First Ever Regional Conference in Northwestern Europe!

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:00:23 +0100

From October 30th to November 1st, the Northwestern Region of Foursquare Europe met in Pilgrim Hall and hour outside of London where we had our first ever pastoral gathering for our region. We had a great time where new relationships were made which in turn united us more as a region. We invited Dr. Paul and Marilee Risser and Pastor Terry Risser from the Florence Avenue Foursquare Church in California, USA to be our guest speakers. All in all, we had a profound time of relationship building, sharing of perspective and mission, worship, as well as receiving very practical and insightful instruction from our guest speakers. This was an encouraging time together for us as a region, and was an instrumental time for us to unite together in our shared mission for Christ in this region.

A special thank you to Paul, Marilee, and Terry Risser for their input into our lives and ministries!

Foursquare Switzerland: National convention October 2008

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:50:45 +0100

On 25 October Foursquare Switzerland held their annual convention in Erlinsbach. Many people came together, not only from Switzerland but from the Foursquare Central region, i. e. Italy, Germany and Poland.

The theme for the conference was “Sowing and growing” and we were happy to have Todd Millikan – new senior pastor of “Coastlands”, California – as guest speaker. With his inspiring messages he encouraged people immensely.

This convention day was a time relationship – beyond church or national borders. People experienced fellowship and mutual encouragement.

It was the intentional goal to present to the conference body the wider picture of Foursquare Switzerland, Europe and of the world. Both through meeting each other on a personal level as well as through individual prayer times it was possible for everyone attending to experience first-hand that we belong to a larger Foursquare family.

Feedback from people at the 2008 Swiss conference:

Hosting the conference was an enriching experience for us. For months we had now been preparing and when on Friday afternoon various volunteers from other churches started to arrive we understood “for real” that indeed we are part of something greater than ourselves. Other Swiss churches contributed and supported us in such a warm and friendly way that we were able to set an atmosphere for the delegates to experience God’s love through a large family. I want to use this opportunity to say a big thank you to all volunteers and helpers- You were a gift to us and blessed us immensely – and we are excited to see how this “seed” of love and kindness will grow in our valley.
- Kurt and Mirjam Eggler, Pastors at Atlas Erzbachtal

We (Uwe und Silke und Marc ) have now attended your annual convention for the 5th time – and we love it! By now we know so many friends we don’t have enough time to visit with them all … we so appreciate of being able to chat and share on a deeper level and not being stuck in superficialities. And we love the Coastlands and their “sunny” ways … - all in all an annual highlight which we would not want to miss!
- Silke and Uwe and Marc from Engstingen

Being with the babies, kids and their parents was an enriching, inspirational and peaceful experience. Thomas met mainly with the dads and their kids in the mornings, whereas the mums got together with me in the afternoons. Generally the atmosphere was happy and pleasant. Both teaching as well as playful elements and games gave opportunity both to kids and adults to relate and interact; to encourage and to comfort in view of the challenges which everyday moms or dads face. That’s something very important to us! One mother told me she hardly joins in kids programs with enthusiasm but she experienced our times together in such a positive way and was happy she came. This touched us deeply! In the afternoon a group of smaller kids together with 2 teenage helpers from the “Quelle” church had the chance to pray for a little boy suffering with indigestion. God is great, responded to the need and gave relief – we are so grateful that he reveals his love and power to big and small!
- Thomas und Aline W

Every conference is like a family reunion for me – not one of those boring ones either ; on the contrary! I met up with friends whom I hadn’t seen for a while and time just flew by. Todd’s words challenged me to continue walking while holding on to his hand and trusting that he would protect me. And also Kurt’s words about growth which God gives and allowing me to peacefully sleep, took a huge burden from me.
- Mary R

For me this was the first Foursquare Suisse conference and it felt a little like a pretaste of heaven: Christians from different churches praise the Lord together. That touched my heart deeply. There was a sense of warm and close unity. The teaching input was touching. And it was wonderful to reconnect with people whom I had first met at a ladies retreat.
- Renate E., Shelter Alb

Foursquare Kosovo

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:42:40 +0200

In comparison to previous years more and more people are attending our church. Some come and visit from further away to worship with us, be refreshed, strengthened or prayed for; others begin their relationship with Jesus and start on their journey with him. Some experience healing, as the following testimony will show.

One Sunday a pastor friend came to join us on Sunday, bringing his mother along with him. This lady’s knee had been broken apart and an operation had been scheduled within four days. The pain, though, was so immense that the family decided to ask for prayer – hoping for healing to take place. Amazingly enough that is exactly what happened! For confirmation, though, the lady’s son requested the doctors to check and confirm. Medical checks went on not for a day but for a week – and the doctor’s were astounded where this newly created bone could have come from! But because the surgery had been scheduled the doctors decided to nevertheless operate – simply cut the knee and close the wound (supposedly for financial reasons). It reminded me of the story in Acts 14 where people saw a miracle but did not want to pay attention at all and Paul was almost killed. In our case, though, many were still encouraged and praised God for this miracle.

Various ministries in serving our community continue to thrive.
Feeding children: we are able to feed many children – and introduce them to the love and mercy of Jesus.
Reaching Youth and Children: 60 – 80 young people are regularly attending weekly meetings where we have worship and teaching; but it seems especially attractive to the youth to decide themselves which topic of the bible they wish to discuss – and we leave much room for questions and answers and for really working through issues. As a consequence (result) many accept Christ as their Saviour and decide to follow him. Children or the neighbourhood come almost every Saturday to listen to bible stories, sing songs, have fun and games, watch Christian movies.
Computer and English School: In the last course we were able to have 80 – 100 students attend classes. Naturally we do not only teach the actual subjects but at the same time want to be examples of Jesus’ love to them.
Many other activities are going on – please continue to pray that God would guide us, give us strength and resources to do what he called us to do – reaching people in Kosovo.

-Pastor Skender Hoti, Gjokova