August 6, 2007
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It is time to write more news and I was reviewing the month to try to remember what all has happened. Judy is off do to grocery shopping including going to the “Asian Market” to get corn on the cob. That happens to be one of my favorite things to eat and something that French people do not consume. So, when we can get it, I eat what Judy sets before me, and give thanks. This beginning probably makes you think we are human – and we are! In my personal reading this morning I read about “us bearing the treasure of the Gospel of Jesus in jars of clay”. How true this is and how I seem to be reminded of it this month.
One of the highlights of this month has been Joachim Illenberger starting to lead the adults teaching time once per month. He was saved about 2 ½ years ago and has really been growing in the Lord. I will attach a picture of his baptism. Philip and Amanda have been very instrumental in discipling this family.
Brother John Hatcher baptizing Brother Joachim Illenberger
Though, as usual, people are out of town a lot at this time of the year, our attendance has been higher than most summers. In my last letter I mentioned that we had a record attendance the last Sunday of June. I forgot to mention that it was 34. We have had nearly that many in the past, in the early days of the work here, but those coming now are in for the long haul (it appears). Most of the people who attended at first were not French and were only living in the area for a short time. They have since moved away. We are grateful for the opportunity that we had to share the gospel with them and still have contact with some of them (living in other countries). God is at work in their lives. Displaced people are often much more likely to open up to the Gospel. We, however, are glad that now we have a nucleus of people that we believe God is putting together to build a lively church in this community.
This would be a good time to remind you that there is no other Baptist, or Presbyterian, or Pentecostal, or ….any kind of assembly in this city of about 27,000. There is only one Catholic church and one small synagogue that meets in a house. There are only about 5,000 people professing to be “Baptist” in the entire country with a population of 60,000,000. There are only about 100 – 150 Baptist churches of all stripes for 37,000 cities and towns in France. The silver lining in this cloud is that we don’t have many church hoppers. Over half of the country’s population claims to be atheist. We thank God for the privilege of proclaiming the gospel here. It is our desire to see many churches meeting in the homes of believers just like in New Testament times. This may seem very unusual to you, but we believe that this is what God wants us to do. The entire annual budget of Baptist Faith Missions would not be enough to build one church building here for 50 people. It would take years to do the paper work and get it built.
Philip and Amanda, who owned a house in the US that they bought while Philip was still in college, can not afford to buy even a modest house here though he has been an engineer for several years and though they are very frugal with their income. Our rent is nearly the same as our monthly salary. My mom worries about how we eat. But, we do eat and we thank Emmanuel Baptist of Evansville for supplementing our income (you can see the personal amount in the Mission Sheet). We thank each of you who support us faithfully. We don’t talk about costs much because I have an aversion to doing that and because we have a God who blesses us immensely.
All of our meetings are in our home or someone else’s house. We now have meetings in three homes regularly and occasionally elsewhere. We use our humble abode (1,200 sq. feet) to live in, worship in, have Sunday school in, Vacation Bible School etc. Part of our work each week is setting up for “services” and then putting the house back in “living mode”. We do not plan to ever build a building here. It would take us a lot of fund raising and the rest of our lives to do so. We would rather see God start several churches in homes that the owners or renters make available to the Lord. Please, don’t think that I am against church buildings in the USA or anywhere else in the world. I have done a lot of construction work on church buildings myself. It is just that God has a plan that fits each place so that the unchanging Gospel of Jesus can be proclaimed. Only one church in history met in “Solomon’s Porch”. Please, keep praying for us and give thanks for what God is doing.
We are not complaining or trying to impress you. We are just explaining why we believe God wants us to work the way we do. We are thrilled that God has placed us here. One time when I was visiting a church in the USA, a member asked me, “Isn’t life over there about as easy as it is here?” I wanted to ask him, “What in the world is the point of that question”? I refrained and gave him a civil answer (I hope), “Yes”. We are glad that not everyone is blinded to what God has called His children to do be and do. Most of us have an easier life than our grandparents. Does this mean that the world needs the Gospel less today than during their lifetime? “You are the light of the world” where you are. “You are the salt of the earth.” Sometimes I just have to preach a little!
We are thrilled to be awaiting the birth of our 5th grandchild. It will be the first for David and Dulce Hatcher who are missionaries in Kyrgyzstan. We are delighted that God is using our four children as missionaries where they are. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Gratefully in France to share the unbelievably Good News,
John and Judy Hatcher
PS – Judy did not find fresh corn, but she did bring home some rhubarb!