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You

will remember

Patrick from the Last update, well,he

is

still

with

us.

After

finishing the Jule M i l l e a f

filmstrips, he

said

that he can

see now why we shouldn't baptize babies according to

the Bible.

The

retreat

was

also

a

great e x p e r i e n c e l : : o r Patrick. During a

gathering

we had shortly after the

retreat,

w^ asked everyone to share what the

retreat

had meant

to them. Patrick said that

it

had caused him to

refl ec t up o n h i s l i f e a n d his r e l a t i o nsh i p t o

God.

He contin ues t o

study and attend

our

reunions and he knows

what

he must

do

to have

a

proper relations hip with

GOd

but

l ^ e

a l s o k n o ws

there

a r e things

h e

must change in his life and he's

just

not ready for the change. The

wheels continue

to turn

in

his thinH+ng

and with

your

prayers

they

will

turn

in the

right direction.

The Bible

study

on

Friday

evening

continues to.,hold its own. There

is always

around

15

Christians

from the

Lille

congregation and

10

to 15 non-christians. When all

the regulars

are there we

run up

to 30.

Many

of the students

who

come will be

leaving

Lille

at

the

end of June

so

be in

fervent

pray

er for the

few

studies that are

left. A few

are

from Muslim coun

tries

and may never

hear teaching

from the New Testament again.

Other news concerning the study

is that I

have begun

leading

the studies all by myself but

of

course the Lord has

a big

role in

using my mouthI

Several

have said they enjoy the study

more

when I lead because I speak

slower

and use

a vocabulary

much

simpler

than Tony

&

Pierre.

It

is

still

a

big

challenge but

each

study that passes

Joni &

I

are

able

to

add more

and

more

as our FRENCH increases

in

size.

We have completed a

distribution

for

a section of southern Lille and receiiv

course is on Luke and Acts.

We

send

a

guestionnaire covering each chapter. A

do the same with Acts. Upon completion

dent rec^ives~a

erb^e. we

~mak ~ an appc

person

which

gives us a

chance

to

g e t j

the

possibility for

further study. Thi

contacts w i t h p opl

who

already

h a v^

led

to

several

conversions in the

past

ways

been

the KEY. Pray for

the four a

others to respond as

we

continue w i t h j

April 21st we traveled

to

Reims,France

and

worship time

with

four families wh

th

e

Bible correspondence course

in

ed immediately four responses.The

copy

of the

Gospel of Luke

with

a

fter receiving the response, we

of both questionnaires, the stu-

ininnent

to

deliver

the

Bible

in

to

know the person and to offer

s method

of

evangelism makes guick

a interest in

religion .

It

has

 ut the follow-up work has al-

dults who have responded and for

the distributions.

with

the Petronellis for

a study

o meet once

a

month. They all

live

from 45 minutes to an

hour away from

Reims

which

is*

a

central location

Beringen,

Belgium

for a

similar

live in

Belgium &

Germany. These

for them. Also

on May 5th,

we were

in

m e e t i n g for

Italian Christians

who nowl

m e e t i n gs a r e

in

Italian and l e d

by

Vincenxoand Guy

Mayfield.

D ur i n g t h e

last of May

and

the

first

of

June,

Joni

&

I

will be

in

Toulouse,France

h e l p i n g out

in

a c o n f e r e n c e g iv e n

by

t h e non-instr\amental t e a m

t h e r e .

The

conference

is

called

Bien Dans Sa

Peau which literally

means;

 good in his

skin

but makes more

sens

One night m ight

deal

with loneliness^

i d e a i s

t o

address issues troubling

manner. The

key

is to show people that

B as

feeling

good about

yourself

be found in the teachings of Christ. Wb really don't know much about the

program

but it has really

proven

succe

be going

down to

help out and learn

so

method ourselves. We

are

expecting

my

  .

another the family ,etc. The

to society today in a non-religous

the answers to their problems

can

ssful

in

Nantes,France so we will

that we can eventually use the

oarents in June and Joni's in July

so

needless

to say we are

excited

to see them

after

almost a

y e a r

apart

Continuing

in

prayer

for one another,

God's

Fellow Workers, Inc.

Keith&Bethany Groves

Minerva Park Church of Christ

4938 Westerville Road

Columbus, OH. 43229.

