March 2019
FRIDAY 1 GERMANY: Martin and Anja Teubert in Ribnitz-Damgarten On 1 March we have our new kid`s club again. Last time we had 10 kids from the area – mostly from families who have a lot of social problems. For us it is an encouragement to see how those children come and get to know Jesus. Please pray for our Team as well. SATURDAY 2 AUSTRIA: David and Linda James in Villach We hosted our annual brunch for 34 neighbours last month. They are so friendly and appreciative, and we feel closer to many of them than ever, but we are still frustrated that there is no (outward) interest in the Gospel. We have decided to set up a WhatsApp group with a daily Bible verse and maybe short blessing and invite our neighbours to join. Please pray that they would join and that this would open the eyes of their hearts.
SUNDAY 3 SPAIN: Andy and Andrea Warner in Castellón Please pray for my Spanish friends J and L and S, as we meet up regularly to have lunch and read through Luke’s gospel. We have great conversations, and I know that the Holy Spirit is speaking as we read the Bible together and share stories. Pray for them to see their need for a new life, purpose, meaning, freedom, healing, etc. in Jesus’ name.
MONDAY 4 FRANCE: Steve and Rosemary Cox in Veneux-les Sablons Over 40 children are now participating in our weekly Sunday morning children's service which takes place at the same time as our regular worship service in a different part of our building. The children play an active role in all that happens, music, prayer, etc. However, we still need a bigger building.
I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13
TUESDAY 5 ECM Australia & NZ: Mitch and Bekka Hamilton, Candidate Missionaries for Austria Praise God for the gift of our three-month-old son Jeremiah and the joy he is bringing to our family. Thank God that he is healthy and generally happy and content. Please pray for us as we continue to get used to being parents and juggling family life and ministry, especially as Mitch is preparing for various church and youth camps during April. WEDNESDAY 6 ROMANIA: Jennifer and Adi Grocott in Timisoara Pray for our Romanian prayer days 6-9 March as we meet with other ECM missionaries for the first time. Pray that it is a time of mutual encouragement. Pray as we make contacts with children’s ministry organisations in Romania, that God will give us clarity as to who to partner with. For our daughter Anna as she adjusts to life in Romania, going to preschool, learning Romanian and making new friends; that God would give her peace and patience as she struggles with not having any friends her age that speak English THURSDAY 7 SPAIN: Ron and Brenda Anderson, Church Planting Consultant March 3-10 a group of church planters are coming from Belgium to participate in Accelerate for Church planting training and M4 process as observers. Please pray that it will be helpful for them. On March 23 we have an Alpha course retreat with 30 in attendance. Please pray for salvation and filling of the Holy Spirit, and desire to continue with a weekly Bible study to grow. FRIDAY 8 SLOVENIA: Sebastian and Gloria Forjan in Radovljica Since we have seen some new contacts in our church gathering, continue to pray for them that the Lord will penetrate their hearts, open their eyes to see the need for Saviour and accept the Gospel. Also pray that we will grow in the Lord, to know Him better and His gospel and to live it out. Pray for protection against the enemy that is very active against God’s children in our area. Pray that we will be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. SATURDAY 9 BULGARIA: Dimitrie and Maria Todorov in Burgas Please pray for Leadership Training 12-15 March where church planters and pastors from 15 cities will come to be equipped to preach and teach the Word of God with the heart of God; the launching of sports ministry initiatives with teenagers and students in 2
2019; the promotion and publishing of children’s ministry resources that accompany the development of the Bible App for Kids for Bulgaria. SUNDAY 10 BRITAIN: Vidas and Rita Rimkai in Gloucester We are thankful for so many opportunities to speak and invite speakers who have a strong faith and also do an outstanding job in Gloucester on the BBC Radio Gloucestershire. Gloucester Marketing team has highlighted the vital job of the World Cafe in our city, which came as a surprise and we found out by accident. Pray for our big English group visiting Gloucester City Mayor and Sheriff on 12 March and the next day the Mayor will attend the World Cafe social night. In all, God has been doing amazing things in people’s lives and opening doors in various public sectors where we can speak the truth and we cannot be stopped, as our story is God's story. MONDAY 11 ROMANIA: Alexia Coleman, Mitspa House in Timisoara Since we’ve started our ministry, we were able to help 6 mothers and 9 children. Please pray for our youngest one. She’s 14 and she’s just started “second chance school” to learn to read and write. It’s very hard for her to concentrate at school. She’s growing at every level, as well as a teenager and as the mum of an 8 months old daughter. Please pray she will be encouraged in all her learning process and will know her value in Christ. TUESDAY 12 ECMI: Chris Wigram, International Director I visit Maastricht in the Netherlands until 14. Pray for the ECM team there and the work across the Netherlands. Pray also for discussions with Jeff Fountain (Schuman Centre) concerning new European academic courses that are taking place. WEDNESDAY 13 REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Jonathan and Nicola McCracken in Claremorris We had a great opportunity to share on the local radio station about the church and what we believe. One of our local men also shared on the programme about why he enjoys coming. Pray for wisdom as we think about doing a slot regularly. We are planning to use the Community Bible Experience in our Wednesday night group starting 13 March. Pray as we advertise this outreach widely around the town. 17 March is St Patricks Day - pray as we have a table stand in the town and have a free children's craft. 3
Alexia Coleman
THURSDAY 14 SPAIN: Delyth Sutton and team in the Pedroches Valley From 12 to 15 March is Pozoblanco’s biennial book exhibition. The theme is science and we have chosen to look at Macro cosmos in Creation of the universe and Micro cosmos in Biology. We are seeking to show that science is not incompatible with faith, so we are reading a lot of John Lennox, C.S. Lewis etc. In the mornings we will visit local schools and I am going play the part of a scientist who will share stories about Christian scientists. Pray for good interaction with the general public.
