David & Rebecca Pater: Updates from France - Summer and September 2020
Teamwork, COVID, and Loving the City
Dear praying friends and family,
Phew, a Tiresome and Stressful Few Months are Finally Over!
Thank you all for your patience in awaiting our latest update. We are still alive and well and very thankful to finally be emerging from a rather busy and stressful several months. Despite a little bit of vacation time in Italy and in Germany to visit Rebecca's family in August, things in Toulouse have never been crazier. New COVID regulations and continued growth have increased our workload tremendously. Instead of using our two established locations to meet on Sunday mornings, we have since transitioned to three services, two in the morning at the bigger of our sites and one in the evening at an even bigger location. Our weeks have been filled with creating sign-up forms, transporting equipment left and right, re-training service teams and disinfecting everything in addition to the rest of our normal workload. I, David, have personally been exhausted by all of the added work. The last two Sundays, I preached at our services at 9:30am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm, and in between I trained leaders from 1pm to 5pm. I feel like I spent the whole day teaching! These crazy Sundays were not the worst, though, as I love to teach and preach. The worst has been all the logistical work, which has increased dramatically and seems to change every couple weeks with the government's regulations.
We are so Thankful for Our Team!
Though there have been some difficult and stressful times during these last couple months, we have never been happier to have our teammates around us. This year, in addition to our core team of four (David + 3 European full-timers), we have the pleasure of welcoming three pastoral interns. Two of the interns have already completed one-year of seminary and the other is here to discern if he should go on next to seminary. It's taken a little bit of time to get them up to speed with all that's been going on, but they have been a tremendous help to us, especially in taking over some of the more menial and time-consuming tasks. With all of us here now, we haven't had to dramatically change our ministry offerings. We still put on several events in September. I've restarted a Greek class for the three interns and 4 other church members who are interested. Our small groups are starting to meet again. And our training program has been extremely encouraging for the 30 or so who are in it this year.
Loving our City
We are at a crossroads of sorts in the life of our church, where we could take the easier path and maintain and care for our current members. Or we can take the pass less-traveled and see how brightly our light can shine around us as Jesus encourages us to do in Matthew 5.16 " In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." We prayerfully hope to take this latter path, and that is why we have been in the midst of a new initiative turned towards the lost of Toulouse called Aimer la ville (Loving the City). Wanting to love God and our neighbor, we have been teaching on and discussing what we can do as a church to be more influential in the community so that more and more people may hear the Gospel of Jesus-Christ. Please be praying for us during this time of reflection that God would open many new doors for us so that many more people in Toulouse may live for His glory.
Praying you are all well, physically and spiritually,
David and Rebecca
Praises
For a nice trip to Italy and Germany!
For the arrival of our new interns and for our team overall! Thanks to them, God has seen us through the weariest months of ministry we have every known.
For the continued growth in the church, despite the rise of COVID cases in our area.
For two blessed sermons by David, here and here, which helped us launch a new series in 1 Samuel.
Prayer Requests
For a renewed desire in our church to love our city and its residents. Pray that God would help us meet the needs of those around us, including their most important and spiritual need for Christ.
For continued protection for our church, which hasn't yet been badly affected by sickness.
For times of restoration for us after these stressful months.
For an eventual US visit. Our November flights were canceled, and we are not sure when we will be able to come back and see family and friends.
