News Update

Another week of blessing in Haus Barnabas has just drawn to a close with the departure of Marilyn Baker and Tracy Williamson and the guests who came to take part in their 'Encountering God' week. The picture gives a glimpse of the evening Marilyn shared her testimony and love for the Lord in word and song and the following poem was composed by Hellen Jeans, prompted by Isaiah 26:3-4 and her experiences during the week.

The Sound of the Peace of our King
I feel this peace in this house.
It fills my soul from the inside out,
Permeating my whole being.
This is the perfect peace of our King

I feel this peace when I walk down this path.
I hear the peace of the burbling stream;
The sing song of the birds in the forest;
The chirping of the crickets in the rustling meadow grass.
This is the perfect peace of our King.

I feel this peace when my mind is stayed on Him.
I can lean right into Him, my Rock of trust.
I can be confident of the hope I have in His plans for me,
As I lie down in this house, in the constant peace of the Lord my King.

News Update - middle May

During this past week we have enjoyed a further 'reformation week'. This year for the first time we have included lectures on the doctrine of the reformers and in particular that of Luther. Working together with Paul Barnes of India Link Ministries we had hoped to have had a small contingent of Indian pastors and teachers whom Paul had felt would have benefited from a retreat week in Haus Barnabas with teaching on this theme. In the event it proved harder than expected to get the necessary visa for them to come to Germany and Switzerland and only one brother from India, Joseph Paul who runs the El Shaddai children's home in Chennai (Madras) was able to be with us.
Two other friends from Britain were with us to help practically and were able to participate fully in a fairly heavy programme. We gave lectures supplemented with dvds on the main European reformers of the 16th century with outings to the Hus museum in Constance, the Zwingli museum in Wildhaus and the cities of Zürich and Basel. Then between Sunday evening and Tuesday morning Dr Bernhard Kaiser of the Institute of Reformation Theology -

www.irt-ggmbh.de

gave four lectures on reformation doctrine; Christ alone, Scripture alone; Grace alone and Faith alone. There was also time for helpful discussion and questions. The photo of Bernhard lecturing was taken by Paul Barnes and that of the group of us by Tim Brooks. We are hoping that this structure and form of programme can be used for future reformation weeks.

News Update - 1st week May

During early May God provided us with a small group of workers for repair and upkeep of the house. With willing and capable hands and God's blessing it's surprising what can be achieved in a week! The rotten part of a roof rafter was successfully replaced together with a number of broken tiles; a new velux window installed; a large number of window shutters repaired and painted; the lower section of the front outside wall re-painted, and wall tiles removed and re-set in one of the bathrooms. All the cost of this has been wonderfully met and our workers have set their heart on coming back as soon as possible to undertake further work! Praise God with us for this provision.

There are also indications that it's God's time for work to really go ahead seriously on the development of new rooms in our large roof space. Envisaged is a family apartment for staff and additional guest bedrooms to effectively double our capacity. A local architect has made a feasibility review with costings and has advised us that we could be eligible for a substantial grant designed to encourage village development in our part of Germany. He is following this up for us. We are praying that if this is truly of God He will provide the financial means to make a start with the drawing up of plans to be passed by the local council. We are encouraged to sense this is God's purpose by three definite enquiries by church groups of larger numbers than we can at present accommodate for 2012! And also by the fact we have experienced builders and workers offering to undertake voluntary work for us.