Building Relationships in Athens

 

November 14th through 19th, 3W Teammates Dave and Kathy Simpson and me, were joined by Nathan and Stacy Tatman from County Line Church of God as we visited with the Athens Church of God.  The Tsimparas family were our hosts and we had a very nice time connecting with this congregation which is located in a very important city at a time of great crisis for the country of Greece.  The ministry opportunities are significant, but we have focused on getting to know the congregation over the past year.

The church has experienced difficult times in recent years but their is renewed optimism about it's future--which we spent a lot of time discussing over the course of our visit.  This winter they will be getting a visit from Anderson University students.  This is the first group to visit in many, many years.  They still remember when future 3W teammate Daniel Kihm visited many years ago!  We'll speak more of Athens in the future as we continue in this encouragement, reconnection, planning phase.

As a country, Greece is under great strain.  People don't have their medications, malaria is making a comeback, and basic services are under threat.  A Reuters article highlights that religious groups are making an appeal:

GENEVA (Reuters) - Greece is facing a humanitarian crisis and growing racism, two international church groups said on Thursday, and appealed to the European Union to help the struggling nation.

In an open letter from Greece, the secretaries-general of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Conference of European Churches (CEC) said the country faced youth unemployment of over 50 percent and basic services were at risk.

Noting the EU had been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize, they said: "The economic and humanitarian tragedy today in Greece challenges the EU as a peace builder for the next generation."

Olav Fyske Tveit of the WCC and Guy Liagre of the CEC urged EU leaders to give "urgent and proper attention to the emerging humanitarian crisis in Greece."

The Geneva-based WCC and CEC represent Christian churches in the world and in Europe respectively, with the exception of the Roman Catholic Church. Their leaders met government officials and Greek Orthodox Church leaders during their visit.

European leaders were due to meet in Brussels from Thursday for difficult negotiations over EU spending in the period 2014-2020.

"In Greece, basic human services such as health care and even the availability of medicines are at severe risk," the letter from the WCC and CEC said.

"Together with the Church of Greece, we also take seriously the political and societal implications of growing racism and extremism in Greece," it said. "These are storm clouds on the horizon that cannot be ignored or wished away."

 

 

3W Roundtable II: Cairo

 

I'm here in Cairo, Egypt  for the 2nd annual  3W Roundtable.  Each year I am inviting a group of pastors that are great strategists, organizational thinkers, and missiologists to join me in a different field in the Europe/Middle East region to discuss the last year of events at 3W.  In each case, these are leaders representing churches that have made very large investments into 3W: supporting multiple 3W staff, fields, and churches.  It's part of our effort to be very transparent about the decisions we are making with their donations.

The 3W Roundtable also adds an extra layer of accountability for Jamie and me as we lead the Three Worlds team.  Although we are confident in our leadership, we believe that it must be very clear who leaders are accountable to and that we should always be open to comments, criticisms, correction--particularly from those who are donating their hard earned money to make our work possible.  There's nothing worse than leaders that live in a vacuum.

Our discussions last 3 full days and cover everything from field updates, to a review of how Jamie, Marco and I are doing personally, to discussions on finance and how we can better communicate and relate to these churches that are investing so heavily in the 3W vision.  In this case, we also wanted to introduce the 3W Roundtable to the Oldham family, their home, and their work.  That is why we are hosting it in Cairo this time.  It was in Paris last year.

The most exciting part for everyone, I believe, is the case studies, where we come up with case studies that anticipate future challenges that 3W may face in the future.  Usually there are 3 or 4 on different subjects.  Everyone receives the case study a couple of months before the Roundtable begins and then once we are together, we work through the problems and challenges together.  We don't just deal with the problems and challenges of the current day, but anticipate the challenges that the future might bring as well.  Overall, it makes Three Worlds better and better every year.  And if Jamie and I start to veer off in the wrong direction, they can provide a safeguard to keep us from making mistakes.  But most of all, they are people that we trust, people who have a proven experience of being excellent organizational thinkers, and people that have clearly showed through their actions over the years that they care for our family and our teammates deeply.  We greatly appreciate them and love working with them.

And I'm very excited about the fresh new host of ideas that they have brought to the table and look forward to implementing them in the future.

Farewell to the Varners

 

Last week, Aaron Varner took up his new position as the Administrative Pastor of South Lake Wales Church of God in Lake Wales, Florida.  According to Nicole, "Aaron will be in charge of the day-to-day operations of the church, including overseeing the staff, managing the HR part of the church, coordinating the logistics for the construction of the new building and directing the missions and small group programs of the church.

