Dedicating our Little One

"Der HERR segne dich und behüte dich; der HERR lasse sein Angesicht leuchten über dir und sei dir gnädig; der HERR hebe sein Angesicht über dich und gebe dir Frieden."

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."

With these words from Numbers chapter 6 our little baby Maya was dedicated on Sunday, January 1. This is a practice that we find very meaningful and important. It is something one only does a few times in life. It is a practice that finds its roots in Mark 10. The people are bringing their children to Jesus, and the disciples don't think that is a valuable usage of Jesus' time. The teacher is, after all, a very important and busy person. The Lord's response is to rebuke his disciples and to take the children in his arms and bless them. 

A baby dedication is also a chance for us as parents to recognize our role. We are not owners of the child any more than we own our own bodies. We are stewards, entrusted by God to raise Maya in a way that honors Him. 

This step also affirms our need not only for God and His gracious work in our family to transform our hearts, but we also confess our need to be in Christian community. It is the same in my own story, as well as in so many other stories I have heard from others. God uses the witness of parents and family members in childrens' lives, but He also uses voices out of his church to speak into young lives and hearts. Church isn't just important to "check a box", but it is a vital community that affirms and works alongside the discipleship that is happening inside the home. We need the examples of others around us and their faithfulness to strengthen our faith and bring the focus back to Christ. We will not be able to raise Maya in Christ without the church.

It was also wonderful to have Bethany's parents present for the dedication. My parents were there when Ellie was dedicated. Even though we live far away, we know the input, help and support we get from both sets of parents is vital. They have shaped us into who we are and continue to shape us. We are very thankful for them.

Open House

Saturday was a big day, both for our church and for me. For months, our planning team and I had been meeting to discuss and organize an open house event in our new church building. Our goal was to "peek the curiosity" of the neighbors, giving them a chance to find out who we are (and vice versa) and hopefully lead them to want to know more and visit us again. We offered a plethora of activities for kids, because we really wanted the neighborhood kids to have fun and to draw in the parents - face painting (a big hit), bubbles, crafts, sidewalk chalk, a scavenger hunt, a puppet show, a big inflatable soccer activity, and more. For the adults, we had a big buffet, information table, book table, chess, live music and informational sessions, where members of the church were interviewed about the various aspects of our church community.

The day went very smoothly from a logistical standpoint and although it was chilly and cloudy, it did not rain

(a huge answer to prayer)! Things were quiet in the morning, but we had many guests stopping in by the time midday rolled around. All in all, we saw many new faces and everyone who was there seemed to enjoy themselves and feel welcome. The church really came together to make this event happen - we had church members helping at every station, working hard to keep the buffet stocked, playing music, being interviewed, setting up, cleaning up...you name it. It was wonderful to see what a team effort it was.

The biggest answer to prayer, though, was to see new faces in church Sunday morning - people who had

visited on Saturday and were still curious. Most of these people came to the open house because of personal invites and relationships with people in the church, which is often the case and, in my opinion, the best way to reach out. But there were also a few faces of neighbors who simply wanted to know more! And what's more, Nate preached a wonderful and challenging sermon Sunday morning for these guests to hear, a sermon that he has gotten wonderful feedback about over the last few days. Another answer to prayer.

Thank you to the many of you who were praying for this event. We continue to pray that the connections from Saturday would continue and deepen. God is working in our new neighborhood and we are excited to see what is to come!

Book table

Buffet. Full of treats and drinks all day!

Crafts

The face painting was a huge hit!

One of our deaf members, talking about our church's thriving deaf ministry

Inflatable soccer activity

Kids, watching the puppet show

Our music team

Ping pong

Ellie sitting on my lap, watching the puppets

Dedication Sunday

Yesterday was yet another special milestone and celebration in the life of our church! (We are in an exciting season!) We had a special Sunday service to celebrate the new church building - a "dedication Sunday". The service was held in the afternoon, so that friends, former pastors and many others could join us to celebrate (and still attend their own churches in the morning). There were special messages and thank you from several people, special music performances, and Nate shared the story of the new building and renovation. We thanked God for all that he has done over the last few years and especially since we first visited our new space in December 2014.

The theme of the event was "Many Nations - One Goal". We highlighted that we have 23 countries of origin represented in our church but we are united in Christ. It's wonderful to celebrate our diversity, as well as our unity, together! Everyone brought sweet treats to celebrate, each representing their county of origin (I baked american chocolate chip cookies, of course!). The buffet was very large and well enjoyed by everyone afterwards. People stayed around for several hours to chat and mingle after the service concluded.

