Macedonia Update October 2024

Hi everyone, here is our latest update from Macedonia.

In the Community: Fresh Opportunities and New Challenges.

Over the past few years, our primary focus during the summer has been outside in the community where we have had many opportunities to share the Gospel message along with testimonies of our journey with Jesus. As we reflect on this summer, we don’t feel there have been as many opportunities as in previous years. This could be for various reasons; the entire summer has been incredibly hot and people have been escaping the city, but it may also be that it is time to change our strategy for mission and try some different things. Over this next season, we will be taking time to reflect and pray about how best to reach the area with the Gospel message and journey with those who are open to it.

But this doesn’t mean nothing has happened! Over the summer we have seen people make some big strides forwards in their discipleship, and we are delighted that in September we were able to open another community bible study! This one will hopefully move between different homes as well as our own. We are also making plans with a couple from our church who want to discover a way to invest in their own community in a different part of the city. We hope that they will join us for some of our bible studies, prayer walks and evangelism. We are excited about the possibility of supporting them as they step out in their own community.

It feels to us like some ground has been taken and as a result we have been praying recently about how to move forwards but also secure the territory that has been taken so far. Most importantly: we press on! God is good and it is his work that we get to join in with! Recently, we received some teaching from Mark Pugh, Elim’s General Superintendent, who reminded us of Jesus’ word in John 15:

‘“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”’ (John 15:5)

Mark reminded us that if we want to bear fruit that will last it is essential that we remain close to Jesus, connected to him, dependent upon him, in order to bear lasting fruit. We would prefer to see God’s everlasting fruit than a few temporary things built from our own strength.

Children’s Bible Study.

A few months ago, we sent you a picture of our incomplete timeline of the book of Acts. We expect you have been waiting with anticipation to see how it would end! So here it is…

This journey through the book of Acts has been valuable for both the children and the adults attending the bible group. More recently, we began a new series following the life of David, emphasising that even though his life went through good times and hard times, he continued to follow God, and that God describes him as ‘a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ (Acts 13:22). This photograph shows a Lego David being chosen by God amongst his fellow Lego brothers.

Capernaum Ministry

Now that the new school year has begun, Katie and Kristen are making monthly visits to a school for visually impaired children. They help lead activities for the children and there is a short message shared with the children and the teachers that support them.

Prayer:

• Please give thanks for how people are growing in Christ and for the new Bible Study.
• Please give thanks for the funding we have received towards our new car, we are about 2/3 of the way towards the amount we think that we need. We are grateful for our friends who, for the month of September, loaned us their car while they were out of the country. This has been an amazing blessing for us.
• We are thankful for the way the children are engaging with the Bible class, and that some of them are telling their friends about it!
• Please pray for us to build on the momentum we have and for things to keep going and growing. We want any growth to come from a place of us abiding in Christ and going where He leads.

Thank you for reading our latest news, feel free to let us know how things are with you!

Ian, Katie, Kristen and Josiah.