with our studies, which has actually proven very fruitful. However, we are eager to get back with her. Pray for her health!
Pray we’d shepherd our children well. Pray we would be diligent to balance ministry in the church amidst our main priorities: ministry within our family, and the ministry of language acquisition.
Until next time, dear friends.
Jared, Claire, Bennett, Millie Jo, Caleb.
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