Fall 2014:

It has been a busy and rewarding season for us personally, for the church in Darmstadt, and for the Church Planting movement of the International Baptist Convention (IBC), our partners in this ministry. We have much to share with you - our partners who make it all possible through your prayerful support!

Dr Jimmy Martin prays for our new elders and their wives.

Of course there was cake - lots of cake!

Second Birthday! On October 12 we celebrated the second birthday of Converge International Fellowship in Darmstadt. It was a great day. We were joined in our worship service by Dr. Jimmy Martin, the General Secretary of the IBC, and his wife Laurie. During the service we commissioned our first elders of the church Igor is a Swiss physicist and at the European Space Agency; Adam Williams, from England, is the Operations Manager for the Venus Express Mission at the Space Agency; and Eric Eagle is a Geospatial technician for the US Department of Defense. Even more impressive than their resumes is their love for the Lord. These are great men to work with! We are so blessed that God has brought them to the church and into leadership.

The service was further highlighted by greetings from Rev. Doug Simpson, who found us on the Internet. He was the first pastor of First Baptist Church of Darmstadt in 1965! We didn’t even know there was an English language church here in ’65 – and he didn’t know we were here now! It was very special to connect with him during our birthday week. We followed the service that evening with a “fellowship feast” in the church dining room, complete with international delights and birthday cake!

CIF officially welcomed as a Member church
 of the IBC by Dr. Jimmy Martin.

IBC MEMBERSHIP!

At the Annual Convention Meeting of the IBC the church was welcomed as a full member of the Convention, having laid the foundation for ministry in the city of Darmstadt and church multiplication in the years ahead. We are so grateful to God for His faithfulness in these few short years!

Violet is from Poland, Jason & Tia
are from the USA and China

Joanna and Werner are from
Singapore and Germany

John & Magdalene from Sierra Leone

The Church Family gathered for our 2nd birthday celebration

University Students from Kenya, Ghana & Latvia

Welcoming New People.

Our children's ministry is GROWING!

 This fall has been a season of growth. Not only has the number of people grown, but the demographic has changed substantially. Many of the new folks have been young families. Our children’s ministry went from 2 or 3 at each service to 14 or 16 in just a few weeks! We have had to rent additional space in the building to multiply the children’s ministry opportunities. Pray for the ministries of the church – our goal is to introduce them to Jesus, help them to grow in their relationship with Him, and send them out as equipped disciples

Church Planting Around the World!

With Tromanhausers in Munich

Prayer of Commissioning at the Annual Meeting of the IBC.

Our mission here is two-fold. First, we are here to plant a healthy reproducing church in Darmstadt. Second, we are commissioned to assist the IBC in establishing a Church Planting movement around the world. Several steps were taken in recent weeks on the second front. In October, we went to Munich to join a family who has been called to plant a second IBC church in that beautiful city. Kyle and Matilda Tromanhauser, and their two boys, Kyle, Jr. and Conner, are a wonderful family and are very excited to get under way. We met with them to assist in meeting leaders of the first IBC church in the city, plan for the new church, and encourage them in fund raising (we know how hard that process is!). 

Assessment Center in Ramstein, Germany

The last week of October we participated in the very first Church Planter Assessment Center put on by the IBC. Over the past years, the IBC has had their church planters assessed by Converge Worldwide in the US, and we still will for candidates located there, but now we are equipped to assess potential planters who are in Europe without sending them across the Atlantic. Assessment of church planters and their spouse is a key ingredient in finding the right planter for the right city, and we were blessed to assess two potential church planters that week – an American who is planning to plant in Rome, and an Italian who feels called to plant an IBC church in Barcelona. This was Carol’s first time to participate in an Assessment Center as an Assessor, and she found out just how challenging and rewarding it is. 

Keep us in your Prayers!

• Pray for the church. As we move into our third year of ministry, we are seeing the first big wave of relocations. We have no less than 3 families and numerous students who are moving away in January. This is the nature of International churches, with so many in the city on a short-term basis. It is hard to say goodbye, but we are so blessed to have been able to worship with these dear friends. Pray for them as they go, that they will find a supportive church community in their new city.
• Pray for Carol as she serves the church in so many ways. She is busy helping students, wives and moms who are adjusting to life in a foreign city far from family and friends. Sometimes our greatest ministry flows from our own deepest pain.
•  Pray for Bob as he pastors the church, serves as coordinator of the Church Planting Management Team and Vice-chair of the Interlaken Summer Conference Team for the IBC.
• Pray for our family – Our parents, children and grandchildren are so far away back in the USA.  We love and miss them – it’s hard to be so far away!
• Pray for the church; and greater impact of our ministry among students at the university, scientists and support personnel at the Space Agencies, and business & military personnel from the US and around the globe working in the area and their families

Herasy in Evangelicalism...Two articles...

An article from Christianity Today, October 28, 2014: 

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/october-web-only/new-poll-finds-evangelicals-favorite-heresies.html


An excellent perspective from First Things on the article on heretical views in modern evangelicalism. 

http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2014/10/heresy-in-american-evangelicalism

We must all be very careful what we teach, preach and believe!


Icon of the Fathers at the First Council of Nicaea

Answered Prayers!

Hi everyone,

I want to share with you the following email that I just received from Xiannan. For those of you who do not know, he just recently relocated to Innsbruck for a six month work assignment at a research center as part of his PhD work.  It has been very difficult to find a place to live, and we have been praying for him.  Here is his email:

Hi Bob,

I am contacting you to inform you guys I found an perfect room.

I visited a potential room this morning, and got it. I can't believe the fact, since

she hardly speaks English, however I indeedly make it under the help of my colleague. 

This room was previously her daughter's room and very clean and tidy. The lady is so nice and

kind, even she told me I don't need to pay any deposit, just because she trusts in me. In addition,

I don't need to buy any life stuff, just move in directly. By the way, it is just a kidding but is true, she said she can even help me wash clothes, since she is free most of the time.

Last but most importantly, I really fall short of words to express my gratitude to God and all you guys. I couldn't make it without mercy of God and your numerous prayings. Please help me forward my gratitude to all guys.

Thanks a lottttttttttttttttttt!

Have a nice day.

Kind regards

Xiannan

Thank you for your prayers for Xiannan.  Please continue to pray for other students, including Anok,who is waiting to hear a response from more than 50 applications that he has sent our regarding his future studies.

In addition please be praying for Christy Helfand's family, and the health of her father, and for Franzi Ngnoudgi, who is recovering from emergency surgery over the weekend. 

Prayer works!

-- 

Today is, of course, September 11.  We all know what happened on this date in 2001, and we mourn for the lost.  Seventy years ago today, on September 11, 1944, the city we now live in was destroyed.  As many as 12,000 were killed and 60,000 left homeless in a 20 minute period.  Darmstadt was one of 5 cities in Germany to have casualties of more then 10,000 in a single day. September 11 brings two very sad reminder for us.

(If you use Google Chrome to open the link below, you can have it translate the article into English).

http://www.echo-online.de/region/bergstrasse/heppenheim/Zehntausend-Tote-in-einer-Nacht;art1245,5419965