Glimpses from the journey Stéphane and Sandra Tibi Newsletter Easter 2011 Africa French Equatorial Field I will bear fruit wherever I will go. Florebo quocumque ferar (I shall flower wherever I am planted) (Reunion Island s Latin motto) Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Warm greetings from Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean! It is hard to believe that already a year has gone by since we came back home in April 2010 to Reunion Island, after our deputation time in France, Germany and the USA. The weeks and months have been busy with much work and many opportunities that God has used to glorify His holy name. As we share with you some glimpses of 2010 and this beginning year 2011, we would like to thank our God and ask you to please pray with us for continued strength, wisdom and grace. This letter is also meant to thank you. Because without you on our side in various ways, all of this could not have been made possible! In the first part of the letter, you will read about our deputation time in 2010, with a stop in Kansas City, USA, where we made it just in time for the commissioning service. Then in the second part, you will read more specifically about our ministry setting and work as well as prayer requests. Deputation tour in Europe: meeting brothers and sisters of our continent. 2010 was our first time to go on deputation tour on our dear 'old' continent. After the joy of celebrating Christmas with Sandra's parents in Switzerland (it was the first time since we were married that we were able to do so!), we started our deputation tour in France, where Stéphane gave a module class on Theology at the Nazarene church in Paris. He enjoyed very much teaching a group of enthusiastic students. We were able to visit the church in Versailles too, where we have a beautiful historic chapel. It was a privilege and joy to be with fellow Frenchmen, listening to their challenges as well as testimonies of God's grace at work in their context. We are thankful for the many ways encouragement and friendship in Christ were exchanged during this time with our churches in and around Paris. Sandra and Stephane Tibi - Newsletter Easter 2011 1
A few weeks later, we traveled to Germany, stopping first at European Nazarene College. Great joy filled our hearts as we saw again familiar faces and remembered our first stop there, three years ago when we were first heading to Africa! We landed a few days later at the Berlin airport. It had started snowing so much that we could hardly see the road and roadsides; at one point, we even used a sledge to carry our suitcases from a home to a nearby train station! We enjoyed traveling a few times by train through the German district to meet the communities. All churches welcomed us very warmly, making us really feel part of the same family. Nazarene brothers and sisters have opened their homes and hearts to us too. We received much love, care and interest. What gave us much joy is that we had the privilege to speak and interact with a wide range of people: teenagers at their teens' night; children from non-christian backgrounds being discipled in Christ by the neighboring Nazarene church; women at a ladies' breakfast sharing their walk of faith; middle-aged to elderly persons at their cell-group, who could see that their memory still works well with the help of graphical tools, and last but not least, a community of elderly Russian-Germans with a most interesting history. Deputation tour in the United States - God's perfect timing! As some of you know, we had to wait for quite some time before getting our visas for the US. We had scheduled deputation tours with churches, were awaited for a retreat time with other missionary interns, and had to be commissioned at General Board... so you can imagine the uneasy situation we were in when we were told that for some mysterious reasons the visa could not be delivered to us! We were waiting at Stéphane's mother's home in France, calling now and then the US Embassy in France, to know when the visas would be issued. Only by God's grace and as an answer to many prayers did we receive our visas - just in time to make it to the interview with our General Superintendents and the commissioning service! Attending the commissioning service in Kansas City allowed us to fully grasp this very important step in our lives and to celebrate this milestone with dear friends from KC First Church of the Nazarene who had come to the service to be with us. Looking back, we can only acknowledge God's amazing plans and say: "Thank you Lord for your faithfulness in our lives, making this day possible, only by your grace - and through the love and guidance of brothers and sisters on the journey!" We were warmly welcomed and greatly blessed by the communities of faith on the districts of Kansas City, Indiana, Eastern Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Nazarene brothers and sisters did not only open to us their churches, but their homes and families as well! We feel privileged and humbled. We came in as strangers and left as dearly appreciated new family members. Sandra and Stephane Tibi - Newsletter Easter 2011 2
