Valued Partners in the Gospel,
Thank you for taking the time to prayerfully read this brief review of the current state of affairs in Frankfurt, Germany. We can only repeat how grateful we are for your sustained interest in seeing Christ’s precious name glorified among the German people. Please be assured of our highest respect and warmest personal regards.
Street Evangelism
Our efforts to reach the lost in Frankfurt continue. Please keep praying for our regular street evangelism. We face open rejection but we also find good opportunities to make Christ known and to hand out numerous tracts. Please join us in praying that God will cause the growth of all the Gospel seeds that have been planted. Thank you!
Weekly Pastoral Visitations and Care
It is essential for shepherds to know their sheep. Pastoral visitations have proved to be of considerable help in the evaluation of the spiritual condition and needs of our people. It is a great privilege to watch people grow and flourish but also to share their struggles, failures, and fears. Please pray for the whole flock and for my valued co-elder Tobias and me that we all might faithfully follow our great chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Thank you!
Baptism/Membership Candidates and Church Growth
I mentioned in my previous report that a dozen people applied for baptism and church membership. We decided to start by baptizing/taking into membership four candidates and afterwards to receive more as we go forward. We would be grateful if you could pray for us as we prepare people on their way to follow Christ. A very loving, God-fearing family (with five children) moved into our neighborhood and wishes to be part of our church. They are already a great blessing to us and our people welcomed them with great joy. Please join us in praising our Lord for this truly valued addition to our church family. Thank you!
Protecting the Flock
Pastors are called to guard the flock against potential harm. To our great sorrow, we came to the point where we had to openly warn our people of two regular visitors who were holding views that are diametrically opposed to ours and could cause division. Unpleasant situations like this can be joy-robbing and exhausting but our gracious Lord used all of this to strengthen our unity and shared convictions. May I ask you to pray for those visitors who we had to rebuke and for the church so that there might be no divisions among us, but that we will be united in the same mind and the same judgment? Thank you very much!
Space Limitations
We hold morning and evening services on every Lord’s Day. It is only possible for us to rent the facilities of another church for our evening services. We meet in a private home to hold our communion service in the morning. Because of rising attendance, we begin to outgrow our space. We would therefore be most grateful if you could pray that we might find a suitable place of assembly soon. Thank you!
May the Lord bless you all and give you all the strength you need to follow Him.
With grateful appreciation,
Peter Schild
