Our Current Project




        

Our First Term

     We arrived in Oct. 2014 to work with our friends David and Kathryn Lohnes in the Oise region of France about 45 minutes north of Paris. The Lohneses planted a church in the nearby town of Méru about 10 years ago and we are seeking to work closely with this body of French believers in planting new churches. We are serving initially on a two year "mid-term" contract and thus our objectives for our first term were:

  • To survive (and thrive!) in our new culture, establishing a home for our family and integrating into the community. 
  • To learn, including language and culture acquisition, acquainting ourselves with the ins and outs of the French Evangelical Church, and growing into our new ministry roles as church planters.  
  • To serve the local church in Méru, not so much as a minister within the church, but as resources to help them expand their reach in the region. 
  • To watch and pray for opportunities to model and share the gospel, for open doors and signs of where God may be at work. 




      As we near the end of our mid-term contract, we have felt both encouraged that France is not a lost cause and affirmed that God has been preparing us, as a family, to serve here in this capacity and at this time. Our family will be returning to the States during the summer of 2016 with the goal of raising the additional monthly support we'll need to return to France by September 2016 as church-planters on a career basis. (For more info on this click on the "Get Involved" tab.)


Our Vision

     
     When we return, our ultimate goal will be:


  • To make gospel-centered disciples
  • who would form into gospel-centered churches,
  • that would be equipped to reproduce 
  • and would be passionate about multiplying so that God may be glorified among every tribe, tongue, and people. 

The department of France just north of Paris is called the "Oise." This sector of the Oise is referred to as "Les Sablons"


     More specifically, this is our vision going forwardAs I previously mentioned, the Evangelical church that was planted by the Lohneses about 10 years ago (and that we are now a part of) is located in Méru. Méru is the hub of "Les Sablons," the name for our corner of the region. It is a collection of 22 small cities or villages containing over 36,000 people. Our church of about 40 people including children is the only Evangelical church that I'm aware of in the region. But we don't actually live in Méru and neither does about half the congregation. The rest of us live in the surrounding villages. 

    God placed a burden on our hearts for our neighbors, the other moms and dads, the friends and teachers our kids see at school each day. For as long as we live here, we want to impact our immediate community with the gospel. What if each of the families in our church wanted to do the same thing? What if we can model this approach and equip them to replicate it in their own communities? 

    For example, this year we had the opportunity to hold a "backyard bible club" in our home and a few members from our church came to help or to observe. Soon after they were discussing the possibility of organizing their own in Méru. In December the church was praying for us as we held a "Christmas Open House" in order to meet some of our neighbors. A few weeks later, one woman joined us for her first "prayer walk" as we covered our village with prayer. We know that the gospel can't spread throughout France and beyond by our efforts alone but we must multiply ourselves into other disciples that can make disciples. It's been exciting to see that the church has the same burden to be salt and light to those around them. 

    The obvious bridge that we have to our community is through our kids. Our backyard bible club was well-received and we'd like to try a variation that would invite the parents to participate as well and would meet semi-regularly throughout the year. Another opening that we may explore is the wide-spread interest in learning English. As the seed of the word falls on "good soil" and bears fruit we plan to establish new home groups where there will be an early focus on equipping and releasing new leaders in order to multiply groups. Then there would be potential to network these new groups, or even churches, with the church in Méru.

    To find out more about why we have such a burden for France, click on the tab above entitled, "Why France." 









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