Spring Update
Hello! First of all, we want to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for all your prayers for our family and our ministry over the past few months. God is so good and continues to show His faithfulness in many ways here in Scotland.
We have been in Scotland for what is approaching three years now, and the church has been up and running for just over a year and a half. It’s hard to believe how time is flying! Over the past few months things at the church have been very encouraging. We have had a few new individuals start coming along regularly, but the real encouragement has come from the spiritual growth and excitement of the people. It has been so much fun to see people’s excitement about studying the Bible and allowing it to affect their lives in practical ways. There seems to be a growing burden in our members to reach their neighbourhood and community for the gospel, and we are praying God will provide fruit from that.
We enjoyed celebrating Easter together as a church this year. We worshiped together on Friday, focusing on Christ’s death and what that means, before celebrating together Sunday morning with a special song service and a breakfast. God is so good in how He has created a genuine family atmosphere at our church. The love that everyone has for one another is something we regularly thank God for.
In recent months, God has been opening a new avenue for ministry in Dunfermline through an "outreach cafe" project, which is currently being led by a member of our congregation. While it is still in the early stages, God has already provided a building and some financial backing. The young man in charge of the project has grown so much in the Lord over the past year and is sensing God’s call to take this step of faith. His hope is to create a centre for outreach and evangelism to provide meals, coffee, and a place for prayer and Bible studies for those interested. We’d ask you to pray for this project, that God would give him and us wisdom in how to make the most of the opportunity and especially that, however it works out, the gospel would go out in this city that so desperately needs it.
We are in the process of planning our summer ministries. Next month, Dalgety Bay will be having it’s annual gala, where thousands of people walk through tents and booths. We will have a booth set up with information about the church and are hoping to make connections with more people in the community through it. We are also planning some full days of kids programs at various times over the summer holidays. These were fairly successful last year, and we’d ask you to pray that they might be even more successful this year in reaching families in Dalgety Bay.
As we think about the next steps for the church, we need wisdom and guidance from God. We have enjoyed the larger space that we have been meeting in over the past 6 months, but we are not certain if we will be able to continue meeting here indefinitely. The cost of the room is fairly substantial, and while we need the size for the number of people that are coming every Sunday, we are not currently taking in quite enough to cover the rent. Properties are very difficult to come by in Dalgety Bay, so we are not sure what will happen with our meeting place. That being said, we are confident God has a plan, and we look forward to whatever that is!
Aunt Lindsay came for a visit!
Our kids are doing very well, and have fully adapted to life here in Scotland. It is funny how some of the words they say sound distinctly “Scottish,” even though they don’t realize it. Lincoln will be graduating form primary school at the end of this school year and heading off to high school after the summer bread. All three of our kids are a great testimony to their friends and teachers, and we’d ask you to continue praying for them as they face various challenges that come along with being different from most of their friends. Thank you, once again, for your prayers and your love for us. God is good and doing great things here in Scotland!
