Marc's Messages 3.0

Family trip - week four

The highlights of this week:
- An outing to Chamonix Mont Blanc, where we took a mountain train up to the Mer de Glace, where you can walk through the glacier. The glacier shrunk significantly, so maybe Al Gore was right after all.
- A stroll through Geneva's beautiful Botanic Gardens.
- Water cycling with the boys on Lake Annecy in the French alps.
- An overnight visit to Florian and Iris of the Dream House in Taunusstein, near Frankfurt.
- Spending a few days with my parents, where we celebrated Peter's 6th birthday.

More Chamonix Mont Blanc pictures here.
More Botanic Garden pictures here.

Family trip - week three

The highlights of this week:
- A few relaxing days at Lammert & Conny's place in Geneva. A country house close to the centre, which offers a good base for outings.
- Getting soaked at Geneva's impressive Jet d'Eau, with 140 meters, 200 km/h and 7,000 litres of water the largest fountain in Europe.
- Spending a day with the Mudriks on their way from Taize to Prague, catching up on plans to develop community.
- A visit to CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory, where the World Wide Web was born.

- Because it was raining for three days non-stop, we also spent an afternoon at the Museum of Natural History, which had an impressively extensive collection of animals, stones, and more.
- A stroll along the Rhone river to the old city with the Gallery of Reformers in the Parc des Bastions. Don't visit the International Museum of the Reformation; it's deadly boring, only portraits of John Calvin.
- A day-trip up to the Saleve range, from where you have an excellent view over Lake Geneva.
- Climbing the top of La Dole (1678m) in the Jura mountains.
- Swimming in Lake Geneva - quite cold, but refreshing.
- Watching 'The making of The Lord of the Rings', a story as impressive and epic as the movie itself.

More Geneva, Saleve and Jura pictures here.

Family trip - week two

The highlights of this week:
- Enjoying a few quiet days at Wolfgang & Mercy's place in Feuerbach, an idyllic village with fruit trees and vines in the Black Forest.
- The boys wanted to sleep on the balcony because they thought that would be more fun.
- Walks in the forest and a visit to the bird park in Steinen, where they do impressive shows with birds of prey.
- We also looked at some houses in this region.

More Black Forest pictures here.

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.

On the road again

The next four weeks I'll be travelling with my family through Germany and Switzerland (and a little bit of France). We'll be visiting various friends, meetings and places, and have some holiday time as well in the Black Forest and Geneva. Will catch up when I'm back, or maybe halfway.

The streets of Stockholm

On Tuesday night we ministered in a church in Vasteras, an experience that I will come back to later in a separate post, as it raised - or rather confirmed - two key issues for me related to the call to reformation. On Wednesday I hang out with my hosts Vello and Ingalill Vaim, a prophetic couple from Örebro with a keen insight in God's dealings with the Church in Sweden and the nations, and also got some publishing work done. On Thursday I quickly debriefed with the team, as there were some communication issues to clear, and headed back to Stockholm to spend the evening with Krister from 24-7prayer. Today I walked the streets of Stockholm, the Venice of the north, enjoying the Midsummer military music parade at the King's palace. Wrapping it up: Sweden and Stockholm carry much potential for the Kingdom, and I was encouraged by what I saw here.

Connecting in Sweden

Having a good time in Sweden, the land of forests, lakes, vikings, knäckebröd and midsummer. At the airport we hooked up with US-based British healing evangelist Paul Bennison, a humorous guy with a big heart for people. He was invited to Sweden, following a report I published in Joel News International about healing miracles that happened in a hospital in Cali, Colombia. Heidi, who sensed God speaking prophetically about Sweden, was invited to join the first trip with Paul three weeks ago. On this second trip Stuart, Tim (a young worship leader and web designer) and myself are joining for a few days. The trip is being coordinated by journalist Per Danielson and publisher Joel Sjöberg from Örebro, two wonderful guys who got us a 'bed and breakfast' with very hospitable Swedish families in their typical woodhouses.

