The 2008 International Leadership Conference (ILC) in Kiev, Ukraine called us back to “The Edge” of our walk with God — faith in action! God has blessed our family called the International Churches of Christ with incredible faith stories through the years. Our brother Thierry Fender, who is our only full-time evangelist in Western Europe, reminded me of the impact of faith that says, “Bring no umbrellas.”
After the ILC, a long-standing prayer was answered as I was privileged to meet with l’Eglise du Christ du Léman in Geneva, Switzerland and stay for a few days with our dear friends Thierry and Isabelle Fender and their four wonderful children: Anthony, Jordan, Linda and Clara. Thierry was baptized in Chicago in 1988. Marcia and I were at the European Missions Conference when he proposed on stage to Isabelle. They both served as anchors for the French version of KNN news videos in various cities around the world. We exchange family pictures and news and always make time to have a meal whenever we can see each other.
While sharing some delicious homemade bread, Swiss cheese and French wine, Thierry reminded me of a radical faith story from 20 years ago. Studying for a Master’s degree in Chicago, he was coming to church and studying the Bible for awhile. God had blessed the Chicago Church of Christ with explosive growth from 350 to 1500 in three years. By the grace of God, Marty Fuqua and I were co-leading the church at the time. What I remember is that we didn’t really know what we were doing, and we knew it. We had to lean on God and the Spirit working through us and through others who gave us input.
In 1988 we planned an August Sunday church service at the shore of Lake Michigan next to the renowned Lincoln Park Zoo. For this park service we were inviting as many friends as possible and we would feed everyone who came thanks to the talents of Don Boffa, a great brother who was finishing chef school.
Excitement flowed throughout the church every Sunday, but the park service was special. We were taking our worship and God’s love to the streets. We had no doubt many would come and someone passing by would become a Christian. That Friday and Saturday the dark side decided to rain on our parade. It rained both days with a forecast of rain for all day Sunday.
The calls were coming in fast and furious, “Are we going to cancel?” Marty and I talked and prayed. We reminded each other of Mark 11:22-24:
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.
We decided to go by faith and have the service. So our answers to the calls were, “Pray, come — and don’t bring an umbrella.”
When we got up on Sunday morning it was raining. The calls kept coming. The answer was the same. By the time we left for the service the rain had stopped. The sun appeared. Incredibly, by the time we started the service, the ground was dry. We had a wonderful service. Don led the troops in feeding about 2,200 people in 30 minutes. Just as we finished giving the leftovers to the homeless and loading the last garbage bags, it started to rain again. God heard our prayers and honored our faith with a profound “Yes”.
For Thierry, this was a crucial day. He had been studying the Bible, which was pretty radical for his French heritage. He remembers at the beginning of the service, we asked the crowd, “How many of you thought it was going to rain today?” Most all of the crowd raised their hands. We quoted the Messiah: “Oh, you of little faith!” It was the most fun conviction we ever had.
Thierry’s response was to find the brothers who were teaching him the Bible. He said, “I have to be baptized today.” They told him there was still much he needed to learn. He said he didn’t care if they studied all day and all night, he needed to become a disciple. Later that night he was baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of his sins and received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We were concerned when Thierry returned to France because he had to serve one year compulsory military service. He stayed with God and kept in touch with disciples. After 6 months, far from a church, he was able to move to Paris. When he finished his military service, he began training for the full-time ministry where he was eventually appointed an evangelist and later sent to lead the Geneva Church.
The Geneva Church has been through a lot. During the crisis in our churches the membership dipped to 25. It is now back to about 45 adults and 38 children! Their contagious spirit of love, joy and unity envelops you in their fellowship. After the lesson Wednesday night, their questions were mostly about how they could have more faith and start evangelizing again. We simply said, “Share your faith and don’t bring an umbrella.”
There used to be 30 full-time ministry staff in Western Europe. Now Thierry is the last one standing. But he is standing with a supportive church that is healed and looking outward again with mature leaders. The local church and the International Missions Society are to be commended for their faith and action during the last few years.
If you are into French, you must check out the extensive teaching on the beautiful new website for the Geneva Church: www.ecleman.ch
I have seen Thierry grow in many ways through the years. It reminds me of verse 25 often left out when Mark 11 is quoted:
But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.
Jesus directly tied our faith to our ability to forgive and not hold grudges. How is our faith/grudge quotient?
In 2004, about 40 of us were in a room after the ILC in Chicago. Still very shell-shocked, we were trying to discern where God wanted us to go as a movement. I will never forget one comment. Two brothers were very concerned that we should change our name from the International Churches of Christ. After much discussion, the conversation ended resolutely when Thierry made a wise observation. He simply said, “This is a very good discussion. But I know that when our family has trouble, we don’t change our name.”
Why don’t we need our own umbrellas? Because our Father has one big enough for all of us. Let’s continue to call each other back to the edge of faith. Radical faith in action. No grudges. No umbrellas.
Roger Lamb
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