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Merry Christmas

Well,

Christmas is always a glorious storm!

God continues to grow the fellowship, with youth and families.

The congregation is starting to show a bit of friction
between those who were here at first, five years ago;

and those who have come (who are responsible for much of the present ministry)

God is faithful to lead through the phases of change.

We are pursuing several opportunities for witness and worship this season.

One woman at our fellowship has just died after a long bout with Alzheimer’s.

The funeral is scheduled for New Year’s Eve.

One other dear saint is very sick in the hospital.

She is very old and frail disabled and suffering from dementia;

She was unhappy and ailing and longing to go rest, in hope of next being home with God.

The doctors are working hard to make her well again.

If she gets well, she is likely to be taken into care at a nursing home,
which is breaking her heart and her husband’s also.

Pray for her husband who is also quite old and frail.

I will host the Fraser Boys this Christmas and am very chuffed at this! (that’s a good thing)

I asked Elizabeth to pray for me and she feels her prayers are not powerful and effective.
She meant to be quoting James. Jehovah-Tsidkenu

I keep trying to make opportunities for the family to be together.

Liz keeps making it clear that she doesn’t want to be married.

Every time she agrees to come together it is only ‘for the good of the boys’

She is making other friendships, some with single with men, 

and while I want to trust her, she has renounced her vows and I have concerns.

Life is tough right now and has been for several years.

In Alva we are planning for Sunday, Christmas Eve, Christmas Morning, New Year
and also 7 days of prayer 24-hours per day from January 12-19^th.

Our new associate minister is really helpful and insightful.

He has great love of for the Lord, lots of ideas and energy for the work.

We are looking for further provision beyond the initial year that we agreed.

Present £££ is scheduled to run out in July…

Jehovah Jireh

We are seeing the congregation doubled due to youth ministry.  
God is blessing both a men's ministry and a women's fellowship.  
Discipleship is ongoing and growing legs.  Disciples are discipling!
God is multiplying the work beyond the Pastor 
And the church is growing stronger and in numbers.

Thanks for your prayers,

David

BACK TO YOUR FIRST LOVE

An excerpt from "David Wilkerson Today", a daily devotional:

 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2012

BACK TO YOUR FIRST LOVE

by David Wilkerson

[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first

love” (Revelation 2:4).

I believe this warning to the Ephesian church is intended for every Christian

living in these last days. Simply put, the Lord is telling us, "It's not enough

for you to be a caring, giving, diligent servant who grieves over sin and

preaches truth. It's not enough for you to uphold moral standards, endure

suffering for My sake, or even be burned at the stake for your faith. This is

all part of taking up My cross.

"You can do all these things in My name, but if your affection for Me does not

increase in the process of doing them, if I am not becoming more and more the

one great delight of your heart, then you have left your first love. If your

affection for Me is no longer a matter of great concern to you, then I have

something against you."

Consider David's words: "Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon

earth that I desire beside thee" (Psalm 73:25). These are strong words, yet

David is not saying, "I don't have human love." Rather, he is saying, "There is

no one I love exclusively in my heart as I love my Lord. I desire Him above all

others."

David also writes, "O God . . . my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth

for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is" (63:1). "As the hart

[deer] panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My

soul thirsteth for God, for the living God" (42:1-2).

David says, "I thirst deeply for the Lord, the way a deer thirsts after it has

been chased. A deer will go past the point of exhaustion to find the water it

seeks."

Likewise, Jesus is telling the Ephesian Christians, "You no longer seek Me as

the deer seeks. I am no longer the chief object of your desire. You may be

willing to do things for Me, but I'm not at the center of your heart anymore!"

Go back to your first love today. Ask Jesus for grace and strength to begin

again to guard your affection for Him!

Autumn

Wallace Monument looking at Stirling

This land is so beautiful!  There is alot to say,
but I will keep this short so you will read it!

Out Standing in the field

We have just celebrated Harvest along the Hillfoots.
When your village is nestled between farms you get a bit more in tune with planting and reaping and lambs and rainfall, etc.  It's cool when you refer to Gospel stories and the agricultural metaphors of Jesus connect without extra explanation.

A cheeky 'spiritual' view toward our Hills

We have been busy in Alva.
(best excuse for no posts lately)

so, 'planting and reaping'.... in a hard land.

After 5 years in June, we continue to see life in this wee local church.




There is ongoing discipleship of believers:
obviously in 'the big room' on a Sunday morning or a Thursday evening, but also in individual relationships.  I am discipling two women together in the church with the hopes that they will continue on to disciple others.  There is also a women's fellowship growing around their desire to come together as believers.

