A neat week
This week started out in a big way. Several months ago we were contacted by one of the parents from Lara’s grade school. They were interested in visiting our church or bringing their religious group to one of our Sunday worship services. Interesting! We had he and his wife over for coffee and had a wonderful conversation. This muslim family are active in one of the mosques in our neighborhood. In fact the location is behind and a few doors down from our building. It so happens that the husband is also involved in an organization called Abraham’s round table, made up of four religious groups: Christian (Catholic & Protestant), Jew, Islam, and Bahá’í. He spoke with us in January and asked if they could invite anyone in that group to come to a Sunday morning worship service. After talking with our members and discussing it several times, we all agreed that this would be beneficial to all and help in improving relationships in our part of the city.
This past Sunday they came. This was our monthly pot-luck Sunday and so we invited all to stay for lunch. We had over 70 in our rooms and enjoyed quite a few lively discussions. Most interesting was learning more about the Bahá’í faith: that God sent another prophet 150 years ago in the person of Bahá’u'lláh (translated: the glory of God). His role was/is to unite all religions and work toward world peace. Every religion is accepted, equal, and contains God’s truth. The movement began with a man who called himself “the Báb” or gateway. Jesus is not seen as the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, rather he is another prophet in a long chain of prophets, beginning with Krishna in 3000 B.C.
Our prayer and hope is that God will provide more such opportunities for dialog. The time together was very good for our people; learning to respectfully listen and then respectfully share their faith in God and in His only Son.
Then Tuesday evening we went to a chldren’s concert sponsored by the neighborhood Catholic church and a Christian group we know well, GO20, who is involved in inter-city and school activities outreach. Lara was in the kids choir and got to get up on stage at the end of the concert to sing with the group. It was a fun time and another example of seeing God work in north Hildesheim. Here is a short video…
Lara is in the front middle in the light green shirt.
One big prayer request is for the children’s and youth work here in our part of the city. We are looking at working closely with the GO20 team in taking over a large (former) semi-truck repair shop that sits behind our building owned by our landlord. It would make a great place for kids and teens to hang out, play some basketball, soccer, volleyball, have concerts, etc. We are dreaming big and looking to God for His guidance. It needs a lot of work and will require financing from some source(s). But our God “owns a thousand cattle on a thousand hills.”
Please keep us, the church, and the work in your prayers too. BTW, I am studying with two people interested in being baptized. One of them said this week that she is almost ready. Praise God!
Kyle
