Buckler News

Wishing you God's blessing for a new year - may his light shine on us, his love fill us and his power flow through us as we serve him!

Update on... St Paul project: the mission evenings from Oct to Dec (see earlier post) were really encouraging - the teaching by Bob Ekblad introduced a fresh dynamic bringing together theory and practice for the 20 or so people who attended regularly and the many others who followed the teaching by internet. The evenings were held in the chapel of the Défap (protestant mission service) which was a great opportunity to give vision and build contacts. Do pray for the continuing impact of this series in the local church of the Eglise réformée du Marais, pray for the witness of the Défap as they seek to help local churches in France catch the vision for local mission... and pray for future training intitiatives organised by the St Paul project (more info to come!!)

MISSION : La Bible, la libération

A partir du 7 octobre, le Projet St Paul lance un cycle de formations à Paris en lien avec le Service protestant de mission (DEFAP), données par le professeur Bob Ekblad. Le cycle a lieu le vendredi soir et peut être suivi par internet (en live ou en diffusé). A ne pas manquer !!

Do pray for a great series of training evenings on the theme of mission (oct-dec 2011). Run by the Projet St Paul (Paris) in collaboration with the French protestant mission service (Défap), the teaching each evening is given by Bob Ekblad. You can follow the series on internet (live or podcast) by visiting the website:

http://saintpaul.pro

Andy is now on the national leadership team of the French Reformed Church (here pictured with members of the Pôle national de formation, which he leads). He's in charge of training and equipping local churches for ministry and mission, a huge brief which includes overseeing and developing strategy for children's work, youth work, ministries in the local church, equipping for evangelism... A lot of it is about encouraging and envisioning the teams he is working with. Here are some areas of prayer.

- Saint Paul project: One exciting part of the new job is the opportunity to try and discern the fresh things God is doing in and through local churches in France, and then to accompany and equip these initiatives. One such initiative is the ‘Saint Paul project’, rooted in a local church in Paris. This innovative project is seeking to equip church members theologically and practically to grow and serve as mission minded disciples of Jesus. We hope the project will develop as a resource for the wider church. This year, the programme is being run in partnership with the DEFAP, the French protestant mission society. It is also a real joy that Bob Ekblad (US theologian and pastor) is joining us for a year to give theological and biblical input. For more info, visit http://saintpaul.pro

- Interns in local churches: While we were in Mantes, our church benefitted significantly from the presence of short term interns from the UK. So it’s great that Andy’s new post has enabled him to propose an intern programme for local churches throughout France. We are delighted that in the UK, this will be coordinated through the Crosslinks Smile programme. Things are starting small this year (2 students from UK), but from September 2012 we hope to be able to welcome many more! Please pray for this initiative... and do encourage any students (French speaking) you may know who are seeking to serve God in France to contact us. More info: www.crosslinks.org

- Leadership training: one of the important challenges in the years to come is the training and equipping of leaders for ministry and mission in the local church. Currently, training for local leaders is not adapted to the mission challenges, and frequently lacks biblical depth and spiritual dynamic. Local ministries are also underdeveloped. Please pray for wisdom as Andy heads up the group in charge of developing new approaches to this.

- Teaching and training opportunities: as Andy gets settled into the new job, there are numerous opportunities to input into local and regional contexts, through preaching, teaching and training. But there are also aspects of the job that are more mundane. Please pray for clear vision and strategic thinking, that he will be able to stick to this priorities and keep his focus on the Lord!

In July we moved to a small town called Carrières-sur-Seine (about 15,000 inhabitants), just on the outskirts of Paris (about 10 minutes train ride to the centre of Paris, where Andy’s office will be). The French Reformed Church have found a large, modern house for us, for which we are very grateful. Thomas and Samuel have been accepted in a bilingual school in Paris, and we have made the choice of sending the others to the local school in order for us to be able to integrate more easily as a family. It has been a painful process to get this far, but… so far so good!!!!