Missions Textbook 9
Turn the Church Over

We Never Saw It Coming: An Introduction to Christian Missions (textbook)

The End is in Sight

I wrote to Sue in January of 1987:

Floyd has been having Bible studies six evenings a week, plus some during the day. The situation is only temporary, but all of us are not happy with it. The Lord seems to know, though, because Floyd has met several new people to start new studies, and after one meeting they have been totally against meeting again. I’m really glad that God uses Floyd’s gifts to draw those who will get saved and to chase away, almost at once, those who will only waste his time.

I’m not leading the ladies’ Bible study anymore – Cecilia is, and she’s doing a good job. My discipleship with Lisi has ended, because we finished First Timothy (which was my goal) and because she is in her last semester of study and has tests practically every week. I am not teaching Sunday School in the church anymore but am only a substitute. Karin and I share the teaching of Sunday school in Mureck.

Floyd and I are feeling very much that our work here in Graz is almost over. The church is growing, they are feeding themselves spiritually, and they are counseling one another. They have had a wedding, and two more are coming up. We attend the meetings in Graz only when we don’t go to Mureck (every other week), so that we are not pressured by two complete services . . . on one day. Far from being discouraged, we are glad to see our goals reached, and we are impatient to go on to whatever the Lord has next. The discouragement is in the waiting . . .. You can pray for us. Everything seems up-in-the-air at the moment.

In March, Floyd sent a letter to the elders in our church in Portland, outlining our ideas for the next couple years. Although happy in our work, there was a restlessness that we didn’t understand until much later. How do you know when your work is finished? There were no books to tell us, and most missionaries stayed long past their usefulness. We didn’t want to do that.

And another thing: One day, one of Floyd’s Herr Doktor Professors from the Translator’s Institute had coffee with Floyd.

Floyd mentioned that Erich and Michael were doing average in the Austrian school, but that their English ability was falling further and further behind.

“You would be crazy to allow your children to lose their mother tongue! You need to take a trip back to the States and establish their English. It’s a universal language; German isn’t. There are good English high schools in Vienna. Move there.”

Vienna? How about Portland? Except for the one summer in Portland in ’86, we had been in Europe for over 8 years. Perhaps it was time for a yearlong “sabbatical.”

Some of our next letters to Portland sounded a bit schizophrenic. Sometimes we wanted to come right away, and sometimes we wanted to wait one more year. The church did not yet have official leaders, and Michael probably needed a year of Middle School. Finally, Floyd decided to go back to Portland in the summer of ’87 for a few weeks. He could set things up and have meetings in the many churches that wanted him to speak. Then we would all return for the ’88-’89 school year and would be able to create a relatively stable home life in Portland. For school, the original plan was for the boys to attend Portland Christian School, but as the time drew nearer, we finally decided to home school, so that we could focus on English and American History and Literature and other things they had missed in Austria.

All of this to say: these decisions are not science. There is no right or wrong. You pray and seek counsel and read books, but in the end, you do what seems right for you and those you love. A different decision would have different consequences – many of those unanticipated. God was going to sanctify us one way or the other. How can one really know the will of God in these tiny details? We can’t. We just move forward, obeying the revealed will of God as given in Scripture, trusting that He will slam a door in our face if we are too far off the path.

Expanding the Ministry

Dear Sue,

John Lennox was in town this past weekend. We asked him to take the weekend and teach those in the church a bit in First Corinthians. On Saturday, he gave us an overview, and on Sunday, he went into detail on the first section, chapters 1-4. He was so good, and although he had to keep it simple for the newer believers, there was something for everyone. Several from Mureck drove up, and also a couple from the next village. Unsaved relatives of Gerhard and Hendrike came for all of Sunday. [Note: I think there was a potluck lunch and meetings afterwards. There was always plenty of good food at any gathering of the believers.] A handful of people came from the German missionary’s church, and seven people even came from Salzburg. At each meeting we had between 40 and 60 people, not counting Bernd and Karin’s family and ours’.

It’s very humbling to sit in the back and see all of these people and to realize that God had such great plans for Graz, and He led us to be part of getting it moving. And I can’t stress enough how important your prayers are. I’m such an erratic pray-er. I’m not consistent or faithful, and many of my prayers are simply apologies to God for not praying more. But the fantastic things that are happening here are happening because the Holy Spirit is responding to prayers of faithful saints in the States and Canada.

