THREE WORLDS DIARY
Thank You Zurich CHOG!
This past few days we have been in Switzerland, visiting the Church of God in Zurich. What a splendid time we had. We were hosted by Pastor Uli and his son-in-law Scott (who originally hails from California but has been living in Germany for 11 years). The Church of God in Switzerland celebrated its 100th anniversary in November! This is quite an accomplishment.
Many people in the USA do not even know we have a Church of God in Zurich. But we do. A few years ago the church went through some hard times and dwindled down to five people. But three years ago, Pastor Uli decided to drive from his home church in Pforzheim, Germany to Zurich two weeks out of the month to pastor in Zurich also. It's tiring, but his work has paid off as the church is growing again. Like many small churches, there are many challenges in staying encouraged. But we believe in them and were very impressed by the people. We had always heard that you cannot find sweeter people anywhere in any church. Maybe it's all that Swiss chocolate they kept giving us.
The church is a walkable distance from the center of Zurich. This particular neighborhood is filled with Orthodox Jews. I was thrilled to actually get a smile from one of them as they usually keep to themselves. Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland, but it doesn't feel very big. It is consistently ranked one of the most livable (usually #1) city in the world because of its beautiful environment, safety, clean air, and great wealth. It is also played a key role in the Protestant Reformation. Not only is it the world's banking center (Mubarak's assets were being frozen as we were walking past the banks where his money is probably housed), but the people there are very wealthy. It seems like every single shop is Hermes, Gucci, or some other high end brand. It was hard to find any restaurant which was less than $35 per dish. "Can a brother get a McBacon burger? What's up with that?" Well, when unemployment is less than 2%, I guess you can charge everybody a lot.
Pastor Uli and Scott took us up into the Alps. It's amazing how small and compact Switzerland is--nothing is really that far away. One short drive and you are in the gorgeous Alps. We were surprised by this little outing, but really appreciate the time and energy that they put into hosting us.
There may be some exciting things coming down the pike for the Church of God in Zurich. I can't say too much now, but we are so glad to have had this time with them. Here are some photos of Zurich.
Off to Switzerland, Thinking of Egypt
We've spent much of the day getting ready for our trip to visit the Church of God in Zurich, Switzerland. This is a church that is rarely visited by Church of God people other than those from Germany, so we are looking forward to offering friendship, encouragement, and connection. The diary may be silent while we are away. We just have one day of turn around time before we head to Paris for the first 3W Seminar.
In the background, we've had the news on all-day, watching events continue to unfold. We finally received a message from one of the National Leaders we've been unable to contact for a while. They are doing good and want to express their appreciation to all those lifting them up in prayer. The situation is tense--they say--but they are all doing fine.
Things are bound to be hard to read for the foreseeable future as revolutions and attempted revolutions tend to play out over months--sometimes years. Sometimes there are lulls in the action, other times their is persistent conflict. Sides change, pacts are made, and it tends to get complicated. In the meantime we watch and pray...
We'll be in touch soon. As always, thank you for your support!
Introducing 3W Seminars
The world is changing at a dramatic speed. When Jamie and I were in high school, the world was divided between the Communist East and the Democratic West, very few people had a computer in their home, and sending a message to someone involved a pen and a paper. Today, the world is inter-connected and old boundaries are blurred. The dramatic changes in the world are challenging the church. Throughout the world, doing ministry is becoming more complicated and churches are struggling to understand some of the shifts that are occurring. Approaches to mission and evangelism are changing, and the Christian landscape is becoming increasingly complex. This is why we are introducing Three World Seminars which we hope will benefit our region (Europe/Middle East) and even our supporting churches back in the United States.
Three World seminars are going to be led by Three World team members along with experts from supporting churches, outside experts, and/or in conjunction with other non-profits who will bring their experience and expertise to help and encourage churches in transition and discuss ministry opportunities. The topics covered will be tailor-made to the particular country and churches and are aimed at helping churches or national leaders make sense of the challenging environment they are trying to navigate in their ministry. We hope to put on our 3W seminars throughout Europe and the Middle East. At times, we may even hold 3W seminars in the U.S.A.
