Basel, 15 August, 2009

Dear Friends of Eastern Europe Renewal:

The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

Here is a quick update on our activities.

The work in the Church in Lausanne continues well. God is good and giving us many blessings. Although I am only at the Church 20% or 2 weekends/mo the numbers and activities are up and people are encouraged. New people are joining the Church. There may be an opportunity for me to speak to hundreds of Sudanese Moslems at Christmas time. Please pray for the International English Speaking Church of Lausanne.

At our home Church in Basel Mary is much more regular in attendance than I am. Last week I could preach there and next week we will have the preachers’ class. We are a small Church but a real community in many ways.

At the end of June the staff of King’s Kids in the French part of Switzerland invited me to speak at their all day retreat. They are very hardworking and caring people with good visions and practice for helping and blessing children and families and it was a big encouragement to work with them.

In early July I went to England to work for a week at L’Abri Fellowship. We did a play reading and some music and had a lecture and some discussions and private counselling meetings.

A new part of my life is a new Recorder (blockflute) and a new teacher. I have never had lessons and this is a big adventure for me. One lesson a month is all that can be scheduled but the teacher takes me seriously and gives lots of homework. After one lesson I’m looking forward very much to the next one in a week.

Back to England the last week of July. More time at L’Abri. This time I could preach at the local International Presbyterian Church, which was a joy. I could also preach at a wedding in Richmond/London for a wonderful young couple, Frazer and Emily Blaxland. That was a great day. Before going to L’Abri Ally and Anna Gordon invited me to stay with them in Colliers Wood/London for a couple of days. It was great to have time with these increasingly dear friends and colleagues.

While I was in England Mary went to Poland for a week by herself! Her friends there were very helpful and everything went well. She is already talking about going again. At 81 and using a walker this is a little remarkable.

Last week was the TRANSFORUM conference at a large Church in Biel. They invited me to do one plenary lecture and 3 afternoon workshops of 3 hours each. About 300 people came and it was very a very worthwhile time learning about the Kingdom of God being on Earth as it is in Heaven and what that might look like on the ground. The people were very interested and encouraging. While there I could meet twice with the teachers of the large Christian School connected to the Church for curriculum consultations. We plan to continue meeting to work out how to make the students aware of the Biblical worldview and conversant in the wider world. This project is very exciting to me. The teachers have a lot of love and courage.

This week I am teaching at a YWAM school of Biblical Worldviews in Wiler, Switzerland. There are only 5 students but they are the most intelligent and articulate group of students I have ever worked with in my life. Sunday, 16 August, I will lead the Bible Study and preach in Lausanne and then preach in Reconviliers to about 400 people at a monthly joint Church meeting. It will be a long day.

Currently I am working on a lecture on "Manners", looking at the variety of systems of manners in the world and history and considering the positive and negative aspects of having manners. This involves honouring other people, healing the generation gap by common behaviours, finding the balance of form and freedom with decisions we make for ourselves and decisions that are made for us in a wider context. It is a work in progress, which I hope to try out in October.

May the Lord bless and keep you.

Much love in Jesus Christ,

Ellis

Classroom

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Copyright © 2009 Ellis Potter.