Yesterday we met with the 24-7prayer team in Stockholm, who ignite passion for Jesus in the nation and carry a vision for prayer and mission minded communities. Today we met with seven members and staff of the Swedish Parliament, who are part of a Christian fellowship that connects across the party lines. It was good to get a sense of what's happening in the nation.

Crossing the Peleponnese

The Peleponnese peninsula is called by some 'the heart and soul of Greece'. It certainly is beautiful, and crossing it from the westcoast of Loutra Kyllinis (viewing the islands of Kefalonia and Zakinthos) via Olympia (the birthplace of the Olympics), the Arkadian mountains west of Tripoli, the fortress city of Nafplio, and the eastern coastal route to Corinth, is quite a trip. As I'm flying out early tomorrow, I will drive another leg back to Athens and sleep at the airport. More pictures here.

The oracle of Delphi

On my way along the Gulf of Corinth to Patra and the western Peleponnese, I made a stop in Delphi, place of the ancient oracle of Gaia, and later Apollo. The Greeks considered it the navel of the earth, and it certainly was one of the most powerful places of divination in Antiquity. As the oracle was instrumental in the foundation of colonies, received of the wealth of city states, and was consulted for major political an military decisions, Delphi also exercised significant political power. Today the archeological site draws busloads of visitors, and it's an art in itself to make pictures from an angle that effectively excludes the tourists. More pictures here.

The monasteries of Meteora

Yesterday it was raining cats and dogs, so I decided to drive in the direction of Lamia with the hope that the weather would improve enough to pay a visit to the monasteries of Meteora today. I must say: the trip through the vast Plain of Thessaly to the mysterious suspended rocks where Greek Orthodox monks built their nearly inaccessible places of prayer, was totally worth it. It's THE place to pray over Greece, as you can oversee a large area, and it's also blessed with astounding natural beauty. More pictures here.

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.

Although these ancient buildings are all in ruins due to the deconstruction policy of Christian Roman emperor Theodosius, and several earthquakes in the Middle Ages, intercessors claim that the 'Greek spirit' is still alive and influencing Europe. The Greek culture certainly is, and the accomplishments - though clearly man-centered and steeped in idolatry - are impressive. It was interesting to note that it was in the Stoa of Attalos in the Agora that in 2003 the accession treaty was signed of the ten new European Union member states.

As in many places in Europe, also in Greece there is a revival of neopaganism that seeks a restoration of Hellenic Polytheism. In the momentum following the 2004 Olympic Games, the Greek neopagans received legal recognition and are now pushing for full recognition by the Greek goverment, of course to the irritation of the dominantly present Greek Orthodox church.

To what extent the ancient Greek gods still exercise influence, and to what extent those who pursue the Kingdom should be concerned about this, is hard to say and invariably disputed. People in the prayer and spiritual warfare scene are convinced that territorial spirits and people's mindsets can limit the fruit of the Gospel message, if not addressed in prayer, and they certainly have a point here. Some even say Paul made a historic blunder on the Areopagus by not demonstrating his message with power, but compromising his 'incarnational' approach too much with the Greek mindset. Other more down-to-earth apostolic types say we shouldn't concern ourselves too much with these spirits. He who lives in us is stronger anyway. When Christ and his Kingdom are preached, demonic forces will likely manifest and you can deal with them in the autority we have in Christ, very much like Paul did on various occasions as accounted in the book of Acts. And I can go with this approach as well.

Anyway, we celebrated Pentecost among the ruins of pagan temples, and prayed for a new outpouring of God's Spirit in Greece, for a revelation of the heart issues that currently limit the Church to walk in unity in her calling, and for apostolic boldness to proclaim and demonstrate the unshakable Kingdom. More pictures of Athens here.

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.

Tracking William of Orange

On our way back home we paid a quick visit to Burg Nassau, to see where William of Orange, the founding father of the Netherlands, came from. The Dutch national anthem states that we have German blood, and for our royal house this is certainly for 75% true when you consider the fact that William was a German and that many royals after him married a German as well. So it seems to me that the Germans and Dutchies are convicted to each other. ;-)

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.