Aaron served on the XZ Berlin team for 3 years and Aaron and Nicole helped us out for the first 2 years as we launched Three Worlds.  They were an invaluable part of the team, and the whole team greatly enjoyed their time with them.  We all have lots of great memories of our time together.  There certainly was a lot of laughter, and they helped the USA-Germany CHOG partnership to grow closer than ever before.  And they were instrumental in helping 3W establish its presence in this region as they visited different countries introducing our new system to the churches and countries we serve.

Now they have a new job and are anxiously awaiting the birth of their first child, baby Patrick Landon.  We're excited for their new journey into the wonderful world of parenthood.

We're going to miss them.  I'm especially going to miss firing Aaron. Aaron was fired a record 378 times by me.  Usually for liking the wrong kind of music or some other flagrant violation.  He was usually rehired shortly thereafter, since he was the only one who could solve my computer problems.  Daniel Kihm will now be attempting to break that record.  He's been fired once already (for liking girly movies like "the Notebook", but that's a long ways away from Aaron's record of 378.

We're proud of the Varners and we look forward to meeting baby Landon in the future.

3W Emerging Leaders Interview: Peter Kiss and Laszlo Debricini

The Church of God in Budapest is blessed to have two young emerging leaders working together to reach the city.  Peter Kiss (27 years old) and Laszlo Debreceni (33 years old) are pastoring churches that are experiencing growth, unity, and the formation of a vision to reach one of the most beautiful cities in the world.  They have surrounded themselves with mentors from Europe and North America and are looking to create healthy ministries that can impact the entire region.  3W sat down with Kiss and Debreceni at the European Theological Conference in Fritzlar, Germany to learn more about their long-term goals for ministry.

3W: Describe the overall spiritual environment in Budapest.  Are people very religious or very secular? How interested are they in issues of faith and religion?

Peter: I would say most of the people are secular, but they have a deep need for spiritual stuff.  They are searching for the meaning of life, but not in the church anymore.  More like bookstores and esoteric stuff.

Laszlo: They're searching for the meaning of their life, not as a philosophical question. "What is the meaning of my life?"  They would read Paulo Coelho.  If you go into a bookstore, half the books have to do with spirituality, but they don't think the church has anything to do with that.

3W: Is their prejudice against the church.  Do most people have a pretty negative feeling of Christianity and the Church?

Laszlo: Yes.

3W: They would say 'I don't like the church because...' what?

Peter: I think they would say the church is not authentic anymore. It's not real. It doesn't meet the real needs of people. They found in the past that the church didn't live the truth and were separated from the Word.

Laszlo: After the commnist era and the new system, they would still very much think that the church is on the take.  They want to take your money. EIther it's the Roman Catholic Church--big cathedrals and everything is with gold.  And the new Charismatic movement has the same perception.

Peter: People think they are looking for the answer in their own spiritual life, but they think everything is relative.  So I think one reason they would say, 'why go to church,' --they would say you can only find one part of the truth there.

Laszlo: They are very concerned about the Christian church especially. They think it's very exclusive.  We have other religious movements like Hare Krishna which is viewed as more open, as well as Reformed Buddhism.  It's just thinking and going to Yoga classes.  I get something and they don't think of something as institutions that are on the take.  They think they want to give so they feel served.

Peter: What did we do wrong? I would say we didn't listen, but only spoke.  This is a problem. People want to not only hear the truth, but they want to share.

3W: Hungary was one of the first Eastern Block nations that took off, but recently I've heard that there's a lot of negative feelings about the situation right now and the future. WHat do you see happening right now with the society, the economy, and the political situation.  Do you see people in a negative mode?

Peter: Yes, and I would think it's getting worse, because for them it seems hopeless.  We can also see the Right Wing party growing. I think they are very depressed and getting aggressive.

3W: You are young leaders with churches in the European setting, what kind of things are you doing to make sure at the beginning of your careers to make sure your churches are healthy. You have the opportunity that many churches don't have, you are just starting.  

Laszlo: The first step we had to take was to create unity in between our churches, because in the past we had issues about that.  Really it wasn't us. It was God who put us together.  The churches are still different, but we are not quarelling about the differences but using the differences to help each other.  We are chaning the attitude to be more outward focused and into the community.  We have quite a few that come from an Atheist background.

Peter: One problem in the past was the church didn't take care of the needs of the people.  The other thing is that people think Christians are proud and that they are "in" and others are "out."  We are inviting people into the circle. Everyone needs to get closer to Jesus.

