trimonthly magazine - Issue 80 P2745429
July 2021
R LPH Road journal
M
BECOMES
Join the movement
VE
TURNING
THE PAGE There are pages that we would like to turn as soon as possible because they are painful to read, like this chapter of Covid that complicates our life and puts our Communities to a severe test. We can’t wait to turn the page, to write new stories, like the dream of implanting a new Community of Jesus’ disciples in Tielt, or of Amélie who has just moved to Gembloux for an internship finally being able to integrate into the city’s activities. There are heavier pages to turn, but life goes on, and even a beautiful chapter eventually comes to an end. We have reached the end of the paper pages for our regular updates, the next chapters will be written on your screens with a few letters and many pictures. And yes, you hold in your hand the last RALPH! For our entire mission, the pages don’t stop turning. The chapter Belgian Evangelical Mis-
Eric Zander
sion has left a place for the new chapter VIANOVA. More than a new name, it’s a renewed approach to our ministry for the Kingdom of God. Our headquarters have moved, most of our churches have become autonomous, only Communities in the making remain, the staff is renewed, our communication is taking new shape already…and the new chapter gives a glimpse of exciting adventures. With Paul, we want to enter fully into this renewed life, “forgetting what lies behind and pressing on to what is ahead” 1, in order to pursue this call that God has entrusted to us: to live and to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus, to fashion disciples into His image, and to bring them together in vibrant and integrated Communities all over our country. Thank you for accompanying us in this commitment to God’s Kingdom, and for turning the page and writing this new story with us.
1 Philippians 3:13
Editor Eric Zander Pictures & illustrations
Contact Romboutsstraat 7 1932 Zaventem BELGIUM
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RALPH | 2
Tel: +32(0)2/241.30.15. E-mail: info@vianova.be • ralph@vianova.be www.vianova.be • facebook.com/vianova.be • vianova.be/youtube Privacy We protect our subscribers’ privacy: www.vianova.be/privacy-policy
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Community Tielt | Pieter-Jan & Febe
WHY DID PETER-JAN AND FEBE MOVE TO TIELT? www.vianova.be/tielt
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TELL YOUR STORY | Journey | Amélie
STOP! I MUST WALK! WHY? BECAUSE I LEARN, I MOVE FORWARD, I DREAM WHEN I WALK. www.vianova.be/amelie RALPH | 3
THIS IS THE LAST RALPH! VIANOVA BECOMES 100% DIGITAL! SIGN UP FOR
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Join the movement
WWW.VIANOVA.BE/MOOVE starting in September 2021
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BIBLICAL TRAINING TOUR EQUIPPING DISCIPLES OF JESUS FOR SERVICE | EPHESIANS 4:12 10 - 15 August 2021 | for young adults (18 to 30-years old)*
Centre CIRAC - Marcourt A week of life in Community in the heart of the Ardennes. A biblical training tour—theoretical and practical—to shape the character, vision and skills of Jesus’ disciples for service in the church and in our contemporary world. This tour includes personalized coaching to help each person discern God’s call for his or her life and to put that call in motion as Jesus leads. Special times of sharing and experimentation, meditation and worship, creative expression and fun. ost : 200€, all-inclusive C cost-sharing are possible)
(scholarships
and
• • • • • • • • • • • •
living as an apprentice of Jesus how to explore the Bible for yourself how to explore the Bible with others survey of the Old and New Testaments Jesus at the heart of God’s plan cardinal principles of the Christian life the church, from institution to movement spiritual gifts and the call of God living and sharing the Gospel today the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a disciples and in the world learn how to use various Bible study tools (software, literature, online) …
These are indications of the programme. The complete programme will be available a bit later. *exceptions are possible
Any questions? Want to subscribe? Send an email to E412@VIANOVA.BE
COVID, ISOLATION AND INTEGRATION Hilde, it’s the laugh, a presence, good humor and concern for others. You meet her and you’re marked for life. But during this pandemic that has hindered the entire world for more than a year, isolation plagues many…Hilde included. First of all, let’s place our article in context. Hilde is single; she lives alone. After having lived for 20 years in Brakel, she moves to Heusdon-Zolder, the other side of the country, at the end of 2019. In her new city, she doesn’t know anyone except for the other participants of the Community project that she is joining. She has a thirst to integrate herself deeply into her new environment, to be of service to people, to reflect Christ to those that she will meet. The moving boxes are finally empty, it’s time to open the door and to respond concretely to God’s call…and then confinement, and a second one, as well as numerous governmental measures that change the game.
