Getting ready for the new school year

Pascal and I went for a long walk this morning - it's our second last day of official holidays. So our thoughts and conversation turned to the next school year which starts 5th September.

Given that activities need to get off the ground pretty quickly if they are to have a chance to get established, we discussed in what direction we wanted to encourage our 2 churches to head. The St Fons church has a good dynamic leadership and is already fairly clear about the vision of their church. The Lamastre church is different and needs to have a period of reflexion leading to some practical outcome. We think we should ask three questions to get started :

1) What is "church"?  This seems pretty basic, but it needs to be defined and stated out aloud.

2)  What is a Church Council and why did the church members vote me onto it ?

3)  What do I think our church should 'look like' in 5 or 10 years time ?

Just as an example of what we could be discussing in our church is : in what way could we impact our local community and what are our opportunities for mission and evangelisation ?

Lamastre is inundated with tourists over summer, even more so since the Global Financial Crisis as people stopped travelling overseas for their holidays. What if we planned a regular summer mission (like you Aussies do Beach Mission! - Christians do a very limited amount of them on French beaches) and had church members distributing tracts or something leading up to a Christian Music concert ? We actually organise one every summer in partnership with the Reformed Church, but there is no before- and after-work done.

Let's look at our local situation. Traditionally, summer is a time of long holidays and resourcing ready for an increasingly busy professional and private life. Yet we discovered on coming here, that it's actually a very busy time for those who cultivate ! All the farmers are hard at work harvesting their fruit and vegies; people work long hours in their vegie gardens and benefit from the results. If you don't want waste you have to preserve or freeze your products. So asking church members to invest in a summer campaign could be too much. On the other hand, we could work hard on mission over summer and then let ourselves sink back into a less energetic routine over the winter months. However, Christmas is a big thing in our church as well and we have added a number of regular efforts which require extra people and energy.

In fact the Evangelist Eugène Rard, supported by the mission "SEMER" (which means SOW), has been following the caravan for 4 years in a bright yellow car with an open Bible on its roof. He takes a team of young French and foreign Christians with him and links up to local churches all the way around where the Tour stops each night. He explains : "The churches are often shy and don't dare show themselves [when the Tour comes through their town] or they don't know what to do. Most of them make the most of our team's presence to be more audacious. The evening events are often really pleasant and encouraging. On the other hand, although the church members willingly lodge the team, the financial support [coming from the churches] is very low."  

I know it's another year away, but you could pray for French churches to be bold in planning events which reach those who come into their 'firing line' !!

Thanks for your visits !

Our last planned visitors left last Tuesday. Thank you to all who took the time to find us in the middle of our French countryside. I think they all appreciated the beauty of our surroundings and we appreciated the fact that they have seen us in our context and have a better idea of our family life and ministries. We love you !

 Ruth - SIM Australian missionary in Niger - June

Debbie & James (my brother) with Amelia and Hudson -July

Neil & Lisa Sim standing with Christiane Soudrain; behind: Jonathan Soudrain, Bethany, Josh & Hannah Sim with our boys. We had a week in Caderousse together. (SIM France HQ) July

Auntie Joy & Uncle Colin with Pascal & our Claire - August

Wise words !

My brother copied these words whilst visiting Coventry Cathedral in England :

"You are blessed when you are content with just who you are - no more, no less. That is the moment when you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought."

I link this with my Christian Counselling aims which include helping people to return to a sense of well-being. I don't consider this contradictory to God's purpose in creating us. We are in exactly the right place in our heads and in our hearts when we position ourselves in relation to our Creator.

"For you created my inmost being;

   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well."

                                                                Psalm 139 : 13, 14

The Changing Face of Protestantism in France

During this summer break, I've been able to catch up on lots of reading (the advantage of not having to move house and redecorate for the moment!)

I've really appreciated all the back copies of the Christian magazines - national ones, Reformed Church ones and our own Free Church ones. It's given me an overview of the current situation and issues in France.

God be praised! It's a positive picture of opening up to our world, becoming conscious of our Christian cocoon experience, looking for ways to be relevant and authentic to our society, creative (but all too few and isolated), discussing ethical issues in public forums, forming an Evangelical Council thus creating a more public (visible) identity.... and the list goes on.

The President of the French Protestant Federation (who was a pastor in our Free Church Union) gave a talk at one of our rural churches about significant changes on the face of French Protestantism. He pointed out that:

* these changes would not be easy for our rural churches to handle because they will really have to open up to a different way of doing things - basically a big culture change!

* inherited protestant beliefs and traditions are dying out ; they are becoming increasingly difficult to pass on to the next generation in any case.

* Protestant churches are now experiencing much more the conversion aspect of the Christian faith and this is differentiated by its youthfulness, dynamic energy, optimism and its ethnic diversity.