3W: What exciting things do you see for your 2 churches?

Laszlo: The next step is a new kind of structure in between our churches and in the future of the CHOG in Hungary.  A simple structure that helps us grow, which is not a bureaucracy system.  We had to re-think these by-laws and structures because of new religious laws.  And right now with Peter, we are thinking of a campus structure, so that we can have more efficient resource sharing if there are new church plants.  We want to be ready by the time we plant a new church next year.

3W: So there is a church plant in the horizon for Budapest?

Peter: Yes, actually downtown Budapest. It's a very exciting place. It's the only place where the 3 metro lines meet and it's very crowded with artists, students, and professionals.  We want to make events that are not sub-cultural, but the music and style would be a part of the culture--and trying to influence these people and sending them out and influencing Budapest.

3W: Tell me about your families.

Laszlo: I'm 33 and I'm at the turning point of Gen-X and Millenials.  I married 10 years ago and I have 3 chidlren, 8, 6,  and 1.  Daniel is 8, goes to school 2nd grade. Hannah is 7 and goes to 2nd grade. And Adam is the tiny one  who is 15 years old. My beautiful wife is Bernadette and she has an Irish name.  We live right next to the church that I pastor because we wanted to live there to build up relationships with people. We left a house in the suburbs, we couldn't sell it because of the crisis, and it worked.  In 2010 we changed the name from Rakospalota to our new name "Feszek" and it means "nest."  It's quite a good word in Hungarian because it means "home." So we call it "Nest Christian Community Church."

Peter: I have a wife, she is 27, her name is Szabina and she's pretty hot.  The name of the church is Budakalasz Evangelical Community. We tried to pick a name that can be understandable for many people.  We thought it is important to put the name of the city and to say who were are "Evangelical" and "Community" not just our church community, but the community around us.

3w: And how can the church in America, Europe, and the MIddle East pray for you and support the CHOG in Hungary?

Laszlo: We have big plans with the campus and the church plant and we have set 3 levels of partnering with people and churches.  The first is prayer--it's very important for us.  We'd like to have very committed prayer partners. We'd like to have feedback that 'this are the churches that are praying for us.'  Finances is the 2nd level.  We will need finances and other resources, such as musical instruments and a care.  Third is mission:  you can come and help with the mission, with the church plant, with outreach, and we are in the middle of planning a program for emerging leaders in the Hungary CHOG.  As it's growing, we need to train these people well and quick.  So we need people to come.

3W: We wish the best for the CHOG in Hungary and are very excited about this young emerging leadership.  

 

The Kihms Take the Netherlands!

For the past 10 days or so, we've been busy hosting Daniel and Christy Kihm as they do their site visit to their future home in The Netherlands.  It has been great having them and Baby Sofie with us in our home.  We were all hoping that baby Sofie would first learn to roll-over here in Europe.  And sure enough--thanks to some guidance from Marco--baby Sofie rolled over for the first time!

Also on this trip was Church at the Crossing Pastor Andrew Gale who represents the church that has most been involved in supporting the Church of God in the Netherlands over the years.  Andrew is extremely wise and brings a lot of wonderful questions and observations to everything he is a part of.  Jamie was the leader of this site visit and we prepped with the Kihms in Berlin first, then Jamie and the Kihms and Andrew journeyed to the Netherlands, before returning to Berlin for a de-brief.

These sight visits are extremely important.  They give the future team members an on-the-ground look at how our team works, our region, and their future mission-field.  It's the first time they truly get to interact with the people they are going to serve and the churches they are going to assist.  It's also a time for us to let the host nation know about the life and challenges of missionaries on the field.  Most importantly, it's a time for everyone to get on the same page and make sure expectations are very clear.  Placement is everything--and we are extremely careful with placement at Three Worlds.

Jamie took the group to Cologne, Germany which is near the border with the Netherlands.  That would be their base over the past few days.  Jamie rented a car and took the Kihms to visit various neighborhoods in the Netherlands to look at future housing options.  There was also time to look into immigration issues as well as learn the lay-out of the land (grocery stores, post office, etc).  Then this past Friday there was a BBQ with the leadership from the various churches in the Netherlands.

