November 24, 2003

A growing church in Troms�

A growing church in Troms�
Friday Solveig and myself landed in the artic city of Troms� as the sun went down behind the mountains for the last time in two months. For the next two months the sun will not rise above the horizon in the south but only shed its dim and red twilight into the artic days of Troms�.
In the evening Solveig was meeting with the ladies of the covenant community to share her spiritual insight from the word of God mixed with her wisdom drawn from her forty years of experience of marriage and ministry in the church. All the ladies were blessed by what she shared!
Jimmy Thomsen, Karl Enok Thu and myself met together for a time fellowshiphip and sharing as well. They are the leaders of a growing community of people loving the Lord. It is always good to spend time with them, listen to them and their aspirations and then trying to come up with some good answers to their questions.
Saturday morning all the cell-group leaders and their assistants met for a wonderful breakfast in Ingebj�rg and Karl Enoks home. It was really a good time eating and chatting together. With great attention I was listening to their reports of the groups they were leading. Some good things are going on in that emerging postmodern church of mainly young people from many different nations. God is really at work among them.
Sunday morning they met in a new school building for the first time. The facilities were very nice and will be a bonus for them in days to come. About 50 people were gathered together for worship, fellowship and for listening to God! And God spoke! Hallelujah! God is not a silent God, but a God who speaks! Spiritual gifts were in operation and the Word of God was preached. Many people were touched by movings of the Spirit of God in the gathering. I can clearly sense that this covenant community will continue to grow and be a blessing to the entire city of Troms�!
Sunday night we attended the joint prayer meeting at the old wooden cathedral of Troms�. About 100 predominantly young people were gathered for prayer for the city. It was led be a young lady. The hand of God was certainly resting upon her for this prayer ministry. This evening they were especially praying for the 20 different churches in town. Prayer requests from all the churches had been gathered and placed on posters placed on the walls. We had a prayer walk as we went from poster to poster prayer for the different needs of the churches of Troms�. I was impressed with the intensity in the prayers of some of the young people, but more than anything I was touched to see a middle age lady praying fervently in tears for the people of God in Troms�.
While they were praying I felt like Jesus Christ was embracing the city in love! It was like he was pulling the people in the city to himself by putting his kind and loving arms around them.

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