Steve

&

Joni

fy

Petty

2 ue Br§ve

Bat. 11 Appt. 569

59650

Villeneuve D'Ascq

FRANCE

(air

mail)

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15

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Ui.k

  t s d o n e , W A i f .

JRAyiCS

SURVEY

TRIP

CONCLUSION)

We shared with you in our August Update that we had

just

completed

a

survey

trip

through

the cities of Poitiers,

La

Rochelle,

Lirroges, and Angoulane in west

central France.

Since

our

arrival in

France

June 1984)

we

have been learn-

ingthe language and working along side of the Church of Christ

 non-instrumental) in

Lille, we

had chosen Lille as our

start

ing Dlace because I had met the Petronelli family, who serve

and

worship there, while

in

Belgium as

an

intern during the sum

mer of 1980. Our

ultimate

goal is to start a church(es) in a

city(ies) where ther e

are no

Churches

of

Christ/Christian Churches.

The time

we have spent and

are

snending in Lille

is

a neriod of

preparation

to meet that goal.

The survey

trio

is

one

way

of

seeking God's guidance in choosing a city

to

work in. We would

like to share seme of our

findings

with

you

and ask that

you

pray and seek His guidance concerning this matter

as

well.

The

spiritual

situation of

these three cities

is much the

same as

most

cities in

France.

Catholicism is the major religon

and it is perhaps m ore traditionally

practiced

in these

cities as

opposed

to

seme of the bigger cities b ecause of the lack of out

side

or

foreign influence that is found in the larger cities.

Although most people are Catholic, the

percentage

of practicing

believers is very low.

The

church

is

for marrying and burying

and beyond that

point it b e c c x n e s

an interference in the normal

society.

Limoges— In Limoges (population 139,788) there are two Baptist

churches

and one Assembly of God. The

ccmbined

mem

bership

of

the

three

groups is around 300. The French

pastor of

the

Assembly of God

was very open to co

operation as was the American missionary at the

Baptist

church. In their opinion, traditional Catholicism is

very strong in Limoges and there

is

also a very high

activity and

interest

in

the

occult. The Assembly nt

nrd

has a

membership

of

240

and seems

to be active

and

growing. The Baptist church was started in 1983

an d

has an

American

worker.

They seem

to be stmqgling

but certainly developing.

The

other Baptist church we

were unable to contact but according

to

the

others

it

is very ultra-conservative

and

exclusive.

O on-instrunental churches

cities

visited

Poitiers- Poitiers (population 7 7 ,964) has

three

churc hes which

is

a bit deceptive because the Protestant

Temple and

Reformed Church are pastored by the

same

man. In France,

the other church (not

Catholic)

is usually recognized

as

one of the

above. Other groups

are

still looked upon

as

sects

or

cults

although evangelic al

groups

are

b e

coming more and more

recognized.

The Reformed Church is

in about the same

situation

as the Catholic Church,

huge

buildings and few strong members to fill them. The other

church is

a

Baptist church

pastored

by a frenchman with a

irembership

of

around

100.

I t appreared to be fairly

active

but rather closed in attitude.

8/17/2019 Petty Steve Joni 1985 France

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God's Fellow Wokors. Inc.

Financial Statement

Complete Statement Through August 198S

Total

Contributions 15808.81

Total Interest 1751.72

Total

Expenditures 21831.62

Net decrease

Fund Balance 1984

Net

decrease

18,258.85

-4271.09

Fund Balance

August 1985 .

13,987.76

ASSETS AUGUST 1985

French Account 2490.35

Cash

on

hand 65.00

BankOne Account 9874,08

Diamond Savings

Acct.

1558.33

Total Assets

- Aug.1985

13987.76

N O T E C O N C E R N I N G

T O T A L

A S S E T S : T h e

p u r c h a s e o f a T O Y O T A v a n

^

 

u t s t a n d i n g

d e b t o f

3 0 0 0

i l o l l . - i r r . .

F u t u r e

r o j e c t s i n c l u d e r e n t i n g a b u i l d i n g 2 0 0 - 3 0 0 n o r m o n t h l a ^ d

Of printing eguipment (2000-5000

dnli.nroj

f i r v i c e ) - d a l e

D U N C A N

f u t u r e m i s s i o n

In the Total Contributions, 105 dollars of Petty s personal

money

was deposited

so this

viill be corrected in

OCTOBER.

