Planning ahead

As the summer comes to an end and our Bible Camp weeks finish, we look ahead to the coming months and the activities planned for various groups. In September we as a congregation will be quite busy. Each weekend has an activity planned which we hope to use to encourage and challenge in our faith. 

In the first weekend of September we are inviting the congregations from Germany (Cologne and any in Aachen) as well as the French-speaking members in Belgium (from Liege and Verviers) to join us in Maastricht for an afternoon of singing. We are also inviting all of the Dutch-speaking congregations, but especially Eindhoven, who is only an hour away and is in the Euregion. 

It has been a few years since we have been able to hold this day of singing. We look forward to singing in German, French, Dutch, English and maybe even in Russian or Ukrainian. We have also advertised the day in the neighborhood of our building, so we may get some visitors from the neighborhood who enjoy singing and meeting new cultures. It is always a nice time to see old friends and make new ones while singing for the Lord. 

The weekend after the singing, the congregation from Maastricht is organizing the Family Day down at camp. This is a yearly event bringing the various congregations from Belgium and Netherlands together for a day of encouragement. We take care of a meal for all who come, present a lesson and do plenty of singing. It is also a time for the congregations to share any news they have. This year we will also plan a quiz with information from the camp weeks this summer. 

The following weekend is the European Singles Retreat in Germany. Although we do not have any singles attending, this is an event we encourage among those we know in the Dutch work. It is a good time for single Christians to gather and encourage one another in their walk with the Lord. Attendees come from all over Europe for an encouraging and challenging weekend. 

The last weekend we as a congregation will plan our second youth day this year. We have a good team and have found a good location the last three times we have hosted the youth from the churches. This is a chance to help our youth get to know and see youth from other congregations. This will be a reunion for many who saw each other during one of the camp weeks in the summer. We are looking forward to welcoming them for a day focused on what we can learn from the Bible for our daily lives. 

The day after the youth day I will also be attending an evaluation meeting for the camp weeks. This meeting is held every year in September and serves as an evaluation and planning session at the same time. We will decide who will lead the camp weeks in 2025 and will talk about changes that are happening or need to happen. The meeting this year will include news about coming plans for renovations and will be the first with our new board. 

So September will be a busy month for us, simply in the weekends. This doesn’t count all of the normal activities that begin again after the summer camp weeks. And suddenly it will be October and heading into the end of the year. Sometimes it seems days move very quickly. We are thankful for the many ways that we can be utilized for the church here and that we can work with a congregation that is so willing to be active in this many ways. Keep these events in your prayers. 

September Newsletter

LIGHT in the Lowlands
Reaching out to the people of Belgium and the Netherlands

A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. John 4:23

Dear brothers and sisters, family and friends,
I want to take the time to tell you about a few of the people we have been meeting with, studying with, learning from recently.

Telling the truth in love
We have known Leon and Mariette Christoffels for quite some time. Their daughter, Patricia, came to camp as a teenager. Leon and Mariette attended a congregation in Lanaken that taught some things that were not Biblical. We had looked at working together with this congregation when we first arrived, and have kept the door open at all times, working with youth and trying to encourage where possible.
After some frustrating years and a time without a congregation, due to teaching, Leon and Mariette called us about something else, looking for some information and consolation. I invited them to worship with us and they have been an encouragement from the very first day. They want to know Jesus and his death and resurrection. They want to continue to grow in faith. And their desire is infectious.
We are so glad that we have kept communication open throughout the years, that the door has always been open. This is something we want to continue because we grow and are encouraged by it.

Another aspect of this same situation are our concerts with Listen Up! This month we held a concert to release our second cd. The concert was held in Haarlem and we made a major effort to invite all of our contacts. It was thrilling, then, to see so many people come to hear about who Jesus is and how we should respond to him.

The audience was not completely a believing audience. There were co-workers who simply like the music. There were parents whose children have ties in some way with one of the singers or the church. There were young men who came to help with the catering because they knew one of the singers. It was an amazing group of people, brought together to tell people about Jesus. And that is what happened. We know that when people say, “Beautiful music. I don’t know about the message, but I loved hearing you.” that they did hear the words.


Of course, the next step is to keep contact, to keep doors open and to continue talking about live with Jesus. Music alone will move people to think and act. We need to be ready to listen and communicate in love. That is what we are praying for with the church in Haarlem - and in Switzerland where we will be singing in October.


