Vision Trip Schedule

In less than 2 weeks, Nate and I will board a plane for our Vision Trip to Vienna, Austria! We are so excited to finally visit Austria, after years of anticipating our ministry there and learning about our future mission field.

The plans for our trip have been coming together over the last few weeks. To give you a sense of how our time will be spent, here is an overview of our current itinerary:

Thursday, April 14

• Depart Chicago at 10pm

Friday, April 15

• Land in Vienna
  
• Travel to our team leaders' home (Peter & Celeste Persson), where we will stay throughout our time in Vienna

Saturday, April 16

• Spend the day visiting downtown Vienna with Celeste
• Meet Wheaton College friends for a traditional Viennese dinner
• Get over jet lag!

Sunday, April 17 - Thursday, April 21

• Attend church Sunday morning at the Gospel Church of Vienna, where Peter and Celeste serve and where we will likely serve during our first 4 years in Austria
• Spend 4 days on the WorldVenture Austria team's annual retreat at this hostel, spending time in prayer, study and fellowship. We look forward to connecting with our future team members and throwing many questions we have about Austria their way!

Friday, April 22

• Visit the city and gather photos/video to share with supporters in the U.S.
• Attend Good Friday services at Gospel Church of Vienna, including an exciting baptism service!

Saturday, April 23

• Travel to the other side of Vienna and attend an evening house church service with Tim and Mary Lou Tiner (fellow WorldVenture team members). This church could also be a potential place of ministry for u

Easter Sunday, April 24

• Attend Easter morning services and a fellowship breakfast at Gospel Church of Vienna

Monday, April 25

• Travel out of Vienna with a church member to go rock climbing and to learn more about the outdoor culture of Austria

Tuesday, April 26

• Meet with some missionaries with TEAM (another missions agency) and the leadership of an Austrian Evangelical Church Fellowship to discuss a 2015 church planting opportunity
• Visit the future site of the 2015 church plant
• Spend the afternoon visiting with the TEAM missionaries, getting to know them and their family

Wednesday, April 27

• Take final photos and video to add to our ministry presentation
• Purchase food and items to bring home to share with family and friends

Thursday, April 28

• Fly back to Chicago
  

We would appreciate your prayers as we embark on this adventure. Please pray for...

• A renewing and restful spiritual retreat with our WorldVenture team
• Great times of connecting with our future team members, including the opportunity for all of our questions to be answered
• The Lord to clearly lead us in how to spend our time
  
• Effective and encouraging ministry meetings
• Safety in travel
  

Religion on its way to extinction in Austria?

We were shocked to read about a recent study (by the American Physical Society) that religion may become extinct in 9 different countries. The nations on their list? Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, and...Austria. According to an article from BBC news, the group used a mathematical model that takes into account the social and utilitarian reasons that people affiliate themselves with a religion. In these 9 countries, the trends towards people identifying themselves as "non-religious" were pointing towards eventual extinction. According to the article, "In a large number of modern secular democracies, there's been a trend that folk are identifying themselves as non-affiliated with religion."

Nate and I know that ministry is going to be challenging and slow moving in Austria. This study confirms what we already knew, which is that God, church and spirituality are increasingly considered irrelevant by many Austrians. Our prayer is that our lives and our witness would break through those perceptions, displaying who God is and showing that the gospel is always relevant. Seeing more Austrians come to Christ may not be "statistically probably", but nothing is impossible with God. And we know that any progress we make in Austria will be because of God working and not because of us!

St. Patrick - a Radical Missions Story

St. Patrick was a great missionary! Here is his story, told by VeggieTales. Video via Out of Ur.