I got off the subject. When we told John L. of our plans to return to the States for a year, he said that he thought it was not only a good idea, but was probably a wise and necessary move. He thinks that Floyd needs a break – needs his “batteries recharged.” I feel like I need a break, too, but usually when we feel that way, we can go further than we think. Floyd, however, just keeps going. Even his relaxing times are spent frantically chasing ghosts around a computer screen with his little PacMan®!

. . . The Flocks and we took a whirlwind trip – without children – to a town near Avignon in southern France to plan the Missionary Worker’s Conference for this coming summer. Bernd and Floyd took turns sleeping and driving the whole way – 20 hours. We had a lot of fun, although it was tiring. Our Nissan Prairie is a pretty comfortable car with enough legroom, and front and back seats that recline.

. . . We stayed with missionaries who work with Arabs in southern France. Ken Fleming from Emmaus Bible College is going to be the speaker and bring his wife as well! After the planning, we got to spend the afternoon in Avignon, and the following day – Sunday – we had to drive the 20 hours back. We did take two hours and had a chilly picnic on a pebbly beach of Monaco. The water was freezing, and the sky cloudy, but we enjoyed strolling around the quaint little streets (with their expensive lodgings!) and collecting a few pretty pebbles for our kids.

Floyd has several new Bible studies, which I’m sure he will write about. Today he packed and flew to West Berlin for the weekend. He will be speaking in a couple of churches and probably to a youth group. He has been to Berlin a few times and usually speaks on evangelism, encouraging people to simply ask friends to read the Bible with them. People are trying it and it seems to be working.

As we were packing, it came to our attention that although Floyd seldom needs a suit, if he did need one, he doesn’t have one that fits and that is appropriate for Europe. Since Floyd’s going to be in the States next month, it seems a wiser use of money (with the dollar worth so little right now) for him to buy a suit there. Do you think that you or one of the other couples (or ladies) could help him pick something suitable? And it needs to fit him. Usually he buys things, saying, “I’ll lose weight,” but he will never be a size 32 again. I hope. His most recent complaint has been that the dry cleaners we use had caused his one suit that did fit to shrink! Really?

Weddings!

March 25 – Karl and Lisi are getting married April 11. Please pray that their wedding will be a good testimony. Lisi’s father is probably a real Nazi, (He asked her if the Schneiders would be such good Christians if he cut off our boys’ fingers!), and her mother may very well have become a believer within the last year. Her father, though, won’t let it be said that he didn’t do well by his daughter, so he’s paying for the whole wedding, including the fancy dinner for 60 guests afterwards. We are invited!

Karl’s family refuses to set foot inside the door of a cult, so they have refused to attend the wedding. They are one of those old-fashioned farming families who truly believe that God will reject them if they do anything that even looks disloyal to the Catholic Church.

March 27 – I heard today that Karl’s grandmother just died, so the wedding is postponed. Naturally it would be unfeeling to marry soon after the funeral, but the Catholic traditions, especially in tiny, farming communities, make the mourning period anywhere from six weeks to six months. Do pray for them.

April 30 – Well, Karl and Lisi were finally able to get married. As I wrote before, they waited a long time, thinking that perhaps Karl’s mother would finally accept it. They gave that idea up, but they had to wait until they had a break in their study schedule. They gave that up too. Then Karl’s Grandmother died, but his parents suggested a two-month postponement until May 2.

They have known each other for nine years, and lived together for about three years before they met us. Then when Lisi became a believer, she moved into the living room and said that it was clear that she and Karl couldn’t sleep together anymore until they were married. She stopped taking her birth control pills. She told everyone what she was doing, and they all thought she had gone crazy. Karl, even before he became a Christian, was very understanding and supportive, and he didn’t pressure her at all. Because of finances, they couldn’t afford to rent two apartments, so for two years they lived as only friends in one apartment. There were times when Floyd and I thought that the arrangement would destroy the relationship. We all think very highly of them for their self-control and their commitment.

Their parents remain very antagonistic toward the new “religion” Karl and Lisi are now following, but Lisi’s father expressed his happiness at how the wedding was handled. He said that they were surprised that “such a group” could put on a wedding that was so joyful, personal, and festive.

The wedding was lovely. Lisi wore a pink formal, and she looked like a little flower. She’s about my height, but willowy with a pixy face and a smile that lights the room. Karl was about to burst for happiness.

