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Two big questions people ask in times of crisis are “why?” and “where is God?”. If they asked these questions of Steve Missios - pastor of Grace Life Gospel Church in Vienna, Austria - and stayed around long enough to hear him answer, they would be helped. Here is a man with pastoral empathy and a deep faith in God’s sovereignty who might ask these questions himself from personal experience: why did his brother have to die of a heart attack, why did his wife Kathrin have to be diagnosed with cancer, would he have a job with which to provide for his family after restrictions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic? But Steve knows those of us who follow Jesus do not do so in the absence of suffering - indeed, Christ’s is the way of a cross. Rather, we follow Jesus in and through suffering, which does not drive us away from God but draws us closer to him.
And God is completely trustworthy. Treating Kathrin’s serious cancer diagnosis was complicated by the impact of COVID-19 on the hospitals, but God brought the family through several months of anxiety and fear. Kathrin eventually had the surgery she needed, has recovered, and continues to go for quarterly check-ups.
The church meets in Steve and Kathrin’s house, and as a registered church was able to continue meeting there throughout the past year, with masks and social distancing in place. Several have come and gone over the years, and presently there is a core group of 8 people who gather throughout the week. Though it has been hard to do street evangelism over the past year, the church found ways of going to people with answers to their deepest questions. They distributed German translations of Where is God in a Coronavirus World? by John Lennox along with John Piper’s tract, Quest for Joy, to acquaintances, colleagues, and neighbours. Some have attended church gatherings as a result. Others know the church is there for them if ever they need something.
Whatever questions may be asked of him, and whatever questions he may ask himself, Steve is comforted by the hope of Psalm 56:3: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” He wants others to have the same hope.
Pray for the Missios family: for Steve as he serves the church bivocationally, for Kathrin’s health as she recovers from cancer, and for their daughter Anastasia - it has been hard for her as the only teenager in the church, lacking Christian fellowship with others her age.
Pray for the church: they want to have more zeal and urgency for reaching the lost, want to minister to their community more, and want to be on the streets more, once again talking with people about their hope in these difficult days.
Pray that God would open the hearts of three men Steve has befriended and wants to study the Bible with: Veton, Marko, and Vangelis.
You can make a gift to Grace Baptist Partnership and the ongoing work of leadership training, church planting and revitalisation, using this link: Donate | Grace Baptist Partnership.
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