Here are a few photos from the day:

Opening musical performance

Bethany sang on the worship team

Nate, sharing the story of the building renovation through photos

The very full sanctuary!

A Special Thank You!

In our old church building, the babies and kids up to age three had a small room in which to play. When there were three kids and three adults, it was nearly claustrophobic. Many of the toys were old or dirty and needed to be replaced. As parents of a little one, we were thankful to have a room to go to during the service, but we were wishing for something bigger, cleaner and better organized.

Fast forward to today and our new Baby Room! This has been a project of mine over the last few months (with the help of the other moms in the church) and I'm so pleased with how it has turned out. Because of the financial support of many of you readers, we had enough funds this year to purchase new baby room furniture, as well as used and new toys. So far, we have been enjoying this new space on Sundays during the sermon, and we also feel good about visitors with small kids coming to our church and joining us. We've even gotten comments from church-goers that it's the nicest room in the building!

Thank you for your partnership with us and enabling us to make this happen! Here's a quick video so you can see the results!

Emotional Moments

Most people who know me know that I have always been a pretty even keel person. Before I had Ellie, I would pretty rarely cry, and Nate and I used to joke that he cried more than I did. However, having a baby apparently changes you! I cry much more often now, not just when I'm sad but for all sorts of reasons...watching a touching commercial, seeing someone else cry (i.e. the sympathy cry), tears of joy, every episode of 'So You Think You Can Dance...you name it.

This morning's church service was, therefore, a teary one, because it was baptism Sunday. Many amazing and emotional stories were told by the 5 people choosing to be baptized. There were conversion stories where families were unaccepting, stories of dramatic encounters with God, stories of high highs and low lows, stories of answers to prayer and many more. There were tears on the stage, so of course there were tears in my eyes, as well!

One of the testimonies was translated from Spanish and done interview-style.

A full sanctuary!

It was also a special celebration, because these were the first baptisms in our new location...in the swimming pool on the roof! It might be a bit of a non-traditional baptism venue, but it worked great.

We are so encouraged to see people here coming to faith and publicly it professing. Baptisms are also a wonderful reason to invite guests to church and our sanctuary was packed this morning! This just confirms how important it was to move into our new, bigger space so that special Sundays like this could happen. Praise God!

Our new baptismal!

All of the people being baptised, with one of our elders.

We're in!

We made it, and we're in! Last weekend, our church officially relocated to our new location in the Meidling district of Vienna, and we have already celebrated two Sundays there. We are so thankful for the new space! It has already been a blessing to us as a congregation to meet there, with more open space, cleaner classrooms and room to grow. We look forward to the space being a blessing for many others soon.

Click below to see this month's update video about the new building, the relocation and how you can be praying this month for us and our church!

Church Retreat

This year marked our third annual retreat with our church in Meidling (the 12th District). We enjoyed the time spent eating, worshiping, studying and playing together. The speaker who joined us especially challenged the group to be praying about what is next for our church as we move into our new building. Who will God reach there? What do we want people to experience and see when they encounter us there? What are we leaving behind and what are we taking with us? These are valuable and challenging questions to be asking ourselves and praying about.

It's fun to look back on the last two retreats and how each year has been different. At our first church retreat, we were exhausted by speaking German all weekend, I was early in my pregnancy and we were just getting to know people. Last year, Ellie was 5 months old and pretty high maintenance, so we were not as engaged. I remember spending lots of time listening to the baby monitor! Nate played guitar last year and was introduced to the church as the new intern. This year, we were able to be more involved in the retreat and Nate is getting close to wrapping up his year in his internship already!

Here are a few photos from the weekend:

Playing at the back of the seminar room during a session

Nate leading the Sunday morning service

Hanging with Papa while he preps for Sunday morning

Hiking. We found cows! (One of Ellie's favorite animals)

Very friendly Llamas

Llamas!

Group sessions & discussion time

Hearing from our speaker, Axel

We Have Walls!

Great progress is being made at our new church building and excitement for the big move is ramping up! A team of paid professionals and LOTS of volunteers has been working hard to get the space renovated and ready for us to relocate there at the end of June. Here are a few photos of how things are looking now!

Putting up the walls and spackling in the sanctuary

The hole in the wall to the left is where the window to the baby room will be, looking into the sanctuary.