Sunday Worship service, July 27, 2008

What does a pastor do, when virtually all the members are coming to church with high level excitement and anticipation of what God is going to do in the service that day? This has increasingly become our blessing this summer in the IBC church here. More and more we feel like spectators priviledged to be present and witness the powerful movement of God in the hearts of the people. Yesterday's service was no exception. Almost a dozen former members of the church were present for the first time in many years and enjoyed the service tremendously. The attendance reflected a noticeable increase over previous Sundays. These folks are returning to the church in growing numbers and are excited to see how wonderfully God is working in the congregation. The service yesterday was somewhat like a "homecoming" service. Usually during the fellowship time following the service people hang around for twenty to thirty minutes visiting and fellowship. Yesterday it was almost an hour before folks began heading out to their homes. No one wanted to leave. Gradually word is spreading about how powerfully God is moving in the IBC church, and people are wanting to come see what is happening.

The theme of the worship service was "Celebrating Growing as Believers." The sermon was titled simply "Grow" and was taken from 1 Peter 1:13-25.

13 Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.

14 Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. 15 Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

17 If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. 18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 20 He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. 21 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.

22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. 23 You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever." That word is the good news that was announced to you. 

In the original Greek text, these verses are made up with five sentences containing four foundational admonitions (main clauses in the Greek text) by Peter to his readers. I've highlighted those core expressions in the above English translation from the NRSV text, since every English translation has to distort the grammatical structure of the underlying biblical text because of the limitations of English grammar. These four admonitions served as the heart of the sermon. The remaining material represents expansion elements enlarging these foundational admonitions.

For a copy of the Sunday bulletin click here. Bro. Solomon had selected an African based Christian chorus to sing just before the formal benediction. It was titled "Soon and Very Soon, we're going to see the King." Chill bumps came up my back, as the whole congregation got deeply into singing this lively affirmation of Christian faith and commitment.

We are planning a baptismal service for Friday evening, August 8. This will be the first of many such services to take place over the coming months. Our sister congregation, the Friedenskirche (the German Baptist Church in downtown Cologne) is allowing us to use their baptistry, since our facilities do not have a baptistry. Watch for pictures of this service. Such services in European Baptist tradition are very different and distinct, in comparison to the usual pattern in Baptist life in the US.

Please continue praying for the ministry and the church here. God is doing some profoundly wonderful things in the church, and is getting the church ready for some substantial growth and expansion of ministry.

Late afternoon lunch with Brazilian friends on Saturday afternoon, July 26, 2008

On Saturday afternoon, Claire and I joined Linda and Henry for lunch at the home of Christina Cruz. Christina is a dedicated Christian lady from Sao Paulo Brazil who now lives in Cologne. Some of Christina's Brazilian friends also helped prepare a wonderful mid-afternoon lunch using traditional Brazilian dishes. We had a delightful time of food, good Christian fellowship and sharing prayer concerns. Christina lives in the Nippes district of Cologne, which is near where our new meeting facilities will be beginning in September. We encountered several delightful scenes as we were walking from the train station to the apartment.

Daily Routine

With considerable effort, I have been able to slowly develop a daily routine that allows me to get my work done and yet pace myself to manage the work load while combining it with more relaxing and fun things. Having functioned virtually all of my adult life in a pretty high level structured schedule, the pattern emerging here is much more balanced and less stressful. This summer is something of the "appetizer" in anticipation of the ministry pattern that will begin in January when we move back to Germany to live and serve the church. We are especially anxious to move into our own apartment so that we can begin setting up things and organizing in order to develop a regular routine in our own home.

Afternoon Stroll (# 3) around the neighborhood in Siegburg

Claire and I took some time one afternoon last week to walk around the neighborhood near the apartment in Siegburg. As we prepare to move from Siegburg to Wesseling, we are trying to take some time to explore this delightful town of 40,000 people. Not far from our apartment are some fabulously beautiful homes where people live.