This is true of our own situation in Lamastre. However, Pascal and I have seen some of this energy, youthfulness and optimism take form in our church. We are conscious of juggling these two facets of our church life and need wisdom in leading the church on to being relevant to our town and area, and respecting the solid traditional base of the old ways.

From this .........

.... to this!

We are pleased that our church is seen by 'outsiders' as the younger dynamic version. When we meet with the Reformed Church and Catholic Church we see their struggles with old-fashioned or more rigid structures and their difficulties in 'attracting' (is that the word I should use ???) families and younger generations, and even seekers. Please continue to pray for us and all the Christians of Lamastre.

Post Scriptum : Pascal is pastorally responsible for another church in the Lyon area, a majority of Caribbean believers. They definitely fit into the new face of Protestantism in France. The challenge for them is to consolidate their theological bases and Bible knowledge, set up pastoral and diaconate structures and to take care of new believers. Pretty exciting stuff!! :-)   

It's a long, slow road ...

I wanted to tell you about one positive experience in mentoring and discipling.

I'm in a very conventional, conservative country church and right from the start sensed a great need among some of the women of the church to meet together regularly. In fact, a couple of weeks after our arrival (3 years ago now) we started a group during the day which met every week. Now this is very unusual in France where the way people live usually means they are reluctant to commit to meetings more frequently than every 2 weeks, and in some churches the women get together only every month.

Because I was the pastor's wife and I had the theological training it was assumed I would lead the group and organise every week's meditation and meeting time activity. I've always figured it was my rôle to pass on what I have learned and understood! So I did my usual thing and invited each lady to choose which date she wanted to have in order to share what she discovered about one of the women of the Bible (our theme for that year). Those who didn't feel comfortable with that idea could simply talk about how they had been touched by the Lord. Help was available if needed. Encouragement really seemed to be the major factor, since all the ladies have been Christians for decades and had always been in study groups and at church! I kept pointing out that fact saying how many years' resources they all had.

The idea is that in getting each of them to speak about the Bible in a safe environment - ie. a group they know well (mind you, they share surprisingly little of their personal lives and journey, so these sessions turned out to be very important in building up our relationships) - they will be practising to share in other situations, notably with non-Christians or seekers in their own entourage, and in a very natural way.

And so we continued for 2 years.

Time for a change and to get us more outward looking ... I managed to collect enough old copies of Rebecca Pippert's classic "Out of the Saltshaker" in French. As we have women with low educational levels, and 2 women whose first language is not French, the challenge was to help them read the content so we could discuss it as a group.

Again I asked for volunteers to lead each discussion and we made a timetable. Not many offered, feeling rather out of their depth. I asked one lady, a former primary school teacher's aide, if she could summarize each chapter. In fact we were to share the task but she so appreciated the exercise because the content really challenged her personally in her approach to sharing her faith, that she did the whole lot! I prepared a summary of what we all had discussed during the previous session and added discussion questions on the chapter we were studying in the current session. Those who needed it received a copy of the summary of the chapter to be discussed, if possible before the meeting. It became useful for other reasons also, because those who couldn't be there for previous sessions, or those ladies we went to visit as a small group (women who live in isolated farmhouses and who can't get to our meetin

gs) were able to catch on to the content as we read it through together aloud during the meeting.

If I had to be absent for any reason, the summary of the chapter, the previous discussion and the questions were there for the designated leader of that day.

It's a long, slow road! Thankfully,
we really do have all we need in Christ!

In this way all the different ladies in our group (from 4 to 11 depending on the day!) were able to follow the book, work on it themselves, discuss together the ideas and share their own experiences, de-dramatize what witnessing and evangelisation are, and support each other as they started to try and put it all into practice. Plus several women developed other skills in thinking of how to present ideas so others will understand and how to lead a group and prepare a study/discussion.

A bit long winded, sorry! But just wanted to share this experience.

The next school year starts September, and I'm still praying about what form our ladies' group should take. My desire would be that we cut back our joint meetings to once a fortnight and every other week they each invite one or two friends/neighbours to their home in order to discover the Bible together (there are plenty of booklets available to have as a guide). I would be the resource person if needed.

Many people in our church have been passively receiving all this spiritual food for years. The challenge for my husband (the pastor) and I , is to get them into active mode, using their abundant resources to let people know around them how God has blessed their lives.

A question of time and timing

I've spent the last few months  (actually, if I'm honest I've probably spent most of my life) worrying about time!

The article below from our SIM Australia office really hit home for me as I'm worrying again about my capacity to work in various areas, my energy levels and time management because we haven't yet got the go ahead to start renovations in the new manse which we then have to move into. The admin side is moving slowly, but too slowly for what I had planned. I absolutely didn't want to move in September because it's the beginning of the new school year and all the regular activities start up. I know what's in store and that there are new activities to develop and I just feel incapable of dealing with all that plus setting up house.

