From: "Jonathan Naumann (by way of Rev. Eric J. Stefanski, )" To: Subject: CLIMB: The Mission of St. Andrew's in Ruislip Date: Friday, November 02, 2001 12:28 PM I have two purposes for writing to you today: First, to give you some news about our congregation here (St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Ruislip, England), and second, to ask you to support us in a specific way. First the current news... I am happy to report that we will celebrate the confirmation of two young people on Pentecost Sunday (3 June). One of the youth is originally from Nigeria and the other is from the United States. This brings home the fact that along with our base of British members at St. Andrew's, there are also several families who originate from other countries. Yet we are all members of the one body of Christ and share the same faith in Jesus Christ as our Saviour. While one confirmation class is finishing, another one has started with three young people. I am particularly pleased to report that we are using Pastor Peter Bender's confirmation instruction material. The ability to do this was made a reality because of the gift of materials that Pastor Wurst brought to our congregation on behalf of the Britain Mission Society last autumn. It may interest you to know that the new confirmation class is held after church on Sundays because one of the students has to travel for a whole hour by car to get to Ruislip. The three confirmation class families have a "pot luck" lunch together at the parsonage, and then I teach the class from 2:00-3.30 p.m. around the kitchen table! Yesterday I spent several hours photocopying teaching and lesson materials from "Follow the Lamb" in preparation for this years Holiday Bible Club (that's British for Vacation Bible School). Deaconess Pam Nielsen very generously donated these materials which she wrote, and we are indebted to the Britain Mission Society for paying the postage for this excellent material to be provided to all ELCE congregations. There are various other aspects of ministry going on at St. Andrew's just as there are in your own congregations. And not everything is rosy. This past week God's house suffered vandalism in the form of cracked and broken windows, one of which was in the chancel. But we remain grateful to God for His ministry of Word and Sacraments, and we are grateful for those fellow Christians who remember our work in their prayers. Possible support for Bibles... It is our custom at St. Andrew's to make use of pew Bibles during the Divine Service. This could be for the responsive reading of a Psalm, when people "follow along" as the lessons are read, during the sermon, before or after partaking of Holy Communion, or when meditating before the service begins. Some of our pew Bibles have gone missing over the years, and many of them are now old and in disrepair and need to be replaced. We would like to ask the Britain Mission Society to consider the possibility of providing 30 new Bibles for the congregation for this use. We would also like to be so bold as to ask for an additional 10 Bibles for use in our Evangelism calling, to be given as gifts to those people who show a genuine interest in knowing more about the Christian faith. It may seem strange to you that there are people in England who do not own Bibles, but this is the case. Only this morning I had the joy of giving a Bible to a 16 year old boy whose name was forwarded to me by a member of our Evangelism Committee. Ryan is eager to hear about what God has done for him, and I look forward to preparing him for Baptism in the Christian Church. The Bible I gave to him this morning was the first one he has ever had. I have spent a considerable amount of time searching for the most economical way to purchase Bibles and have found that the best bargain is to get them in packs of 10 or 20. A pack of 10 Bibles costs £99.90 minus a 10 percent discount for the church. A pack of 20 Bibles costs £179.80 minus a 10 percent discount for the church. There is no tax and there is no delivery charge. Doing the mathematics, 30 Bibles would cost £251.73. 40 Bibles would cost £323.64. We leave it to the discretion of the Britain Mission Society as to how many Bibles you may or may not be able to provide for our work here. Anything you can do would be appreciated. 'Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things...' (Philippians 4.8). Yours in Christ, Pastor Jonathan Naumann + + + Confessional Lutherans in Missionary Boldness + + + The CLIMB e-letter brings you unedited, uncut reports directly from the mission field, whether in South America, Africa, Europe, inner-city, rural, or collegiate America, or military installations and battle sites around the world. It is our contention that those who truly hold to the ~Book of Concord~ as the pure exposition of Holy Scripture and the true confession of the Christian faith are also the most zealous supporters of the preaching of the Gospel in every corner of the world and, as such, ought to be kept thoroughly informed of how those endeavors are faring and shown how they may be rightly carried out without the destruction of orthodox doctrine and practice that some within the pale of Lutheranism now advocate. 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