Trains, Trains

Traveling by train is a way of life in Europe, and one that we enjoy very greatly. Here are a few scenes of some of our experiences around the Cologne / Bonn metropolitan area. For the future, this will be our primary mode of transportation in Germany. Germany has the bus, the S-Bahn (street car), the U-Bahn (subway), the RE Zug (regional express train) and the ICE (Inter-City Express, high speed 'bullet' trains between the major cities). Combine this with walking and bicycles, and you have an excellent way of getting around that is reasonably inexpensive, non polluting, and very healthy. Still, many people also have personal autos, although at about $8.75 a gallon for regular unleaded gas one is encouraged to leave the car parked as much as possible.

Going from the train station to our new home in Wesseling

On Friday of last week, Claire and I went over to the new apartment to see the progress that has been made in getting it ready for us to move into. We decided to take some photos of the scenes that one would see when going to and from the train station in down town Wesseling out to the apartment. There are beautiful homes and apartment buildings, as well as all kinds of shops, restaurants, grocery stores etc. conveniently located for us to use. By foot the trip is about 15 minutes, but a bus stop is near the apartment that will take us to the train station with less time and walking. And we're already talking about getting a couple of bicycles next spring to use when the weather is good. This is a very common pattern for all ages of folks here.

Earlier we had hoped to be able to move into the apartment today, Monday July 28. But a delay in getting the internet hookup installed has forced us to wait until this coming Friday. We will move to the new apartment on Friday afternoon, before I go to choir rehearsal Friday evening. We are getting really excited about getting into our own place. Claire can't wait to set up house and begin organizing things around the apartment.

While we were at the apartment on Friday, Samy Rungiah was there making sure that the workmen doing renovation work did everything correctly. We decided to fix our first meal in the next apartment since the stove, fridge, sink etc. were already installed in the kitchen. So we stepped across the street to the Plus grocery store and got some frozen pizzas, brought them back to the apartment, and cooked them. That we could share this first meal with Samy was so fitting. He has worked tirelessly in helping get the apartment ready for us. Too many hours to count have been spent overseeing the repair work, doing a lot of the work himself, and rounding up furniture and appliances to put into the apartment. I want to publicly thank him profoundly for all his work. Without him we would not be moving into the apartment this quickly and easily.

Also, we want to express deep gratitude to a number of other individuals in the church and to the Friedenskirche (the Hausmeister in particular) for their contributions in getting the apartment ready. So many have donated items for use during the fall. Several men and women have spent numerous hours at the apartment doing work, moving furniture etc. With some of my limitations in lifting things etc., these have been angels of God doing things for us that we would not have been able to do ourselves. A few new pictures of the progress have been added to the earlier pictures of the apartment that were sent out last week.

Food and more food

This past week Claire has put together a portfolio of photos taken of various foods through Photos By Claire over the past few years. Our company is submitting a bid to contract with a large bakery distribution company in Ashville, NC to do a photo shoot of their extensive product line. They want to use these photos in the company advertisement. If PBC wins the contract, Claire will do the photographing of their products soon after we arrive back in NC on August 14.

A central place for information.

A couple of weeks ago I set up a section in Cranfordville.com where all of the update reports, photo albums, Sunday bulletins and Bible study materials can be accessed from a single page. To get to this section just go to Cranfordville.com, and click on the photo of Cologne in the lower right side of your screen. This page is updated with new hyperlinks each time items are created. It functions as a sort of weekly diary for us in helping us remember the various events etc. that have taken place this summer while we're in Germany.

Please continue to pray for us and for the church here. God continues to amaze us with the exciting things that He is doing to bring the church together and position it for significant ministry and growth in the coming days. Next week we have a team of six people from the Virginia Baptist Mission Board who are going to spend a week with us doing outreach activities. Plans are in place to use them to create greater awareness of the IBC Church Cologne, especially to the huge immigrant community in this area. Pray for Claire and I as we begin preparing to return to NC on August 14. So quickly and so deeply the IBC Church here has become a beloved church family to us; we are dreading the time when we have to say goodbye for a few months. Yet, we know that the church will be in excellent hands as Calvin and Betty Ann Hogue arrive the first of September to lead the church until our return at the end of December.

Hope you enjoy the photos.

Lorin & Claire

Prof. Dr. Lorin Cranford

Pastor, IBC Church Köln
Aachenerstr. 128
D - 50389 Wesseling


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