Marc's Messages 3.0

Why Europe, Why Now?

A bit over two years ago a video team of The Caleb Project visited me for a long interview on the state of the Church in Europe and the missional challenges of our continent. It's always interesting to see that out of such a lengthy interview only a few spicy quotes make it to the ultimate DVD. But the good thing is that they did the same with the interviews of around fifty other pioneers all over Europe, generating a rich and inspiring picture of what's happening in our continent. The DVD covers both the huge transition/reformation the church in Europe is going through, and the real stories of real people praying and planting churches. This Fall we're distributing this unique DVD, and you can order your copy here.

Connect Portugal

I'm still recovering from a week of flu when Nuno sends a report of the Connect Portugal gathering held last weekend in the beautiful beach town of Sintra. He writes: "We spent quality time sharing life stories, vision and encouragement for the future. It was, I believe, the first time in our country that such a diverse group of Christians (institutional church, emerging groups, freaks, etc.) were united in an ambiance of true relationships, with people pouring their hearts out while sharing the ups and downs of trying to be the church of Christ."

The Vision, the Vow and the Beer

With a group of Connect Europe friends we are exploring Zinzendorf's Order of the Mustard Seed. As we plan to meet in Prague for a community weekend, I suggested to extend the three-fold Vow with a fourth commitment:

Being true to Christ
Kind to people
Bringing the gospel to the nations
Valuing Czech beer for what it's really worth

This proposal was welcomed with zeal. Phil Anderson even came with a solid undergirding from church history. "The whole beer idea is faithful to a great tradition of European Celtic spirituality," he said, quoting St. Brigid’s prayer (Brigid of Kildaire was an Irish Celtic abbess from the 5th century).

A new breed of evangelists

Today Mattheus van der Steen of Touch, Reach and Impact the Nations (TRIN) paid me a visit. Mattheus is an exponent of what you could call 'a new breed of faith and charity evangelists' that is emerging from the Netherlands. TRIN started nearly two years ago and quickly developed into an international hub, based in Harderwijk, where young people can realize their God-given dreams related to reaching the world for Christ and bringing hope to the poor and oppressed.

Connect Europe this Autumn

This Summer several Connect Europe friends hit the road. Krister & Resa blogged about the trip of the Nordic team to Latvia and Lithuania (pictures here), Gabi uploaded her pictures of the SLOT Arts Festival in Poland, and Marek reports about the first Czech Connect meeting that took place in the house of prayer in Senozaty (pictures here).

For this Autumn several focused and regional Connect Europe events and trips are shaping up, which provide excellent opportunities to (re)connect, develop friendship and grow in teamwork.

Family trip - week one

The highlights of this week:
- We saw a whole series of rainbows, one after the other, when we drove through Saxony on our way to Herrnhut. Beautiful.
- Revisiting Herrnhut. Something that unintentionally happens once a year. This town holds a special place in God's story. We caught up with pastor Frank, and I was encouraged to read in the history of the Jesus Haus (the house of prayer) that God used Dutch missionaries to ignite the youth revival that touched Herrnhut in the Seventies.
- We looked at several houses in East Germany and prayerfully asked God and ourselves: could we live in this part of Europe?
- A fresh walk in the wetlands area of the Spreewald, where we saw a toilet being used as garden decoration.
- Reconnecting with friends Kerstin in Berlin, and Andreas & Christine in Magdeburg.
- A two-day DAWN team meeting in a hotel in East Berlin with an interesting view on the typical socialist-realist architecture of the Commie times.
- Meeting the wonderful Eichler family, who offered us a bed in the Christian Center in Reichenbach, and shared some of their experiences with ministry in East Germany.

Visit from the Plymptons

This weekend Connect friends Heidi and Stuart Plympton are over from England, and it's good to spend some time together. This morning we taught a slot on 'the prophetic and supernatural dimension in church planting' at a DAWN/Shift training for simple church planters, led by Ronald van der Molen. Tomorrow we'll take off to Stockholm for a healing and connection tour through Sweden with British evangelist Paul Bennison. I have no idea how this roadtrip will work out, but let's see what God has in store for us.

Come over to Macedonia!

