Looking back at a great year

Abundant Bread of Salvation

Dear ones, we can look back at a great year thanks to your help and prayers. We visited many countries and supported even more projects. At the beginning of next year we will present you with a financial report from our treasurer and a brief overview of all activities. Be patient!

We were able to donate 1,500 euro this month to the work of Brian Slater in Israel. With his organization Abundant Bread of Salvation he runs a food bank in Netanya, he visits orphanages and organizes trips and meetings for Holocaust survivors. Thank you for your gifts.

We also donated 1,500 euro towards the work of Teen Challenge The Gate among students in Wroclaw, Poland.

During the coffee house conference this December

We furthermore donated 1,500 euro for the coffee house work in Ukraine. It is our prayer that they will reach many people again in the coming year with the message of hope and life!

The proceeds in our secondhand store over the month of December were over 900 euro, all of which goes to the work of Radko Kratsov (Roma Ministry International) in Bulgaria.

We are very grateful looking back at 2018 and we will enter the new year full of courage and hope. We are looking forward to your support and prayers again.

Happy New Year, may 2019 be filled with His goodness and grace!

Project van for Church Novi Sad, Serbia

As we wrote earlier on this blog, there is also some good and encouraging news to report from Serbia.

The work of Teen Challenge in that nation has produced a lot of fruit over the years; many addicts have found freedom and new life in Christ.

Often these people have a big heart 💗for outreach (bringing the good news to a world in need), street work and rehabilitation. It is great to see that new initiatives emerge from an existing ministry; that people feel inspired to reach other people with the good news as well. Truly, there is no competition in God's Kingdom, just multiplication and network enlargement. In Serbia new churches are being planted and ministries have been started.

Through Teen Challenge conferences we have been in contact with a group of people who have founded Church Novi Sad. For the time being they are meeting in an office of Eus Serbia, an evangelical student organization.

They meet several times a week, organize meetings like a women's breakfast in the neighborhood, search after addicts and homeless people, visit other churches and conferences, evangelize in their own and surrounding countries, share their life stories and give worship concerts ... music is their gift!

Because they are usually on the road as a team, they have a need for a passenger van, one in which all instruments will fit as well :) In cooperation with the Norwegian organization Euromission (who has been supporting and encouraging them for some time) we want to help them to buy a good van.

Would you like to see the good news spread in Serbia, where not even 1% of the population is evangelical Christian? Do you, like us and Jesus, have a heart for nations and people?

Then send your gift to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and don't forget to mention: CHURCH SERBIA. Make sure to check out this video!

Sponsoring Teen Challenge coffeehouse conference, Ukraine

Coffee House team Kiev

As promised an update on the Teen Challenge coffee house work in Ukraine. What exactly is coffee house work? It is part, or rather the basis, of the work that Teen Challenge does among the homeless and addicted worldwide.

In order to reach people who are in great need, we have to go into the world 😏. Teams of Teen Challenge volunteers go to the streets around the world to talk to homeless people, addicts and prostitutes. They often hand out invitations to come to a 'coffee house' meeting, which can be in a church, store, business or home location.

Coffee House is a support group for people who struggle with life-controlling problems, it also ministers to their friends and family. There is room to talk, pray and give testimony of God's love and care. Very often a coffee house is the first place where people come into contact with the gospel and for many it is a stepping stone to go to a drugs and alcohol rehabilitation center.

The annual Coffee House Conference of Teen Challenge Ukraine will take place in Vinnitsa and well from December 19-22. They will be celebrating their 10-year anniversary! It is amazing what happens in the 30 locations around the country. Coffee house staff from Belarus and Moldova have also been invited to this conference.

Coffee House locations in Ukraine

By meeting annually, people involved are being encouraged, built up and inspired. So important! We want to help them with the costs for the conference. It takes 25 euro per person to participate. Some people come from very far and the journey by itself is costly.

If you have a heart to help spread the good news in Ukraine, invest now!

You can send your gift to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U. Make sure to mention: COFFEEHOUSE.

Thank you!

Follow-up project The Gate, Poland

As promised an update on the youth work of The Gate in the student city of Wroclaw, Poland.

Wroclaw is one of the largest academic cities in Poland with over 120,000 students attending the thirteen largest schools in the city. The technical university alone has about 33,000 students!

The Gate is the local Teen Challenge youth work and is run by young people from local churches. Among the students, The Gate is known as an 'alternative club' because no alcohol is being served and there is room for personal attention and conversations.

We visited The Gate a number of times. It is a nice club location where workshops, open stage evenings and mini concerts are organized. Every week a growing group of students comes together. For some, a visit to The Gate is the first introduction to the Christian faith.

The young people from The Gate organize meetings on the campus of the universities as well and are active during festivals and large events. Several times a year they organize a so called 'Movement', especially around Christmas and Easter.

In such a week there are all kinds of activities such as outreaches, concerts and workshops. The goal is always to meet and interact with students about God and the Bible.

This autumn they also started drugs- and alcohol prevention at highschools. We would like to encourage them with a gift for planned activities in 2019. There is a whole generation that is particularly open to an encounter with God.

If you have a heart 💖for young people in Europe, this is your chance to invest in the future of our continent. Poland needs our prayer, not our criticism! Please, send your gift to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U. Make sure to mention: THE GATE.