On Saturday was the key business meeting with all of the leaders from the various churches, which now span the length of the Netherlands from top to bottom.  Saturday night was a very special 3 hour service in which each church introduced themselves to the Kihms via music.  From the Congolese church to the more traditional churches, to the children----they all performed.  Jamie, the Kihms, and Andrew all reported that the evening was spectacular!!  It was quite a wonderful introduction to the Church of God in Netherlands--and to the Three Worlds that exist there.  Our guys were absolutely raving about this service.  Thank you so much to Adriaan Bais and all the leaders who organized this fantastic event.

That evening Daniel Kihm preached his first sermon in the Netherlands and he "knocked it out of the park" according to Jamie.  She said it was absolutely excellent.  I'm not surprised.

The next morning, the team was split up visiting different churches.  Daniel preached in the Congolese church. Throughout there was time with Pastor Bais and his wife Uschi as well as other socializing times.

Finally, on Monday, I picked up a very tired, but extremely excited crew at the airport.  We spent the next couple of days debriefing about the trip and seeing some sights here in Berlin.  It was Christy's first time.  Daniel had previously had an XZ Berlin experience here that was one of the things that really solidified for him that this was the part of the world he felt called to.

This morning, I took Dan, Christy, and Baby Sofie to the airport.  They are now back in the USA.  They did an outstanding job throughout this hectic week (get used to missionary life---it's really extreme and crazy most of the time).  It was very fun to have Sofie here and she was extremely good throughout all the travels on planes, trains, and automobiles.

We thank all of those that have signed on to support the Kihms as they raise funds for the Netherlands.  We have no doubt we made the right choice by adding them to the team.  All of us are anxious to have them over here, living with us, and helping to bring dynamism to this region.  I'll be adding more photos in the coming days.

 

The Kihms Visit Berlin and the Netherlands

   

 

 

 

This week, we have 3 of our newest team members Daniel, Christy, and Baby Sofie Kihm with us here in Berlin, Germany and the Netherlands.  As part of their preparations for their eventual move, they are here on a site visit to familiarize themselves further with their new country:  the Netherlands, get to know the leadership, and receive further instructions and guidance about life at Three Worlds.

They are accompanied by Missions Pastor Andrew Gale from Church at the Crossing in Indianapolis.  Andrew is about as sharp as they can possibly come, and CATC has had a long, wonderful partnership with the Church of God in the Netherlands.  All of us are looking forward to this partnership growing and the possibilities growing as we work together in the future.

Placement is real important to us, so we have spent a long time preparing the path for the Kihms, having discussions and multiple trips to the Netherlands, we had the National Leader of the Netherlands in our home in August, and there have been a lot of conversations and emails.  It's exciting for the Kihms as they come one step closer to realizing their dream of being in cross-cultural ministry.

We've had lots of time to talk formally and informally, and Andrew Gale always adds a great deal of brain power to every conversation.  Having the Netherlands' close partners CATC involved in the process has also been helpful.  And David and Kathy Simpson (utilized in yet another 3W role) are playing an important support role as well.  They will be tracking with the Kihms as we will as Regional Coordinators.

The Kihms are looking forward to being a support for the Langfords in Liverpool who will be a short and cheap 45 minute flight away.  And the Langfords will be lending support to the Kihms--especially in regard to Sofie since Audrey will be developing a program to support and encourage Missionary Kids in Three Worlds.

We had a great time last Tuesday with the Simpsons, Andrew, the Kihms, and our family. A lot of laughter which is always a sign of health. Next Monday we will be adding Rhonda and Christian Philips to the party before Andrew heads back to the USA.

Today, I took Jamie, the Kihms and Andrew to the airport and they flew to Cologne, Germany where they are tonight.  Tomorrow they will drive across the border into the Netherlands and start 3 days of BBQ, meetings, and worship services with the churches in the Netherlands.  On Sunday, Daniel is scheduled to preach at the Congolese church---getting his taste of the Three Worlds Complexity right off the bat.  They will also do research on areas to live and all the other kinds of things you have to consider when moving to a new country.  Andrew will preach in one of the Dutch churches.  I am staying home with Marco on this trip.  It's so great to have a wife that can go on trips alone and take care of a lot of the business.  She's a great leader.

Monday, I'll pick up the gang and we'll have 2 1/2 days to de-brief with the Kihms about their Netherlands experience.  We do a lot of processing at 3W and it's very helpful to all of us.

We have all really enjoyed having 3 month old Sofie with us this week.  She did great on the flight over to Europe, and she's a doll.  It's so fun having a very small child on the team now.  Previously we just had Kelley Philips.  Ha!  I crack myself up.

Hopefully we'll have some photos to post in the coming days of the experience.