PARIS Our first Three Worlds Seminar is scheduled for the weekend of February 19th and 20th in Paris, France. The Church of God there is located in one of the world's most secular cities and most challenging environments. This first seminar will be led by Patrick and Jamie Nachtigall along with Three-World team members David and Kathy Simpson (Bulgaria). The subjects to be covered are:
1) The History and Theology of the Church of God
2) The Church of God at the dawn of the 21st Century
3) The Top 5 Mistakes Churches are Making
4) Staying Encouraged in a Difficult Mission-Field
LONDON & BULGARIA
Our second Three Worlds Seminar is scheduled for London in April 2nd-3rd with our third Three Worlds Seminar in Bulgaria in May.
All of this is part of our Three Worlds strategy of using missionaries regionally to build up healthy Church of God inner-connectivity. We seek to be a blessing not just to one geographical location, but to our entire region and the larger church.
Statement on Egypt Situation for CHOG
We have put out an update on the situation at www.chog.org
Over the past week, we have been monitoring the situation in Egypt very closely. We are very concerned about the instability in the country at this moment. We thank everyone who is praying for our brothers and sisters in Egypt.
Since the protests escalated, phone and internet connection has been down. Just today, February 2nd, we were finally able to speak to a few different people in Egypt on the telephone and through Skype. A brother in one of our Cairo churches reports that everyone is secure at the moment, but mostly staying at home and obeying the curfew. Another reports that they have been able to go out for a short time during the day to secure petrol and food.
The Church of God property in the suburbs of Cairo remains secure, but the two families (not ChoG staff) living there are taking turns keeping watch at night to prevent looting and theft. They are also providing safe haven for some single, foreign women that are needing a secure place to stay during this crisis.
We have been unable to contact the National Leader in Egypt, but we spoke with one of the pastors of the General Assembly. He reports that all the churches outside of Cairo are doing fine although the country is very tense. He also reports that there have been no clashes between Muslims and Christians.
While it is tempting to buy into a narrative put forth by news outlets, one thing that has become very clear to us in our conversations is that there can be a big difference between what you see on your TV and what the people living through it are seeing. We urge everyone not to focus on taking sides, but rather put all of this in the hands of the Lord. Egypt is a beautiful country of very warm people. Our brothers and sisters there are committed to the Lord's work no matter what becomes of the political situation.
Please continue to lift up in prayer the Church of God in Egypt and the country as a whole.
Patrick & Jamie Nachtigall Regional Coordinators for Europe/Middle East
Fritzlar: Approaches to Youth Ministry
This past weekend, Jamie, Marco and I were at the Fritzlar Bible College which hosted a meeting for the youth workers in Germany. These are the young people (between ages 17-31) that are working with youth groups and interested in youth ministry. I was the featured speaker and the sessions dealt with different approaches to youth ministry. The goal was to give the youth workers three different approaches and many concrete ideas for making their youth programs more effective.
We were very happy with the turn-out. There were about 40 people who came to hear the sessions and they seemed to be very pleased with the practicality of the material. The young people came from every section of Germany which was great. They are a wonderful group of people and we had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. The kids were so sweet. My main interpreter Sarina, baked Marco a birthday cake and they presented him with a gift---which he loved!
The session happened to begin on Marco's birthday. Ordinarily we would never schedule a work event on Marco's birthday. But we felt that this opportunity was too important. Instead, we celebrated a day early and tried to celebrate the whole weekend. So thank you Marco for being so willing to share your birthday. He actually had a great time in Fritzlar. He really likes it there anyway.
Throughout our region, many places are struggling with how to engage youth and what approach to take. In most places that I visited in the Mosaic tour, the young people have mostly dis-engaged from the church. The rare exceptions were in countries with large populations of youth and low life expectancy rates. In most places, the numbers are dwindling rapidly. And even if the numbers of youth remain high, they do not transition into ministry and the rate of church attendance drops off dramatically after they become adults. So this is very much a crisis in much of our region and in most places around the CHOG world. In some countries where there were many youths attending church, they often migrated away from the Church of God to Pentecostal movements that were much more willing to utilize and empower young people in church work.
Navigating youth ministry--especially in the Western Traditional/Post-Christendom setting is not easy. As youth guru Chap Clark has said, most churches are operating in models from 30 years ago. And today's world is creating generational divides that are more complex and extreme than in the past. Furthermore, theres no "one-size-fits-all" model that a church can pick that will automatically work. That's why we present a broad variety of approaches.
