Hi EIC Alumni,
I’m writing to you a newly married man! Last time I mentioned that my wedding was about to happen, and now I am writing to you with a ring on my finger.
Kyrah and I were married on December 29th, and we are now back in Paris embracing a life in ministry together. We are both thankful for God’s blessing on us and the wonderful church that has done so much to encourage us.
At EIC, we are again thankful for God’s blessing as we begin 2017. Last year we very prayerfully voted on a challenging budget that was about 8k more than the amount we had brought in the previous year. We are thankful to the Lord that he has supplied all of our needs according to His abundant riches, and more! We finished the year with a surplus and an increase in dollars giving (which is vital for paying pastors). Hudson Taylor once said, “God’s work done God’s way never lacks God’s supply,” and we pray that we are doing God’s work God’s way.
We also recently passed our budget for next year, and we will again be challenged. Unlike last year, we will have the responsibility of paying two pastor salaries for the whole year, so it will be another challenge. Yet we are trusting the Lord once again.
Included in our vision for 2017 is working towards establishing a second campus of our church in Paris. We have a mission for all of the English speakers in the Paris region, and to do that effectively we need to expand our ministry into new areas. We have begun a once a month English service near Porte Maillot at the Eglise Evangelique des Ternes, a church we have been partnering with for a couple of years. Pastor Justin Hendricks, our Associate Pastor, preached there in February, and they had 15 people attending the first service (this did not impact our attendance in Rueil Malmaison). Amongst those 15 were newcomers and young adults who had been involved in the Thursday night meetings we have there. We are optimistic about the future of this expansion. While there are still many issues we will have to figure out regarding the future of this work, we have been seeing God open doors for us and are thankful.
We have also started up our new round of home groups and Alpha. We have 6 home groups that will go through Philippians, and there are 11 expected this Friday for Alpha (which had 7 last week for the first meeting). These ministries need prayer, as we are hoping that this can expand in 2017. We have also seen growth in our Young Adult and Youth programs and are very thankful for that.
This past month we welcomed a mission team from YWAM (Youth With A Mission) who came to serve with us for about 10 days. They stayed at the church and participated in evangelism ministry as well as helping us paint a few rooms in the church. They were a huge encouragement to us and we pray that we encouraged them a bit as well.
We also just enjoyed our annual Men’s Retreat, which takes place in Houlgate in Normandy. Josh Apiezonek, a missionary with the GBU and someone helping us with our Ternes campus, was our speaker. He gave us a series of challenging messages through Jonah. The Men’s Retreat is always a time when our men can invest in each other’s lives and cement strong relationships amongst each other.
On Sundays, our preaching is currently in a series going through the Gospel of John. We started this during Christmas time, where the focus was John 1:1-18 in a series entitled “A Stable Word.” Justin Hendricks and Josh Apieczonek preached while I was away getting married. After I returned from the wedding we resumed the series entitled "Believe Unto Life". As always, you may listen to our sermons on our website by clicking this link: http://www.eicparis.org/sermons/
Thanks for all of your support and prayers.
Because He lives,
Parker Windle
Second Campus : Please pray for our vision for a second campus. We are still needing some resources, which includes a worship leader and perhaps a campus pastor (and if not, a creative way to move forward without these roles). Nevertheless, we are confident of the potential.
HomeGroups & Alpha : Please pray for our home groups and our Alpha course. These are important ministries at our church, so pray for them as we are on God’s mission to make disciples.
Refugee Ministry : We are doing some research into partnering with some ministries who serve refugees. We have already met with some associations and visited centres in Calais, Dunkerque and Paris. Please pray we will have wisdom in how we approach ways we can help.
Finances : Please pray for our finances. New ministries mean new resources. We are confident that God will provide as we become more a more generous church ourselves.