After the ceremony, about 60 of the guests were invited to a sit-down dinner. It was very nice. The believers made a point to sit with people they didn’t know, and there were many good conversations about our church and the Bible and Jesus Christ. The believers are very good about using and making every opportunity to talk about the faith that means so much to them.

Weddings: There were so many of them. One couple, who already had a three-year-old boy, called Floyd and told him to bring me to the courthouse one Saturday morning. “We’re getting married, and you’d better be there because it’s your fault!” They both wore tuxedoes, and then had an appetizer reception at their apartment, with only their closest friends.

At many of the weddings, the bride and groom and all the guests wore the traditional Austrian costumes. I was so glad I had made mine to wear, although mine was an everyday one made of cotton fabric. The fancy dress ones were of silk or wool brocade.

Austrian weddings – especially among the evangelicals – are longer than North American weddings. The bride comes in on her father’s arm, and then the bride and groom sit on decorated chairs, facing the preacher, who is also the Master of Ceremonies for the whole wedding. There is a sermon, usually special music performed by friends or the Sunday School children, the saying of the vows, and congregational singing as well.

At one of the weddings, Floyd was the preacher and he got so nervous that he forgot the entire program. He realized it when after only a few minutes he was ready to say, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.” Instead he caught himself and said, “I now . . . want to introduce the music.” I had been in the back of the church, trying to get his attention, because I knew what he had left out. It made for a good story. I always tell brides not to worry about glitches; they make good stories.

Generally, all the wedding guests are invited to a dinner, and there is often dancing – either ballroom or folk dancing afterwards. At one wedding, an ancient tradition reared its ugly head, and some of the groomsmen (including the bride’s brother) kidnapped the bride. The poor groom had to stay at the wedding while his best man went to hunt for the bride. Neither the bride nor the groom was very happy about that, and it also made it difficult for the guests to wish them well.

Floyd: Angry!

I have no notes from any letters to Sue about this story, but it is very vivid in Floyd’s memory, and I remember his account after it happened, so I will put it here. After the Bible study in Mureck was running well, and some of the people were obviously following the Lord, one of them asked his brother and sister-in-law if they would like to read the Bible. They lived in the western part of Graz, so Floyd had another Bible study!

It became quickly obvious that the sister-in-law, Rosi, was the one who was really open to the Gospel, although the two men seemed to be for a while. Once or twice, her mother came to the Bible study as well, and although the mother was surprised to discover how easy the Bible was to understand, she told Floyd she would still have to check with the local priest to see if Floyd was right or not.

Rosi’s father died suddenly, and she asked Floyd to come to the funeral and the wake and the burial. It was the first time for Floyd, and he really didn’t know what to expect. What he remembers the most was that Rosi had to host the wake, no one helped her, and all the guests – relatives and “friends” and the priest – were very demanding. They wanted more food and more alcoholic drinks, and Rosi was sad and tired and beaten down by all that was expected of her. At the graveside, she was crying, and Floyd did the most unprecedented thing. He was on the opposite side of the hole in the ground, into which they had lowered her father’s casket. Filled with pity for her and anger at all the relatives and friends who were using her instead of comforting her, he jumped over the grave and wrapped her in his arms and let her cry.

“You must stop this,” Floyd told her. “Let yourself mourn. Stop waiting on all these people. You are the one who needs comforted.”

“I can’t stop,” she said. “If I don’t serve them and give them all that they want, I will be an outcast from this village for the rest of my life. If I don’t do this, they will say I didn’t love my father.”

It made Floyd understand why Jesus overturned tables and cleared Jerusalem’s Temple marketplace with a whip. Floyd wanted a whip very badly. There was nothing he could do, but he could leave. He would not be one more guest with gluttonous hunger and insatiable thirst. He hugged her again and left.

Another Six Weeks Without Floyd

Because we had been unsure about when we would take our long break, Floyd had received several invitations a year too early. He decided to honor them anyway and also visit Portland to make preparations for our trip home the following year, so he left for about six weeks in April.

It was spring, and the first sunny weather drew everyone outdoors. Austrians love to go on hikes, but because I had no driver’s license, we had to stick pretty close to home. When we had lived in the house on the side of the hill, Mormon missionaries had given the boys a softball and bat – baseball being the sport of America, and therefore the sport of Mormons. Now that it was spring, they brought out the bat and decided to teach the kids in the housing complex how to play softball. I sometimes went down to umpire, and to teach everyone how to swing the bat – not like a cricket bat.

