Name: Rob & Arabelle Horne
Missionaries From: New South Wales
Location: Germany
Email: rahorne@cms.org.au
Our commitment to this partnership is to:
PRAY, CARE, GIVE
Rob and Arabelle headed off to Germany in 2009 to work with Leipzig English Church.
And why Leipzig?
Leipzig is a city of about half a million people with a large student population. It is part of the former communist East Germany. Leipzig and the region surrounding it played a key role in the 16th-century Reformation under Martin Luther, which brought us the four great truths – Scripture alone, Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone. Today, however, Leipzig and this region have largely lost the gospel. Over 80% of people in the eastern states are totally unchurched. As one writer put it: “Most people have had no contact with Christian churches during their whole lifetime. They have forgotten that they have forgotten God.”
Rob & Arabelle's Hope:
"is that God in his grace and mercy he will use us in our work with Leipzig English Church to help bring those great truths of the Reformation back to Leipzig and the nation of Germany. Our prayer is that through our ministry God will raise up a new generation of faithful Christian leaders.
We invite you to become a partner with us and with CMS in the work of proclaiming the gospel in Leipzig."
If you would like to receive Rob and Arabelle's regular prayer points and news you can subscribe to updates. Below is a little video they have put together providing a glimpse at what they have been up to since leaving Australia.
Prayer Points – Rob & Arabelle Horne
Germany – 27th August, 2011
Dear family and friends,
Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus! We have now been back in Leipzig for a week now. We thank all of you who prayed for our travel and initial settling in. The 36 hour door to door travel from our house in Sydney to our apartment in Leipzig went really well, or as well as could be hoped for with 5 young kids!
We resettled in our house very quickly too, arriving on Thursday at lunch by train from Frankfurt airport, then Friday buying and sorting out the kids school supplies (a bit of a business in Germany - particular coloured folders, exercise books required for each particular subject, etc!), Friday we had Isaacs induction celebration for starting in the first class of German primarily school - a big thing in Germany with each family giving their child a big colourful cone filled with treats and goodies. On Sunday we reconnected with the folk at Leipzig English Church at the two services and on Monday the three eldest kids started school.
All three have started at the same German school. We chose it because it has primary school and high school under the one roof - a rare thing in Germany - much easier for us logistically as a family.
Claudia starts high school, year 5 here and Isaac starts year 1 and Francesca year 3. We are particularly thankful to God in answered prayer that Francesca can come here. Although changing primary schools mid-stream and missing her old friends we think the new school environment will be healthier emotionally and psychologically for her. If she'd gone back to her old primary school she would have gone back to a very judgemental and critical teacher for two more years.
The new school is actually a Lutheran run school - also a rare thing around here. From what I have heard though and so far experienced it is not very gospel focused. When we were applying to the school the comment from the secretary was 'as long as you believe in something' that's enough to qualify for enrolment regarding the religious aspect!
We think though, despite the gospel being not central here we may find a few more Christians as friends and models for our kids. The school also emphases certain Christian ethical values more than other schools in Leipzig which is also good. Our prayer is we might also find more people here to share Jesus with who are open to Christian things (as perhaps indicated by sending their kids to such a school) despite not properly understanding the gospel yet. Please pray for the kids to settle quickly, find helpful friends and that as a family we would find ways to love people in this school and bring the good news of Jesus to them.
Coming back to Leipzig it was amazing how ordinary everything appeared compared to when we first arrived here in January 2009. It felt a lot easier this time too as we had house and car already set up and school arranged. Doing paper work for school was also easier given improved German. We thank God that we can be back here to serve him and that re- settling has gone very smoothly. At the same time we do grieve the distance we now have again with family and close friends in Australia and the Philippines. This loss of family felt particularly so at Isaac's induction celebration - a number of people having grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins with them for this special day. I suppose with 7 of us we still create a small crowd where ever we go! Do pray we would continue to grow friendships here in Germany and find the support our family needs in the absence of wider family.
Do also pray for Arabelle's mum for her health and immune system to continue to improve. Pray also for my dad, now finished radio therapy for cancer - pray that by God's grace the treatment will destroy any cancer.
Now we're back Arabelle and I are trying to work out how best to use our time. The time in Australia sharing with individuals and link churches about our work in Leipzig was helpful to reflect, thank God for how he had been working in Leipzig and through us there and think more about why we're going back and what we might be doing here. At the same time we still need a lot of wisdom and your prayers in working out how best to go forward with our time. Arabelle will seek at this stage to keep her emphasis on being involved and encouraging the ladies of LEC through the ladies Bible study, playgroup, and outreach Pudding Club events. Beyond that she's still not sure and the kids and home front will keep her pretty busy too.
I myself want to still keep a major emphasis in what I do on reaching, teaching and training university students and other young people. I'm trying to start up meeting with a number of students one to one again to read the Bible and pray. I'm also trying to think of more ways to encourage them to share their faith and model this to them. I'm hoping to do some Moore Correspondence course or basic theological training with one or maybe more Lutheran theological students studying at the university. I also hope to do more training courses in LEC generally and plan to run again, with the help of others, a Winter Conference in February/March next year on some major biblical theme. Arabelle and my heads are both spinning a bit with the time ahead and the possibilities. Pray that we'd be godly and active for the Lord but not forget to always rest in him.
On a more personal note. Working in a German culture that is more direct and blunt in criticism than our experience of Australian culture I think will be an on-going challenge for me. Please pray that I would be able to grow more and more to receive criticism, whether it be fair or unfair, with grace and contentment in Christ remembering both that the cross rightly judges me a sinner but also assures me that I am justified in Christ and loved by God despite my sin or peoples judgements of me. Pray that I would also give critic with the grace, gentleness and fairness I hope to receive it from others.
Here's a link to a helpful article I read recently on criticism you might also find edifying:
http://www.peacemaker.net/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?content_id=%7B0285AEC9-A85D-4F16-95D8-A4AB8A5BB3C5%7D¬oc=1&c=aqKFLTOBIpH&b=1084263&printmode=1
We thank you for the great encouragement, help and support many of you were to us in Australia during our home assignment there the last four months. We thank you for your partnership in the gospel and praise God for his bountiful and gracious work in you and pray it may continue and blossom further. Keep serving Jesus; remember there is no other name that saves! Do keep us in your prayers and please prayerfully consider CMS in your giving.
With warm greetings in Christ,
Rob, Arabelle, Claudia, Francesca, Isaac, Jackson and Lukas
