Dear friends and partners, -> Interchurch meetings -> Focus

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cru.soularium&hl=en). It allowed us to initiate spiritual conversations with five students. Surprised, happy ...
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La Chapelle des Fougeretz, October 20, 2018

“And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd.…” (Mark 6:34)

Dear friends and partners, Numerous times, we are being told in the Gospels that Jesus was “moved with compassion”: before weary, harassed, scattered, helpless multitudes (Mt 9:36), before disabled or sick people (Mt 14:14), before lame, crippled, fragile or hungry people (Mt 15:28-32), before two blind men asking him to have mercy, He the Lord, Son of David (Mt 20:34), before the town of Jerusalem, despite being the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her (Mt 23:37; Lk 13:34; 19:41-42), before a leper imploring Him and that Jesus touches (Mk 1:41), before distraught people without a shepherd (Mk 6,34), before people far from home and hungry (Mk 8:1-3), before a widow who lost her only son (Lk 7:11-15), before the death of Lazarus (Jn 11:35 – “Jesus wept,” the Bible's shortest verse). Let's ask the Lord the grace to make us more into his image, moved with compassion and with a hand reaching out to people in physical, moral or spiritual distress.

-> Interchurch meetings 1) Commission on the Federative link of the French Protestant Federation (FPF) : November 7, I will travel to Paris to work on a commission to nominate a person in charge of a mission to evaluate and reinforce the federative ties between all the Churches and Missions member of the FPF. 2) Next regional meeting of the French Protestant Federation in Brittany : November 9 in Morlaix, a time to share about diverse topics, get to know one another better, enrich one another from our experiences, and facilitate joint outreaches when possible. After our last meeting that I organized on September 27, where we shared on the topic of communication with society and public figures, we will this time have the visit of the President and General Secretary of the FPF followed by a conference “What laïcité [French version of separation of church and state] for today? The evolution of the place of religions in the public space.” Let's pray that these two meetings bless and encourage the pastors and missionaries, and contribute to the edification and the communion of the Church.

-> Focus on evangelism Thank you for your prayers regarding our evangelism actions. Last Friday, with our colleagues, we went to the Villejean campus neighborhood. With David, we used a tool called Soularium (fifty 4x6 original photographs and a few simple exploring questions that allow you to engage in meaningful spiritual conversations with others, $11.89 at https://crustore.org/soularium-new.html, available as a free download at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/soularium/id1095190308 and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cru.soularium&hl=en ). It allowed us to initiate spiritual conversations with five students. Surprised, happy, saddened, full of compassion, more desire to pray…, these are a

few emotions or reflexions that I experienced. Surprised, because I expected more rejection from the people we approached, whereas if the people have some time and don't feel on our part that we are trying to “sell them something,” they are often inclined to communicate with us in respectful and attentive exchanges. Happy, because we have the freedom to meet these people, to listen to their point of view and to throw light on the Good News of Jesus-Christ. Saddened, because the society in which we live is really post-Christian, and the majority of the youth is now far from the idea of God and Gospel values. Full of compassion, because it is not first a question of arguing but rather letting God's love flow through us, this love who is moved by our human wandering and who makes the first step even though we didn't deserve it. More desire to pray, because such sharing of our faith draws us closer to God, and invites us to reconsider the measurement of our values and our troubles in life. In these discussions, we noticed an astounding relativism (“what some call Good is Evil for others”), a lack of conscience of a personal God (the divine may be seen as a thread connecting beings), a tendency to forge one's own personal spirituality (drawing here and there, in one religion, philosophy and even TV series), but also a real listening as long as we don't try to impose our point of view. Let's all take a few minutes to reflect on this, and consider how to get more involved in the outreaches of our churches.

-> Family –





Zacharie started his studies in Philosophy, Politics and Economy at Lancaster University. He is thrilled and we are happy about it. We are also glad to see him getting involved in a group of Christian students and church activities. Gabrielle blossoms in high school, and we praise God witnessing her desire to share her faith, and her investment in the Church (piano, youth groups, week-end retreats…) Nathanaël is a subject of praise in himself and his beautiful smile is a proof of God's existence (ok, I admit I'm a little biased)

-> Support update We commend to your prayers the situation of our support which has been in deficit for several months. We are thankful for each one of you, who prays or financially supports our ministry. As the end of year approaches, could you please think about the possibility of a special gift for our ministry and pray that we would find new donors to reinforce our team of partners?

With you to make Jesus-Christ known,

Yannick

Yannick et Laurie CHIRON * 11 rue du Clos Robert * 35520 La Chapelle des Fougeretz * FRANCE * [email protected] Gifts can be sent to: Cru * P.O. Box 628222 * Orlando FL 32862-8222 (specify acct # 2728140) Questions about donations? 1-888-278-7233, [email protected] or visit http://ylchiron.free.fr/newsletters-for-partners.html.