Steve & Lydia Cockram
FRIDAY 15 CROATIA: Stephen and Tabita Bell in Zagreb March 15-16 Stephen & Tabita, Emanoel (Brazil) and Kostya (Ukraine) will facilitate the Lausanne Consultation in Dalmacia, encouraging pastors and believers from various denominations. Please pray for great encouragement and fellowship! And many candidates to attend monthly training seminars for Evangelism and Discipleship. And also, pray for the movement to start many new churches. We are also facilitating regional consultations and monthly training in 4 other regions of Croatia simultaneously: Zagreb, Osijek, Rijeka, & Istria. Please pray for Sheona as she visits us in Zagreb for three weeks holiday. May she have a great time!
SATURDAY 16 PORTGUAL: Lydia and Steve Cockram, new candidates On 16 March, we will be holding a Portuguese Evening at our sending church, Belmont Chapel. Pray that those who come will be envisioned and excited about us going to serve God in Portugal. Please pray for: the logistics of the evening; the opportunity for us to share clearly how God has led us to Portugal and ECM; and to grow our support base. SUNDAY 17 REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Colin and Alison Holmes in Waterford St Patrick's Day! The government has tightened up on visas for Ministers of Religion from outside of the EU. Please pray for lobbying of politicians to address this and not discriminate against smaller evangelical churches. In light of this, we are seeking to recruit better closer to home especially from Ireland, Northern Ireland, as well as the UK and Europe. We are also intentionally looking towards younger leaders. Pray for God to build up the team for Ferry bank Church Plant especially. 4
MONDAY 18 SPAIN: B.J. and Rachel Whitaker, Guillermo and Marisa Kampjes in Alcora In January we were invited to organize a joint worship service in the local Catholic church, with evangelical-style worship songs and B.J. preaching the Gospel. The following week B.J. was invited to participate in a multi-confessional service organized by the Catholic Diocese. Then, at the beginning of February the religion teacher in the local public high school invited B.J. to share his testimony and the Gospel in four of his classes. Please pray for that these Gospel seeds would grow into the fruit of repentance, faith and life in Jesus! TUESDAY 19 SPAIN: Peter and Kate Knowlson in Azuaga Pray for Peter and Kate as they run English conversation classes in a bookshop in Azuaga on Tuesday evenings. Pray we will be a light to lead people to the truth about life. Also pray for the Homiletics students in Peter’s class at the Bible seminary in Córdoba, that they will learn good habits for handling the word of God correctly. Pray for a student who is from a gypsy family who would like to be married. She has a gift for teaching, and in the gypsy culture a married woman would have more opportunity to be involved in ministry. The ECM member care facilitators from across Europe will be meeting for training in Madrid from 28-31 March. Pray for the new Facilitators to quickly understand their role and that together we will be able to help our missionaries across Europe stay healthy emotionally and spiritually. WEDNESDAY 20 SERBIA: Branko and Rada Tihojevic in Zajecar Praise the Lord for opening new possibilities with strategic plans for the future. For us living in the Balkans, the powder keg of Europe where three main religions, Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and Islam cut across each other, people are disappointed with political rhetoric, nationalism, ethnic conflicts and religious traditions. Now we regularly hear the question: “Will it ever get any better?” – a great start for evangelism and a door for discussion. People are willing to talk and take literature, but please pray because only the Holy Spirit can inspire human hearts to accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord. THURSDAY 21 ECMI: Chloe Wolfson, Short-Term Team Coordinator Over the last month we have a few requests for placements in May. Short Term is often a much quicker process from initial contact to placement. Pray for us that we’d be able to communicate quickly, that 5
we’d be able to offer opportunities and where that isn’t possible that God would lead people to where he will use them and ignite their passion for His mission in Europe.