“I MISS PEOPLE.”
“It’s been some months since I’ve been able to invite almost no one to my home,” Hilde begins her story. “Everyday, I see people interposed on the computer screen, but that’s not enough: I need real contact. I spend days alone with myself!” Even though the frustrations are present, Hilde refuses to be let down. In March 2020, she offers her services to her closest neighbors, signs up on a volunteer site, and finishes by providing online tutoring for five siblings. When the sanitary measures are lifted at the beginning of summer, Hilde meets some city officials—maybe she could finally be able to integrate? Some options are offered to her but nothing seems to fit her. Suddenly Belgium imposes the second confinement. A difficult blow for Hilde, who thinks she can’t
endure it, but who clings to the promises that she reads in God’s word.
“SOME OPTIONS I HAD NEVER THOUGHT OF.” During the second confinement, Hilde receives an invitation to volunteer at a retirement home. An invitation she had already received during the summer, but which she had declined. She already had many contacts with elderly people as she also cares for her aging parents. And maybe it would be more effective to build relationships with younger people where she could discuss her faith. But this time, she accepts, persuaded that this is coming from God. It’s a revelation: “In fact,” she recalls, “being surrounded by people 80-years old and older, is to discover the wealth of their experiences in life. I realize that my presence reduces their sense of isolation, a mutual feeling. And I also share in the daily life of the nursing staff.” Hilde is delighted with her experience, to the point of envisioning pursuing it for the long term, even when Covid will be long behind us.
“INTEGRATION AND THE DISAPPEARING FISHBOWL.”
Integration, the anecdote for isolation? Like a fish that leaves the fishbowl that he has always known in order to venture into the vaste unknown of the ocean, Hilde changed regions to meet people. “In the past, my life and my agenda centered on the needs of believers. One day, I understood that the Lord has called us to integrate into the lives of those around us—and not to wait for them to visit us in our fishbowl.” Leave our fishbowl? Never to return? Hilde’s response is clear: “Perhaps we shouldn’t have a fishbowl at all. Just be
fish who swim in the ocean with the other fish, because that’s where God has placed them. Regularly, they get together in a beautiful place in the ocean to swim together and glorify their Creator. The fish that don’t know the Lord can observe them, sometimes from a distance, then they get closer little by little. And this reconciliation will certainly be easier without having to pass by the narrow opening of the fishbowl.” So, no more evangelization? “The Lord will take care of it,” she affirms. “The important thing is to reflect Him wher-
ever we are, even without words. It’s necessary that our presence becomes His presence. By integrating, I meet people where they are and they meet me. We are all on the same level.” Even her way of praying has developed differently. Instead of targeting this person or that subject, Hilde has started the habit of asking the Lord to make her a little more sensitive each day to His voice so that He guides her where she would be useful to Him: “It’s in this way that I found my self a volunteer at the retirement home,” she concludes.
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TeaTime: Integrate | Hilde D.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO LISTEN TO HILDE’S FULL INTERVIEW? www.vianova.be/hilde RALPH | 7
L’ÉGLISE SANS LES MURS JOURNEYING TOGETHER WITH JESUS
ERIC ZANDER Reflections by a Belgian practitioner on ways of living Church today Be careful not to nullify the Word of God with functions that eat up our resources. The church doesn’t work like it used to! Many feel this way. Yet the Gospel is timeless, and the Word of God has not lost its power. Yet Christ himself promised that he would build his church. What if it was our church culture that was stuck in the old world, preventing it from taking root in all kinds of cultural soil and transmitting the unchanging truths of the Bible? It is time to go back to the basics, to the raw materials, dusting off the influence from past trends, to rethink our relationship to the world, our discipleship and our church life. It is time to return to the fundamentals and reinterpret them in our contemporary society.
It is time to incarnate ourselves in our world, serving and standing alongside others. It is time for followers of Jesus to gather in family communities, participative and incarnational, not confined to the visibility of buildings but truly moving on a journey with him.
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