Peter & Suzanne Brown
Country of Service:: France
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Prime location of ministry:: Asnières (Suburban Paris)
Mailing Address:: 22 rue Henry Litolff
92700 Colombes FRANCE
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Email Address:: psbrown@free.fr
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Members of the family:
Peter
Suzanne
Christiane
Simon
Establishing French congregations in the Paris area.
Peter & Suzanne Brown
22 rue Henry Litolff 92700 Colombes FRANCE Tel: (33 1) 47 85 86 08 psbrown@free.fr
New Year’s 2006
Happy New Year to all of our friends!
No, Paris isn’t burning – and neither are its cars! Not any more at any rate. They’re only Christmas lights! Thanks to all who enquired about our welfare during the riots. Our neighbourhood stayed quiet, although some of our church members were closer to the excitement than they would have appreciated!
Suzanne: When she isn’t supervising school work and keeping the family fed, Suzanne has involved herself in more and more ministry. Finding a part-time job has dropped off her priority list.
She participates in a neighbourhood Bible study group and in the church’s intercession group. In the area of children’s ministry, she helps coordinate the Sunday School and helps organise the activities of a scout troop.
Peter: Is taking on the challenge of pastoring a larger congregation than he has been used to. There have been moments of panic, but for the most part, the peace of God reigns. The key to success in this ministry will be his ability to protect his own walk with God in the midst of the multiple demands placed on him. The pastoral commitment to this congregation runs through to the summer of 2007, after which all the leadership possibilities for the Asnières church will be re-examined.
Recent highlights of church life:
The Asnières church is full Sunday after Sunday. The capacity of the sanctuary is about 100 people and we are close to that every week. For the Christmas programme we went way over the limit and had 130 adults and children crammed in the building. (photo)
Evangelism in the streets has picked up after several quiet years and a small team has gathered around me. We’ll go out on Saturday afternoons twice a month with tracts. Late November the Lord gave an opportunity to take the funeral of a Lutheran lady who lived in our neighbourhood. Her surviving husband is very active in the city of Asnières and I had the privilege of challenging about 30 people who had little or no contact with the gospel. Their openness to the Word of God was amazing.
The congregation is blessed with 6 weddings this year! Praise God that people still believe in marriage – but what a job it is to prepare weddings for everybody! Getting married isn’t everything. Two days ago I discovered a case of adultery. Only the Lord will be able to heal this young family – if they are willing to let Him.
And plans for the next 6 months:
The founding pastor of the church Pierre Egger will be honoured in a commissioning service on January 8 as we commit him and his church planting team to the Lord. They will be relieved of all responsibilities in Asnières and will be free to devote all their energies to the church planting project in Taverny (suburban town about 20 km north-west of Paris).
• A mini “Living waters” programme for people who are carrying hurts from the past and are looking for help from the Lord in January & February.
• A 7 week Purpose Driven Life campaign in March and April .
• A course based on Neill Anderson’s teaching on spiritual liberty in May and June.
All of these efforts are attempts to lay good spiritual foundations in the church community and to prepare the church for the year 2006-7. Next year we would like to follow up with extensive leadership training.
We are planning to have elders named in the fall and are praying that the Lord will lead us to appropriate candidates.
A special concern:
A few weeks ago Sylvie Pengaï, the head of our intercession group, told us that she felt she should gather blacks in the community to talk about racism. We immediately feared the worst. Were the blacks in the church going to band together as a majority in the church against the whites (15% approx. of the community), bonded by all the pain and the injustice they shared? Sylvie’s meeting turned out to be very constructive. I think that most whites have no idea of the depth of the pain and the shame carried by many blacks. In the Asnières church, there is commitment to building deep fellowship between blacks and whites, but such fellowship is necessarily built on truthful relationships. I’d like to focus on this theme on our retreat at Pentecost.
This family photo was taken by my mother while on holiday with us this summer. The younger Browns are learning the technology of their generation. Christiane chats with friends on internet. A webcam is now perched on the printer and a little microphone allows them to talk with other internet friends who are so equipped! They still complain bitterly about the absence of a TV in the house. That may come in the coming months. Daddy is terribly slow to make decisions about things like the purchases of dogs and televisions! By the way, our little tail wagging Zebulon has taken possession of the house - and of our hearts. Their school work is a challenge this year as they are required to write well organised small essays.
Once again, at the close of yet another year, we can reflect on the Lord’s faithfulness. We thank Him for your faithfulness as you partner with us in this ministry through your gifts and your prayers – how aware we are of the many prayers made on our behalf.
We wish each of you the Lord’s rich blessings on this new year,
With our love and best wishes,
Peter & Suzanne
Gifts from Canada or the USA are to be made out to GLOBAL OUTREACH MISSION with a mention on a separate paper that the gift is for the ministry or for the personal uses of Peter & Suzanne Brown.
Global Outreach Mission Box 1210 St. Catherines, Ont. L2R 7A7 Canada (416) 684 1401
Donations from the British Isles are to be made out to FRANCE MISSION TRUST, "Registered Charity 267979".
France Mission Trust The Old Chapel, Chapel Lane, Minchinhampton GLOS GL6 9DL UK
