Met Marlo in Shoenstatt, Germany for 2 VERY full days of prayer and planning. We prepared for the ECYC Conference we will serve in August. We then drove to meet the community in the Netherlands. I have been abundantly blessed by the community here in the Netherlands.
The Church here is in a very difficult state. Christianity has waned in this culture and Christian Churches have been closed everywhere. When you speak to the young people who are practicing the faith they all share the same report, stating Christianity is thought of as 'old fashioned' and 'irrelevant' and that they are generally the only person in their class who would state they were a Christian.
My days have been spent meeting and praying with the local priests and lay persons who have been praying for renewal in the Church.
The Church here is in much need of missionaries to come short term and long term. As I sat with Fr. Hans, the local priest, his eyes filled with tears, out of love for the Church and the people of this community, he said "this country once sent out thousands of missionaries to the rest of the world. Now, I pray those places would hear our cry... we are desperate and we are asking for missionaries to come to the Netherlands.... the Church will die without help."
Please pray for renewal of the Church in the Netherlands and that God would send missionaries to help and support this beautiful community.
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