In the afternoon we divided into four interest groups. The one I participated in, and of which Phil Anderson wrote an outline in Powerpoint, was on the foundations of community life. What are some good forms/models we see emerge in Europe? Do you need a Common Rule or agreement on lifestyle and values? How does leadership function in a community? How are finances best dealt with? Other groups discussed the social challenges of community, developing missional impact, and how to get started.

Download communities_mindmap_text_version.rtf
Download structures_of_community.ppt

Walking in Luxemburg

We spent three days in Luxemburg, enjoying the beautiful weather and the variety of nature in this tiny nation. Based in the youth hostel in Bourglinster, where the obscure Mrs. Marx provides yoga courses, we walked the rocky area of Echternach, where we BBQ'ed with Alain Tshinza (aka Gospel Emcee) and the international church he's part of. Yesterday we spent most of the day in the Haute Sûre nature park. More pictures here.

Worship by numbers

Lots of good connections and inspiration over the past few days. Wednesday afternoon we took a cable car up to Mürren, a car-less village built on a steep mountain overlooking the Jungfrau range (pictures here). In the evening Andrew Jones led us in an alternative 'worship by numbers' session, followed by an improvised Connect Europe team meeting in the local pub.

Yesterday afternoon Oivind and I walked one kilometer into the Niederhorn mountain to look for Saint Beatus (the Celtic apostle who brought the gospel to this part of Switzerland), but we found only stalagmites, tites, and a wild mountain river. In the evening Reinhold threw a Caribbean party at his house for the DAWN team and some friends, blogged about by Mike Bischoff. This morning we did some planning for a strategy meeting with younger DAWN leaders from across Europe (to be scheduled for 2008).

Apostolic church planting

The main contribution to the conference came yesterday night from Florian Bärtsch, an apostolic evangelist from the Luzern area. There are not many organic church networks that are apostolic in the sense that they incorporate three elements:
1. a supernatural dimension of signs and wonders, and Spirit-led risk-taking (like we read in the book of Acts); 2. strategic focus and planning; and 3. a relaxed team learning attitude. Florian is a zealous speaker, and really got our attention. Alexander Campbell was so good to list the key lessons learnt, and also Andreas and Gabi blogged their reflections.

This morning I joined a focus group on identifying apostles, which was also quite interesting. My take is that most people with an apostolic calling either already left the church, because they don't thrive in a pastor-teacher environment, but rather look for another context to use their entrepreneurial skils, or they are not yet Christians. The people to look for think holistically (see the whole and how the different parts fit together) and act entrepreneurially (explore and take new ground).

DAWN/ECN conference

DAWN Europe, the network for saturation church planting, and Eurochurch, the missional church network, joined forces in a 2-day conference on 'Church Planting and the Missional Mandate', held in our familiar DAWN location, hotel Credo in Wilderswil. It's a good opportunity to meet missional network leaders from all over Europe.

Springtime in Switzerland

Yesterday I went for a long hike in the mountains south of the Wägitalersee. Switzerland is beautiful in any season, but I especially love the Springtime when everything is bursting with new life. Today I drove through the central cantons Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden to Wilderswil (near Interlaken). Click to enlarge the pictures (more here).

 

Swiss connections

I'm visiting several contacts in Switzerland. Met up yesterday with Peter and Evelyne Schäubelin in Thayngen. Peter runs a communications studio (check out his creative website) and he is the distributor of Joel News in Switzerland. In Schaffhausen I reconnected with E., a Turkish simple church planter, who gave input in our Connect Europe gathering in Istanbul. We talked about some aspects of reformation and made a walk along the beautiful Rhine promenade. In the evening I visited Peter & Tjarda Mutsaers, friends from our study time in Utrecht, who just moved house to Hombrechtikon, on the shores of Lake Zürich.

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.

Being in Trondheim

As I write this, I'm overlooking Heimdal, a suburb of Trondheim. We're staying with Terje and Lise Dahle in their typically Norwegian wooden house. Terje leads the new board of DAWN in Norway and oversees the Norwegian churches of Kristent Nettverk, an apostolic network that originated in Bergen. Trondheim is quite similar to Utrecht: it's the birthplace of Christianity in the nation, has a cathedral right in the centre, and a rather large student population. If you're interested to update your knowledge of Trondheim, then check out this short introduction movie.