I don't mind the setting up house bit on it's own. The problem for me is where I can and want to spend my energy. My heart's desire is to have a series of groups studying God's Word together. I would so like to see several women in our church open their homes to a couple of friends and neighbours and host a type of "Discover the Bible" sessions. I want to encourage several women to see they have the background and are in the right place to develop that in their own way without there being a "professional" ministry person around, but because this is part of mentoring and discipling strategy, I will be there to accompany for a certain time. I want to show people in our church how to develop outreach - and we have already been here 3 years trying to model that.

My heart's desire is to be with people sharing about Jesus and seeing God's working in their lives.

I would so like to see more people understand how much God loves them and be fully in relationship with Him.

Setting up a home for my family is important. Organising the house so it fits in with our ministry needs is important. But it's going to take me away from putting time into the above desires.

I also struggle with this time issue because I know our time here in this place is limited. Pascal will be eligible for retirement in 10 years. So let's say we will be here for another 10 years. We've already been here 3. Things move so slowly in France; mentalities change very slowly in the church at least. People in this region think 30 or 40 years ago isn't very long! How much can we help our church develop growth (spiritual maturity and, God willing, numerical capacity) in the time we will have? Will our contribution help and bear fruit ? Is what we feel we should be doing helping to build up God's Kingdom ? Time is passing. Have there been any changes ? Can we see any results ? Are people being reached ?

I have another balancing act to do : this is not our house - we probably will never own our own home - but we will be setting it up for the church to use as a manse. So I will be keeping in mind that others will follow us into this house; that resources are limited for doing and re-doing ; that we have to be wise about it all. Yet I want this house (which is a really good investment for the church) to be well done and built to last. So I want us to do a good job. That means time and energy. Yet it will be our base only for a time, then we move on. My quandary is : invest time in the house or in ministry with people ? How can I do both ????(because I usually try to fit all that I want to do into my schedule!)

And that brings me back to the article below. What is the definition of success ? How do we measure the value of what we do ? What is important ?

IS MY GOAL TO BE PRODUCTIVE ? By Daniel and Anika in Niger (Aug '11)

We been writing lately about the frequent power cuts

in the offi ce which impeded signifi cantly the work, not only

of Daniel, but everyone in the offi ce. We are glad to say

that as the cooler weather arrived, the power cuts became

less and less frequent, increasing Daniel’s productivity with

the accounts for SIM Niger. Although Daniel is very happy

to feel like he might be able to reaching his goal of having

the accounts up to date by the end of the SIM fi nancial year

(that is 30th September), the regular frustration of having

his productivity cut has led us to thinking about what is a

productive use of time?

Is it more productive to sit behind a computer answering

emails and entering fi gures into spread sheets or is it more

productive to sit around on the steps outside (as it is too hot

to stay inside when the power is out with no fans working) with

others in the offi ce, both missionaries and Africans, spending

time getting to know each other better, having a laugh and

encouraging each other? Is it more productive to be driving

around from one guest house to the other arranging which

rooms need to be cleaned for the next day and summarising

Moore College notes in advance or is it a more productive

use of time to sit with a neighbour with whom you have no

common language, struggling to understand each other

while watching your children play together?

So often in our culture we need to be able to say, “I achieved

this, this and this today.” It was interesting that the power

cuts at the offi ce didn’t bother the Africans who work there

nearly as much as the missionaries! When thinking about

productivity, I (Anita) always think of the passage in Luke

11:38-42 where Martha is condemned by Jesus for focusing

on “productivity”. I can’t help but think that Martha is too

hard done by in this passage. That just shows how far my

perspective is from where it should be.

So often it is the times that the world would consider an

“unproductive use of time” that is actually the most benefi cial.

Time spent with people, listening to Christian music, not to

mention time not just reading but refl ecting on God’s word

and praying. It is the times where it might seem like we are

not “doing” much, that God does so much. Maybe our

priorities need to shift a little and put the “unproductive” times as a priority rather

than what we do only if we have time.

Today consisted of ...

a range of diverse activities and interests.

Started with checking out the CCFOF website (see previous entry) which lead to reading about various issues from a Christian point of view, ending with being linked to Catholic integrationist sites with rather troubling discussions. Several of the commentators thought Europe deserves all she gets because she's left her Roman Catholic heritage behind and has forgotten to honour Mary the Mother of God (!!!); that the Free Mason heritage has lead to our ruin; that things have gone down hill since Vatican 2 and inter-religious debates. 

