Good morning (afternoon here) and greetings from the New Hope Church Czech Team. It's great to finally be a training as we make final preparations for the coming week at English Camp. We love Josiah Venture and the excellent job they do in training our students to step into the lives of Czech students for the purpose of building relationships and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can't wait for camp!
Each year at English Camp we teach a series of messages that are a part of a larger theme. Our theme this year is Collision. Our desire for students at camp is to collide with the person of Jesus Christ. We want them to come face to face with him. We want them to honestly wrestle with who he is and what he has done and ultimately come to put their trust in his completed work.
Please pray for us each night as we share with students and discuss these messages with them. In order to help give you more specifics of what to pray for, here is the run down of each night as we lead up to gospel night on Thursday:
Day One (Saturday): Jesus is different than you think.
On the first night we will be introducing our week with the students and showing them the "collision" between Christ and the Christianity that they have come to know. These students are all coming to camp with presuppositions about Christianity which are based on European Christian history (the Spanish Inquisition, the crusades, corruption in the history of the church in Europe when both Hitler and Stalin were in power in the Czech, etc.). Our goal on the first night is to ask them to see that the teachings of Jesus Christ, the gospel, might actually be much different than what they have come to believe about Christianity. We are asking them on this first night to leave their presuppositions at the door (as much as possible) and hear from the teachings of Jesus.
Day Two (Sunday): Jesus and the adulterous woman.
Our goal on the second night is to show the collision that happens between Jesus, an adulterous woman, and the religious leaders who are trying to use this situation to bring charges against Jesus (John 8:1-11). The goal of the night is for the students to hear that everyone is in need of the grace of God. We want the students to hear that God is perfect and holy, and that we are obviously not. This means that in order for any forgiveness or reconciliation to happen, all of us must receive grace.
Day Three (Monday): Jesus and Zacchaeus.
Even in the midst of our sinfulness and God's holiness, Luke 19 shows us that Jesus is still calling us to himself. Our expectation is too often that if Jesus really knows who I am and what I have done, he must not really love me. But Jesus again collides with our expectations and shows us that even in the midst of our broken pasts, he loves us and calls us to himself because of his grace.
Day Four (Tuesday): Jesus and the rich young ruler
Many of the students coming to English camp think that being good is good enough. We want to show them the collision between our lives when we have anything else as our lord and savior and our lives when Jesus is our Lord and Savior. We want to show them the rich young ruler in Mark 10 and how Jesus calls him away from the money that he is serving for something entirely different. We want the students to take a look at their own lives and examine what things that they have placed as their ultimate good or primary passion. We will ask them to imagine a life that puts its highest hope in Jesus instead of other things.
Day Five (Wednesday): Jesus and Pilate
The reality is that it is difficult to make Jesus your greatest hope in life. For students in Czech it is especially difficult. Many times their families and friends will ridicule and ostracize them when they have come to Christ. The Czech Republic is considered by many to be the most atheistic country in the world. This is an extremely difficult environment for students who desire to place their trust in Christ. We want them to see their need to believe in Jesus even in the midst of hostile circumstances.
Day Six (Thursday--Gospel Night): Jesus and the convicts on the cross
On night six we will be talking mainly about the death and resurrection of Jesus and the new life that he offers us through his completed work on the cross. We want them to see the collision between who they are now and who God is calling them to be in Christ Jesus. We will be doing a prayer walk on this night with the students and at the end of the walk they will have the opportunity to talk with us about Christ. Please pray on this night that students would respond to the gospel.
Day Seven (Friday): Jesus and Peter
On the last night we want the students to see that they can follow Jesus and become a part of his kingdom. This will be another opportunity and challenge for students to respond to the gospel and an encouragement for any who received Christ the night before. Please continue to pray.
Thank you so much for all of your support and encouragement! We are so thankful for all of you!
Blessings,
Jeremy