But how far do you go?
Sometimes you can talk and talk and talk - and you wonder if anyone is listening. It is not always easy to decide when to move on from a study, to allow the relationship to change. My studies with C and T often include some very clear language about Jesus, but this is not always accepted. After several years, they know what we think and we know what they think. Mrs. M. has been reading the Bible with me for almost 13 years! We have become friends, Shirley and I with her and her husband. But perhaps it is time for the relationship to change - not that we would end our friendship, but that we would shift the focus of our time. This is a difficult question.
Some people want to know more - now! LJ and Mr. W. are like that. Although I have not heard from LJ in September, we are planning to start studying again in October. Mr. W. is intrigued about what the Bible says about so many things. Although he feels he knows God, he is willing to re-examine what he knows in the light of the Bible.
And there are more people in this area who are also looking, wanting to know God better, to give their lives to Him. We need to figure out how best to spend our time. Although, as we are spending more time with the various groups, we see that this problem tends to solve itself. In addition to Mr. W. and LJ, we are also increasingly busy with the growth of our own youth in the church.
The men in the congregation decided to get together twice a week on a Friday evening for a devo. Now “devo” is a strange word for anyone here, but the evenings have already become a favorite. Plenty of singing (and really thinking about the words) and then some time to hear what God’s word says and talk about it. It has been so good to have a place to encourage one another as brothers. This has been great for Leon, Stephan and some of the young men we meet with from Tongeren.
As we continue through this year we want to continue to remember how patient God is with us and let that guide us also. It is so great to have such a wonderful, righteous God who is making us holy because He is holy!

PRAYER WARRIORS
Please keep the following in your prayers.
- Give thanks for our concert in Haarlem! Thanks to so many for praying and working hard.
- Please keep our families in your prayers as we are away from them and want to help in so many ways.
- Pray for our outreach among the young people here. There are several who are growing into faith and need continued guidance and strength.
- Pray for Listen Up! as they plan for a tour through Switzerland to assist the churches there with evangelism.
- Pray for Mr. W. and LJ as we try to get back to our studies. Also for upcoming plans for classes and outreach.

On the family side . . .
September is the beginning of school and for Sean that has meant a real new beginning. He decided to change schools this year. When he left elementary school, most of his friends went to the Catholic middle school, but he went to the school where Stephan was (a combined middle and high school). Although this was not a problem academically, he has struggled with missing his friends. Now he has moved on to this new school. It is much smaller (200 students instead of 850) and only students in his academic area, which makes things a bit better. He has been a lot happier about school in any case.
Sean is still enjoying his soccer - although it is a lot muddier here than while we were in the States. He has only twisted his ankle slightly once, so he is also staying healthy. Along with soccer he is also showing more interest in his personal fashion. He makes sure that he gets good advice from Shirley - who does a good job teaching the boys about fashion, but also about buying well and not putting too much emphasis on your outside.
Stephan has been listening to Shirley’s advice for years. This is now his senior year and he wants to make a good impression all around. He is trying to stay focused on his studies, is taking part more in school activities, and is showing who he really is as a person. His visit to the States this year showed him how much of an advantage good grades can be, giving you more opportunities. Of course others had told him this before, but this summer it sank in.
In addition to his school work he is trying to make sure he is ready for the ACT test which he will take at the end of October. The most difficult part of these tests is not really the material, but the fact that he is a third culture kid with no mother tongue. We speak English at home, but his school is in Dutch. Imagine trying to figure out what an ‘isosceles’ triangle is (named after the mathematician rather than the property of the triangle), or if something is ‘congruent’ or ‘diffuse’. These are all very specific math or scientific terms. Since his maths and sciences are in Dutch, he has never encountered these terms. So now he is practicing for the ACT, studying on top of his studying. We are proud to see how he is taking it all to heart.
On top of his school work Stephan is still enjoying his basketball – he plays on the men’s team now. He is also a real friend to his friends here. When the devo’s started (see News) he has taken part enthousiastically. At church he offered to be the one to help send the list of prayers around to the men who will be praying (the ‘prayer warriors’ – doesn’t that sound like a bunch of guys?).
Scott and Shirley are enjoying each day with each other and these wonderful boys. Not every day is wonderful of course, but you pick out the good points and try to move past the difficult times, learning as you go. They are looking forward to being able to be together when Listen Up! goes on tour to Switzerland. Usually Shirley would stay behind with the boys. Now the ‘boys’ are young men and well able to deal with Shirley being off with Scott for a week (keep them in your prayers ;-)

EXTRAS
What’s coming up?
OCTOBER
Listen Up! tour of Switzerland
Fall camp
Youth outreach
NOVEMBER
WoW course
Youth weekend

THANKS!
- For the prayers for the work here
- For the good books
- For your encouragement in emails, calls and comments on the blog

DID YOU KNOW?
Tidbits of information about Belgium and the Netherlands
(Official) Religion
Recently (5 years ago) Belgium decided to choose some ‘official’ religions which would then be sanctioned by the government as ‘official’. These are: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Orthodox, Anglican, Islam and humanism. The Dutch have quite a history of religious reformation, persecution and tolerance. There are no ‘official’ religions, although there are several which do receive government finances. Less than 40% of people in the Netherlands adhere to a church and less than 50% of Belgians consider themselves religious. Have you come across something typically Dutch or Belgian? What did you think of it? Let us know.

Have a wonderful day today, growing up in the Lord!