Prayer Letter

Baby Alphée

Last time, we asked for prayers that (our co-pastor) Lula's baby would be born safe and well. God answered those prayers, and Alphée Jean Aragorn Deroeux was born on 29 July, weighing in at 2.76 kg. Lula and her husband, Benjamin, are doing really well and settling smoothly into parenthood.

Benjamin is a Baptist pastor too, in fact, in a neighbouring church about a 25-minute drive away from Gif-sur-Yvette. Lula and Benjamin are one of just two such couples here in France, where both spouses are Baptist pastors. In each case, the spouses are currently ministering in different, neighbouring churches and the two young women are on maternity leave, having become mums for the first time.

This is a new experience for the French Baptist Federation, then, but one that is likely to be repeated, as more younger women train for ministry and meet their future husbands at college. We are listening carefully to these first two couples, aiming to learn from their experience and to see how we can best support them.

With the arrival of parenthood, each of these couples would like to be able to work together in the same church before too long. This will not be straightforward, however, as there are very few French Baptist churches that would have the means to financially support more than one post. Pray for discernment.

Home Assignment in the UK

In our previous letter, we also asked for prayers for safe travel during our Home Assignment. Again, God answered those prayers, as we drove from Angus to Hampshire and to a whole range of places in between.

That said, we did have a breakdown on the M74 and had to get towed off. The tow-truck driver kept our car overnight, after depositing us in the Gretna Green services. We had to remain in those services for 24 hours, until we could find a garage willing to take a look at our car – not at all an easy task during the summer holidays!

Then there was the question of how to move on from the Gretna services, after discovering that no taxi company or Uber driver was willing to pick us up. The staff generously took us in hand and one of the shop workers drove us to the train station in her own car. So kind!

Camp Barnabas

Around twenty young leaders from across France, who could have been at the beach, decided rather to devote a week of their summer holidays to further training, so that they might better serve and support their youth groups.

At the end of August, Philip was one of the speakers at 'Camp Barnabas', where he saw a generation ready to seek God first and to serve others. It was a privilege to spend time with these young people and so to invest in what God is preparing for tomorrow.

Family News

In between our Home Assignment engagements, from mid-June to the end of July, we were glad to be able to call in on various family members.

This included a visit to the home of our younger daughter, her husband, and our two grandchildren, where we learned that there is a third baby due at Christmas time!

Do please pray for the final four months of the pregnancy and for a safe delivery at the end of the year.

Prayer Points

- Give thanks for the safe arrival of Lula and Benjamin's baby son, Alphée.

- Give thanks for our safe travels around the UK and for the kindness of strangers.

- Ask for God's blessing on the next generation of young French Baptists.

- Pray for the final four months of our daughter's pregnancy and for a safe delivery at the end of the year.

With our warm good wishes and our thanks for your ongoing support,

Philip & Rosemary.