One day when they were playing, someone hit a beautiful grounder between first and second base that rolled right into an open pipe at the side of the field. The ball was gone for good, and we only had one ball!

After school the next day, I took the boys on the bus to scour the city for another softball or baseball. There were, of course, none to be found, but I was determined, and before the afternoon was up, I was furious at a country that wouldn’t have a baseball in it. Floyd was not there to calm me down, and the boys were probably embarrassed at my behavior or perhaps just wanting to stay out of my way. I realize now that people can live happily overseas for years and all of a sudden, something sets them off – triggered by the cultural rifts that exist, no matter how long you live there. In my wild search, I forgot that it wasn’t stupid; it was just different. No, this was the stupidest thing: that Austrian toy stores or sports stores didn’t have softballs. Of course, finally we had to go home and have supper – or maybe I was smart enough at that point to take us to MacDonald’s. I hope so. It was not one of my finer hours.

Another day was much better. We had been invited to go to an animal park with friends, but it had rained all day the day before. Because rain was predicted again, we decided to stay home. The boys spent the whole day building spaceships out of cardboard, using Star Wars pictures as models.

Meanwhile, Floyd was giving seminars on evangelism in churches in the States. His main premise was that if you could talk a friend into reading the Bible with you, the Bible would lead them to belief. When he set up the meeting with the churches, he would suggest that everyone who was interested in witnessing to a friend do one thing in preparation: Ask that friend to read the Bible with you one time. Then when Floyd came, he would let people tell him how it had gone, and he would help them come up with more persuasive ideas to convince their friend to read with them.

At one church, Floyd asked, “How many of you asked someone to read the Bible with you one time?” Almost everyone raised his or her hand.

Before he could say anything more, one of the men said, “So what do I do now? My friend said ‘yes.’”

Floyd looked around and saw that many were nodding. “How many of you got a ‘yes’ from your friend?”

Probably two dozen hands shot up.

“Well,” said Floyd, “In that case, we will talk about how to lead your first Bible study.”

One man raised his hand, “But I don’t know how to lead a Bible study.”

“Can you read?”

He chuckled. “Yes.”

“Can you ask questions?”

“What do you mean?”

Floyd laughed. “That’s good. You asked one. Let me tell you a story: One week, I was unable to go to the Bible study. There were several students who had only come once or twice, invited by a young man who himself was not saved yet. I hated to lose the momentum of the Bible study, so I called the young man and said, ‘I can’t come this week, but I would like you to go ahead and meet with everyone. Just read the next couple paragraphs together, and ask questions about all the words and thoughts you come to.’ And do you know what? He did it, not even questioning his own ability to do it. The following week, I did a review, and they didn’t miss much.

Floyd asked the man at the church, “How long have you known the Lord?”

“Twenty years.”

“Asking questions is not a gift; if an unsaved Austrian can lead a Bible study, I know you can learn to do it. Maybe explanations are not necessary; just ask questions to force them to wrestle with the verses.

Floyd then asked him to pretend to be that friend. Then he – Floyd – would demonstrate that no matter what questions or objections the friend had, the most important thing was that the friend comes to an understanding of what was in the first section of the Gospel of John.

Some of the people went home and tried it, and they wrote us letters to tell us of their results. Floyd was in the process of writing his book, Evangelism for the Fainthearted (which has now been edited and updated several times) to better explain this method of evangelism.

The Ladies’ Retreat

If it weren’t for the letter I wrote to Sue, I wouldn’t remember this retreat at all. I am an introvert, and I have learned in recent years that when introverts are put in situations of noise and hubbub, they eventually run out of energy and switch off.[1]

Last weekend, our church sponsored a ladies’ weekend. Eleven married women and students from Graz and five ladies and students from Mureck met at Gerhard and Hendrike’s vacation house for Friday night and all day Saturday. The theme of the weekend was “Why Did God Create Women?”

Cecilia spoke on the importance of a quiet time and then offered several simple methods. Actually, most of the ladies – especially the younger ones – spend hours reading the Bible. But for some, like the farmer’s wife, I’m sure that it was a help. With one of the methods, then, the ladies prepared one of the Scriptures for Saturday.

I spoke in the morning on Genesis chapters 1-2 about God’s purpose in creating woman. I really emphasized the fact that the man was incomplete without the woman, and that he needed her before God could pronounce His creation of mankind as “very good.” She was a vital complement to man, and we can complete our men – fathers, husband, brothers, elders, sons, and even work colleagues (in application) – by understanding their goals and functions and then supporting them. All of this based of course, on God’s ideal before the Fall.

