News from Normandy - January 2007

This newsletter is also available as a PDF format. It consists of two A4 landscape pages, which if printed on either side of one sheet of A4 paper, can be folded to form an A5 sized leaflet of four pages.

Greetings from Normandy

As we return to Normandy after a visit to the UK over the Christmas and New Year breaks, and as we look forward to 2007 we, and possibly also you, are faced on the one hand with many difficulties, but on the other hand with many opportunities.

View of Houlgate from across the mouth of the River Dives

Frances Havergal, in her hymn for the new year “Standing at the portal of the opening year” reminds us of the certainty of the Lord's promises. No matter what our situation or need, He is all-sufficient:

“Resting on His promise,
What have we to fear?
God is all-sufficient
For the coming year.”

At the start of this new year, we would like to say “thank you” to the many of you who have expressed your support and encouragement in so many ways in the past year.

May the Lord richly bless you in 2007.

Philip & Simone Loose

Some of Normandy's large population of cows

Registered Charity Status

In October 2006 Normandy Vision UK Trust was formally set up and registration with the Charity Commission of England and Wales was completed in November 2006. Our charity registration number is 1116858.

There are currently seven trustees: Mrs Vivien Bounds (Essex), Mr Philip Loose (Normandy), Mrs Simone Loose (Normandy), Rev Bill Matthews (Hampshire), Mr Jack Millsted (Essex), Rev Peter Michell (Kent), Pastor Andrew Taylor (Warwickshire).

We hope to hold our first Trustees meeting soon which will give the Board the opportunity to think and pray about the future plans, activities and direction of the work of Normandy Vision.

Please pray for the Trustees as they begin their work, and for the Lords direction and wisdom as we think about the future.

Autumn Seminar Programme

Three seminars were held at Houlgate Evangelical Church during the autumn of 2006. These were:

• “The Emerging Church - the future of the church in France?” with Pastor David Brown from France Mission
• “The Bible and Science” with Dr André Eggen
• “The Holy Spirit.” with Pastor Xavier Lukins

While the content and presentation of each of the seminars was excellent, and those who came to each one found them extremely helpful, we had considerably less people attending them than we had hoped for.

We now need to review the idea of putting on a regular programme of Seminars in order to consider whether this is the way forward, and to identify what were the reasons for the low attendance at these events.

We have had enquiries from some of those who came to one or more of the seminars as to when we are going to be arranging some more, as they found them very profitable and enjoyable.

Please pray for us as we consider whether to organise more seminars, what format they should be in, and who should be asked to speak at them.

English Language Services

Falaise - Birthplace of William the Conqueror

For the last few months we have organised a monthly worship service in English. These are held on a Sunday afternoon at Houlgate Evangelical Church.

It has been suggested to us that there should be more than one service a month, so we are considering increasing to two or even more services a month. Many of the people coming to the English services travel up to 60 miles to be with us from an area to the south-west of us in the region of the towns of Fler and Falaise (birth-place of William the Conqueror). Rather than have them all travel such long distances on a Sunday, for some of the services we may travel down to their area and hold the services there.

Map showing location of Houlgate, Fler and Falaise

One of the highlights of these meetings was the Carol Service held at the beginning of December when there were about 30 people present for a “traditional” service of Bible Readings and Carols, aimed at both young and old. The church had its Christmas decorations up, and it felt like being back in England again! If there had not been such a severe storm the previous night and during the morning throughout Brittany and Normandy, making travelling potentially hazardous for those coming from a long distance, there would have been several more people there to share in a celebration of the birth of our Saviour.

The holidays are coming! We hope once again to be able to hold Sunday-morning worship services in English at Houlgate throughout the summer holiday period. These are primarily aimed at holiday-makers whose first or second language is English.

Please pray for the group of Christians in the Fler / Falaise area of Normandy; for the English services and for all who take part in them, and especially as we consider holding them more frequently and/or holding services in the Fler / Falaise area. Pray too for plans for the summer services, and of advertising them in the right places at the right times so visitors will know about them in advance.

Christian Centre

Now that Normandy Vision has been registered as a charity, we hope to be able to begin to take forward practically the project to establish a Christian Centre in Normandy. This will be one of the subjects on the agenda for the first Trustees meeting. A property in which we were interested in the Houlgate area has not become available, and we may have to consider what alternatives there are. Normandy has many suitable properties that regularly come on to the market, ranging from an old priory through to a magnificent chateau - and all at extremely low prices relative to what we are used to in the UK.

Please pray for all the Trustees as they think about how this project should be taken forward, especially when it comes to the basic questions such as “Where?”, “When?” and “How?”.

In Brief

There are other activities in which we are involved and for which we would value your prayers: Houlgate Evangelical Church; Ladies (English!) Bible Study which includes English, American and French ladies; Ladies Monthly Craft Club at Houlgate; Contacts with neighbours and those in the church at Houlgate; Developing contacts with other churches; Answering emails from around the world ...

Please pray regularly for all these different items.

Supporting Normandy Vision

If our work is going to be able to continue and develop, we need to encourage support for the work of Normandy Vision in three key areas: 1. Prayer 2. Involvement 3. Giving

Please pray for us as we try to develop contacts with churches throughout the UK in the coming weeks in order to try and raise awareness of Normandy Vision and its work here in Normandy, and that there would be a growing interest in supporting our work in these three key areas of Prayer, Involvement and Giving.

More information about giving to Normandy Vision.