Here are scenes from:

• Sunday afternoon worship service, June 29

This was the third Sunday for us to be in Germany. This Sunday marked the beginning of a regular worship service without any extra items added on. Also it reflectes the middle of the holiday / vacation season for Germans and thus the attendance dropped off to slight under 50 people. But we had a wonderful service with several new visitors who expressed serious interest in the church. So we are excited about the church continuing to attract new people each Sunday. Attached to this email is a pdf copy of the Sunday bulletin that we've designed and are using. You can see something of the emerging pattern of worship each week in the church. We had earlier hoped to video record each service and then post it on UTube. But I discovered that I forgot to bring essential cords etc. with my camcorder when we packed up to come over.

Sermon: "I Believe" based on James 2:14-26

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, F13 if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. 20 Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. 23 Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead. (NRSV)

Prayer requests: '

1. In a special called business meeting this coming Sunday, July 6, after the worship service, the church will vote on extending a call to Claire and me as regular pastor of the church beginning in Janauary 2009. We feel very positive about the possibility of returning in January as pastor.
2. The church will vote to authorize the church council to finalize a contract with the Nathanael Reformierte Landes Kirche in Cologne to begin using their worship services on Sunday afternoons (2:00 pm. worship service) and Wednesday evenings (6:30 pm). This is a significant move for the congregation with the montly lease cost cut in half but at the same time moving into a much nicer and larger facility that is much better equipped for worship. The first Sunday to meet in the new building will be September 7.
3. The founding pastor of the IBC church in Cologne, Calvin and Betty Ann Hogue, are scheduled to begin an interim pastorate that same Sunday in September with the church. They are highly regarded by the folks who were a part of the church in its beginnings starting in 1991. God has opened the door for them to return to help stabilize and re-build the church in anticipation of our return in January. They have a continuing ministry in retirement in the western part of the US serving as interim pastor of churches and the timing of finishing one interim in Stockton CA in order to return to Germany has been providential. High excitement by present and former church members here is already building over their coming back to serve the church.
4. Our challenges in finding an apartment here to live in, and in the desposing of our house etc. in Boiling Springs. We have our first appointment this coming Monday evening to check an apartment here in Siegburg as a possible place to live.
5. The setting up of the Visa (Anmeldung) papers to live and work in German. The process is very long and complex. We want to get everything done possible before returning back to NC on August 14.
6. That the right decisions will be made in helping the church re-organize and begin moving forward again.

08_06_29_Gottesdenst

• Claire's birthday party at the church on July 2 after the Wednesday evening service.

On Wednesday evening after the Prayer and Bible Study service, the church members presented Claire with a surprise birthday celebration and gifts. One of the ladies backed a heavenly Strawberry cake (Erdbernkuche) and we celebrated her 64th birthday in wonderful style with our new church family. This was Claire's first birthday in Germany and we celebrated it in style just about all day long. Dieter Kegel, our host, began the day by presenting her with a special birthday cake at breakfast on Wednesday morning. During the afternoon, Claire made her first shopping trip alone into the pedestrian zone of down town Siegburg to do some window shopping and pick up a few items. Each day she is venturing out more and more by herself as her confidence in nagivating the stores, trains etc. increases. I'm so very proud of her. Very quickly she is feeling at home here and enjoying the conveniences of living over here.

Claire's Birthday Party

 

This Wednesday evening marked the launching of a Wednesday evening service of prayer and Bible study. This church has not had this schedule in quite some time, and this past week signaled the return to the previous, more traditional patterns for the church. A solid group of folks made time in their schedule to attend the hour long service from 6:30 to 7:30 pm Wednesday evening. True to fashion, I'm producing Bible study handouts for those attending, but -- believe or not, SS class men -- I've self imposed a limit to two pages to each week's study, rather than the 10 to 15 page handout for the men's SS class. Now to be completely honest, the paper size is the standard European A4 paper which is almost as large as the 8 1/2 X 14 " American legal paper size. So I can pack a good bit of information on those two pages.

We hope you enjoy these pictures.

Lorin & Claire

Please note a correction to our German home telephone number; it was incorrectly listed at the beginning.

IBC - International Baptist Church Cologne  
Pastor Lorin Cranford
Postfach 800518 
D - 51005 Koeln


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