Discipleship Class in Lyon

Last Saturday I was invited to a day trip to the Lyon area  for a discipleship class.  I gladly accepted and joined 6 others from la Porte Ouverte.  The theme was on children and youth and to my advantage, the speakers were Swiss German!  One spoke French, but the other had his brother translate.  The reason it was an advantage is because I got to hear the messages twice, which is helpful when it's not your native language.  Side note: I was amazed that I could understand so much Swiss German since I didn't understand very much when I lived in Switzerland, and then found out he had been speaking high German (from Germany)!  ☺️

Benjamin and Emmanuel sharing practical ideas with the group

Anyway, it was wonderful to be amongst French and Swiss believers wanting to be better equipped to make disciples.  We had times of worship, prayer, and teaching.  The first speaker, Benjamin, shared very practical ways to relate to and teach our children who God is and how to live according to His Word in this world.  He emphasised that our children are not just the church of the future, but they are part of the present church!  

His brother, Emmanuel, focused on 1 Timothy 1:18-19, particularly how Paul addressed Timothy as "mon enfant" or "my child."  While servant or disciple are both Biblical words, he was intentional to speak as a father to a son.  According to Emmanuel, children have enough "maitres" (French for master, but also like a classroom teacher) telling them what to do and what not to do.  What they need is spiritual mothers and fathers who have a long-term vision for their life and help them develop into who God wants them to be.

Thankful for the gorgeous weather since we grilled out for lunch!

I left very grateful and encouraged to have been able to join them.  I also was thinking how this could be a potential future site for an EE intro, though I'm not positive what that would look like.  That seems very far away as I still need to find people to revise the materials, much less start training others.  I was encouraged in this week's Bible Study when David acknowledged that God "enabled him to understand all the details of the plan."  This has become my prayer as I seek to serve God's plans, not my own, and need His help to both form a plan and then carry it out.  Thank you for praying with me!