It's been a while brother and sister crocodiles! 

I expect you've been wondering what Jesus and Claire are up to in Berlin.
I can't say exactly what He's been doing, he's far far busier than I am and does a lot of undercover work, but I can give you a vague picture of what I've been up to and how you can get involved prayerfully. Thanks in advance to all of you, who are all quite literally saints, who take the time to read my lines and pray with and for me.

SCENE SETTING
I am now almost at the end of the school holidays. Last week I barely had time to reflect about the term just gone - probably for the best - because I was getting my hands painty and my tongue wagging as part of the church (newfrontiersberlin.de) outreach week. Now that I do have time to reflect and share, I also have a little more perspective. I have booked my train home (3rd July if you're interested) and we are giving notice of quitting my flat. So I have the end in sight already which is a little odd and rather sobering.

MONDAYS
Mornings are the same as they were - supporting in year 7 and 10 lessons, and doing 1 on 1 conversation with year 9s. I am still meant to be doing the oral exam prep, but the exam turns out not to be for a while still, so nobody is scared enough to turn up... I feel sometimes that I'm being more of an effective witness to the teachers than to any of the pupils, but we shall see.

Pray for opportunities, please! (Again...)

I am no longer doing English club in the other school in the afternoons because turnout was so low despite advertising, so now I meet essentially one on one with the girl who regularly came. It's been so much nicer meeting in a cafe and trying exotic teas together.

Thank God for her openness to doing this and pray that conversations get deeper and that I can explain more and more of my faith to her.

TUESDAYS
I recently went with the year 10s (some of whom I have started to get to know through helping them prepare for their oral exam) to a theatre production called 'Borderlines'. It is a joint production in English between the West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Theater an der Parkaue (just down the road from me), which I massively enjoyed. It was so cool to see that God is making ties between Leeds and Berlin in the arts - for me this is a sign that his hand is over the ties between Mosaic and the church plant here. A real encouragement!

The year 8 class I take here has been a real battle, and I have really had to cling to God at times, but I managed to have a fairly positive final lesson with the group I had been working with over the last term.

Pray for clarity and wisdom about the activities I offer next term, and for good communication with the relevant teacher (has been a little tricky at times).

Please also pray that the friendships which are slowly developing will continue to grow and that I will be tireless in inviting pupils to various things outside of school.

WEDSNESDAY

As the year 13s are now on study leave, my main commitment in this school isn't happening any more. Sadly I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to them properly. Pray that they will come into contact with more and more Christians as they move on to new stages of life.

Pray that the breaktime conversation I was doing will still have enough regular pupils to continue in some form. Pray for wisdom and energy for the 2 year 8 girls I meet with there, too. Pray that even though I am no longer in her lessons, that I can stay in contact with Frau H and have opportunities to share my faith with her!!

THURSDAYS

Helping in the year 9 lessons continues to be one of the highlights of my week, as does the English Club there. I spontaneously went shopping with 2 girls from this school, which was really cool. Thank God for this! Pray for the friendships to grow and for deeper conversations. Pray for further opportunities to do fun things with this class. 

The year 12s, who quite honestly seemed to ignore my presence, are also on study leave now. Pray that they too will encounter Christians and God as they move on into new areas of life. 

SCHOOLS IN GENERAL
Please join me in praying for people to arrive in these schools who will be able to water, tend and harvest the seeds being planted. It's for Your fame, Lord. Make Your name famous in these schools! 

TUESDAY EVENINGS
These have continued to be pretty cool. I am praying that God would provide places for all the attendees to go when I am no longer here.

So please pray that AK would be so curious that he would get involved in a church or something! That DNe will be shaken to the core by the truth of who Jesus is, and will get involved in the community of faith that he is on the fringes of. That EL will find a church group he can really get stuck into and grow in. That DNu's relationships at church will deepen and ignite an unquenchable passion for Jesus!