Ingeborg taught on the Fall, how it attempted to confuse God’s ideal, and how the woman not supporting the man in his task – in Adam’s case, keeping the Garden – forced God to put tighter controls on the woman.

Then Connie finished the series with First Timothy 2:9-15. She showed that Christ’s provision for us has made it possible for us to be saved from the curse uttered in the Garden.

The whole weekend was a great time of fellowship, and we had many spontaneous conversations on loving our husband, marrying unbelievers, and lots of other things.

Ingeborg had been saved about three years at this point. I remember the German missionary saying that Austrians were weak and couldn’t ever do anything to teach or lead. Well, not only were the ladies leading their own retreat, but the other leaders were running the church in Floyd’s absence, and many of his evangelistic Bible studies had been taken over by Austrians.

The Second Baptism

Floyd returned from the States and a week later, sent the following report to our supporting churches on June 22, 1987:

June 18th, a Thursday, was a national holiday . . . and the Brandhof Street church and the Mureck church took the opportunity to spend the whole day in fellowship. In the morning, around 11am, we held our first baptism of the year . . .. Reinhard, one of our leading brothers in Graz, stood knee-deep in water and delivered a challenging message from Luke 17. He baptized two of the wives from Mureck, and one of their daughters. He then baptized his own daughter.

After Reinhard climbed out of the lake, one of the younger brothers found a different place to step into the water where he baptized Harry and Camilla and Werner. Harry and Camilla have since moved to Judenburg, an hour’s drive north of Graz, and I have been leading an evangelistic Bible study in their home since February.

Werner gave a moving testimony (He preached, actually!). The thing that had finally moved Werner to give his life to the Lord was seeing the Son of God hanging on a cross for Werner. No one had ever given him anything for free. He couldn’t turn down this kind of love.

After a huge potluck, picnic lunch and hours of talking and laughing, we dragged home at 8pm, dead tired but greatly encouraged in seeing the Lord grow His churches here. What part did we play in the day’s activities? None. Gladly, we were just part of the crowd. The Austrians planned and carried out everything, preaching, baptizing, singing – everything. In all there were 45 Austrians plus 13 children, not counting Bernd and Karin’s family and ours.

Yes, we are greatly encouraged. This week I am picking up four evangelistic Bible studies and maybe starting another one in Mureck, which the believers there will take over once I have it off the ground. We still have new people, one here and one there, straggling in to our present studies. The Lord is not finished yet. Thank you for your prayers. Please keep praying.

Snippets

The Continental Singers were a Christian singing group and orchestra that made vinyl record albums and toured the world, singing praises to God. They came to Graz, sponsored by a few churches and the Austria Student Mission. They performed their musical “Elijah” on a city stage. Practically every believer in the entire city came, and the place was packed with around 400 believers. After the wonderful, inspiring performance, one of the young women we had led to Christ came up to us in tears and said, “I could never have imagined so many true believers getting together and singing such glorious songs to the Lord. And I also never knew there were this many true believers in Graz. It’s like heaven!” Their coming also inspired our Erich to work harder on learning the guitar.

It was summer and we needed a break and sunshine. Floyd found us a little apartment on the coast of Yugoslavia in Becici. The waters were not as warm (nor quite as clean) as in Greece, but the price was right and the boys didn’t care. We were able to do our own cooking, spend hours in the water, read on the pebbly beach, and catch up on our sleep. The days were hot and sunny, and I made the mistake of not wearing a sweater after the sun went down. Before the vacation was over, I had a serious laryngitis that lasted for weeks after we returned to northern Europe.

And then we were off to help lead the Christian Worker’s Conference again. This year I was not able to sing all the favorite English hymns and choruses because I had doctor’s orders not to even whisper. The emphasis was very different from years with David Gooding. Ken Fleming spoke on relationships, and then he and his wife offered personal and private counseling to those who had need. A chiropractor came from the States and offered his expertise to those whose physical bodies needed a tune-up.

     A couple from Victoria, BC, Canada led the children’s group. They had been leading kid’s clubs all over the west coast, and they used very old-fashioned methods. He taught principles and tried to keep the children curious with puzzles, drawings and all sorts of guessing games. His method was especially good for missionary children, who “already have heard that story a million times.” The day he showed the children a picture of an Egyptian bird snare, and then talked about how Satan tries to snare us, our Michael decided to make sure that he was saved. He told us: “I just told the devil he might as well go away – that it was too late; I already gave my heart to Jesus.” He wrote the date in his Bible, and we began to notice a change in his life. We praised the Lord for this man. He also said that he’d be willing to come to the conference every three or four years.

