Nov /Dec news

Hi friends and family

Firstly, apologies for the very overdue update. It’s been a challenging season, but God is good and He is so faithful! I hope you had a great Christmas, and for those in South Africa, I hope you enjoyed your Summer break and that your new year has started well! And for those in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope you’re keeping warm!

Friends who are family - spending Christmas Day with special people

A cold and wet visit with a dear family in the church

A few highlights…

Nations Party

It has become somewhat of a tradition in our church to celebrate the nations with our annual Fête des Nations. It is always astounding to me how many nations are represented in our small church! We give people the opportunity to share some interesting facts about their nation of origin, dress up and make delicious food. It is also an opportunity to pray for the nations and meet new people. This year we had Shiqing joining us. She is a Chinese post-doc student with a heart for France. She is working at the university and found our church online. We have been praying and trusting for open doors on our university campuses, so I’m excited to see what God does here!

Me in my very old Springbok rugby jersey doing my best to pray the “Our Father” in Afrikaans (probably a good thing it is not a video :)

Student outreach

Speaking of students, we have continued in trying to connect with students in various ways. Our team is small, but I am blessed by their faithfulness and perseverance in connecting with young people. We started an outreach using The Chosen series as a tool for connecting with students. It is still early days, but we have another one coming up on Friday, so please pray for Jordan and her team; that students would respond to the invitations and that connections would deepen.

Festin de Noël

This is a Christmas party for people who don’t necessarily have family or friends in town. Christmas carols, great food, people sharing their talents - we had some rap, a theatre sketch, some music and Caleb (aged 2) making his debut on the drums! Haha! We had some visitors as well which was great! Any opportunity for people to connect with the life of the church, and be surrounded by people in what can be a lonely season for some.

Raphael, the stand-up comedian

Raising up the next generation of worshippers! Get it, Caleb!

Freedom ministry

I have shared before about our Freedom ministry which is usually a whole day packed with teaching and personal ministry. One of our students has been wanting to do it, but she has very strict atheist parents who would not let her attend the one at church. I felt like we needed to set some time aside to do one for her personally. This young lady has an amazing testimony of how Jesus rescued her out of a lot of New Age practices, and she really loves Jesus and is a powerful intercessor and has amazing discernment for her young age (she is 21yrs old). I felt like God say I needed to invest one-on-one time teaching and ministering to her because this would be part of her ministry going forward. So I took her through each teaching and had an incredible time on ministry with her. What a privilege!

Preaching development

During the last few months, I have been quite intentional about helping the next generation with their preaching, and giving them a platform to go for it! Refining theology, building confidence, and making sure the younger generation is heard. I’m expecting a lot more of that going forward, as we trust God for new leaders to take their place.

Jordan sharing a message on Reset your Relationships - her first time preaching in French!

Prayer

We are currently in our week of prayer and fasting for the year as we pray and plan for the next season. I will give you a more detailed update in my next letter but please be praying with us as a church as we enter a period of transition.

Thank You

Thank you so much for your faithful partnership. Your support, both financial and in prayer, are making all the difference in my life personally, and also in the lives of everyone who is impacted by the ministry from our church. I appreciate you all so much and look forward to seeing some of you in April (hopefully) for a much overdue trip back to South Africa to see my family and ministry partners.

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jer 17: 7-8

With much love,

Fiona

Every Nation Marseille