Winter 2025
CHURCH
We hope your Christmas season was filled with joy. With all the other emotions and life circumstance that came with it, may we look to Jesus, “the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the same, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).
This past Sunday was Jonas’ last sermon as the pastor of Evangelische Freikirche am Bohlweg. We thank God for these five years and the many ways the church has grown. After much reflection, prayer and counsel, we trust that our time at this local church has come to an end.
As complex beings, made in God’s image, we can feel a range of different emotions all at once. We are both sad and happy at the same time.
On the one hand, it is heartbreaking to leave. Seeing young adults married who were young teens when we came - or sitting in the baby room for the last time nursing Henning, where five years ago I sat nursing five-week old Fenley. This has been our heart, life and ministry and it is terribly sad to walk away from it.
After years of praying for and trying to raise up other elders, the Lord did not provide a stable, plurality of elders for this congregation. For years Jonas has served in this capacity alone. This has been to the detriment of his physical and mental health and affected our family in unhealthy ways. A recent conflict within the church solidified our conviction that Jonas will not continue to lead this church as the only elder.
Then on the other hand, we are happy. We look can look to Jesus, take a deep breath, and trust him to care for his sheep. We are ready and excited to see what comes next for our family. Where we can serve the Lord with joy and gladness, while also receiving care and growing through Christian fellowship.
Nothing has been wasted.
There is a small group from within the church who will take over, and the church will continue to gather. We pray God will bless, lead and guide them through this transition.
FAMILY
This Christmas was wonderful. It was a marathon of days, but all of it was a cozy joy. Fenley rocked it as Engel #3 and Nora sang a duet at our church’s Christmas Eve service.
Paige is just now walking again after a lengthy twelve-week recovery from a broken knee. When we wrote our last update, the bike accident had just happened, and we never expected the recover to be so long. When I (Paige) was on crutches and in chronic pain, it was hard to keep our head above water as a family. We thank God for the healing the little joys of no longer carrying things in my mouth or crawling up the stairs. Being given, again, physical limitations has been humbling and frustrating, but it has grown me in patience, compassion and contentment.
As our situation with Nora has very much stabilized, it is still difficult and demanding both in time and emotion. Please pray for us in this.
These past years have not been a one-two punch, but rather a one-two-three-four-five-six punch. We have no monopoly on suffering, and we know God has richly blessed and cared for us. Yet we have compound and compacted grief that was never fully processed before we were hit by the next wave. A spit-fire rewind: 2019 we moved from the U.S to Munich when Nora was 8 months old; 2020 experienced the corona pandemic in a large city, difficult pregnancy and birth with Fenley; 2021 moved to Münster when Fenley was five weeks old; Fenley experienced multiple seizures; 2022 moved into our current home, difficult pregnancy and miscarriage; depression; 2024 difficult pregnancy and NICU with Henning; 2025 Nora’s diagnoses; Paige’s broken knee; depression and burnout.
The things we have experienced in these six years would have been hard anywhere, but to live through them in a cross-cultural context while church was also hard, has proven to be extremely wearisome.
We have reached a level of burnout that that we are no longer able to push through. After much prayer and at the encouragement of outside counsel, our family has chosen to step down from pastoral ministry, to take a six-month break. This break will allow us to heal, reflect and rest after our past six and half years in Germany.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
Please pray for us, that God would lead us as he is a lamp to our feet and light to our path (Psalm 119:105).
Jonas will step down as the pastor in January but will receive six months of income. Jonas will also work part time as Nora’s “caretaker” at school, as there is no school nurse. Our desire at the end of this time of rest is to know better in what context and with what parameters we need as a family to be sustainable in ministry.
In January we will be joining the Freie Kirchengemeinde Warendorf and we very much look forward to folding into the life of this church.
We were wisely encouraged to not communicate our plans too far in the future. What we can say is a “now, then and later.” Now, we need a break. Then, in July there is potential for Jonas to serve at a church. Later, we can see us potentially plant a new church with a team. By the end of January, we will know more about the “then” and share our plan for the upcoming “now” rest.
Many are the plans of man but the Lord determines his steps (Proverbs 16:9).
To our ministry partners: We want to be forthcoming with our plan and be clear that for the next six months we will not be serving formally in vocational ministry. Would you prayerfully consider continuing to support us through this time of rest? Please reach out to us if you have any questions.
We are thankful for you,
Jonas and Paige
GIVING
If you like to financially support our ministry in Germany you can klick here.