We have called an associate pastor after receiving a one-off gift from someone to cover their salary for a year.  This has created a discipling relationship and lands me training up a young pastor.  I didn't know how different it is to supervise and lead others in ministry. (another layer of thanks to my Pastor Steve Snook at Metro for being so gracious and patient with men - it must be the Holy Spirit!)

Daniel Sturgeon is 22 and a recent graduate of the Scottish Baptist College.  We met over three years ago in a class on Pastoral Care and have been friends since.  He has a heart for young people and I am in the process of handing-off leadership responsibilities for the Scripture Union group at the High School and we continue together with the Chaplaincy.  We have started two youth groups for Jr High and HS.  The HS group is reaching 20+ mostly un-churched people, who actually pray for each other and engage in discussions about salvation, and the veritable minefield that is: sexual ethics, and all that.  The Jr. High group clocks at around 15 and we are seeing real answers to their prayers and demonstrations of cross-cultural reconciliation between different groups of students like 'emos' and cheerleaders.  THAT'S got to be God.

Our Men's ministry is still going, though I completely forgot to schedule the Men's Breakfast for October and nobody else noticed, so maybe that's not going as well.  We get about 6 guys including me: a retired Missionary, two men who could be my dad (if they started young) and two younger men.  We like each other and it's good, but I sense we need more.  I am thinking of asking one of them to plan the Men's breakfast in December. on November we will meet with a larger group of men from other churches.

Prayer Requests:
We are Planning a 3pm Sunday worship opportunity for the mostly un-churched called Alva Worship Experiment (AWE).  Tables with tea and coffee and food, packets of worship, and 'seeding the clouds' for discussion of topics at each table.  It's going to be like a fellowship meals in a café.  We also plan to have fun stuff to keep little fingers busy and therefore be family friendly.  There is a good chance to reach sport families and shift workers (an also overall slacker students who are convinced the sunlight at 11am on a Sunday will cause them to burst into flames!).  It is very different and avant-garde so we will sink or swim at the Lord's pleasure.  Please pray for us.

The High School has a new Head Teacher who is not comfortable with us milling about in the lunch room.  I met with her to discuss it and her initial move was to just stop it, but I told her some stories and I hope it has convinced her to let us set up a 'Chaplaincy Station' in the lunch room.  We are asking for favour with this person in a place of authority that is ultimately established by God.

that's enough for now.  The Fraser boys are well and our family still benefits from your prayers for reconciliation and thank you for reaching out to us.  ~David

Frasers and Schillmiers (who moved away this summer):
Daniel, Jeremy, Hannah, Josiah, Aaron and Timothy.

5 Years...

"Though it tarry, wait for it." Habakkuk 2:3

 

Oswald Chambers "My Utmost for His Highest May 5

Patience is not indifference; patience conveys the idea of an immensely strong rock withstanding all onslaughts.

The vision of God is the source of patience, because it imparts a moral inspiration. Moses endured, not because he had an ideal of right and duty, but because he had a vision of God. He "endured, as seeing Him Who is invisible." A man with the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue; he is devoted to God Himself. You always know when the vision is of God because of the inspiration that comes with it; things come with largeness and tonic to the life because everything is energized by God.

If God gives you a time spiritually, as He gave His Son actually, of temptation in the wilderness, with no word from Himself at all, endure, and the power to endure is there because you see God. "Though it tarry, wait for it." The proof that we have the vision is that we are reaching out for more than we have grasped. It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. "What shall I render unto the Lord?" said the Psalmist. "I will take the cup of salvation." We are apt to look for satisfaction in ourselves - "Now I have got the thing; now I am entirely sanctified; now I can endure." Instantly we are on the road to ruin.