Thank God for his incredible word and the way it has caused such great discussions in the last few months!
Please pray that during the time I am still here, I can sensitively and wisely wind the group down, whilst leading the Bible discussions in a way that allows the Holy Spirit to reveal loads of great stuff to the group.

TEA AND TOAST
This has continued to be a pleasure. We have got into the habit of cooking something substantial together, which adds variety and an incentive to get here earlier - even if it does slightly undermine the idea of low cost low effort I originally had for the evenings. It's fun and tasty, so I'm not complaining. But if I were to complain, it would be about the amount of washing up piled up on Friday mornings. I could include a photo of the current state of my kitchen but I won't because I wouldn't want to spoil your appetites. 

Pray that I can be a consistent witness in my words and deeds, and that God would steer conversations towards him. Pray that new people come along, too. Pray again for wisdom as I prepare to leave, for really good connections within the people who come along, particularly that all non-Christians who come will stay in connection with a Christian they have met. Thank God for what he's already doing, and for the food, fun and fellowship (and films, and probably loads of other things beginning with 'f') we have had so far.

BERLIN IN GENERAL


1. MAI // 1st of May
I will be joining some other Christians on Saturday night for 12 hours of 'warfare worship', lifting God up and interceding for the city, in particular for a peaceful 1st of May. (This is the day when loads of demonstrations take place all over Germany, and it has been known to get pretty ugly, particularly in Berlin).
It's hard to know what to pray because the events are just the tip of a massively complex iceberg, but pray that God's Kingdom comes.

INTERFAITH?
I met a girl earlier this week who is interested in setting up some form of interfaith dialogue in schools in Berlin. I am quite excited at the prospect of this, because I think it could be a good way of breaking the faith taboo which seems to reign over the school system, particularly in Berlin: it is not specifically backed by any one religion, thus is less suspicious in the eyes of the atheistic bosses. Religious Education approached in a more rational, comparative fashion would break the ice and slip some much needed simple information into the sort of schools where the pupils don't even really know what is celebrated at Easter, which would hopefully open doors and start up dialogues about the ins and outs of the Christian faith, rather than just dismissing it as lunacy without looking at it properly first.

These are just pipe dreams at the moment, but pray for God to raise up more Christians like her who might lever open more doors into schools!

NEW FRONTIERS BERLIN
Last week we had a team from the UK (Leeds, Lewis, Hull, Huddersfield) here in Berlin to help us do some outreach. We were on Breitscheid Platz (a central point in the city's West) for 3 days, 2 of which were part of a children's festival organised predominantly by the Turkish community. There we painted faces and had craft activities for children, as well as having a climbing wall, bungee run and bouncy castle during the Kinderfest. Parents and passers by were chatted to and informed about who we are, some really good conversations were had. We also went onto a university campus for 2 days and got into conversations with students, finding out about their stance on Christianity and letting them know about the church plant.

Some cool stuff as a result: we now have several possible Alpha candidates, we have met lots of new people, have well and truly shown our face in the city (with our Pastor even being interviewed on local TV), we have faith that we have sown seeds left right and centre.

Praise God for his body, the church, and for the way he is working out his purposes through it (through us!!). Pray protection over our new contacts and over the whole church plant as we keep taking little steps forward! 

GENERAL PRAYER
I would really appreciate prayer for open eyes and ears, that I don't just drift through these last 2 months but that I am constantly on the look out for opportunities to be God's hands and feet and mouthpiece. Pray for boldness to accompany this! I probably sound like a broken record but it is really hard and we could probably all do with somebody praying this for us. Get in touch if you agree!

Please also pray that I can be tenacious in networking. It sounds odd, but I find it very easy to say 'Oh that would be great if x and y got in contact', but then the next day/hour/minute it slips right down my priority list. The same happens with regard to inviting people to things. So pray for the strength to be faithful even in the seemingly mundane.


Isaiah 35:3-4
 ³ Strengthen the weak hands,
   and make firm the feeble knees.
⁴Say to those who have an anxious heart,
   "Be strong; fear not!
 Behold, your God
   will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
   He will come and save you."


Can I get an Amen?