Shepherding Trips Report

In this report you can see the move of the Body to care for all that the Lord has raised up during the recent gospel trips. How wonderful it is when boundaries between different countries no longer exists, when churches all over the earth are joined in one fellowship and are at the incense altar full of prayers for the furtherance of the gospel among the French people in Europe. We are full of praise to our only Wise God!

 

The Lord has been assembling a full-time team. Praise the Lord, that already 16 have responded to the Lord's call to serve Him among the French-speaking people. Currently, they are meeting in the mornings for prayer and fellowship as they are being blended together. They will serve to support what the Lord is raising up in the cities where we had gospel trips. We expect that by the summer of 2025 there will be at least 20 serving in this way.

 

The church life in Luxembourg is small and sweet. The local saints really enjoyed, tasted, and experienced first-hand the day-to-day church life throughout the 50 days of the Olympic gospel trips. A couple living in the north of Luxembourg opened their home during the entire summer for the gospel teams to meet every morning at their home for coordination and they returned after each distribution to eat together and have prayer and fellowship with the team. These saints also went out with the teams as often as they could.

Local saints and visiting shepherding saints are currently shepherding 11 new brothers and sisters. Included are two new couples. The majority are incredibly open to the ministry.  Out of these eleven: 7 are in weekly online or in person appointments, 6 regularly come to the saint’s home for meals and/or fellowship, 5 have joined the Lords Day meetings, 4 have joined blending meetings.  The 2 new couples have opened their home for appointments.  Also, 2 were baptized during the gospel trip. Ones have started to invite their friends to join the appointments!

We cover topics during the appointments to meet the need of the new ones: The online appointments with 4 new sisters are using the recovery version Bible with footnotes. In October, brothers in Brazil, started an online weekly appointment with the two new brothers using the “Basic Elements of Christian life” booklets in Portuguese.

In addition, the gospel trip saints were visiting a family who lives in Esch which is a city close to the local saints. Now, the wife is having morning revival weekly with a sister. Through the blending with the gospel trip saints, a consistent Lord’s Day meeting is gradually being established.

This is a blended work: Since September, the saints from Germany, Brazil, Spain, and Portugal have joined the local saints in the follow-up and shepherding work. Two saints from Portugal were laboring alongside with the local saints until the end of October.

On the last weekend in October four new ones along with the family in Luxembourg came to the conference in Baarlo, Netherlands. This was the fruit borne through the prayer and labor in the Body!

 

Another two couples are coming and will stay for 3 months. One couple from Ecuador is arriving the end of November. The couple from Brazil are still waiting to get their visas approved. 

Blending with the saints in Germany: The churches in West Germany are burdened to support the saints in Luxembourg through the way of blending. Thus, the saints in Luxembourg have taken part in blending meetings in Germany in the recent months. It was such a mutual encouragement and healthy circulation among the churches in the Body of Christ.  The saints in Luxembourg hosted their first blending meeting in November with 15 adults along with children and young people. Six of these adults were new ones!

 

In the last week of July, Lyon hosted a team of 16 overseas saints. Each morning, we gathered to sing, read the Word and pray, and we then went out in three teams to distribute the Bible in two cities: Lyon and St-Etienne (Southwest of Lyon). We distributed 800 Bibles and exchanged contact information with about 100 personal contact information. 22 new ones attended three seminars during the distribution. We experienced the joy of the blending and the divine glory in proclaiming the Word of God. 

Immediately following the Bible distribution, saints shepherded new ones by personal appointments, a weekly Bible study in Lyon and a monthly home meeting in St-Etienne.

Amongst these, 25 attended at least one Bible study meeting. Ten of the new ones regularly attend the Bible study. We are particularly encouraged by the opening in St-Etienne, we continue to pray and labor so a regular home meeting can be established in this city.

 

During the recent five OL gospel trips, the local saints with the visiting saints labored together to distribute Bibles. Each trip (lasting about two weeks) involved going out to speak with others, with the goal of inviting them to Bible studies, seminars, and eventually to home gatherings and other church meetings. Across these trips, 1,423 copies of the New Testament were distributed, and 508 exchanged contact information.

In November, we had follow-up times with 5 new ones to establish regular one-on-one shepherding appointments. There are also 21 others whom we feel we can again contact.

 

Seven new ones from the gospel trips have attended one or both of our Friday night meetings. The local saints are faithfully continuing to meet with these new ones, using the meeting times as a steady means of shepherding and maintaining contact. May the Lord strengthen His testimony and the shepherding in Villejuif!

 

Giving

Saints who are burdened to give for the Bible distribution and other expenses can give through LME by following instructions at lordsmove.org/offerings.html. Designate offerings for “Paris Olympics.”

Archived Reports

Read all the past gospel reports here.