Expenses through August 1985

Petty-salary 8277.06

Housing/Rent 1591.96

Health

insurance 1217.00

Bank Chg/Exchange

129.05

Returned Check

1100.00

Bible Study 87.36

Special(fees,taxes) 139.53

Travol/'transport. 751.83

187 51

148.40

FrenchSLducation mat.

Printing

Conferences.retreats,

camp, meetings,etc.

1045.42

Auto payment,Insurance

taxes,fees)

Teleiihonc

Postage

Hiscellancous

S881.82

552.87

577 76

144.05

.4

God s Fellow Workers,' Inc.

Report

prepared j f o r

s u p p o r t i n g c h u r c | r ) e s .

Proposed--Hission Budget

— .'donthly

Salary Benefits

(Pettys) 1300

Auto,insurance,taxes 425

French Language training 50

Furlough fund ^

60

Conferences,retreats,camp

80

Travel,transportation,meals

50

Educational materials

15

Miscellaneous 40

Printing

30

Postage

75

Telephone

60

Bank charges exchange loss + 15

2200

Present

average

monthly

income

1980

Proposed budget -2200

Dlffernce(need) -220

Outstanding debts

Toyota

Van

3000

As

the proposed budget shows, our monthly balance ends up in

the red but at

present

we are able to balance this situation

by diminishing

our

salary

from time to

time

and of

course the

cost of

each

item may

not

necessarily be

as

high

as

projected

but we feel that the

estimates

are

conservative

based on the

year

and a half we

have

worked in

France. For example;

th e

total

JUNE expenes

were 2600 but the AUGUST expenses were only

1800. During

our

furlough{June-Oct. 1986)

we would

like to

raise

monthly

committments

for

support

of

2500,

in this way

our

work and

our

livlihood will not be hampered

due

to finances.

Other financial projects scheduled for

1987

are the possible

renting of

a building

(200-300

per month) and the buying

of

copying

and

printing production material (2000-5000 dollars).

It is

very

hard

for a foreign missionary to estimate a budget

because of

the

problem of the exchange

rate

and

I

would

like

to explain somewhat

how this has affected

us

the past

year.

In Feb. the Dollar was being exchanged

at

the rate of 10 Francs

In Aug. the rate

has fallen

to 8

Francs.

IVhat

this does to the foreign missionary

is

that it cuts his

buying power

or

when

the rate

increases it

gives

him more

buying power.

In

Feb.

when

we exchanged looo dollars we received 10,000

francs

In Aug. when we

exchanged

1000 dollars we

received

6000 francs.

What that comes to in dollars is that in Feb.

we

had

the buying

power of

1000 dollars but in Aug. it

was

more

like

800 dollars.

So with the

fall or rise of the

exchange rate

by

1 point

we gain

or

lose

the

buying power

of 100 dollars. This not only concerns

us but anyone serving in a country where they must exchange their

dollar support for

the

foreign currency.

To

give

a

practical

ex

ample; our rent in Feb.

was

190 dollars

while in Aug.

it

was 250

dollars

-

the cost

in francs stay

the same so you

can

see why it

is difficult to formulate a budget for the missionary.

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RETTREAT AT NANTES

RETREflT

 In

search

of haooiness

was

the theme for a combined retreat at Nantes. 60

youfig oeople (14 to college age) from Lille, Paris, Nantes and Lyo n came

together

f o r three days

o f

study and

fellowship

{Oct. 26-28) at Nantes. Rob Grigg and

Jacques

Jones (n-i

missionaries at Nantes)

did the

teaching.

The

last

evening was

the icing nn the

cake

with the baptism

of Olivier. Olivier

has attended the meetings

and

activities

of

the Nante church

f o r the past two

years and his decisi on

dem

onstrates the power of

the

Gospel. Olivier had

no

idea what Christianity was

before

Nantes,

now he is living

it.

We have

started

a discipleship group f or

the Christians

at Lille.

Several voi ced

tneir i nterest

i n

deeper

study and

learning

to

share their f aith so

every Sunday we

learn tog ether.

