Scott Jackson

Have you ever wondered how the different things of life that you are involved in are connected to each other? Do they sometimes feel completely disconnected and you're not sure how it all fits together?

Sometimes in those circumstances, the Lord asks us to put some things down to concentrate on others. And yet at other times, He says 'wait and watch!' He then takes us to a higher perspective to see how actually all those various things are connected together, and the beautiful picture it creates. So, if you are not sure, press into Him and see what He says. It could be that He has something marvellous to show you.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV

The last two months have been very busy with various gatherings and trips taking place alongside the everyday routine of life.

Holocaust Museum Tours

In October, working with the President of the International Christian Embassy Macedonia (ICEJ MK) and another friend, we organised two tours of the Holocaust Museum in Skopje for people from across the churches. In total, we had about 25 people who were able to come along, which we were greatly encouraged by. It was a wonderful opportunity to raise up the profile of the Jewish community within the church mindset, to look at the history of the Jews across Macedonia and the wider Balkan region and the impact of the Holocaust in this region. And to also ask the question, when we look at the Scriptures, what is God's heart for the Jews, His prophetic purposes for them and how can we as His Church be a blessing to them?

The Balkan Call

The end of October brought the Balkan Call. Three days of believers coming together from across the Balkans and beyond, to pray for the Kingdom of God across this region. Almost 400 of us, and the largest Balkan Call yet! To pray for repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation. To say that it was an incredible time feels like a bit of an understatement.

Over the course of the three days, the people from each Balkan country would come up to the front, one at a time, and alongside Turkey. They would repent and ask Turkey for forgiveness for the crimes that their people had committed towards the Turks, and would then go on to forgive Turkey for the crimes they committed and for the past oppression, predominantly through the Ottoman Empire against their people. The team from that Balkan country would then spend time blessing and praying for Turkey and for the Kingdom of God to come in that land. Turkey would then respond and do likewise.

It was such a wonderful experience to see new bridges being built. One such example of this is between Greece and Turkey. The team from Greece was quite reticent to come to Istanbul. Greece and Turkey as countries have not been friends with each other. However, over the course of the gathering, it was beautiful to hear them speaking about how blessed they were in coming, and the welcome they received from our Turkish brethren which has really helped to start new friendships.

Over the course of the gathering, a message which was strongly spoken was the need for each of us to see ourselves first and most importantly as citizens of heaven, as family of a holy kingdom. That the Church cannot hope to see reconciliation between the nations if we ourselves are divided because of nationalism. That we need to see ourselves as united in Christ, and to treat each other as such. The message was spoken that whilst we would not necessarily be able to agree on all the specifics of things that were done in the past, as our history books all write about those events differently. But what we could all agree on was that at some point in history, each country has been a victim, and at other points each country has been a victimiser, and so it is essential for each of us to repent.

During the gathering, I believe that the Lord gave me a picture of the Balkans as a piece of land, each country surrounded by a river, which divided it from the neighbouring country. But going over each river was a beautiful bridge. Not a generic concrete bridge that was just there for practical purposes, for the transportation of goods. But these bridges were beautifully designed out of carved and sculptured stone. And going across the bridges were people dancing traditional Balkan dances, all interlinked, with the line going through my mind 'to dance like David danced'. That sense that these nations, whilst individual and with their own unique beauty, yet the links between those lands, the friendship, was something that would be treasured.

And alongside this picture, I was reminded of the Scriptures from Revelation 7:9-10...

"After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

The Balkan Call felt like a small glimmer of the picture in that Scripture. In addition to the annual gatherings themselves, every Friday evening there is a zoom call for people to join in, to pray for the Kingdom to come and for various different things going on in the different Balkan nations.

Young Life - Matka Prayer Weekend

In November, alongside others connected to Young Life, we went for a weekend retreat in the Matka Canyon (just outside Skopje) to pray for the youth across Macedonia, Albania and Bulgaria. That there would be an awakening amongst them to the message of the Gospel, for strengthening amongst the Young Life teams in those nations, and for favour to start new bases, both there, and also in the neighbouring countries of Kosovo, Serbia and Greece. There were about 40 of us gathered together, and it was a very special time of getting to know each other and to press into God for the youth. Through living in Macedonia now for two years, one thing that has come across is that there is much more of an openness to discussing the message of the Gospel with the youth compared with the older generations who hold onto an 'Orthodox Church only' mentality which often doesn't translate into a living faith and is more about tradition.

Oaza Church

Over this last month, something exciting that has started is that we are now meeting on a bi-weekly basis to pray together. It has been very encouraging to see this start and people from the church engaging in it. To see advancements for the Kingdom of God in our lives and communities, there needs to be a foundation of increased intimacy/prayer/intercession with the Lord.

For the homegroup, we are in a place now of processing how to change it up a bit, to make it more effective. For the Bible study, we will be moving it to a Saturday morning now instead of an evening and seeing if more people from across the church want to engage with it. For the games nights, through discussing with several of the lads about how to make it more effective missionally, it's been conveyed that people often don't like to go into others homes that they don't know, even if going with friends. So what we have discovered is that not far from the centre of the city is a board game coffee shop. It looks amazing, and so we think we will move the evenings there, which would also enable us to engage with people who are there already, and so allow us much more missional opportunity.

Thanksgivings:

• For the success of the Holocaust Museum tours, and the interest shown
• For the Balkan Call and the Young Life prayer weekend, for how people are increasingly engaging with prayer and the impact that is having as the Lord works through it.
• For the new prayer evenings at Oaza Church and the engagement in them.

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray that the prayer connections and calls for the Balkan Call increases further. We want to see this as a movement across the whole region as the Church stands united to press in for the Kingship of Christ in all of our nations.
• Please pray for the Oaza Church prayer gatherings that these increasingly gather momentum and would be seen as an important aspect of church life for people across the church.
• Please pray for the homegroup as we change things up a bit, both in terms of the Bible study and on the games nights. Pray that we would be sensitive to the leading of the Lord and where He is at work.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my latest newsletter. Please let me know how you're doing. It's wonderful to stay in contact.

With much love and every blessing in Christ,
Scott

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