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Belgische Evangelische Zending Mission Evangélique Belge
Issue 45 : December 2013 - January 2014
BEM info
News from the Belgian Evangelical Mission
Is that my prayer too? In just a few days we will be celebrating Christmas and then 2014 begins. I imagine that, for many of us, this year will seem to have passed at a frantic pace.We’ve probably all known times of rejoicing, and also of regret, or disappointment… But how do we want to live, on what do we want to base our lives each day that God in His grace has granted us? Do we long for ‘more of God’ in our lives? To ‘be filled with all the fullness of God’ is what Paul prays for and desires for the Ephesians. This is what he asks God for them in chapter 3 v. 14-20: ‘For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through the Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.’ NIV To be strengthened – we need to be strengthened by God in our daily walk with Him. To be indwelt – we need Christ to take a greater place in our lives. To be established – we need to grow in our love for God and for others. And to know the immensity of God’s love and to be filled with His Presence. God alone can do this in us. The question is: do we want it? At this Christmastime, may we rediscover the gift of love that God has given us in Jesus and be amazed once more. May we proclaim and spread this love around us – why not with a calendar from a BEM bookshop or your local Christian bookshop? And all through the New Year, may we seek to dwell in the reality of the life that God has given us, in His grace, filled and led by Him, and for His glory only. May this prayer be ours – for ourselves, for our brothers and sisters, and for His Church. Luc Salsac www.bez-meb.be
Het Goede Boek : 40 years of reading an
Our former co-workers (a part of the team)
‘Het Goede Boek’ (The Good Book) bookshops started in Flanders in the 70s, at the time of the great Billy Graham evangelistic campaigns. Their role: to distribute resources for evangelism. 40 years later, there is still a longing for a spiritual revival in the north of the country. ‘Het Goede Boek has survived many storms and the storms will continue’ explains Linda Smit, bookshop manager in Louvain and our longest-serving co-worker. We’re going to take a journey through time, as Linda tells her story: When my husband Ger and I arrived in Hasselt in 1988, we did not even have a cash register, let alone a computer. I kept hand-written accounts. This seems very hard to believe today, but it was only 25 years ago. Since then, the work has changed enormously, mostly thanks to modern technology. The Internet gives us more work, but also more opportunities to serve our customers. We have also found that we sell more when we do book-stands where we have installed a bank card-reader. So in fact, it’s just the way we work that has changed.
The Hasselt bookshop
“I have heard it said that within a few years Het Goede Boek will no longer exist, but I do not believe it.” Linda Smit at work
The new shop in Courtrai
Teo & Elly Kamp, in the 70s
The need is still the same as it was 40 years ago: supporting the churches and the believers in their desire to proclaim the Gospel, and strengthening the faith of Christians. And even in our high-speed society, we take the time to listen to our customers, answering their questions and giving them advice. We help them, sometimes speaking to them for the first time about the Gospel; it all depends on their needs. From time to time we may have the opportunity to pray with them. The individual is more important than the book: we are interested first of all in the person, and then we think about how we can bring them closer to God from where they are in their lives. And our work gives us many opportunities to do this. Yes, people may say that before long bookshops will no longer exist – because of Internet shopping, e-readers and all the technology that enables us to download books. I don’t believe it - because there will always be folk who need help and who want personal contact, people who like to browse through the shelves, to look through a magazine or who just take pleasure in handling a book. I don’t think there’s any need to fear the future. I expect that one day these new technologies will reach their limit. But we will continue to be on duty here to welcome those who love books, and to answer their questions. I am particularly glad that there is a new bookshop in Courtrai. The fact that it coincides with the 40th anniversary of Het Goede Boek is a symbol of our perseverance as a mission. I can still remember the first Courtrai bookshop in 1978, with Teo and Elly Kamp.”
nd of faithfullness “Het Goede Boek is the most beautiful place in Louvain.”