Our reach must exceed our grasp. "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect." If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing; if we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience. Beware of the danger of relaxation spiritually.

~~~~~~~~~

How did we get from February to May without a post?

It seems like fb/skype is also fostering alot of communication with some of you.
I am glad to be in contact with our friends. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/McFraser
skype: "liziathome"

Do you remember sending the Frasers off with the verse noted above in mind, our photo on your fridges?

April 23 was 5 years in Scotland.
June 15 will be 5 years in Alva.

This last month we have enjoyed a baby dedication and a request for baptism; some believing neighbours asking to become members of the church and a neighbour asking questions about faith and deciding to come along to worship just today.

We are seeing more and more activity in the church as we reach out to the community to serve our neighbours.  And the Pastor is increasingly granted access to local government and community leaders, whom we serve well in Christ's name.  And I wear my faith on my sleeve folks, they know whom I serve. (but not in an annoying, 'lordy' way)

After five years the number of committed worshippers is up to around 30 people from 12 when we got here, despite 9 funerals.  The crowd that orients toward this church stands at around 54 people over a month.  The surrounding community now knows this is not a disused building.  We host the community Council meeting and I sit on the board of the Ochil Leisure Enterprise group which is growing into a community development hub for the Hillfoots. The local schools know where they can come to ask their bible trivia questions, find a RE lesson in a pinch, and perhaps, on occasion seek a confidential listening-to.

The fellowship in Alva is growing in Love.

We have studied together through John, 1-2-3 John, Genesis, Ephesians, Philippians, Colosians, 1-2 Timothy and are currently in Mark, looking toward Romans next.  A core team of friends committed to Christ and the church have gathered here and we see ministry at all levels, along with active gifts of helps and mercy and hospitality

In June we expect to call an associate minister to come along side of me and begin to take over the youth work and be mentored by me in wider pastoral care.  The funds for this come from a member who died and was kind enough to bequeath a portion of the sale of her home to us.  We have enough for a year and are hoping the Lord will find us reliable to spend funds wisely and provide further funds before the church must let pastors go and eventually close it's doors.

This will happen in about three years or less (unless the church continues to grow as it has over the last year!)

Elizabeth has determined that she does not believe what I believe and cannot continue married, even if I left ministry and sought other employment.  This grieves me obviously, and the church, and some of our friends and family.  I will continue to hold to a hope that God will intervene, but I can only cooperate with Liz to assure her that I do love her and our boys and want the best for all of us.  If she walks away I will have to cooperate and merely seek that my relationship with the boys remains in-tact, as my spouse walks away from our marriage.  She (and her mother) has made it clear that she intends to, and hopes that I will, remarry at some point and sees no problem with this.

I can't begin to voice the deep grief and stress that these last three years represent.  But God has strengthened me through prayer, and His word, and your counsel, and circumstances I have faced together with my friends in our community here in Alva.  God causes ALL things to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

Please keep praying and thank you to those who still support us financially,

It has taken 5 long years.  And the last three has involved significant personal suffering, but we are starting to see fruit of this work.  I hope you will be encouraged by this report; and that this may, in part, renew your faith for God's work through you.

"Though it tarry, wait for it." Habakkuk 2:3

Yours in His service,
David Fraser

February 2012

Our first (new and improved) men’s breakfast
will happen on Saturday 11 February!
Will you pray for these mighty men?
I am praying about hiring a local young man as an assistant pastor.

We have great relationship with teenaged students and increasingly with Primary school aged kids. This past week I spent the weekend with 140 young people at a ‘Scripture Union’ camp. as a counsellor discipling sometimes, just a fly on the wall learning how to pray other times, and a preach at leaders’ morning devotions one day. Our outreach efforts are due to ramp-up in 2012 with door-to-door visits from this local pastor. Why leave it to the JWs and Mormons?

We are seeing lots of inroads with local government and other Christian ministries. I serve in the community and stand for Christ unashamedly: in the local town council, the PTA, and other community groups. People seem to appreciate the loving commitment to Christ and the respect for people who do not agree with me.

There has been some fallout from the recent decision by the church of Scotland to accommodate same sex relationships and even to explore liturgy for marriage ceremonies. Lines are being drawn and it is very onerous. The Scottish National Party is the majority party in government in opposition to Labour and Conservative parties and they have proposed redefining marriage to include civil partnerships. If this decision goes forward, I think we will stop marrying people at all, and instead revert to a service blessing only those unions which are in line with the heart of God as revealed in scripture.

The days are evil.

Elizabeth is still set on divorce and does not agree about the Lord and His heart for marriage. We have stopped arguing about separation and I am coming to realize that she is an unbelieving spouse who has given up on trying to keep up the appearance of faith. She claims to have faith, but it is adrift on fuzzy notions of cheap grace and antinomian sentimentality. It is distressing, but I can’t make her believe.

Our boys know that their dad loves their mum, and loves them. I see them exactly half of the time. The boys love their church and only get there every other week. They are growing up and growing in grace. They (mostly) treat their dad with respect and honour. The church is very supportive and continues to pray for us. When Liz comes around they are loving and supportive of her.

God has really worked marvellously in both of our hearts; exposing sin and faithlessness. I don’t suppose I would trade it; if it meant I or Liz would not have grown as much as we have, in relation to the Lord and His heart for us.
I am just praying for Liz, for a revelation of his heart for her, and for marriage. I do not see light at the end of the tunnel, but I do trust the Lord in a deeper way which I see that I had not previously.

A very high price, but I also trust the Lord with this.

I am convinced that the time is coming when sound minds will not prevail. We are making the most of the time, taking a stand for the Lord and preaching the gospel in action, in a way that lines up with sound doctrine. I really believe that we must be courageously living the gospel and not merely proclaiming it with words.

We are seeing results amid great suffering.

Thank you for remembering us in prayer,

~David