FRIDAY 22 SLOVENIA: Sarah Deacon in Ljubljana Praise God that the one-to-ones I’m involved with continue to be an encouragement. One of the teenagers has agreed to be trained in how to prepare and lead a Bible study. Please be praying for her in this and that I would teach her how to handle God’s word faithfully. Please also be praying for my church as we face some major changes over the next few months and that we would continue to trust God and his plan through it all.
SATURDAY 23 SPAIN: Dan and Anna Julian in Valencia Please pray for the Julians as Anna seeks to set up a language exchange with some folks who don't know Jesus. Pray also for Dan's students who have started MOCLAM classes on the Old and New Testaments. And thank God with us for our kids who celebrate their birthdays this month; Calvin turns 4 and Lucy turns 2.
SUNDAY 24 ECM BRITAIN: Annette Bull, Fundraising and Marketing Manager Please can I ask for prayer for ECM Britain as we have to install a new computer database to replace our obsolete old one. There's a lot of work to be done transferring information and testing, staff training and adapting to the new system. This is all additional cost and time on top of the existing workload, and we ask for God's blessing and provision in our efforts! MONDAY 25 PORTUGAL: Peter and Anna Crawford Thank you for praying for the Foundations Course which took place in Sinsheim, Germany in February. There was a sense of God’s presence as he met with people during this formative period of settling in to life in their respective Mission fields. Rui Ribeiro, the young Portuguese leader of our church plant, Alta de Lisboa, will be attending the Biblical Counselling UK Conference along with us, March 25-27. Pray that his pastoral ministry will be enhanced by the teaching at this conference. We continue to be encouraged by the spiritual growth and contagious enthusiasm at our Wednesday meetings. 6
TUESDAY 26 BELGIUM: Johan Lukasse in Hasselt On March 26 we meet with a small but important group of Christian leaders in Ghent In the Flemish part of Belgium. We made a start in the fall of 2018 to pray and consider a nationwide plan for evangelism and church growth as well as church development. This is an all over the board of Bible believing groups and churches. At this meeting we would like to start an Inspiration Group to mobilise as many participants as possible. WEDNESDAY 27 NETHERLANDS: Roland and Carolien Smith in Maastricht On 27 March Carolien is travelling to the ECM member care consultation. Please join with us in praying for a good journey and for God's blessing and grace upon the discussions and decisions. She travels back home on Sunday 31 March. THURSDAY 28 ECM NZ: Féy Cotter, Mobiliser and International Support Please pray for wisdom and creativity as I prepare messages to share in churches and small groups. Pray for a young couple I met with last month interested in mission in Europe, that they would get a clear sense of God’s direction. Give thanks that many of those who supported us in Albania have continued to help me now. Pray that I will reach my support target for the year.
FRIDAY 29 ECMI: Chris Wigram, International Director Today is Brexit Day (maybe!). We have our first European Prayer Focus. Pray for the continent of Europe at this time of economic and political instability and for the forthcoming elections to the European Parliament in May. SATURDAY 30 AUSTRIA: David and Linda James in Villach Ahmad, a Syrian refugee stayed with us for three years and moved out in February. At times it was extremely difficult hosting him. As well as opening our home to him, we invested a huge amount of time and energy to help him rebuild his life. There was very little gratitude shown and it was challenging to show him grace. However, as he was in the process of moving, he came to realise what he had here. We have now put him in touch with a church in Linz. Please pray for him as makes a fresh start in that city and for his salvation – he is still open to the Gospel. 7
PERSONNEL OPPORTUNITIES Taking the Gospel to Austrians— Short Term in Villach & Dornbirn If you come from June to September, you’ll be able to get involved in lots of opportunities, such as: Preaching and teaching, church based children's ministry, youth ministry both within the church and outreach. Over the summer you could be involved in the various children and youth summer camps. You could even participate with a church team in a mision to Croatia. Contact your nearest ECM office for details.
SUNDAY 31 NETHERLANDS: Bert and Jenny de Ruiter, Consultant for ChristianMuslim Relations Jenny and I are beginning to find our way in ECM. Pray that God will enable us to know how to best serve our colleagues across Europe. The coming weeks I will be ‘meeting’ several ECMers via skype and physically when we travel to Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. Pray for safe journeys and enriching conversations. I’m involved in organizing conference in April about the influence of Salafism on Muslims in the Netherlands. Pray for wisdom as I collaborate in this with several Muslim friends. I’m working on an online version of a Sharing Lives course that I developed some years ago to train people who want to teach this course in their church/ministry across Europe. Pray for God’s guidance in putting the materials together and in recording videos for this purpose and pray also for the necessary funds.
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