| The 3w Logo |
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Our logo has three worlds with Europe and the Middle East visible. The three colors represent the three worlds of Eastern Europe, Western Europe and the Middle East. They also represent how we divide our three areas of ministry. Most importantly, they represent the three worlds of Christianity: Traditional, Post-Christendom, and Non-Western. Visit our website www.three-worlds.com to learn more about "the Three Worlds of Christianity."
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Support
Patrick & Jamie Nachtigall
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send checks to:
Church of God Ministries Inc.
P.O. Box 2420
Anderson, IN 46018
Memo: 42.10068
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NextGen Fund
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Memo: 42.30401
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Nov/Dec 2018
volume 18 issue 3
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3WLN 3.0 A Blessing to All
It is hard to believe, but we have just completed our third 3WLN conference! It has been amazing to watch how quickly this support network for church leaders between the ages of 18-45 has grown in just a couple of years. For this year's event, we had
85 delegates from 16 countries representing 29 different nationalities. It was wonderful to see all of these sharp, promising young leaders continuing to connect, dreaming up new dreams and visions, and supporting one another.
"Strength in Diversity" was the theme for the event. It was not about gender or racial diversity, but about how many different forms and styles the church can take. We explored together how our different cultures and different churches do evangelism in different styles. It was extremely eye-opening for the attendees to see the great variety of ministry happening in the Church of God in Europe and the Middle East. Our guest speaker was missiologist Richard Tiplady from Scotland. Our 3WLN speaker was Nita Hall from the Tottenham Church of God in London. Her sessions focused on the issue of mental health. And Kelley and Rhonda Philips shared about the unique, out-of-the-box ministry of Pink Door in Berlin.
During 3WLN, the church-planting sub-network called Europe X also had meetings, and the participants were able to get advice from Richard Tiplady. We fully expect to have some new sub-networks emerge in the near future, initiated by young people in the region. Tiplady was extremely impressed with the caliber of young people he met at 3WLN serving in the Church of God and doesn't know of another network like this one. We were very proud of all the team members that made it possible, especially Audrey Langford (3W-Birkenhead) and Christy Kihm (3W-Netherlands) for their yearlong preparation and direction of this very important event. Thank you for supporting the 3W Leadership Network.
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New Ministries Require Setup
In the past six months our family has been busy working to setup a number of new ministries and new opportunities. In September, Patrick traveled with Dan Kihm (3W-Netherlands) and Josh Weiger (3W-Berlin) to do a consultation with the Agape Faith United fellowship in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. AFU was started as an English Bible study for university students in the home of Dave and Kathy Simpson. The group continued to grow and began to worship as a congregation over the years. They are now at a point where they need assistance in forming bylaws and organizing themselves at a greater level. Our team had a great time helping these young people who take church so seriously.
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here was also another trip involving Dan and Christy Kihm (3W-Netherlands), Alejandro and Carmen De Francisco (3W-Spain), Josh Weiger (3W-Berlin), and Patrick. Together we met with the leadership of the three congregations in Italy (Rome/Ostia, Treviso, and Arco) to discuss future organization and further registration with an evangelical association and the government. It was also a time for us to continue mentoring the two young pastoral couples in the north.
Trips to Budapest and Madrid also occurred in the past few weeks. In the case of Spain and Hungary, these are two countries where we want to learn as much as possible about local laws
regarding church registration and residency issues as we see these two locations serving as hubs for a lot of regional ministry. We greatly enjoy working with the young pastors in Budapest (Lászlo Debreceni and Peter Kiss are also both part of 3WLN and Europe X) and greatly appreciate their support of the 3W vision over the past few years. Madrid is also a key location as this is where Alejandro and Carmen De Francisco envision establishing new Church of God ministry opportunities. All of this work is important for us to have long-term ministry in these countries in Europe. It is also wonderful to spend time with our partners in each place.
Jamie also traveled to the Netherlands and Patrick traveled to Russia to visit with the Church of God leadership in those countries.
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Encouraging and Educational Visit to South America
Patrick was able to attend the Global Member Care Network Conference in Quito, Ecuador, this past September. The conference brought together several hundred leaders from various mission-agencies and Christian organizations throughout the world. I
t was a highly beneficial and enlightening experience.
These organizations are doing tremendous work, and it was great making contact with them. But we also learned that our mission agency (Global Strategy) is unique in that it has been able to successfully pass the torch to a new generation of leadership, something that many other organizations are struggling with. This was very encouraging. It was also encouraging to learn that the Three Worlds team system remains far ahead of the curve and proactively addresses many of the challenges that arise for missionaries on the mission field. It continues to prove to be a very good model, although it is intentionally flexible to change with the times and the needs. This seems to be highly unusual in many places and really encourages us as we continue to do our work. We are grateful that God has brought all of us together to make Three Worlds a reality.
Many countries around the world are sending missionaries cross-culturally; some have done so for many years and some are just starting. Of course, our perspective is that of North American missionaries with substantial administrative and financial support enabling us to answer this call. It is good to hear from and be reminded of the journeys that missionaries from other sending countries are experiencing-issues ranging from persecution to weak administrative/financial support to lack of member care. Some of the stories were heartbreaking; some were encouraging and further inspired us to do what we can to help other missionaries and missionary kids throughout the world.
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We don't take for granted the help and support we receive from Global Strategy and all the churches and individuals who assist us in our work. We couldn't do it without the love, prayers, encouragement, and support of so many.
We are blessed and humbled.
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MARCO'S WORLD
Marco has started his sophomore year at Black Forest Academy and is greatly enjoying it. The college years are rapidly inching closer. He has already taken the PSAT and PACT in preparation for next year's college tests. At the moment, he is particularly drawn toward psychology and European history, particularly Prussian history. He is already beginning the process of exploring some colleges in Canada and the United States
This fall we were able to travel as a family to Budapest and we look forward to taking our annual Christmas getaway. It is always a time where we disconnect a bit
, play games, sleep, and read. All three of us really enjoy it.
We were saddened to hear that one of Marco's friends from school in Berlin died at the age of 15. This was Marco's first encounter with the tragic death of a peer and friend. We have taken time to process this as a family and ask for prayers for the boy's family, who now live in Asia.
Marco dressed up and went to the formal winter banquet with a young lady named Cassia, whose parents work for the US government in Slovakia (she is a boarding stu
dent at BFA). They had a great time.
Photo above
: Marco dressed for the formal
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