bless.

Thank you for visitng our Bethanie page. Bethanie is our new Centre for Missional Formation in Normandy, France. We have dreamed for years of having a training centre on mainland Europe, and God has opened doors for us in remarkable ways. Read on to discover more of this exciting story or click on these links now to download further resources.

Browse through the digital brochure, above, or

Click on the image to the left open and/or save  a copy in pdf form.

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Click on the image to open the full project proposal as a pdf document in pdf  -  save to download a copy.

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A New Centre for Missional Formation

Bethanie is a former cider farm, converted in 1995 to form a Christian retreat centre.Current accommodation offers 20 beds but permission is in place for expansion to 50. A meeting room for 50 and a permanent prayer room extend the scope of the property, and a number of additional buildings are available for future development. A residential team is already based at the centre and we are developing its potential in four  areas:

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• As home to a missional community, providing hospitality, resources and a rhythm of prayer.
• As a training base for participants in bless programmes, particularly go2bless and year2bless.
• As a prayer centre, using our permanent prayer room to develop an ongoing current of prayer.
• As a ‘knowledge centre‘ for mission in Europe, gathering and exchanging stories of hope.

Bethanie is situated 20km South of Lisieux, one of France’s most significant pilgrim destinations. As well as expanding the available accommodation, our intention is to add office space and a youth hang-out area, and to develop the land to grow vegetables. We have seen over 100 people come through Bethanie since we took the centre on in September 2009, and we are planning a full programme for 2010 and 2011.

The bless prayer room is right at the centre of the property, and we are determined to match this symbolism with our actions placing prayer at the heart of bless. We believe that mission and spirituality belong together, and that growing in prayer is a vital part of the wider task of growing in God’s service. A daily rhythm of prayer runs through all other activities at Bethanie.

The total cost of purchasing Bethanie is €426,000, including the legal fees associated with the purchase. A deposit of €40,000 has already been paid and the remaining funds are due in June 2010. We are seeking partners and investors to work with us in this project. Once the initial purchase has been made we will continue to raise funds for the ongoing development costs, moving towards our goal of a fully-equipped centre for 40 people.

We believe that God is opening a door to us in Normandy to a deeper and more effective engagement with his mission in Europe. Bethanie will be the training base for go2bless and year2bless and we are already seeing the benefits of this added dimension to our programmes. We are training an army of servant leaders and we believe that Bethanie will be instrumental in a many more people making the choice to ‘live for others’.

If you feel that God is calling you to partner with us in this project, please get in touch. To donate now, visit our donations pages and follow the links to the country your are donating from (UK, Netherlands, other).

MORE:

For a 30-second video of the property, click here

For several sets of images of life at Bethanie, click here

For the latest from year2bless and go2bless participants, visit www.liveforothers.eu

To pray daily for this project and join us in faith for its completion, follow prayershots on twitter

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