July 2023 Prayer Requests

Dear Friends of Estonia!

We are thankful to God for a great Annual Conference in Tallinn! It was wonderful to come together from different parts of Estonia for prayer and fellowship and we were blessed to have some of our international friends with us as well. At the conference we heard about what the Lord is doing in the Methodist church in Estonia through different congregations and ministries, several new local church pastors got their first appointments and Vitali Baranov was ordained elder in the church. With the vote of 97% in favor the final decision to disaffiliate from UMC was passed and Estonian Methodist Church (EMC) will continue now as an independent  Methodist church. Disaffiliation took place following the guidelines of the church discipline and an agreement of mutual respectful relationship for the future cooperation was signed between the UMC and EMC by Bishop Christian Alsted and me. We are grateful to Bishop Alsted for his leadership and support in this process and for all the years of his episcopal ministry.

Please continue to pray for the Estonian Methodist Church as we continue to preach the Gospel and serve our communities in a very secular context where so many people need to hear about God’s grace and love. Please pray for the new pastors as they step into their new responsibilities. Please pray for our summer camps, that will also have a lot of Ukrainian refugee kids participating.

Thank you for your prayers!

Praise God for our recent graduates! Six amazing women are now serving God with their newly gained knowledge and diplomas! We are thankful for the time we had with them and pray that God will use them in amazing ways.

Pray for the seminary as we are dealing with several transitions. Transitions related to seminary structure, seminary support, and other matters related to the church split.

Pray for the faculty, staff, and students during the summer break, which covers all of July and into early August. Pray that it may be a time to be refreshed from the stresses of life and school.

Pray for our superintendent Robert, for courage and wisdom to lead our church.

Pray for our congregations that they will manage in a new situation.

Pray for our pastors and leaders.

Pray for children with mental problems, especially for ones with suicidal risk. Pray for healing and peace for them.

Blessings!

The events of the summer have gained great momentum. At the beginning of June, I had very special meetings with American friends who visited Estonia. I am very grateful to God for our friends!

We are currently preparing for a youth camp. Let’s pray for each young people and every member of the team. The camp will be held on July 17-21 in Põlvamaa.

We had a lovely family Midsummer Night in Viitka with people from Võru, Ruusmäe, Viitka, and Räpina.

We are feeding 2 times a week children from social families together with the city government during July. Let’s pray for the children and the cooks.

Many workers have serious health problems in our area. Let’s pray for strength, health, and wisdom for them and the rest of the team members.

We are gathering on Wednesdays outside the new, renovated church building in Räpina. It’s so good to be“@home”, but construction is still in progress. Let’s pray for progress.

We also participated in the Song Festival with Daniel, a special blessing and opportunity.

Summer is a time of meetings and serving. Let’s pray for rest, breathing, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.