Marc's Messages

Where do we go from here?

In the last meeting I shared some of the development plans for Connect Europe. In the first place we want to be a network of friends. Connect's role is to bring together emerging leaders with a reformational mindset all across Europe, to form one stick in God's hand (Ez. 37). Secondly we are committed to hear prophetically, which means we want to embrace God's plans (not our own insights) and act based on that. In the third place we intentionally want to develop teams that will break open new ground for the Kingdom in different areas (geographically and socially). And finally we want to run with God-given strategies for this season.

The financial guys

How to support mobile apostolic teams? This morning Tim and Lucas (insert) shared some input and ideas, and we heard some great stories of God's provision, and people getting ideas for 'apostolic funding strategies' (though I haven't figured out yet what the difference is between an apostolic funding strategy and just having good ideas on how to make money in such a way that you can provide for others). Anyway, the money issue was on the top of most people's evaluation sheet. We didn't really dig into 'how to handle finances without getting tight up by Mammon', which is even more important if you ask me. But hey, it's an ongoing journey.

Charles Bridge by night

In the evening Sasa and Hannah took us to a restaurant in the old town, close to Charles Bridge, the top 'must-see' attraction for tourists. The Czech food is interesting. A typical meal would be bread dumplings with meat sauce and cream, accompanied by a 0.5 liter pint of light Czech beer.

Tobi's baptism

Tobias from Germany got baptised in the fountain in his 'Satan hates me' t-shirt. For Gabi and Martin it was the first time they baptised someone. Cool.

Disciple-making movements

Today we tried to get a handle on the start of 'organic' disciple-making movements. Jeff and David from Germany shared from their experiences with Luke 9 and 10, finding 'people of peace' around which a community can be formed.



In the afternoon I led the group through several basic steps, in which several people feeded their testimonies and stories.

Creative Chris

What do you do when you're a percussionist, but can't bring your whole equipment to a meeting? You simply create something out of what is available. And so the amazing Chris Hogben from London worshipped and drummed with a fire extinguisher, two empty beer bottles, a dustbin, a garbage can, and an empty paintbox. Cool.

Key issues for reformation

What is reformation and why do we need it? What are the key areas for reformation in today's church? How can we develop a reformational lifestyle? To kickstart the discussion, I wrote a basic paper on reformation, that we used in one of the workshops this afternoon.

Download ce_reformation_sheet.doc

Henk and Carla facilitated a workshop on 'how to get rid of a religious mindset and really live in Godly freedom', and Lucas and Kevin kicked off 'key issues for reformation in the marketplace and apostolic funding strategies'.

It's all about following

Tim and Simon kicked-off the morning session with an input on Jesus' ministry and his message of the Kingdom. Because Simon produced a whole CD with studies on the 'Kingdom DNA', I only wrote down a few key words of this session:

50 faces, 150 keywords

What a blessing to connect and interact with 50 emerging leaders from 13 nations on the dna of Jesus' ministry and God's plans with Europe. Everyone brings his/her own personality and story into the mix. Andreas suggested we would use three keywords to introduce ourselves. A good way to get to know one another, and sometimes quite hilarious.

The Hus excursion

Today we went on an excursion to the Hus statue in Prague, and to Tabor, the Hussite 'model town' south of Prague. If you're interested in some background information and lessons we can learn from the early reformation, then check out the articles section on the Connect website. Jan Inge posted a good report on his weblog in four episodes: Jan Hus, the Hussite church, Czech prayer and Tabor. Click on the pictures below to enlarge. Charis compiled an insightful 'tale of two cities' tree structure, showing how the Hussite seed grew in Tabor and Herrnhut:

Download the_seed___its_growth.jpg