It has been a few years since the parachute dream. The good thing is that God has been speaking to more people about Trondheim. In fact, two Connect friends - Gabi and Heidi - had another prophetic story to add to the mix. When in November last year I met Terje at a DAWN Scandinavia meeting in Copenhagen, he said: "If God is speaking about my city, then you should come over and share." Which is the reason why I'm here. The Dahle's are very hospitable, in fact they're spoiling us with wonderful Norwegian food like salmon, caramel cheese and jarred berries.

On Sunday we met with a group of 25-30 students that form a simple church network in the city, and I shared about 'seeing prophetically and acting apostolically'. On Monday we visited Trondheim, to see some of the historic city. Yesterday we drove up to Levanger for a meeting with Arne of the Nordic Prayer Center. He's one of those rare prayer guys that thinks prayer-community-missions-justice and he has a great sense of humor as well. They pray for the nordic region of Europe, but also for Trondheim, and several other key areas. The sky was clear - it's freezing minus 12 - so it was a beautiful trip along the coastline.

In the evening we met Havard and Katherina, a young couple that serves the network here, and we joined a house church in one of the student homes. Today I had lunch with the core group of the pastors' network, and tonight we'll have another house church meeting. Looks busy, but we also have some time to relax.

Now what is God up to in Trondheim? He has been speaking from Is. 43:16-21 and Job 14:7-9. The first Scripture speaks about not dwelling on military force and on the past, but looking at the new things God is doing. The second is about an old tree dying in the ground, and the promise that fresh new shoots will come up. On the road to Levanger I (prophetically) saw a military helmet that was turned upside down, and a new plant was growing in it. Realising that the Gospel was brought to Norway with the sword by the not-so-saintly Olav, and that the Lutheran state church - even though the life is dying out - is still dominantly present, I believe these Scriptures speak about a new movement that God wants to start in Trondheim that will be reformational in nature.

A key issue is that of allegiance. I encouraged the pastors and students to submit to the kingship/headship of Christ (not just in theory, but in reality), and in that to each other. Politics - power play and compromise - have corrupted the church in Trondheim more or less from the start. They say every innovation here is being battled. But this new move of God can't be controlled by little kings. There's only one way to move with Him, and that is to die to self and man-made structures we even dare to call 'church'. Only then a godly movement can break forth. May Springtime come to Trondheim. Can't wait to see the flowers.

Organic church planters in Basel

Earlier this week I spent 1.5 days in Basel for a consultation with 15 organic church planters from Switzerland, Germany and the UK. All guys, yes, can you believe it. But it was really encouraging to hear what's happening in the various networks/movements, and share God-given vision and practical insights.



It was good to hear that Michael Girgis from Bülach (fourth guy standing from the right) who works with IGW, and David Schäfer from Essen (second from the right) plan to host regular get-togethers for pioneers in their area, and I could pass on some ideas how to go about this.

Simon Veigel of Nomal Generation (sitting on the right) facilitates a network of 50 'friendship groups' of young people in the Black Forest. Marcus Splitt from Meiningen (the guy in the red shirt) developed a local community that's fully organic in the sense of sharing life and goods, but also what he calls 'walking with the city', territorially committed to the place where they live.

Alexander Campbell from Bath (second tallest) develops an organic cp network in the UK. Daniël Hari, a former Salvation Army evangelist (not in the picture) has a healing ministry among new agers and Catholics and shared some of his dreams for the German-speaking nations. Wolfgang Simson (the guy right in the middle) gave me some good reflections on training, and later in the year we follow-up on this with several organic cp trainers.

The guy completely on the right is Reinhold Scharnowski of DAWN Europe. The three heads on my right side are from Marcus Bittner and bloggers Mike Bischoff and Dave Schlaginhaufen. Then sitting from left to right Adrian Staub, Peter Grossenbacher and Martin Enzner. The third guy standing from the right is Paul Kaak, an American missionary strategist who works with Neil Cole, and who helped facilitate our interactions.