These sessions we presented will be available as a Three Worlds Seminar in the future, so we will offer it to countries in our region that want to do a closer examination of youth ministry issues.
A special thanks to Sarina, Sabine, and Amy who did the interpreting---although most of these cheeky German kids speak perfect English.
The Pride of Being Egyptian
Today is the day of the attempted "million man march" toward the Presidential palace in Egypt. It's also Jamie's birthday today (and my Mom's birthday) and Jamie's mostly thinking about Egypt. As Regional Coordinators and concerned friends, we have tried to call the national leader, the Egyptian pastors, Jamie's many friends and family, and the people living on our Church of God property. Thus far, we have not been able to get in touch with anyone. We are lifting all of them up in prayer and wishing for their safety. It's not just physical danger we worry about, but other things like lack of food, water, and ATM's and banks not working. We hope this crisis resolves itself soon. We will let you all know when we hear anything.
This video captures some of the spirit of the Pride of Being Egyptian.
Thank you to all of our friends in Hong Kong and around the world for the many birthday wishes to Jamie and Marco. Now let's pray for Egypt.
A Poem I Wrote for Marco's 8th Birthday
It was a perfect January day that you were born into this place
a day of unusual blue skies
not a cloud to be seen
named after a traveler--a bridge from East to West
Your little feet have spanned the globe
connecting your mother and I to a new world
opening our eyes to the mystery and wonder of life
the purity of your heart inspires us to obedience
the teachers become the students
your future is being written
by the hand of a just God
"show me the boy and I'll show you the man"
your character already etched so deeply
no greater privilege will we ever have
than to watch you grow-- and grow with you.
Crisis in Egypt
This past weekend, we were at Fritzlar Bible College speaking at a weekend retreat. More about that later.
But our thoughts, prayers, and attention has been focused on the people uprising in Egypt. We won't be making any political comments or analysis here at Three-Worlds about the country or the issues. We have lots of friends and partners on the ground in Egypt. Our first concern is for their safety.
On this coming Friday, Jamie and the female part of our Berlin-based Three Worlds crew (Rhonda and Nicole) were scheduled to travel to Egypt to do some important work there. As events unfolded, we started to think that perhaps just Jamie would go alone. But after Friday's key turning point, we decided that we will postpone the trip altogether.
Egypt obviously means a lot to Jamie's family since it is where she grew up and where here Parents and Grandparents served. It's been an important country for our movement and we all have a lot of brothers and sisters there. For those of you that have never been, Egyptians are a wonderful, friendly, peace-loving people. You cannot say you know much about the Middle East if you have not had the experience of Egyptian hospitality and warmth. So many of the images we see of the Middle East are negative. But there is a whole other side that rarely gets seen in America and in the news in general.
We continue to pray for brothers and sisters there. In a little while, we'll be making our own key announcement about Egypt so stay tuned...
Twenty Years Ago Today...
It's been 20 years ago today that I lost my Mom, Jene, to cancer. The 24th of January is always a day that I remember, mourn, celebrate, and reflect on her life and her impact on mine. In most ways, it seems like it happened only yesterday. In our 20 years together she so permeated every part of me that there is little of me that doesn't have a whole lot of her in it. She was my friend, my hero, my mentor, and everything I aspired to be. Sometimes people are idealized in death, but she really was a one-in-a-million person. All who knew her felt that way.
She was born in Parksville, Kentucky in 1937 and grew up on a farm. At a young age, her mother walked out on the family and as the oldest daughter, she became the elder of the family. A mother to her sisters, a companion to her heart-broken father, and the one responsible to make sure things got done. She had to mature early.
They moved to Cincinnati and it must have been in that multi-cultural environment that she became the urbane woman she was. She was great at crossing cultures, she was well-educated, and she became a very intellectually curious person. I remember being four or five and looking through her books on Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, and other Communist figures. She hated communism, but wasn't a reactionary spewing talking points and sound-bites. She did her homework. She read thousand page books. She debated real Marxists. Most of all, she was not intimidated by foreign ideas or different ways of doing things. I still have her big books on my bookshelf: "Marx", "the Haj," Shogun" and many more. "You're a big reader" she always said to me...long before I was. I became what she said I was.
She married my Dad in 1959 and they moved to Africa. There was a lot of suffering and sickness that she endured in those years. Bouts of malaria, painful accidents, miscarriages, and many other trials. But through it all she remained strong and was widely known for her very funny and irreverent sense of humor. In Africa, she delivered over 200 babies.