Then I made lunch before going to visit a Madagascan lady who lost her step-father recently. I met her Mum who has just moved here. They are Catholics, but since there is no ladies' group that meets, I invited C to our Ladies' Bible study. I'm hoping to meet another African lady through her. (The African lady's brother has visited our church and keeps in contact with one of our members).

Then some quick shopping before putting lunch on the table once the boys returned home after their morning's work picking pears. We noted a few dates, shared some news, checked on the table tennis table someone is leaving us, sitting on the balcony enjoying some nearly summer weather. After that the dishes, saying goodbye to the boys who were off on a 60 km bike ride with friends, then back to the computer.

Followed up news on the terrible tragedies in Norway, which I'd missed because we were away on holidays. Horrifying ...

Since there are always links to other things, I watched American news broadcasts about the carnage, then got onto the Ar*b tv station and got an eyewitness account which also analysed the barbaric acts as being islamophobic. The guy was crazy -  he chose to kill 80+ young people as well as bomb the political nerve centre of Norway for religious and political reasons.

Just to get back to something more cheerful, I then looked up Zara Phillips' wedding - the 3rd Royal wedding this summer! Eh oui, I'm into princesses and beautiful dresses in my spare time ! With a daughter still into Barbies and designing clothes through Harumika, I can still appreciate these things.

Now it's time to head back to the kitchen. 4 people from our church to dinner tonight, followed by a free concert by an Irish group in the centre of town. This will be pleasant and relaxing, but, boy, do we live in a complicated world. My boys will probably choose to stay home and watch DVDs of Hogan's Heroes in French ! 

What must God think of it all ?

Another angle on French secularism

I've been following the news links provided by the website CCFOF. This article was featured and I pass it on to you because it helped me understand another aspect of French secularism. It explains the Republican attitude to me and now I can see where politicians and philosophers are coming from in their comments.

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2011/07/31/french-secularism-dies-in-the-middle-east/

A new link

Presenting a new link that is being more and more developped. Redcliffe College in Gloucester, UK, started up a Mission Course and Master's Degree in European Mission Studies. It's a great resource for us, although we are not church-planting, but we keep an eye on what's happening in order to encourage our parishioners to think past our own situation. We think it's hard even to get them interested in what's happening in our own Church Union! We also want to develop our ministries in the wider perspective of what's happening in France and Europe. It's particularly interesting for me to track this work as a member of the Women's Association Femmes 2000.

Anyway - you can see how things are evolving in Europe. Eastern Europe is booming. Western Europe can give the impression of being pretty dead spiritually, but since God always keeps a faithful remnant to witness about Him, there are things happening. It's all 'drop-in-the-ocean' stuff, but the Kingdom of God continues to grow. Inexorably, slowly, permanently. In our Ladies' Bible Study group a few years ago, we did a series on the Paraboles. It was very encouraging because even though we were challenged ourselves to be faithful witnesses to God's Kingdom, we also understood how surely His Kingdom is growing.

In any case, you will realize how much work we Christians have to build up our churches and to reach out to others.

I just finished reading Brother Andrew's account of his ministry to the Iron Curtain countries in the sixties. It's a classic, "God's Smuggler", one of the books I inherited from Claire F when she went back to UK. But how fresh and relevant it still seems! Great lessons in real faith, trusting God, listening to and waiting upon God. And just obeying. Pascal mentioned another book today in his sermon : "What would Jesus Do ?" If only we could take the plunge and just get on with it, we'd see such a change. Keep praying !!!

Time flies

It's now July. School's out and many French have started their holidays. Lamastre has filled with people and the Tuesday market is crowded. We hope it's a good season so people here can keep things going economically.

We've already had my cousins to visit. And Ruth, our SIM Australian missionary friend has had 10 days holiday here. Our special friends, the Fidlers, left yesterday and we now inherit their house, which will become the pastor's manse. Friday my brother James arrives with his wife, Debbie, and 2 children, Hudson and Amelia.

Marc finished school first and started work picking cherries. It's a 5 am wake up call to start work at 6 am until 12 noon. He was joined by Luc at the beginning of this week. Luc has now finished his 4 week's work experience in a Fiat garage, had a rugby weekend where he got very sunburned and is now trying to catch up on his brother's number of buckets of cherries, while keeping tabs on the Tour de France every afternoon !

And our young Claire has now completed her Primary school education and is a young lady. I promised her months ago that she could get her ears pierced when she finished her school year. It's done.

I MAY NOT WRITE VERY OFTEN OVER THIS HOLIDAY PERIOD. WE HAVE VISITS AND SOME HOLIDAY TIME. WE ARE BOTH VERY TIRED AND NEED CATCH UP TIME. WE ALSO HAVE TO REDECORATE THE HOUSE AND MOVE IN OVER AUGUST.

Take care all of you. Keep in touch.