Gabi posted a report and some pictures of the Connect trip to Macedonia two weeks ago. She noted: "Going from Greece to Macedonia is spiritually like moving from a cemetary to a greenhouse." Can imagine that. There has been a strong increase in unity among Christians in the nation, even catalyzed by the sudden death of president Boris Trajkovski three years ago (see this report in Joel News). The guys at Glasnost church have a vision to see a living Christ-centered community in every town in Macedonia. And in three years time they also want to establish a 24-7prayer boilerroom at the shores of Lake Ohrid, a place that used to be a beachhead for the Gospel in the time of Clement and Cyril & Methodius.

Global Day of Prayer

An estimated 250 million Christians in 200 nations unite in prayer and celebration today. For the Church in Athens it's the first time they participate in this Global Day of Prayer. We gathered with around 130 children and young people, mainly from indigenous Asian and African fellowships - but there were some Greeks and Bulgarians as well - in front of the Panathenaic Stadium to pray, wash the children's feet (as an act of serving the emerging generation), celebrate Jesus, and have a picknick. Afterwards we had a meal with George & Evi Markakis and the team of the Shalom prayer house, who received us very hospitably. Pictures here.

Revisiting the Areopagus

When the apostle Paul walked through Athens, the oldest city in Europe, he was stirred in his spirit by all the idolatry, and challenged the Athenians, who were always eager to hear the latest ideas, that the unknown God Creator does not live in temples made by men, and even rose his Anointed Messenger from the dead. Daring guy. Today we prayed on the Acropolis, in the Agora area, the Areopagus (Mars Hill) where Paul interacted with the philosophers of his days, and the grounds of the former temple of Zeus.

On my way to Greece

I'm on my way to Greece with the Connect crew to celebrate Pentecost and join the Global Day of Prayer in Athens. On Monday our team will split up: Gabi, Niina and Pálma will travel to Thessaloniki to meet with DAWN missionaries Alan and Whitney, and then move on to Skopje and Lake Ohrid in Macedonia, where they meet up with our Connect and 24-7prayer friends Alek and Alpin. I will be travelling in Greece for a few more days and have two purposes: praying in several key places and gaining a better understanding of how the Greek culture influenced Europe (and still does), and taking some reading and reflection time as a preparation for writing a Connect/Shift-flavored book on reformation.

Foolishness to the Greeks

Next weekend a Connect team will travel to Greece and Macedonia, the area where the Gospel message first hit European soil about 2,000 years ago. I will join the Athens part of the trip, others will move on to Thessaloniki and Skopje. While preparing for this trip today, something interesting happened. When I called the Greek branch of Europcar to ask whether one could drive a rental car into Macedonia, the lady on the phone said: "Sure, you can take it all over Greece, so also into Macedonia."

Sharing prayers, stories and pictures

I really enjoyed the past few days. We could have dug deeper in terms of content and practice of community, but there were many stories, friendships, prayers, activities, movies and barbecue sausages to share as well. We also talked with the Connect group about joining the Order of the Mustard Seed, which is something we will explore more over the next months. Make sure to check out my review of Bonhoeffer's 'Life Together', and Barbara's post on community life. She is currently pioneering a new community in Portugal and has good insights to share. Because five people also shared their cameras with me, there are loads of pictures of the weekend on my Flickr site.

The Council of Elrond

Yesterday I showed this movie clip of the Council of Elrond (Lord of the Rings), that speaks about how community is being formed.

Intentional communities in Europe

Greetings from Klostergut Gronau near Wiesbaden, Germany, where we're having an inspiring time of learning and friendship with 40 or so Connect Europe friends, Jesus Freaks, SLOT guys, 24-7 folks and the team of Traumhaus community. The topic is starting and developing intentional (missional) communities. A number of people are already into this, others are just starting. Today we explored the Kingdom potential of communities, why we would want to pursue it, what some of the main challenges and problems are, and our personal hick-ups or fears.

Connect Europe 2007

This year there will be no 'big' Connect Europe gathering. However, several more focused and regional events and trips are shaping up, which is exciting! These will provide excellent opportunities for emerging visionaries and pioneers in Europe to (re)connect, develop friendship and grow in teamwork. I believe this will be a year to step out of our comfort-zones and get going with the dreams and visions God put in our hearts.

Reconnecting in Oslo

After a bumpy flight over the snowcapped mountains, we touched down in Oslo for a day with Connect Norway friends Anne Maria, Elsie, Kjell Arne, Jan Inge and Karl Anders. Inspiring conversations on the Kingdom and organic church, testing Jan Inge's amazing cooking qualities, a walk in the snowy forest, and a time of prayer about God's plans with the nordic region.