Stay at Bethanie, our missional training centre in France, and enter into our rhythm of daily prayer and shared meals. Explore new and old forms of prayer and learn how to create transformissional prayer spaces.

For more info or to make a booking contact gemma@blessnet.eu

As of Thursday December 2nd Bethanie (pictured here on the occasion of the La Source Church weekend in September) belongs to The Bless Network. We have a huge challenge ahead to raise the amounts loaned to us over two years to make this purchase possible: but the deeds are now in our name!

Please join with us in thanking God for this extraordinary miracle. We continue to see many people blessed by their visits to this very special place, and we are filled with anticipation for all God has in store for its future.

Over the coming months we will have a number of work teams here at Bethanie, as well as fund-raising events in the UK, France and the Netherlands. Do get in touch if you would like to help us in any of these ways.

Go2bless broke new ground this summer; sending short-term mission teams to serve local churches in Bosnia, Croatia & France. Forty students from five nations gathered at Bethanie for four days team training before being sent out across Europe to Live for others.

This years summer mission to Croatia was quite different to previous years. In some ways it was quite a difficult year due to various challenges; we didn’t have a cook, we couldn’t find accommodation, an american team who we usually team up with to run basketball camps pulled out, we had to shut down ‘youthspace’ [the youth drop in centre we we usually run every evening] due to noise complaints, and the heat and mosquito’s were bordering on unbearable..

But it was precisely these challenges that led us to do new things like running our own sports camp for the first time – which was a success, staying with Darko and Gorona and their family [the Pastor and his wife] for the first time – which gave us the opportunity to really get to know them, and hanging out with the youth in the evenings in town rather than in the church – which we found to be massively fruitful as we recognised the significance of going out to meet the youth rather than expecting the youth to come to us.

Our daily prayer times were a key part of what were doing too. As a team we learnt to listen to and engage with God’s heart for Slavonski Brod, and so became increasingly aware of the importance of prayer as foundational to everything we do.

[Anna, team leader, Croatia]

English, Polish, Dutch, French and American nationalities ranging from 16 to 27 years old, made a dynamic team achieving the awesome task of changing a patch of rubble into an amazing beach cafe area to invite locals to come and meet the church and have fun at five different themed evenings. It was hard work, but everyone pulled their weight, and team bonding happened!

Our aim in the day was to visit the local estate and run a kids club, hoping that word would get around and local kids would feel like joining us. The French system was too complicated to do this officially. Although it was a slow start we had a full kids club by the end of the week, made some great friends and had lots of fun ourselves. Many of the kids were sad to see us leave.

We had a few difficulties we didn’t anticipate, eggs dropped on us from a top floor apartment hitting our team and a child who was playing with us, fire works directed across the floor towards us, but with Gods help, major prayer (some actually written on our shoes and walked around the perimeter of the club) and worship and the constant presence of the local pastor we were working with, we overcame the difficulties and had an amazing week culminating in an unbelievably successful last day.

After a week of  opening the church beach cafe in the evenings and not seeing many come, the last day blew us away… a large group of 40 people walked down from the estate into town to join us at church for a fun evening of music, bouncy castle, ping pong and chocolate fountain. For a small Baptist church plant in an old wine cellar this was a major step, contact with local people taking them seriously is hard and with God directing our mission this week we saw a major spiritual step taken.

To be a part of this team was an honour, to see five nationalities work together towards the same goal was inspiring. To see God move in the local people on the estate is something I will never forget.

[Caroline, team leader, France]

Over the summer of this year we travelled over land with 20 young people to Slavonski Brod in Eastern Croatia. The journey seemed to last much longer than expected; especially when you are cramped in a mini bus with no air con and 8 other sweaty people. We saw God draw the team closer together through team training in France and during the first few days of travel.

Over our time on mission we supported the local church by running an international sports camp, basketball camp, and two kids clubs on local estates and running a Youth Space out of the church basement. Over the years we have seen a real connection with the local young people and this year was no exception; we seem to be attracting more and more young people to our events. Pastor Darko is so supportive and helps us in many ways to make sure our ministries are prayerfully considered, that we are all on the same God page an that we understand the cultural context that we are entering into.

As a team we set aside time each day to worship, pray and do bible studies. These times have been particularly significant as God has clearly been leading us on the right paths and strengthening us physically and spiritually. One thing that I am reminded of from this year’s mission is the amount of times we have ran into the police. In the past running into the police is uncommon; somehow in each situation we were let off the hook – for me personally the sense that God was protecting us was more than obvious.

One week into the mission 9 of the team went to pioneer some work in Banja Luka, Bosnia. With the team split in half we then began to draw much closer together because of the smaller numbers. Over the last week we built upon the friendships already made and saw some truly significant transformations. Each year we aim to be more like Jesus in the places we find ourselves; Croatia is a war torn place filled with hopelessness. By being ‘Jesus like’ in these places we see light being shone into darkness and hopelessness turned into hope. Our volunteers always take away that sense of hope into the places where they have come from; bringing Jesus’ love into everydayness.

[Chez, team leader, Croatia]

When we first agreed to take on Bethanie, the price agreed was €450,000, based on a valuation of €500k to €550k. Bill and Jan, the current owners, wanted to help our fund-raising efforts and immediately ‘gave back’ the first €50,000.

We then raised from Bless supporters the €40,000 needed for the deposit, which was paid in September 2009. Since then a further €27,000 has come in through gifts and sponsored activities. This makes a total raised so far of €117,000, with an outstanding need for €359,000. We have been offered the opportunity for part of this figure to be converted to a loan to be repaid after completion of the purchase, but even for this to happen we need to raise a minimum of a further €200,000 by July.