We are

using the book, Discipling:

The

Multiplying Mi nistry wri tten

Dy

Milton Lee Jones, printed by

Star

Bible and

Tract Cor.

Fort Worth,

Tx.

76118.

We

recommend

this

bo ok to y o u n g

adult

and adult groups

who

are interested in reach

in g o ut

further.

Our group numbers around 20 but it

i s

20

people

v t i i o are

concerned

about

the mission

of

Christ.

We

conclude the evening with prayer for those

we

want

to reach and

for

specific needs known among

the

group. Joni and Pascale have

also

started leading a ladies

grou p from the

church. They

are meeting

twice a month and

also

following a disci pleship boo k. E^ch church shou ld have

the three

E.'s :

Edifying, Evangelizing, Equipping.

The Lille church i s

strong

i n

edifying and

we're

beginning

to see the E's of

evangelizing equi pping slowly fo rming. Where do

y o u

and

y o ur

church stand? Big

Cs ,

little e's ,

or

no e's

at alll

Mid-Winter Rally—

The

MWR

i s

a f o ur day retreat f or missionaries

and

military

personnel

stationed

i n

Europe. This year the

Rally

will be taking

o n

more

of

a

  Eu ropean Flavor because the European Christians

have

been invited. There

will

be

three

European

speakers

along with the Anericans doi ng the preaching

and

teaching.

This year's Rally will be

held

i n

Berlin, West Gernany from Dec. 31st to Jan.3rd.

The 3 Es mentioned earlier are a part of the goal of the

MWR,

but I think its «lso

to help

missionaries get thxoug h

the

lonely Christmas

away

fro m home season

by

being

together with other people in

the

same situation.

Youth Retreat— Frankfort

Christian

Church is a church like

any

church except

it's

a

little different. Ray and Barb

Bodley

minister there. It is in Frankfort,

West Germany, but

is not

a

Geman

church..

The

FCC

is

a

Christian Church

that pro

vides

the opportunity for military

personnel statio ned

in

Germany to

worship

as

they would

in their hcme

congregations.

Ray is

a missionary working

in the military

 ulture and not

a

chaplain. They

have asked

Joni and

I

to

do a

y o u th retreat

in

-January which y o u will hear

about

later. There are

two

churches in Germany 4-ike-the

Frankfort Christian

Church,

the

other is the

Landstuhl Christian

Church,

minister

,

Don Bridges.

Joni and I would like

to

than)? everyone for the

care-packages

and

letters.

It's nice to know that yo u think

o f

us.

We

mentioned last time

that Joni's

parents

had cancelled their trip to

visit

us this

summer,

well

I

don't

knew

who missed who

the inost-they

offered

to pay her way ho me and she was

i n

the states

f r c x n

Sept.10th

to Oct. 9th. I

managed to hold

down the fo rt

but was glad to

see

her

when

she g o t

back plus she

had

brought a sui t case fu ll

of

g o odies from the

homeland.

The

timing

was

great

though

for

another reason

as well, nur

forwarding

agents,

the

Groves, had planned

to

change

ministries tro Columbus,

Ohio

to

Martins Ferrv,

Onio which would mean

a change of

addresses,

banks, etc. so she was able to turn

over the

works

to Tim

adnJanet Miller who

minister at the

Minerva Park Church of

Cnrist so

the names

have changed

but

the

addresses

have remained the same.

Z3

cn

0

0

E

«3

z

0

O

O

0

QC

God's

Fellow

Workers, Inc.

Tim

Miller

Minerva

Park

Church of

Christ

4938 Westerville

Rd.

Colunhus,

Ohio 43229

Steve and Joni Petty

2

rue Breve

Bat

11

Appt

569

Villeneuve D'Ascq

FRANCE

(air mail

only)

COD'S FELLOW

WORKERS

 inerva Park Church of

Christ

A938

Westerville

Rd, Columbusi Ohio

43229

Non

P r o l i l O r g

U . S . P o s t a g e

PAID

Coiumbus. OH

Pormil No. 25 9

M I S S I O N

S E R V I C E S I N D I A N A

R E G I O N A L C E N T

C/O EDITORIAL DEPT.

2600 ROCKFORD LANE

KOKOMO,

IN.

46902