We wish you all Merry Christmas! So wonderful to take time to look again at the beautiful story of Jesus' birth and remind ourselves amidst the holiday stress: God is with us!
Church News
It sure has been an exciting month! On November 21, we met together with 4 other families who are also interested in planting a church together to talk about issues like church structure and services (e.g. corporate prayer and worship and music, order and length, etc.). We decided that as of January 31 we’d like to meet publicly. The next day, Sunday, we met together in one family's home and had a small worship service. There were over 25 people present! The service went wonderfully as Andreas preached on the picture of Jesus and the church in John 12:1-3. It’s amazing that most of the people in our group can play and/or sing. We’re happy that God has provided in this area. Speaking of God’s provision: We’re overwhelmed by the fact that within one week of our meeting, we found the PERFECT facility for our services: right in the center of town, a newly-renovated, light, large concert hall (great acoustics!) with room for approximately 80 people. There’s even a large, airy room with a beautiful view on the top floor for the kids! God gave us favor with the management, who gave us a generous discount on our rental price. PRAISE GOD! We met once more on Sunday (December 6) in one of the homes for a private service. I preached on Acts 2:42, the foundation of a healthy church: biblical teaching, fellowship with Jesus Christ and with one another, and fervent prayer.
Home Group
Our home group is also continuing to grow. A midwife who moved to Eisenstadt to work at the hospital is now attending. Last Friday, Franziska also brought a friend of hers afterwards. Over the past month, we’ve had 2 guest speakers: Hans-Georg Hoprich (Nov 27) and Walter Mauerhofer (Dec 18). Hans-Georg spoke about “once upon a time” – God gives us a chance to start over again, and Walter read Luke’s account of the Nativity with us. How encouraging it is to have these seasoned ministers come and minister to us! I have also taught on John 10, 11, and 12 over the last month. I’m sure others were encouraged by it, but the greatest part about teaching for me is the joy of personally studying God’s word!
Our home group is also continuing to grow. A midwife who moved to Eisenstadt to work at the hospital is now attending. Last Friday, Franziska also brought a friend of hers afterwards. Over the past month, we’ve had 2 guest speakers: Hans-Georg Hoprich (Nov 27) and Walter Mauerhofer (Dec 18). Hans-Georg spoke about “once upon a time” – God gives us a chance to start over again, and Walter read Luke’s account of the Nativity with us. How encouraging it is to have these seasoned ministers come and minister to us! I have also taught on John 10, 11, and 12 over the last month. I’m sure others were encouraged by it, but the greatest part about teaching for me is the joy of personally studying God’s word!
Youth Ministry (F.Y.R.E.)
I’m running out of space, but the highlight of the youth group over the past month was our Christmas party last Saturday (Dec 19). Manuel shared for the first time about “Emmanuel” – God with us. On that day it snowed A LOT, so afterwards we all went outside and had a huge snowball fight…that’s a memory I don’t think I’ll forget!
Please continue praying for us as we see God’s hand upon our ministry, yet as always this is not without opposition. Please pray for our leadership team especially, that we would be united together for God’s vision for the city of Eisenstadt.
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