An International Witness for the Christian Gospel
CAMPUS MINISTRY
In September, 2008, the first Globalscope Germany team members arrived. We now have four campus ministers in Tübingen: Beth Jarvis Silliman (team leader), Chris Coleman, Stef Coleman, and Tyler Crawford.
On January 16-24 a team from Southwest Christian Church in East Point, Georgia, traveled to Germany to assist with renovations at the Institute building. These renovations will made the building more suitable for campus ministry while maintaining funcitionality for Institute activities.
In May, 2009, a team from Crosspoint Christian Church in Conyers, Georgia, went to Tübingen to work on the grounds of the Institute House.
For more information on Globalscope Germany please visit their web site.
This venture is a joint effort between EES and Globalscope, which is a part of Christian Missionary Fellowship International.
CHURCH PLANT
The Church Plant Oversight Team was appointed in April 2005 by EES president Dr. Bruce Shields.
The primary purpose of this team is to oversee the development of a strategy for church planting and then hand the new congregation over to the Gemeinde Liaison Committee, recognizing that the congregation will eventually become an autonomous congregation of believers. Our dreams include the idea that as soon as this plant is successful, we will move on to other such opportunities.
Financial Needs To plant a new congregation in Europe will require significant financial resources. Our goal is to secure initial gifts of $15,000 which will enable us to do important preliminary studies necessary for a successful church plant. We are hoping to identify American congregations who would like to partner with EES in planting a new, vibrant, functioning congregation in western Europe. We encourage you to give prayerful consideration of this opportunity to expand the Kingdom of God in our world.
For more information, please contact Wye Huxford, executive director at wye@eesatlanta.org
THE INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF CHRISTIAN ORIGINS The Institute has a very productive relationship with the prestigious and influential University of Tübingen. It pursues basic New Testament research, offers colloquia throughout the academic year, and engages in continuing dialogue with professors and students from Germany, greater Europe, and around the world. A primary function of The Institute is to bear effective witness to the authority and claims of Christ and His Gospel. The influence of the ministry of the English Vesper Services is difficult to measure, but surely Christians all over the world have been blessed by this ministry and the influence it had on believers while they were in Tübingen. Colloquium During the University semesters, the Institute offers the fortnightly "Kolloquium für Graduierte" (Graduate Colloquium) in conjunction with the Protestant Faculty of Theology at the University. This colloquium offers PhD students and visiting professors the opportunity to present portions of their dissertations or other "work in progress" for critique by their peers. Recent participants have been doctoral students and visiting professors from the US, UK, Finland, Korea, Japan, and Germany. Topics of presentations have included: beatitudes in the Dead Sea Scrolls; the use of tradition material in 2 Peter; the Similitudes of Enoch; "righteousness" in the Sermon on the Mount; rhetorical devices in the Gospel of Luke; angelology in the Dead Sea Scrolls; a comparison of vice and virture in in Matthew and Philo; conceptions of women in 4QInstruction; intertextuality in manuscripts of Luke's Emmaus pericope; History of Religions backgrounds for the Adam-Christ antithesis in Romans 5. The opportunity to study at the University of Tübingen in partnership with the Institute for the Study of Christian Origins is an attractive option for those interested in adding a new dimension to their educations. Dr. Beth Langstaff, Interim Director of the Institute, will oversee these internships and aid potential students in developing a program of study that will be helpful to the students involved and meet internship requirements at various colleges, universities and seminaries. The program is primarily designed for students interested in New Testament and theology, and will be limited to two, perhaps three, students per semester. Participants in the program will need to demonstrate financial ability to live in Europe for the duration of the program and have adequate funds for the return trip home. For more information or for an application please contact Wye Huxford at wye@eesatlanta.org. To learn more about the Institute please visit the Institute web site.
English Vesper Service The English Vesper Service is more of an international service than English. Of course, the service itself is still held in English (with a variety of accents), and the gathering on any given night usually includes at least four or five Americans and Britons. But those attending represent not only the English-speaking world but a great diversity of lands and cultures: China, Japan, Madagascar, Togo, Brazil, Korea, Turkey among them. The foyer after the services resembles Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, as people chat not only in German and English, but in Japanese, Portuguese, French, or Chinese. The service has been adapted for different levels of competence in English: a printed program with the Lord’s Prayer in English is often a part of the service.
For those who take religious freedom for granted, contact with non-Western Christians is a needed reminder that social alienation and persecution of believers is not limited to the pages of the New Testament – they are a present reality.
Internships From the Fall/Winter 2005 European Evangelist: Christian college and university graduates, seminary students and others interested in studying abroad for a semester should contact the Atlanta office of the European Evangelistic Society for information on our new internship program, approved at our recent Executive Committee meeting.