They had a daughter that they took to Africa, Marcel, and later, while serving as missionaries in Costa Rica, they picked me up---a malnourished, abandoned infant dying in an orphanage. Jene, who had once been abandoned herself, now raised another abandoned one. And our life in Costa Rica was a happy life.
Both Mom and I were news junkies. Each morning would start out with the news instead of devotions. And we both loved Time magazine. When Ronald Reagan was elected, she let me stay home from school to watch the inauguration. It wasn't a Reagan thing---she thought these things were important. I took it very seriously and parked myself in front of the television for the all-morning and afternoon coverage of the event. And that was the day that my love of politics began.
We used to fight sometimes. We were both highly opinionated about trivial things. One of our most famous knock-down, drag-down debates was regarding whether the TV Show MASH was funnier in the McLean Stevenson years or in the "Colonel Potter" years. There was a clear break we both recognized. I argued that MASH's early years were far more funny because the show had a slapstick vibe. She argued that the more serious, politically-pointed MASH years were just as funny if not better. We never resolved that one.
She also hated the Bee Gees "and their fake teeth and falsettos." She couldn't stand Rod Stewart's "Do you think I'm sexy?", but she had an inexplicable soft-spot for that slime ball Tom Jones. We both loved media. We both loved Terence Trent D'arby.
She loved nature, and would force me to go out with her at times to visit animals on a farm or take a long drive. I usually had something else I wanted to do, but when the goat nipped at my leg, or we petted a cow--I would finally get why she made us do those trips. There was a beautiful world out there--one we can easily isolate ourselves from.
Practical Jokes were big with her. Throwing water on people from our balcony, making fun of my acne in front of my friends (don't worry, I'd get her back), and putting a Playboy magazine in the luggage of an Evangelist (which he opened on the plane with his wife)! She loved life. Unlike a lot of Christians, she didn't take herself that seriously. Uber-piety didn't impress her. That rubbed off.
But she was a serious woman. Constantly doing charity work out of people's eyesight. Always looking for someone's life to invest in, and always championing some cause whether it was protecting the forests long before that was fashionable, or fighting for someone's right to have health insurance in a church. She started a seniors home in Oakland, California that was named after her, and she was a nurse in the violent ward of the state institution. Sometimes I would pick her up late from work....after her late night shift. Totally oblivious to how tired a person might be at the end of a shift like that. Not knowing or getting the toll it took on her.
Regrets...I have many. None more than the fact that I was a college drop-out when she died--convinced by a Pentecostal sect that college would only damage the mind. Idiotic, but I fell for it. "One day, you'll grow out of it," she said. And she was right. I did eventually go back to college and flourished, but she never got to see that. Some say she knew that I would end up okay. But I was not okay when she died and that has always stuck with me. She valued education more than anything and I broke her heart when I walked away from it.
I told her I loved her often. I told her she was my hero. I told her she was my trusted friend. Thankfully, I told her a lot. But there is much I never got to say: that I saw the sacrifice, that I saw how she had overcome her circumstances, that I saw how she engaged the world, and I knew I had to follow.
Over the years, the pain of missing the daily engagement with her decreased as it does with time. But new pains arose. That she never got to know Jamie. She would have absolutely adored my wife. They would have been best friends. Or that she never got to see my son---a far healthier, more obedient version of me and her. These are pains that don't diminish over time. There is a vacuum and a hole that does not get filled in this life.
Her final years of suffering were mercifully short. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 1988 and she passed away in January of 1991. We thought we had it beat for a while, but I think I always knew how it would end.
Others have lost in this world. Death is a part of life, as the cliche says. But I hold to the belief that death is not natural. That we long to live. We long for that kiss to last forever, that our child will stay in our arms forever, and that we will be with the people we love forever. Eternity is written into our hearts. Death is inevitable, but it is a violation of something divine within us. Something that was made for eternal communion.
I don't think the mourning will stop in this life. Each day there is loss. But each day there is also gratefulness. Grateful that what was once given to me, I can now give back to my son. Grateful that we can marinate in people until the beauty of their souls impacts ours and changes us for the better. Grateful that much about this person, can never be taken away from me. We mourn, because this fallen world tries to convince us that love is not eternal. But it is. It really is.