All in all, it was a great blessing, and we especially enjoyed it, knowing that the following year, we would not be there but would be in Portland.

September 1987 – “Life at Best is Very Brief . . .”

Werner had come into one of the established Bible studies via a martial arts class. The leader of the second team that had arrived in ’84 and left in ’86 had initially started the Bible study. The team leader had taken Aikido classes, where he met the instructor, Irene, a little bit of a thing who could defend herself very well. At some point, Werner (who was six feet tall) decided to attend the martial arts course. Werner was certain he could “take” Irene. He was wrong. As he flew through the air and fell into the wall, he fell in love. Irene was already attending the Bible study, and any man who wanted her heart would have to attend as well. When the team left, Floyd took over the Bible study and also took some Aikido classes as well.

The following is reprinted from “Missions Magazine,” 1987.

September is always an unpredictable month. Some people take their vacation late; others are just returning; and the students start to trickle back, one by one. The week we returned from the conference [the missionary conference in Germany], one of the church leaders called me and asked if I could step in for him and preach on Sunday, the 6th. On Saturday, the 5th, Irene called and told us that Werner was dead.

Well, one expects that eventually someone we have gotten to know will die, but we hardly expected that it would be 32-year-old Werner, Irene’s husband of six months. He had just begun his new job as music instructor in Tübingen, West Germany. Irene had left to visit her parents in Salzburg before returning to Graz to finish her medical studies. They were going to do a lot of commuting this year, but they thought they would be able to handle it.

The autopsy showed that he died of a massive brain hemorrhage in his medulla, the stem of the brain that controls his involuntary functions – breathing, heartbeat, etc. Irene was comforted to learn that, if the doctors had known about this weakness in his brain, they could not have done a thing. It just would’ve been something to worry about, and he might have lived for years. Obviously, the Lord wanted him now.

At their wedding in March, Irene had thought that he was saved but two weeks later he came and told her that he had made a decision that day. From that point on there was no stopping him. A very talented musician, he got a job starting in the fall teaching music in Tübingen. He spent the months until his departure in intense Bible study. He met with Bernd Flock almost every day for as much as Bernd could give him. “I have to know what I believe so that I can find a good church or start one,” he explained. He was baptized in June and gave a booming testimony across the muddy waters of the reservoir. “I know I have eternal life!” He evaluated every song in our church songbook and gave us the list of theologically unsound songs to be avoided, with recommendations for new ones to be learned. He quit playing in a dance band and took the financial loss in stride.

The more I write, the more I realize that his story is not unique. Many of the new believers have done just as much. I guess the Lord was just ready for him. It sure makes our evangelistic Bible studies seem more important.

We always thought that Walter [Cecilia’s husband, who was in his 70’s and in frail health] would be the first believer from the assembly that the Lord would call home. No, at the communion on Sunday morning the Lord wanted him to be a strong comforter to “us youngsters,” reading us passages that we knew but that he obviously felt. I guess he’s been ready for years. I had the dubious privilege of running the meeting. I don’t know if there was a dry eye in the house. I couldn’t see.

Many from the church went up for the funeral – three carloads. Irene let Werner’s family plan the funeral. She said that she didn’t want to hurt his family by refusing to have a Catholic mass for him, but she knew that it didn’t matter. She knows where Werner is, and only his body will be going through a few ceremonies. We are praying that her hope will be evident to them, and that they will recognize that it is not just wishful thinking when she says, “I know he’s in heaven.”

Please pray that many will come to know the Lord through Werner’s death. They had so many friends – his music colleagues and students, their martial arts club (which they quit), her fellow medical students, her small family, and his dozens of family members. Pray for Irene as she returns to Graz to finish her medical studies. She has one more year of studies and then a two-year wait for her internship. Please pray that God’s grace will surround her for a very long time.

More Difficult Than Death

One thing we knew for sure: If we were to leave next summer, we needed to recognize elders in the church in Graz, leaving them in complete charge. They were already doing so much – preaching, teaching, handling the building rental and maintenance, organizing the meetings, leading singing. The church had much in common with some American churches, because they were sticking pretty close to biblical models set down in Scripture. There were, however, things that were distinctly Austrian, and even things that were distinctly Brandhof Street Church. We were very happy about that.

