Prayer

"In our lifetime, wouldn't it be sad if we spent more time washing dishes or swatting flies or mowing the yard or watching television than praying for world missions?" -- Dave Davidson

It occurs to me every day that the only way to succeed in this place, or in any place, is through prayer. Admitting before God that we are not capable of making eternal impact without His help. Genuinely asking for His strength, not as an afterthought, but as the starting place.

My mind turns over the possibilities for making the church here grow. At Riverview, if you have a friend that you want to connect with the church, there are a multitude of possibilities. You can invite them to the movies or a game night with your Christian friends. They can attend a church service and hear a dynamic, relevant teaching. They can go to house church for a meal and student friendly Bible study. Even if your relationship with them goes cold, there is a good chance that you will have been able to connect them with others who can continue the work you have begun.

In Köln there are no equivalents to Family Christian Bookstore, Christian radio, or any of the other 'Christian' influences that permeate American society and which we tend to take for granted. There is no church to invite people to. There is no group of Christians that you can connect people with to just hang out at the bar or watch a game together. As a church, we paint a picture of God through the relationships we form with one another. Before I was a believer, I could see that there was something different about the Christians I knew by the way they acted towards one another. Here that picture looks different. I believe that God's light shines through us here, but there are no huge networks of Christians to show a broad picture of what Christ does in our lives.

I'm beginning to think that part of my time should be spent seeking out those who are already believers. To present to them the dream God has placed on my heart for Cologne. Only God can send the right people to me, the city is too big for me to find them on my own. But He has given me a passion for the gospel that I am confident I can communicate. With a small core of Christians praying to reach this place and meeting together to form a safe space for seekers, I believe that we can cause growth here. Please, pray for co-laborers who are humble enough to rely on God and confident enough to know that He will come through in this place. Pray that the people I share the gospel with would be open to His influence. Pray that God would use me, even with all of my shortcomings.