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Women, Stop Submitting to Men!

Posted on by Silva
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Wow.

Weekly I get an email with an article digest.  Last week there was an article that caught my eye by the same title of this post.  I’ve linked to it here.

Years ago I wrote a post titled “K-I-S-S-I-N-G” that kicked up some dust because in it and subsequent to it, I explained that in the Bible, there are no categories for “boyfriend,” “girlfriend” or “lover” and since that is true, PDA (premarital displays of affection) were prohibited.

Dr. Russell Moore in the linked article re-opens that discussion in a way that is very important.  Read the article.  I’d love to know what you think!

Hamburg Chronicles: The Vision is Huge!

Posted on by Silva
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On Monday, we had scheduled meetings with the staff and leadership team.  As we prepared for the trip, we knew that they were going to ask us to press into certain church and staff life areas.  God had been doing some amazing things that there pressing the staff organizationally and personally!  They were excited and hopeful that they could stay on top of the wave.  We were very interested in meeting with them to hear what their plans were for the year and (mostly) to hear what God has been doing in their midst.

The whole staff crew was assembled and Daniel laid out the top priorities for the year: discipleship / small groups and outward / community outreach topped the list.  As we talked through these things, we began to see that God seemed to be doing some e-x-p-a-n-s-i-o-n work at the Hamburgprojekt.

Here’s what we mean: these core priorities had been a part of the “DNA” since the beginning.  As we talked though, we realized that God had been doing two “new” things: leadership raising and church planting.  The Hamburgprojekt, like its sister churches in the network, had planted with two men teams.  They would gather a leadership team around them with members who would focus on certain ministry areas.  Inevitably, the church would grow – and the shepherding task would grow.  As I watched this happen, and see the pressure mount on the leadership team, I mentioned to them that there is an organizational structure that can care for a church of 50 or of 500.  Elders and deacons.  As the staff at the Hamburgprojekt considered these things, they saw that God had been slowly raising leaders in their midst to fill these roles.  It is shocking and exciting to see God at work in areas where we are not (yet!).

Secondly, God had brought to the Hamburprojekt a series of conversations and men who were interested in partnering with the church to plant other churches.  One such place is Wilhelmsburg, a river island on the Elbe (more on that later).  In other words, while they are focused on the things that make a church healthy and faithful (if there’s a difference) God was bringing people to them so the Church (big “C”) could grow.  It was dizzying to think through.  The Hamburgprojekt is barely 3 years old and God was already positioning them to possibly plant other churches in other places in North Germany.

We’ll tell you about one such place when we get to Thursday…

What an amazing vision God has – and He let’s us partner with Him!

Hamburg Chronicles: Strong Sunday!

Posted on by Silva
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Our Sunday morning started quite e-a-s-y.  We slept in a little extra in an attempt to start to gain some of our sleep back.  We were picked up at our apartment by Daniel and Kathrine and rode with them to their worship service.  The Stage Club www.stageclub.de  is the place where The Hamburgprojekt meets for Sunday worship.

This was our 3rd worship service with our friends in Hamburg and in my opinion the best so far for many reasons. It was such a joy to see how God has grown the Hamburgprojekt by almost doubling the attendees from the first time we were there.  It also was nice to start to see some familiar faces and to be welcomed as friends.  While our German is still in its infancy stage (that’s being generous…), we were able to sing along (in English while they sang in German) some of the familiar praise songs that we also sing here.  Being able to participate in the worship service, through music, made it more of an intimate experience for both Gabe and me.

After the service we had a large group lunch at a wonderful local restaurant in the Schanze.  There were perhaps 30-40 folks that came to fellowship and enjoy a meal together.  During the meal we had the opportunity to meet a couple Achim and Corinna Keiser and their 2 children.  They were recently back from church planting in Ireland.  They shared with us the stories of their church planting experience with their challenges and how God met them exactly where they needed Him to.  It was wonderful to hear another story of how God is working all over the earth.

Also during our lunch we were able to visit with friends Nils and Tabitha Rohlinger.  We have had the joy of getting to know the Rohlinger’s over the years.  They are one of the core families that started at the beginning with the Hamburgprojekt and we were able to rejoice with them on how God has really blessed the church.   It was great to participate in the culture socially through this fellowship and relationship building time, which is exactly what Daniel and Dominic desired for us to do.  This trip Daniel and Dominic really had the desire for us to start to build relationships with folks of the church because they know how important relationships are the German culture for long term mission work.

That evening Gabe and I were slightly disappointed that one of our favorite spots in Hamburg, Elb Gold Coffee Shop was closed.  However, God was simply providing an opportunity for Gabe and I to wind down and relax in preparation for the long distance sprint He had in store for us with the upcoming week.

We want to thank you once again for your support in The Gospel work in Germany !

Stewart