Recognizing elders involved finding out which of the men were recognized by the people in the congregation as their leaders. Floyd taught for several weeks on Sunday mornings on the qualifications of an elder/shepherd/pastor from First Timothy and Titus and Ephesians. Then he asked everyone in the congregation to read these Scriptures and to write down whom they considered their leaders. We had certain men in mind but didn’t want to force them on the believers. Everyone had to sign his or her name to the papers.

The results were just as we had hoped – with one exception. There was one family who had come later from the church led by the German missionaries. The family had four lovely children, the older of which were already involved in music ministry and teaching Sunday School. The father seemed to know God’s word fairly well, and his wife was very supportive. They had been believers longer than almost anyone else in the church. So far, so good.

This one family, however, decided that if we set in elders at this time, Floyd would destroy the church. The husband declared that he was the only one qualified to be an elder because he had believing children and had been a believer longer than anyone else. Around the middle of November, he announced that Floyd had abandoned Scripture, and no one should listen to Floyd anymore. Then the whole family (except the younger children, of course) began saying unkind things to our faces and behind our backs. It became quite ugly, and the atmosphere on Sunday morning was charged with his anger. His wife even backed me into a corner during the sermon one Sunday and for the entire hour scolded me soundly for being so stupid and so out of touch with what God obviously wanted. I finally escaped, badly shaken by her fury.

Floyd collected all the recommendations for elders from everyone in the church and invited the man and his wife to our home to show him the results. No one had listed him as a potential leader in the church, and some had even specified that they did not want him because of the trouble he was making. Finally, we decided that the church definitely needed elders in order to take care of the situation.

On December 13, the elders were recognized. Floyd invited John Lennox to come from Wales to deliver the charge to the elders from Acts 20. We had a meal afterwards to celebrate. It was a great time of fellowship and rejoicing, although this family sat in one corner, radiating bitterness and disapproval.

Not long after, the newly recognized elders came to Floyd and said, “We have been entrusted with caring for this group of believers. You have turned the church over to us. If we can’t handle this man and his family, then you made a mistake. We want you to back out of trying to solve this and we will take care of it.”

And they did.

Floyd had already tried reasoning with the man. Now the elders tried, working very hard to follow the guidelines Jesus had set up in Matthew 8:15-20. The man was adamant, however, that he was doing nothing wrong, and the rest of the elders – and Floyd especially – were sinning by not listening to him.

Finally, the elders let it be known that the next Sunday, he was going to be asked to repent from his sins of jealousy and gossip, and that he would need to apologize to some people. That week, he wrote a letter to the church, saying that he and his family were leaving the church. The next Sunday, worship time was peaceful again, and everyone once again felt able to bring new converts into the meeting. The elders talked about how they would react if he decided to “visit” some Sunday, or if he decided to return after we were in the States. He never did.

Although the whole situation was sad, we were very proud of the way the elders handled their first crisis.

Romances in December

Dear Sue,

I know you’ve prayed that God would provide a husband for Ingeborg. She was the first convert four years ago, and back then we had no believing young men. Well, in the summer she and Manfred started dating. Manfred came to the Lord through someone in a Bible study, who was also one of the first converts. Manfred and Ingeborg had a courthouse wedding the end of December, and will have a “real,” church wedding in the spring or summer. Manfred is a brilliant physics student and a talented musician, and she is a brilliant linguist, translator and interpreter in several languages. They are so perfect for each other, and they have so many friends and prayers behind them.

Remember Irene? Well, Andreas, who would have made an excellent elder if he weren’t so young, has been taking such good care of Irene since Werner’s death. He talked to Floyd at one point and asked if it were inappropriate for him to act on the feelings he was developing for Irene. To some, it may seem way too soon for Irene to be developing a romance with someone else, but in some way, I think it springs out of her faith. I really think that some of these new converts put us “oldies” to shame in the area of trusting God – of really believing that He knows what He’s doing and that He is totally good. I think perhaps this is what makes her march forward, not looking behind her. Do keep praying. Sometimes I think culture plays a part that we are unable to grasp and are unaware of.

If I remember correctly, Irene and Andreas were married the following year, while we were in Portland.

[1] Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking ( New York: Crown Publishers, 2012), p. 237.

We Never Saw It Coming: An Introduction to Christian Missions (textbook)

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