Faith Partnership – latest news from Europe

To download and read the latest news from Faith Partnership, please click on the link below…

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The Power of Prayer Teams

I’m passionate about engaging people in mission, especially in prayer support for the courageous men and women who are planting churches all across Europe. Each year NLI mobilises several prayer teams into Europe. We get some incredible feedback from these missions, but it’s especially great when we hear from the church planters about the impact of these teams.

Here’s what Slovak church planters, Mark and Liz Holdcroft, said about the prayer team from Portland (US) who visited them earlier this year.

“In April, an NLI prayer team (below) came to visit us in Sala, a small city in Slovakia where we are planting a church. Up to that point the work we had been doing had been going well, with an increase in the number of people coming to our outreach programs. However, personally, as leaders we were feeling tired, spiritually dry and really in need of refreshment. We can honestly say that refreshment is exactly what this team brought.

Even though they were only able to spend a few hours with us, as they prayed over us and the work here in Sala, they confirmed promises that God had already spoken over us. They prayed specifically into our present situation and prayed blessing and encouragement for the future; a complete refreshment. The clear insight God gave them into our lives and work was such a blessing especially considering they did not know us.

USA Prayer Team

In the evening that followed we did our usual outreach program and clearly saw the difference that their prayers had made, with specific answers to certain prayers that were prayed. Also, since that time we have seen more and more of God’s blessing poured out in Sala, and we know that this prayer team played an important part in this. The following week we saw around a dozen teenagers make commitments to following Jesus. We truly thank God and NLI for sending this team. Their input was priceless and we would gladly welcome a prayer team back again.”

If you would like to know more about NLI prayer teams or about supporting NLI church planting initiatives in Europe, please contact me.

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Summer News

If you want to know more about what’s going on with Faith Partnership and NLI, please click on the newsletter image below to download the latest Faith Partnership news pdf.

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Mission can be as simple as painting a bus stop!

Last week a Canadian team went on mission to Crimea. The team of 27 interns split into 3 groups and hit most of the NLI church planting locations in Crimea. Some amazing testimonies are starting to filter through. I’ll get  more info as soon as I can, but in the meantime, here’s an amazing story from the church planters in Zuya. I’ve left it pretty much it as they wrote it: think it gives you a better impression than if I ‘posh it up’!!

Hello to you in Jesus Christ love. We wish to thank you for a team which came to us from Canada. This program was really great blessing for our church and settlement. When they arrived we worked in three directions: the program at school, painting of a stop for buses in the centre of settlement and evening dialogue with youth and sharing the Gospel.

Surprisingly, through the painting of a bus stop God has transformed a place where the Word of God for people living here was preached. I do not remember that any church program would collect more faithless people than simply painting of a stop. People asked: How is it people from Canada have arrived to our settlement to paint a stop, moreover and pay for it too?! We express huge gratitude to you for this display of Divine love.

Not the actual bus stop!!

The team was well prepared. It was visible that these people have arrived not as tourists who wished to diversify somehow their lives, but have arrived as the attendants ready on any place to show love of our Jesus Christ.

We thank the Lord for you and your prayers!

Aleksandra and Anastassiya. Zuya. Crimea. Ukraine.

How amazing!! We’ve heard other news of many young people responding to the gospel, so as soon as I have more, I’ll let you know.

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Marin’s Story

You may recall back in 2007 I went to Romania on a prayer mission. One of the places we visited was the ‘Heart to Heart’ project in Constanta. It’s run by Elena and a team of dedicated people. The aim is not charity, but justice. Life in Romania is tough for many people, especially the elderly with no family to look after them. The day centre provides a hot meal, shower, clean clothes, and support to about 30 people. The project also tries to re-house people when required. Elena says that more and more desperate women and children are coming to their doors for help. Here is the story of one man who found hope.

Heart-to-Heart logo

“ I am 60 years old. My name is Marin. This is my story. I grew up in a village near Constanta, in a poor family. I learned from a young age that if I want to eat I have to work, so I started working in agriculture, since I was 13. Long days in the sun. I had to manage with little food on a good day or just water on a bad day. At 18 I got a proper job in the state agriculture system.

At 25 I got married and a year later our first baby, a girl, was born. Five years later we had a boy. It sounds like a perfect family and probably it was according to the standards of my parents: it looked good on the outside!

But the inside was not good at all. When I was 30 my wife decided to divorce me. The communist leader responsible for moral standards where I worked tried to convince her that is better to keep up appearances, but it did not work. She had enough of my drinking and my nights away from home. I was 36 when this happened and after that my life went down and down. I ended up in a psychiatric hospital where I spent many years. No one from my family visited me, at least from what I remember. Mentally ill people are a shame for our country! That was the state politics at the time.

I left in 1998 with a plastic bag containing all I had. I found myself on the streets, homeless, moneyless, alone. I knew nothing of my children: nothing of my wife. I had nowhere to go. Eventually I remembered my brother’s address and went there. I stayed on and off. Some nights I spent on the street, just wandering around. I managed to find temporary jobs and I was doing ok. My mind was ok, but my heart was not!

One day I heard about this day centre. I still remember my first day at Heart to Heart – I had good coffee, good food, and I saw many people that seemed to have a good time there. I remember the peace I felt and I remember, I laughed! It did not take long for me to fall in love with the people that worked there and welcomed me. Mitica became my best friend! He could listen to me for hours and encourage me.

I believe I am part of the Heart to Heart family now. I feel I have responsibilities there. I  can help and I can ask my questions. For me Heart to Heart is the church I never knew existed. I found God and He is part of my everyday life now. Everything is not perfect. I often think of my children. Where are they? What have they become? Will I ever see them again? And if I will what would they say?

