A transitional time

The France and Established Churches Teams Conference

Prayer for the transition of churches to European leadership, worship, sharing, teaching on developing church leadership in postmodern Europe, discussion about transitioning established churches to European leadership, airplane rides, volleyball, talent night, a Rubik's Cube expert, a scavenger hunt, a group game of "chutes 'n ladders," great food and friends, long discussions, presentation of the new Château chapel and more!

Rather than attempt to summarize all that transpired at the France Family and Established Churches Team Conference at the Château of Saint Albain (Oct.25-28), I thought a pictorial of our time together might speak best.

On one exceptionally clear day, we began the session about 20 minutes late so that our speaker could go up in the Château tower from where one could see the Mont Blanc.

David Brown was our speaker (he also gave a conference for the French fellowship of Grace Brethren churches leadership—the Saturday prior to our retreat). David is a three-time church planter, General Secretary for InterVarsity France, author, and one of France's foremost ecclesiologist/missiologists.

Though David is quite the engaging speaker, no conference would be complete without break time.

John Pappas (center) and Rob Saunders (right). Rob is the most recent addition to the Château team (I think he was hovering around the coffee pot hoping the fumes would stave off his jet lag!).

Pam and Steffi (Steffi is from the Aalen GBC)—"veteran" members of the new Château team.

Pastor Florent Varak graciously offered MKs flights in a ULM
(Philip S in the cockpit).

TALENT NIGHT !

Carol

Helen and Susie

Elise and Philip S (excerpts from "Napoleon Dynamite")

I'm thinking of using this as a recruitment poster for Charis Associates ;-)

Melody (center), also one of our new Château staff, led an MK youth group during the week and helped them prepare this "speaking choir".

One of our main discussions focused on the transition of the established GBCs, where missionaries are still leading the works, to European leadership. We read and discussed Tom Steffen's book, "Passing the Baton," to stimulate our thinking and now they are working on writing plans.

The elements I have requested for this transition plan are: a demonstration of faith (Mt. 17:20-21), the priority of prayer (Mt. 7:7-8; 9:37-38), the envisaged type of leadership (team of elders or pastor or full-time regional worker or…), their next role and place of service, concrete transitional steps, and a projected time frame.

Transition is a vital yet extremely precarious process in church planting, so we would appreciate your prayers for faith, wisdom, boldness, and for the missionary Spirit of God to accomplish this through his people.