January 30, 2010

Dear Friends,                                                                                              

In a recent Bible Study series on “The Riches of God’s Grace”, we were discussing the beauty, enormity and surety that the work of His grace in the believers of each generation gives us. We spoke together of the biblical multiple aspects of His work of salvation in each believer from the beginning of the church through the present. I read a quote from W. J. Pethybridge (A Lost Secret of the Early Church) “We are given to understand that within a few decades of the Crucifixion of Christ, the first Christians had spread the Gospel over the then-known world, and after two hundred years of the bitterest persecution in which emperor after emperor had attempted to blot out the name of Christ by destroying every believer, half the members of the Roman Empire had become secret Christians. All of this was accomplished without the aid of any of the means we have today, even without printed Bibles. Yet today, in spite of the assistance of radio, television, recordings, printing, convenient travel, modern education, etc., we are failing even to keep pace with the growth of heathenism. . . . Believers were taught to regard themselves as members of the Body of Christ, rather than as mere individual believers. Let us examine these points in a little more detail”. These words echo down through the years we have served with you here in Germany. The certainty of others thinking about and praying for the Lord’s ministry here has encouraged us and we continue to see His hand moving in Augsburg as we partner together with you though physically separated.

Here are some current praise and prayer items for your consideration:

1.       Praise for a season of thankful consideration about the coming of our Lord and a good beginning to the new year. We are thankful for good health for all the believers. We did have some sore throats and sniffles but the excessive cold wave and snow did not hinder the services or ministry.  As the cold winter weather continues, pray for health and safety in order that we may continue to minister to His glory.

2.       Praise for a successful carpal tunnel surgery on Terry’s left hand two weeks ago.  It is healing well and we expect him to have full use and feeling when everything heals.

3.       Please continue to pray for Florian. This young man was taking a strong medication for a type of depression. The medication kept him physically tired and mentally lethargic. He has stopped taking the medicine and remains under a doctor’s supervision. He continues to attend the services and is much more alert and is asking more questions.

4.       Pray for continued contact with the ladies who were attending the Ladies Bible Study last fall. Two ladies found employment which prevents their coming to the study and one has additional family responsibilities that hinder her attending so we are praying for new contacts and continued contact through other means to those who had been attending.

5.       Pray for the opportunity to start a new home Bible Study as an outreach to unbelievers. Herbert has agreed to the idea but there are still some areas that need to be worked out so that we can begin a study in his apartment.

6.       Pray for proper planning in looking to the springtime ministry. When the weather permits we want to use our location to reach out to the downtown area around our church facilities.   Pray for the choice of literature (tracts, pamphlets and booklets) that we want to distribute.

7.       Pray for Mustafa and Muriel. They are a couple we met recently. He is from Bosnia and she is from Croatia, both countries were formerly a part of Yugoslavia.  We invited them for an evening meal.  As they were leaving, they mentioned the possibility of getting together again. Pray for wisdom in continuing the contact.

May you see and seize the opportunities to share your Saviour through your lives. Our prayers are with you in your area of service during the coming months.

Thank you again for keeping the Lord’s ministry here before the Throne of Grace.

Because of Calvary,

Terry and Ellen Miller