These are tough figures – but we have always believed that this is a faith-journey, and that even if the answer comes at the eleventh hour, it will come in time. We are as convinced as ever that God is calling us to this work. In the months that we have been able to ‘test-drive’ Bethanie, we have seen incredible fruit. We are astounded by the impact that this place has on the young people (and others!) who come here. We really do sense that God’s words to Solomon, spoken over the Jerusalem Temple, are true of this small corner of Norman soil:

“I have heard your prayer and your petition. I have set this Temple apart to be holy – this place you have built where my name will be honoured forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart.” (I Kings 9:3)

Our dream is as strong as ever to see Bethanie established as a missional community offering opportunities in formation, training and mobilisation to a new generation of young leaders. We are asking people to pray very specifically in the coming two weeks for the release of this finance. Will you stand with us in prayer for this ‘great deliverance’?

Tuesday 11th May 2010; individuals, small groups and couples from several countries prayed around the clock for the release of funds to buy Bethanie. There was a real sense of God speaking powerfully to us about PRAISE, BREAKTHROUGH and ABUNDANCE…

“we should remember that 75% of spiritual warfare is about praise and worship”

“Psalm 107:16 – for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron”

“I had a picture of an avalanche, I could hear the rumbling in the distance before I could see what was happening, then the snow began to fall slowly at first but gathering more and more snow as it went, and when it lands in its final resting place it creates a new landscape covering what was there before.

The snow gathering is the money coming in and it will be more than enough to buy Bethanie (I had a strong sense of abundance as I prayed through out the hour!)  But Bethanie is going to have a new and fresh purpose, building on what has gone before but creating a new landscape too’’

Prayer based on Exodus 14: At the Red Sea

We stand in the gap

Camped on the edge of no-w-here

The edge of breakthrough

The edge of bankruptcy

Our back against the wall

And our eyes fixed on You.

We choose to stand firm

Unswerving.

Not because we’re not afraid, we are,

But because we know you’ve promised to fight the battle for us.

So today, we stand our ground

And watch you do your salvation work.

We lift high; all that we are and all that we have to you in praise

We choose to move forward in faith

Living like it’s already happened;

‘Your kingdom come, your will be done’

Knowing that you’ll use our story,

Which is your story

To put your glory on display, so that all will realise I AM is God

Location is irrelevant; whether you’re at work, walking the dog or on the bus. Whether you’re in England, France or Timbuktu – you can get involved. All we’re asking is that you commit to pray at the same time every Tuesday for the next few weeks. In true 24-7 prayer style we’re dividing each day into twenty-four hour long prayer slots. Please email matt@blessnet.eu with the time (BST) you’d like to sign up to pray.

Prayer room at Bethanie

A cairn is not built in one glorious moment, but over time – taking shape as one stone is laid on another. Here at Bethanie, we are seeing the vision and resources for a centre of misional formation for Europe come together in the same way. Brick by brick, God is building something in Normandy that we believe will impact generations… Here are some recent highlghts of the journey.. To read the full story of our Bethanie project click here..

• Andy Reed, MP for Loughborough has agreed to become our patron, helping us to position bless as a significant force in the training and discipling of young people.
• Our trustee body is growing. Jim Saker, Ford Retail Professor of Management at Loughborough University is now on board, and Ruth Coffey, late of Crossroads Geneva and now at Moorlands College in Dorset, joins in May.
• We have produced and distributed a digital brochure outlining the Bethanie vision as well as a more detailed project proposal.
• We were able to share the vision on Premier Radio in London earler this month.
• Sjaak de Lijster, a professional TV cameraman from the Netherlands, has visited Bethanie to film a brief promotional video for us – the film is currently being editted.
• In the mean-time, Bethanie itself has echoed to the joyful sounds of training, prayer and community – our year2bless students have been for three weeks of training; the bless team have retreated and two heart2bless weekends have unfolded, including one emphasising leadership training and diving into the idea of a ‘servant generation‘

All in all we are thrilled at what we see coming together here. We have a part to play, we believe, in a movement for change in Europe, and God is setting new foundations in place at Bethanie to influence a generation.

But the cairn is not complete… we are still seeking and praying for the partners and donors to enable us to complete the purchase of this property. Gifts are coming in on a continual basis, but two key goals are still before us:

• To find the ‘major donors’ who will invest  the bulk og the €350,000 still needed for the purchase
• To establish an equity-loan scheme whereby mid-range donors can invest in a protected five-year fund.

Please continue to pray for us as we pursue these goals in the coming weeks. God has placed his hand on this property and on this project. We see something of worth and permanence taking shape. Pray with us that we wil safely cross the Red Sea of finance to see the potential of Bethanie fully realised. For regular updates on twitter or facebook click here. Visit our donations pages here.

]]> http://blessnet.eu/2010/stone-by-stone-update-on-the-bethanie-project/feed/ 0 http://blessnet.eu/2010/digital-brochure/ http://blessnet.eu/2010/digital-brochure/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:49:22 +0000 gerard http://blessnet.eu/?p=544

The digital brochure of our vision for Bethanie is now available as a pdf download on our downloads page. Please do read this and pass on the link to others you think might be interested. Let’s create a stir about this exciting new vision. The full project proposal can also be downloaded. Visit our Bethanie page for more information.

Here we are, just three point three kilometeres from Bethanie, our second hub!