Enjoying the bookshop
Several people have told me that they feel a special sense of peace in our bookshop. One of our customers always says ‘Het Goede Boek is the most beautiful place in Louvain.’ We have had people rush in and rush straight out again. Sometimes it is the title of a book, or the text on a card or the music we sell that the Lord uses to touch the hearts of passers-by. There are always newcomers: in the last fortnight we have had three new customers. Sometimes we’re asked why we don’t make more effort to publicise or why we don’t try to make more money by selling stationery, for example. That’s not our mission. We don’t need to do that; the bookshops will be here as long as the Lord wants them to be here. It’s not our ministry but His, and we must leave it in His Hands. In fact, I don’t do that enough. It’s not our efforts that enable the ministry to continue, but the Lord Who is in control.
Jona & Sara Govaert HGB Kortrijk
An important call We would like to draw your attention to a pressing financial need : there has been a serious reduction in the general funds received by the M.E.B.This fund is for the administrative work undertaken in our central office in Brussels. Over and above the salaries for the team, your gifts enable us to cover the costs relating to the building, the electricity, the supplies – in fact, everything we need to produce the newsletter you are reading at the moment, for example! Norton House is the nerve centre for the whole of the B.E.M. and your generosity enables us to carry on God’s work in Belgium. Could you consider supporting us financially and in prayer? Regular gifts or a one-off gift can be forwarded to the account number given, with the mention of ‘Norton House’. Send a check to: See details on the last page All gifts are tax deductible if sent to this address
You read, they read, we all read Whether it was in the parcels sent to Belgian soldiers inWorldWar I trenches on theYser, or through the post-war ‘Book-room’ which operated in Brussels, or in our Bookshops today, the distribution of Christian literature has always been an important part of the Belgian Evangelical Mission. Today, there are two French-language bookshops which continue to support the Mission’s evangelistic work in Wallonia.
Fabrice & Sylviane Dubus, Stefanie Böttger, Marie-Christine & Willy Fraipont
Le Bon Livre (The Good Book) team is led by Willy Fraipont. Born in Belgium, he met his wife Marie-Christine at the Lamorlaye Bible Institute in France. Now the parents of four grown-up children, they first served the Lord for a number of years in several different occupations in Lyons and Dunkirk from 1980 onwards. Christian literature became more and more a part of their lives, until they moved back to Belgium arriving in 2003 to work in the Liège bookshop with Beat and Ruth Koch. In the same year, Fabrice and Sylviane Dubus came to Liège from the Orleans region in France. As students of the Bible Institute of Geneva, they did a two-year internship with the MEB, combining pastoral ministry in the Herstal church and Christian bookselling in Brussels. This year they celebrated eight years as bookshop managers in the capital. Stefanie Böttger came to us from Germany, and joined the team in Liège in 2007 after an internship in Libramont as part of her theological studies. In addition both bookshops benefit from the help of several volunteers. Stefanie, Marie-Christine and other volunteers ran a weekly ‘Bible and Faith’ discovery group in the Liege bookshop for five years, the fruit of which is still felt today. Several times a year ‘Le Bon Livre’ is asked to run stands with literature or Fair Trade products for conferences, open house days, or small Sunday gatherings. And the Liege bookshop has joined the local Shopkeepers’ Association, in order to be able to participate in the life of the area around the bookshop, including the annual street market. The area currently covered by the two bookshops in Wallonia is very large. This is shown by the huge number of orders sent out from Brussels by post. A new bookshop site in French-speaking Belgium is an urgent need. To take this project forward, we need new coBEM, Inc. workers who know and love God’s Word, who love books, and who are PO Box 2255 good with people. These new co-workers are much needed... and we are Buford, GA 30515 678-408-2361 very much looking forward to welcoming them onto our team! usbem@bellsouth.net
Belgian Evangelical Mission UK P O Box 617 EPSOM KT17 9JQ E-mail: BEMUK@b-e-m.org Lambermontlaan 158 - 1030 Brussel +32 (0)2/241.30.15 - information@b-e-m.org
Belgian Evangelical Mission - UK is a member of Global Connections (Formerly the Evangelical Missionary Alliance), a registered charity (no.247192) and a registered data user.