Scott Jackson

I hope the start of spring is going well for you. New seasons in the annual climate always reminds me that we go through different seasons spiritually as well. Seasons of growth. Seasons of pruning. With the Lord in it all. Whatever your circumstances at the moment, whatever season, may you be freshly encouraged that Christ is the author and perfector of your faith and that He is faithful to keep all of the promises that He has made to you.

Prayer....

Life in Macedonia over these last 2 months has had some powerful moments and encouraging developments. At the start of April, we (the church of Skopje) were able to host a team of about 20 people from across Europe called 'Europeans United in Prayer'. This group travel around the capital cities of the European nations, joining with the church in those cities to pray for God's Kingdom to come. They chose to visit Skopje, Macedonia as the first city of the Balkans region. This was a wonderful and powerful time of the church coming together in prayer for Christ's Kingdom in Macedonia, for repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation between Macedonia and its various ethnic groups and surrounding countries. It culminated on our final evening together with each member of the team praying the Aaronic blessing over Macedonia in their native language. I can say that my biggest surprise was it being prayed in Welsh. Truly wonderful.

Community

Our home community continues to develop and I am so encouraged by how other members are increasingly stepping up engaging, serving and hosting. Our 'organised' routine now consists of us meeting up every week for an evening of Bible study, prayer, worship and fellowship. We have also had multiple weeks of going through Scriptures linked to identity which were powerful reminders.

Our routine also consists of having a 'games evening' every two to three weeks which provides another opportunity to invite non-Christians we know. Through this, we are wanting to strengthen their relationships with people from the church and invite them into the Bible study. Below is a photo of the last one we hosted which we had 10 people at. We enjoyed the name of Jesus being lifted high as we played games that evening.

In addition to this, we regularly have multiple spontaneous times to meet up, pray and do more in-depth discipleship.

International Womens Day

International Womens Day is treated in very much the same way in Macedonia as Mothers Day is in the UK. So what a fantastic opportunity to bless. I was able to join with Pastor Angel in Shtip in giving out flowers and Christian magazines to the ladies passing us, and at one point we even had a bus driver invite us onto his bus to bless the women on the bus.

Language

Language learning continues apace. Even though it is difficult, I am encouraged that it is getting easier and am slowly able to have larger conversations with people in Macedonian.

Visa

Praise be to God. My visa has been approved for another year and a few days ago I was able to pick up my new ID residency card. Answer to prayer.

Thanksgiving

• For the prayer gathering at the start of April and the powerful times praying into repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.
• That the home community continues to develop, having regular times of fellowship together to seek the Lord and grow in Him, and those regular slots that are more missional.
• For the continued growth in language learning.
• For the visa extension.
• For the missional opportunities during International Womens Day.

Prayer Requests

• For continued growth of the prayer culture. Important steps are being made, but as always, we want more. More of Christ. More of His Kingdom in the city and nation.
• For more workers for the harvest fields. We are spontaneously involved in evangelism when we are out and about in the city together, but we are talking about how we can increase this.
• For continued growth in depth and numerically of people engaged in the home community and that we set it with the DNA of multiplication.
• For my language learning.

Thank you very much for reading my newsletter. I thank the Lord for you. Without your prayers and financial support, I wouldn't be able to do this so you are very much a part of the mission here in Macedonia. Please keep in touch. It's great to hear from you.

Much love and shalom,
Scott

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