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Dear Friends and Family,

Frohes neues Jahr! It is well into the new year now, but we still want to wish you a happy new year. For us, it has been three years since we first arrived in Berlin. We feel as if we are now finally getting our feet wet in ministry after what seems like a long period of cultural adaptation, language learning and getting used to Berlin. Now ministry opportunities are really taking off. We are challenged with real situations and problems. We feel called "to step up to the plate." It is both exciting and scary for us!

Martin Bucer Seminary Berlin
David has successfully set up a new campus here in Berlin for the Martin Bucer Seminary. In January, we had the first intensive "study week" at our partner church, the Lukas Gemeinde. There are 18 whole day seminars and two study weeks per year. The theme for the week was An Introduction to Reformed Theology. It was a challenge for the students, many of whom are new to reformed theology, and for the professors who were not anticipating such smart, experienced and knowledgeable pupils! The discussions were at times intense, especially on such topics as: "Does God allow bad things to happen to us or does he ordain them to happen?" But the focus of the week was not theoretical, rather intentionally practical. For example, we dealt with such questions as: "why is the sovereignty of God the motor for evangelism? What are the practical implications of reformed theology in counseling? How do we reflect God's covenant love in our marriages, family, church and state?"
It was a joy for David to see the fruit of his hard work: students wrestling and interacting with the truths of Scripture in a flexible learning environment. The response from the students was especially encouraging. We do believe the seminary will be pivotal and most strategic in bringing about reform to the state of the German church (or at least some of the churches!).

Mama Talk: Ein Gesprächskreis für Mütter (Kinder 0-5)

Eowyn is starting a new round of Mama Talk, a discussion group for moms. The first Mama Talk proved to be very good and all the ladies in attendance felt it definitely needed to be repeated so that more women could take advantage of it. So a new group of women will gather in our home weekly starting Feb.16th for a period of 7 weeks. We are excited, yet again, to see whom the Lord will bring to our house. As we write, 3 women have signed up. The ladies from the first Mama Talk have all become friends and we meet every other week. In the spring we would like to offer women's breakfasts on a regular basis in order to stay in touch and go a little deeper into spiritual things, maybe even offering a Bible-reading course.

Dinner for Two: Eheabende zum Verwöhnen

We have been praying for a way to reach women AND their husbands. The idea of "Dinner for Two" has emerged out of these prayers. We would like to invite 3 or 4 couples to come to our house for a weekly candlelight dinner in order to discuss marriage issues from a Christian perspective. This idea is still in process and we still have to figure out when and how to make it possible. Please pray that it would come together and find confirmation as couples express interest or a need for such a group.

Church-planting

Church-planting is difficult right now. Our two cell groups are still meeting, but the reality of the situation is that the majority of the people attending don't seem to be ready and/or willing to invest in church-planting. We would like the project to be owned and driven by our German friends and cannot create in them desire and drive to church-plant. There are also some issues that need to be clarified for some, such as the relationship we have with the mother church and what it believes. So we find ourselves in somewhat of a holding pattern until the issues and commitment are clarified. Please pray for us. We cannot force anything to happen, and yet we still believe it is God's will that there be a good church in Pankow.

Financial Situation

Praise the Lord! The sacrificial giving of God's people in December astounded us. Thank you to all of you who contributed one-time gifts to our ministry in the last few months. We are your debtors. That's the good news (and we don't want to underscore it). The sobering news is that this is a short-term boost. We will still need our monthly support to go up for the long-term health of our support account. We would prayerfully invite you to consider becoming a monthly financial supporter. For more information on how to do this see our website: (http://www.missiontoberlin.com/financialgiving.html).
We are so grateful to God and to you! Danke!

Servants of the King,

David, Eowyn, Jesse, Liam, Alethea Stoddard
In Berlin