A few highlights of this year of ministry, since Easter 2010: Ministry with StudyMaps 1. Stephane continued to work at developing all the books of the Bible, as well as to improve and integrate new translations for tools like the StudyMap on the Articles of Faith (lately, he added Laotian and Thai versions). He was honored to see that the Eurasia region, in their 'Power of One' initiative, integrated this StudyMap and the associated teaching guide (for English) of the Articles of Faith. In Reunion, we test the graphic methodology at all the levels of church work - in sermons, Bible studies and in the training of ministerial students. For the last class we had in February (Introduction to the Old Testament), the students could learn the key message of each book of the Old Testament, the dates of writing of each book, and the relationship with the various empires (with their dates and key events) - a task that would be both daunting and boring without an appropriate methodology, but with the StudyMap approach it became a game that they played together, and it seemed, even enjoyed. One of Stephane's students told him that this method has allowed her to meditate on a regular basis on God's Word. Now when she wakes up at night, she remembers and meditates on a chapter of the Bible instead of focusing on her worries! Praise God! 2. Mobile application StudyMap: By the grace of God, Stephane should be ready in the next months to finish one (or more) mobile application for ipad/ipod/iphone, and distribute it through the Apple app store. These mobile applications use the StudyMap methodology and are meant for teaching the Word of God (both in French and English) with a combination of audio-images-text and perhaps also videos. Once finished, it should allow a better retention of the biblical stories, and allow persons who don't know how to read to either study the Bible with ease or even to help people to learn to read while studying the Bible (that could also potentially interest children). We hope and pray that this will open new doors for evangelism and discipleship - either with literate or with illiterate populations. Ordination in January 2011 in Madagascar We were not able to attend last year's District Assembly in Kansas City where Stephane would have been ordained, but we had the opportunity to attend the District Assembly in Madagascar, our 'neighboring' island on the field. There, at our beautiful district center in the capital-city, after having taught a class a few days before, Stephane had the privilege of being ordained by our General Superintendent, Dr. David Graves, alongside one brother and four sisters in Christ from the Madagascar district. We felt very lovingly surrounded by our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our families were not with us for this special day, but God provided for friends and our family in Christ to be present - and to witness with us God's grace and faithfulness! God is so good! Sandra and Stephane Tibi - Newsletter Easter 2011 3
Ministry in and around Reunion Island: 1. Church in Reunion - evangelism, discipleship and training: By the grace of God, the little church of the Nazarene in Reunion is growing in depth and size - we moved from about 10 persons to about 20 now. We develop creative methods of evangelism since our setting is mostly westernized - with venues like showing a movie during our youth/young adults group with discussions oriented toward Christianity. A person in our assembly has a sail boat and is beginning to offer one-day round-trips of sail/discussions on faith. Another young adult member of our assembly is preparing a role-playing game based on Biblical history (his first test will be on the period of Nehemiah) - to teach through playing key lessons of faith. He plans to reach out to persons not involved in a church, yet open to Christianity. Sandra is developing a program for women in our church, and Stephane will follow her soon with a program for men. Also, Stephane is continuing to prepare the persons of our church who feel God's call for service. Two have responded for the moment, with one or two more who could add to this group in the near future. We are having classes at home every Friday evening with Stephane teaching through the ministerial program. Our Field Strategy Coordinator Rev. Chanda came beginning of 2011 with his wife to teach and encourage us towards reaching out. 2. Probing in Mauritius Island: In January 2011, Stephane went for three days with Rev. Chanshi Chanda to Mauritius, the neighbor-island towards east, to probe a potential establishment of a church there. They were amazed at the quality of the contacts God gave them there. They were able to meet several key persons who showed interested in helping them. They also had the joy of meeting a young man, who came to the Lord, and began a house church at his home. He is considering the possibility of joining our denomination. In April, Stephane and our FSC Chanshi Chanda returned to Mauritius in order to train the interested persons. God willing, Stephane will return in June with Chanshi and our Regional Director - Dr. Filimao Chambo. We have to be clear on one key point: such quality contacts were not possible by human strength, but only by God's grace. We give thanks to our Lord for his grace in all these contacts, and we pray that His will be done in all this. Sandra and Stephane Tibi - Newsletter Easter 2011 4
" Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV) We praise the Lord for: - Having been commissioned and Stéphane's ordination - Blessed deputation tours and protection on the road - Nazarene's prayer, generosity and love - Opportunities in Mauritius - Church registration in Reunion, efficiency with graphic teaching Would you please continue to lift us up in your prayers? We need you at our side! We ask you to pray with us for: - God's lead and continued grace in helping to establish the church of the Nazarene in Mauritius - Discipleship and church growth in Reunion - The various ministries in the church in Reunion (men's, women's, young adults' groups) - Strengthening in Christ the families of the church - Upcoming deputation in April-June 2012 (April in the US, May-June in Europe) - Daily travel mercies and continued good health for service We are thankful for your commitment and faithfulness to the Lord - manifested to us in many ways. Together for Jesus, We are yours in the Messiah, Stéphane and Sandra. Our mailing address in Reunion: Stéphane and Sandra TIBI 93 Bis Route Jules Reydellet La Bretagne 97490 Sainte Clotilde REUNION (FRANCE) Telephone: +262.692.56.55.61 Our email addresses remain the same: stephane.tibi@gmail.com, sandra.tibi@gmail.com The StudyMap website: www.studymaps.org Sandra and Stephane Tibi - Newsletter Easter 2011 5