I am 60 years old. This is my life story and it is not over yet. Marin

Traian & Elena Pascalau

Elena writes: I pray you will be encouraged by the life of a man, formed by communism to believe there is no God, saved through grace, by God who proved Himself to Marin!

Traian and Elena Pascalau pastor the Good News Church, Constanta. Traian also oversees the NLI CP project in Romania.

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Crimea Trip News – March 2010 – online

Click on the newsletter image below to download the latest Faith Partnership news pdf. Great articles and photos from my recent travels in Crimea…

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Living An Honourable Life

On January 10th I had the privilege of preaching in my home church in Burnley. The message – taken from Luke 1 & 2 – is about how we can live honourable lives before God and impact the world we live in.

If you’d like to listen to the message then click on the link.

You can listen to more great teaching from Life Church Burnley by subscribing free with iTunes or directly from the church website www.lifechurchburnley.com

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Raising The Stakes – NLI 2.0

But in 2009, things are about to change. NLI is upping the ante; raising the stakes! We’ve set an audacious goal to develop ‘ministry relationships’ in all 47 European nations by 2020! There are still millions of unreached people in Europe; people who need to hear the life-changing message of Jesus; need to grow in their faith; need to have the opportunity to be part of a vibrant local church community. Our core values have not changed; we will always seek to develop leaders, plant churches, and mobilise people on mission, but we want to be more effective in doing this: to have greater Kingdom impact across Europe.

The structure of NLI is going to change. We’re calling it NLI 2.0. The current 3 departments (LD; CP; STM) will be replaced by 6 European regions (Baltic; Atlantic; Mediterranean; Central; Balkan; Eastern). The regions cover particular geographical areas with each nation having its own unique flavour; culture; people groups; needs. Each Regional Team, (NLI staff, Operational Centres, National leaders etc.) will coordinate the particular projects and aspects of ministry needed in each nation.

Since its inception, NLI has probably never taken such radical steps to see transformation in Europe. The vision is huge; the challenge great. But we believe this is our God-given mandate and are passionate to see more people impacted by God’s grace and power. Please pray for the NLI staff and partner churches at this time.

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Never the same again!

As promised, here’s an amazing testimony from the Romania prayer team.

Every year NLI ‘deploys’ mission teams to support and encourage the work of church planters through prayer and intercession. We have recently seen a dramatic increase the numbers of people wanting to engage in this vital ministry. Momentum is building! In May this year, both Slovakia and Romania received prayer teams, and on one of these were Phil and Pam Haughton, from Capital Church, Cardiff, one of the partner churches working with NLI in Romania.

Romanian prayer team

Pam’s thoughts: “Before we went to Romania, I couldn’t see how planting churches could be the answer to a situation of social deprivation. Now I see that the church of Jesus Christ is the ONLY answer. In places of such spiritual darkness and desperate need, only the Body of Christ, living sacrificial lives, loving and serving together, being Jesus to the people, showing that there IS another way, is the only way for the poor to be lifted from the dung heap and set among princes. Jesus is the Way and the church is His body.”

ministry in a project for elderly people

“We have lived and travelled for seven days with an amazing group of people from England, Canada, USA & New Zealand. As the week went on, twelve individuals became a team, and a tool forged by the Holy Spirit. The team was led gently, wisely and sensitively by John and Marty Smith; ‘led from the back’ to quote John; and Marty reminded us on more than one occasion that each one of us had been handpicked by God to be on this mission at this time and to these people. Each one of the team has taken a piece of our heart with them, and we have left a big chunk with the people we had the privilege of meeting in and around Constanta.

We were fed, driven around and ministered to by people who gave sacrificially and unstintingly to serve us; we were humbled and awed by the vision, dedication and spiritual stature of the church planters we had the privilege of praying with; and we have had our hearts broken by some of the things we have seen and experienced.”

prayer-walking

Phil shared his own insights from the mission, “Before leaving home, I had certain ideas as to what would happen on the trip. I was there to support Pam in her prayer ministry; visiting the church planters would be in their homes with a few people present; and we would prayer-walk the streets like we do here. Wrong! It was made clear at the outset by John that the (traditional) culture tended to be men-orientated and as such the church planters were likely to be expecting the men in the team to give strong words. As there were only two of us, plus John, I was put on the spot straight away and the Spirit drew me out to pray and share pictures through the week.”

“The churches turned out to be a motley assortment of living rooms, bedrooms and other very small units into which we all crammed together and God just moved in amazing ways. The streets where we prayed were in a very bad state; deep holes, dog muck, rubble, and electric wires with open ends hanging everywhere!!!

praying for the church planter in Negru Voda

… The incredible love and commitment shown by so many local folk, many of whom have been through much persecution, put my own faith in the shade, but I know God used us to bless and be blessed.We have had our hearts and vision enlarged; we have been raised to a higher level of intimacy with God and of hearing the Holy Spirit; and we have returned so excited about who God is and what He can do. Our perspective has changed and we can never be the same again – nor would we want to.”

praying for Matthew & Estera in Constanta

It’s been so rewarding to read about the impact both teams had on mission, especially the Romanian team, which comprised 10 ‘new-comers’ to NLI prayer missions. I don’t think this will be their last mission either.

If you’d like to know more about NLI prayer missions, in particular the team going out to Romania in September (6^th to 13^th), or any of our other mission opportunities, please contact me at judith.linnell@nlieurope.com

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Romania prayer mission – breaking news!!

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