Tuesday 8 March 2011

Love, Eat, Pray

z Love, Eat, Prayz
‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For... I was as stranger and you invited me in...’(Matt.25:34-35) 
Having people around our house is always a pleasure. I love cooking and Vidas and Rugile love to entertain guests!  We are very blessed living among so many cultures in Gloucester. We learnt that having people around is a way of sharing the Gospel and hospitality is at the heart of Christian faith. Food is one of the essential ingredients for establishment of new relationships and strengthening old friendships. To invite a stranger into a house is a blessing to us and as much as people might think that we serve people by having them around.  Actually most of the time we feel being served. When people share their stories, they lead us step by step into their lives and invite us to be part of it. Every lunch or dinner gives freedom to share heartaches and joys of life and prayer turns out to be the most natural step to long lasting relationship. Christ accepted us without a question, so we ought to accept others despite of their past and join them on their journey. Emily J. Choge putted this way, ‘In hospitality people are emulating the great giver, God, ‘who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up’ (Rom. 8:32). The practice will help to heal divisions, hostilities distinctions in our world that occur due to ethnic, racial, class and gender differences, for the sake of expansion of the kingdom’. 
Please, pray that our practice of hospitality would be seen as one of the important tools to bring Polish and other central and eastern Europeans closer to Christ.
Support 
As you see our support chart has grown by 1%. This is really very encouraging! Keep praying! 
We receive 15%, we have 47% and we need 38%.

We pray and hope that the Polish night on the 2nd of April will help us to find long term supporters. We are hoping to have another Polish night in May at St. James church.  Please, pray for people 
that they would see the financial support as an essential part of building the bridge between God and the Polish community. It will enable us to move forward in our ministry. 

Trip to Germany
Many of you have asked me what did I do in Germany? How and why I was there?  I asked Rob Hay to comment on my trip, because he is responsible for this marvelous experience. Thank you for your prayers!
‘The meeting in Germany was meeting of the old and the new.  The established leadership team of the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission (the global umbrella body for evangelical mission) had invited a group of younger, emerging leaders to spend time with them wrestling with the changing needs of mission and help them as they planned the next triennial meeting of international mission leaders in November 2011.  Rita was part of this small team which included leaders from Korea, India and South Africa and despite being the only woman well represented her gender.  She made a very valuable contribution both globally, specifically with a European focus and perhaps particularly representing a new mission reality - mission in UK to diaspora groups’. 
Poland - here I come!!!!!
On the 4th of April I am off to Poland for two weeks. I will be involved in two weeks outreach in Warsaw. During these two weeks I hope to improve my Polish, but also to make contacts with local churches for the future cross-cultural mission between Poland and the UK. Please, pray for my trip, language, contacts and to see people coming to Christ. Pray for Warsaw churches involved in outreach that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit to see God’s mission fulfilled in their city and beyond its borders. 
Pray: for the Polish Night: that God would bless people and we all be filled with the Holy Spirit to serve and worship God in Gloucester. 
for my trip to Poland: that God would be glorified in Warsaw through the outreach; improvement in Polish language; good contacts with churches for the future cross-cultural mission. 
for Vidas and Rugile: to have great time together; Rugile would do well at school and good friends, openess to God; for Vidas work at Redcliffe.
We thank Lord for His faithfulness to us! He has blessed us so much and He keeps surprising us. We both feel that God has put us in the right place and time to fulfill His will. We invite you to be part of it by praying, giving and sharing your lives with us. 
Contacts: rita.rimkiene@ecmi.org or vidas.rimkus@ecmi.org 
ECM Britain, 50 Billing Road, Northhampton, NN1 5DB
Tel: +44(0) 1604 621092  Email: personnel@ecmi.org
THANK  YOU  for your support!!!

The Polish Night
The Polish Night is a way to learn together about Polish culture and traditions. We have got a small team helping us with putting up the programme. The tickets have been sold out and we got over 70 people coming to enjoy the night together. Thank you for your prayers!
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