December 2021

CHURCH

November marked one year of our family serving here at the Evangelische Freikirche am Bohlweg, a small church in Münster, Germany. Looking back at this year, we praise God that we’ve witnessed growth that is both deep and wide. Our church has added eight new members and Jonas will have the privilege of baptizing three believers at the beginning of 2022.

On Sunday mornings, 70-80 people fill our small room. We have people from Germany, Netherlands, Russia, United States, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, and the Middle East. As we look around and see all different kinds of people united through Christ, we see God uniting different people into one body. This is a small reflection and taste of heaven when people from every nation, tribe and tongue will worship together before God’s throne.

When Jonas took this pastorate, our church had not had a pastor or consistent Bible teaching in over five years. Our goal has been to make the Bible and the good news of Jesus the heartbeat of our church. Jonas began preaching through books of the Bible, alternating between the Old and the New Testament. With Bible teaching being a main need, we held a baptism seminar and taught on the Lord’s Supper.

Corona regulations have been stringent in Germany, which has required some creativity on our part, but we are thankful to meet every Sunday and throughout the week. We now have three homegroups, one in Russian and two in German, which meet every other week opposite our church-wide prayer meeting. It has been special to host a homegroup in our actual home (which for most of the year was not allowed). We have also started a youth group, a church Instagram account and launched a new website (www.ms-freikirche.de).

This year has been very much about gaining stability for our church family and the trust of the members. Soon we look forward to making connections and serving around the city, especially students at the university.

FAMILY

Cross-cultural living is not always easy, but by God’s grace we are doing well as a family. Paige’s German continues to improve and we thank God for her progress. Our two daughters, Nora and Fenley, are loving life and had a lot of fun when Grandma came to visit over Christmas.

We praise God for Fenely’s health. Recently we spent three days in the hospital with her after a couple seizures. We are so thankful that all of her scans look good, and this could be, we pray, a one-time thing.

SUPPORT + PRAYER

God would use us in Münster to glorify Himself
We would trust the Lord moment by moment with our children’s lives and not live in fear
Paige’s language learning and cross-cultural living
God would provide us with a suitable chruch building. We are approaching the maximum capacity where we meet, so we are in the process of renting a school auditorium.

Thank you for how you have prayed for us and given to our ministry. Thank you for your continued encouragement, random snail mail and patient Facetimes (sometimes through tears).

When we tuck the girls in at night we all sing the Doxology. A fitting way to end a day, and a fitting way to end 2021.

“Praise God from whom all blessings flow

Praise Him all creatures here below.

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost

Amen”

Much love,

Jonas, Paige, Nora and Fenley