Property

This past week or so, we have looked at a couple of potential properties for our planned residential course. Please do pray about this.  On Friday, Dorit and I are going to see another property just outside of Prague having spent most of the last two days driving around looking at various places.  One of the major difficulties is, obviously, that of price.  The nearer to Prague you go, the more the price rises.  Even those we are looking at on the outskirts range in price for £350 000 to £750 000.
We don't have that kind of money.  In fact, at the moment, we don't have any money!!  Please pray with us for wisdom in knowing which - if any - of the properties we have seen is the right one. And that the Lord will provide the necessary finance.

Two Graduations and a Wedding

The last month has seen the schools that most of ICP's young people attend come to the end of their year.  And for final year students, that means graduations.  Simon is on the board at CISP so attended the graduation o there a couple of weeks ago.  The Christian International School of Prague is not a large school, so there were only seven students graduating.  It was very encouraging, though, to hear them speak of their time at the school and of the importance of their faith to them.  Terry Chumbley, the High School Principal and deacon at ICP gave the address, using the life story of a US baseball coach as an encouragement to the young people to always place their faith first in their lives.  The graduation ceremony was held in the same building that ICP uses every Sunday for its services.

The second graduation was for Riverside School.  As some of you will know, Simon's brother, Trevor and his wife, Ali, both work at Riverside and have done for the last 5 years.  Ali had been form tutor for this year's graduates so was very involved in the graduation itself.  Simon was asked to give the address, the first graduation speech he has ever done.  It was great to be able to do it though.  He took the school's motto "Come here, son, and learn to be wise", a quotation from the Czech educator and pastor Jan Amos Komensky as his starting point, reminding the students that true wisdom can only begin with a knowledge of God.
Like CISP this year's final class was quite small;, only 11 graduating.  But they came from at least 8 different countries, from the Czech Republic to Mongolia.
The ceremony was held in one of Prague's many fantastic old churches, Saint Simon and St Jude.  But, like many other churches in Prague, this is no longer used as a church but as a concert hall!  Still, there were some very impressive paintings and statues around making it a fitting venue for a graduation.  Definitely better than the old Leas Cliff Hall were the Harvey Grammar School used to have its prize giving!!

The Riverside graduation was last Thursday (June 24th).  The day after, Dorit and Simon were in the town of Lysa nad Labem to the north-east of Prague for a wedding.  Two young people from ICP, Manny (a Greek-Canadian) and Sarka (a Czech) were married in this small town where she, Sarka, grew up.  Simon had the joy of being able to conduct the service which was held in both Czech and English (though Simon only did the English bit!!).

The church was a small, Hussite church next door to a small school and the pastor's house.  To reach it you had to go through the garden of the manse!  We had fantastic weather and I think everyone enjoyed the occasion.  Dorit and Simon were then invited to the family reception immediately afterwards which was a great honour.  As Manny's parents had been unable to make the trip to the Czech Republic, we ended up on the top table as his parents for the day!
Please pray for Manny and Sarka as they start their new life together.  Sarka became a Christian through Manny and was baptised at ICP last November.  It has been a joy to see her grow in her faith over the past year.

Courses, summer...

This coming Sunday sees the last session of the Study Centre's course, "What is the Church?"  During this course, we have looked at some of the biblical images used to describe the church; what God expects the church to be doing now; as well as look at three of the important eras in the church's history: the first three centuries, the Reformation and the rise of modern Evangelicalism.  We finish this Sunday with a look at the future of the church.  This has been an interesting course to be part of, with the historical part being led by Jim Barnes, an American missionary in Prague who runs the Christian Library here.
Simon will also be preaching at ICP on Sunday, the first in a series on 1 John. The reason for this is that John Waldrop, the senior pastor, is on leave and then taking a short sabbatical.  During that time, Simon will be acting a senior pastor.  Please do pray for him over this period as he not only performs ordinary church tasks but also prepares for next year's Study Centre courses.