Dear friends,
Many of you we have known for most of our lives; others are new to our lives within the past few months. Some have been praying for our ministry involvement since the beginning of our marriage and have witnessed the tremendous growth God has wrought along the way. From Madison to East Asia to Denver, it continues to be an exciting journey!
We have come to the onset of a new stage. We believe God might be calling us to a future in Spain. Once a country alive with true spirituality, the homeland of such saints as Ignacio de Loyola and Bartolomé de las Casas, Spain is becoming an increasingly post-Christian society. The self-identification of “Catholic” is for most Spaniards no more than a cultural designation of the religion of their ancestors, especially for the younger generations. In addition, immigration from North Africa and Latin America provides the small but strong body of believers in Spain with new challenges for multinational outreach and integration.
This summer we have an opportunity to explore a wide variety of ministry opportunities in Spain. We hope to spend the months of June and July partnering primarily with two different organizations. WorldVenture is a missionary sending agency based right here in our own Littleton, Colorado. They have a number of families making a difference throughout Spain in a wide variety of settings – church planting, leadership development, immigrant services, and more.
The second organization we will be working with is Aslan Performing Arts Centre. Run by an actor and a dancer, Aslan puts on dramatic productions intended to spark spiritual thinking and conversations among their audiences. They also provide classes, camps, and workshops in dance and theater as a medium for building evangelistic relationships with community members while enriching their artistic lives.
We have put a great deal of energy into planning this time, and much of it is coming into focus. We desire to spend one week in Málaga, a city in southern Spain, observing and partnering with a WorldVenture cultural resource center for immigrants. Another week will be spent working at a children’s camp run by our ministry hosts’ home church in Madrid. Then we will help facilitate Aslan’s summer arts camps for three weeks. We also plan to meet with representatives from other ministry teams.
Our heart is that this summer will serve to a number of ends: (a) we want to begin the journey of getting to know Spain, (b) we want to serve alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ in a meaningful way, and (c) perhaps most importantly, we hope to discern what particular ministries the Lord is leading us to for long-term service. Our belief is that we will go back to Spain to work in ministry after we graduate from seminary.
This is no small undertaking, and we need your help. First, we need your prayers. Please pray for the country of Spain. Ask the Lord to be at work in people’s lives. Pray for the two of us – we need it! This will be an emotional time for us, knowing that our experiences over the summer will have a significant shaping influence on our future. Pray for our spiritual, emotional, and rational well-being.
Second, we need your finances. Our budget for the summer is $7,000. This includes flight expenses, other travel costs, accommodations, food, ministry supplies, costs to our hosts, and administrative costs. A gift of $120 would, in effect, sponsor one day of our trip. Your gift would be a long-term investment in what God is doing in Spain, and it would be an investment in the two of us. For this, we would be greatly honored.
If you feel called to partner with us financially, you may send checks payable to:
WorldVenture
1501 W. Mineral Ave.
Littleton, CO 80120-5612
Please write our name and account number – “Knox / 6154-817” – on an attached note, not on the check memo line. You can also donate online; follow this link to WorldVenture's online donation site, find our name under "Missionary," and follow further instructions.
If we don’t hear from you by your response, a phone call, or an email within two weeks, we will try to get in touch over the phone (if we have your number… ☺). Thank you again for your continued support.
Lots of love,
Ben & Meggan
2 comments:
Count us in for something--don't know how much yet, but definitely on board. Que os vayais bien!
Hola Profesora y Senor Ben,
We've just sent some money to WV. I see from your blog, however, that what we sent will only support you for 20 hours. So during one of your days in Spain you will be hungry, thirsty, and homeless for a short period of 4 hours. But we have faith in your resilience and endurance--we think you'll make it through.
Much love to you, amigos.
T & G
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