And once again time
has marched on,summer has come and gone and has seen us visit England,
lead worship at a YWAM Associates summer camp in Switzerland and
participate in another similar camp in France. The begining of Autumn
saw Mike grape picking once again but the English teaching work that he
has done for the last two years did not materialise again... and so to
more recent things...
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Not inactive
The fact that Mike isn’t tied to going to school has freed us up
to do many other things. We are now able to spend much more time with
other people. We end up teaching, encouraging, counselling and perhaps,
most importantly we can “value” them by spending time with
them.
At the same time this has involved us in a lot of travelling. Last week
saw us twice in Lyon and we also spent two days with friends near
Toulon – about 1500km of travelling in total. Next week we go to
Switzerland for a worship meeting and to see friends, and we are
planning to go to St Jean de Maurienne mid-week and on Sunday. When we
are more local we have time for more studying and so we can give more
input into the churches at Grignon and St Jean. We can also invite
people to stay which is great. We shall be hosting an Australian
missionary to Senegal this Christmas and several other friends are
planning to visit in the new year…. It’ll be good to see
you!
Mike has also been invited along to the local “Pastorale”,
a meeting of all the protestant pastors/church leaders from Savoie and
this has enabled us to start making other contacts with churches not
just in Albertville.
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St Jean de Maurienne
We’re of the impression that churches don’t normally start
this way!! Normally for a church plant you would start with a group of
people sharing a similar doctrinal and cultural background. It seems
God is trying to do something else here. We have a group of, on one
side, evangelicals, on the other side, charismatics, getting together
with a similar vision. Pray with us that the differences are not so
great that we can’t progress together. Pray also that we will be
able to draw on the strengths of both these denominations whilst
minimising the prejudices that exist towards each other. Unity with
diversity in a spirit of love is what we need to pursue.
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Jonathan
Jonathan is away this weekend to play rugby. He has been invited now to
play for the “Alpes” team. This equates to the regional
team of which there are about 28 in the country – next stop
“top 100” players and the national team????!! It seem that
his rugby is taking him away from home more and more. Please pray that
this won’t adversely affect his spiritual life. Jonathan has said
that he manages to get some time on his own at school to pray –
please pray that this continues.
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Luke
Luke has now decided to get an evening/weekend job. He’s been for
a couple of interviews at the local McDonalds and just awaits a letter
from them for a starting date.
STOP PRESS: he’s just received a call saying he’s got the job, he just awaits a starting date….
STOP PRESS “16 December 2006”
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House of refuge
We still haven’t found a property yet, but we keep on looking.
Our friends in the church at St Jean have now talked with their postman
about our need…. Countryside posties are often some of the first
to know if someone is thinking of selling a property!!! If you know of
anyone or any organisations who might be interested in investing in
such a project please let us know. We spoke with the people in the
Mairie (Town Hall) at Jarrier – just outside St Jean de Maurienne
who also know generally what property is on the market – often
property is sold privately, not through estate agents – they
indicated three properties. Two were unsuitable, the third might be a
possibility depending on the area of ground it comes with… the
“property” itself being an open barn which would need to be
demolished! This did get us to thinking, does the Lord want us to spend
a year or more planning, designing and building a property or has he
got a largely finished place where we can start “ministry”
immediately? The only difference is cost … and when it’s
God that has to pay in either situation, whether its 200 000€ or
500 000€ it doesn’t matter, its just a question of Gods
leading and faith!!!!
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Church at Grignon
We still prepare and lead the worship each Sunday at the house church
at Grignon (just outside Albertville) when we are not in the Maurienne.
We have a lot of prayer support from this church for our work in the
Maurienne for which we are very thankful. We try to keep them very much
involved in what we doing the Maurienne as it is an outreach from this
assembly.
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Donna
Donna has recently started making banners that can be used in church
and other meetings. They really are very good!! Here’s a couple
of examples…
............
So, if you have any tips or ideas to encourage her… or any
material (plain colours) lying around that might be of use, maybe you
could send it over?
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Family
As a family we are struggling with trying to spend time together. With
Jonathan at school all week and his rugby at the weekends, and now with
the prospect of Luke going to work this will become even more
difficult. Please pray for us, as parents, that we will be able to
encourage our boys in their new-found freedom and independence to still
have times with us so we can be a family together. Now our main times
of being together is when we lead worship on a Sunday morning at
church. May our bonds of love be strengthened as our relationships
change and develop from “mum and dad”, parents, to friends
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Encouragement
We have been encouraged lately by a brother in Christ who has formed a
small group of friends who now pray for us on a weekly basis. If this
is something you could do for us then please let us know. |
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Christmas
is coming and as we celebrate the birth of the One who set us free, let
us also thank Him for the wonderful things He has done in us and
through us throughout the past year. |
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The next few months….
- We have invitations to be part of the team for three YWAM Associates summer camps next summer
- We are invited to lead some worship at a conference for married couples in Switzerland in April.
- We have also been invited to share some worship at the local Full Gospel Business Mans Fellowship
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thanks and love to all of you who support us financially and in prayer.
May God bless you all richly from his great wealth of goodness. |
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Now
to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us,to him be glory in the
church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and
ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:20,21
Yours in his
service,
God Bless,
Love ‘N’
Stuff,
Mike and
Donna
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General
Information
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them) by e-mail please e-mail to
NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE and mention "subscribe/unsubscribe" in the
subject title.
For more
information about our work in France email to:
mike.donna@e-shofar.com
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To view preceding newsletter click here
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Financial
Support
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Mike and Donna are members of Orchard
Baptist Church Colchester. They work as independent
missionaries having to raise their own support. Gifts
and donations can be made direct to Mike and Donna, can
be routed via Orchard Baptist church. Alternatively, for
tax payers in UK financial support can be given through
"Stewardship" , charity No.234714 which enables us to
reclaim some tax increasing your giving to us by 25% at
no extra cost to yourselves. Please ask for details or
see the website http://www.stewardship.org.uk/
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Finally donations can be made via
PAYPAL to Shofar. Refer to link on our web
page
www.e-shofar.com
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© Copyright 2006, Mike and Donna Spencer. All
Rights Reserved.
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