Western Europe

Switzerland

IN JUST ONE YEAR!!! God has accomplished great things for this country.

The FamilyLife ministry began in December 2004 at the EXPLO conference in Basel. The emphasis was on equipping married couples and laying a foundation for pre-marrieds. They recruited couples to be coaches for pre-married couples.

The FamilyLife staff has grown to three full-time people and four Swiss Campus staff couples as conference speakers. They had two marriage conferences called “Ehe mit Vision”–Marriage With a Vision.

April in Bregenz (Austria) – 65 couples attended 

• 4  Decisions for Christ 
• 41 Prayed to be filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit
• 73 Willing to change problematic attitudes
• 75 Decisions to rededicate their marriage to God
• 2 Committed to supporting FL ministry

November in Gwatt (Switzerland) – 90 couples attended

• 4 Decisions for Christ
• 65 To be filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit
• 132 Willing to change problematic attitudes
• 89 Decisions to rededicate their marriage to God

 At both conferences, there was great interest in starting or being involved in a marriage course.

Comments from conferees:

“My husband could not be motivated to attend a marriage seminar for 20 years. Now he is very enthusiastic.”

“The talks were never boring, all of them full of good information and touching the heart.”

“Now I am open to the Holy Spirit. For the first time I feel free to pray with my wife.”

FamilyLife Switzerland has a partnership with the Alpha Marriage course. “Der Ehe-Kurs” is a secular, church-based marriage course. The format is similar to basic HomeBuilders. There was a one-day seminar in Winterthur to train couples to lead this course. There were 300 people in attendance representing 19 denominations.

"The huge number of attendees and the solid effects did surpass our expectations. “Der Ehe-Kurs” bears the signs of an uncontrolled movement. God is recruiting couples to help others in their church and neighborhood. We are glad to contribute to this development by training people and supplying material in the German language."
                               —Hansjōerg Forster, Director of the FL team in Switzerland

A pre-marriage seminar was held in Zürich to train coaches in using the partnership material—“Prepare-Enrich.” Our strategy is to develop this conference by using associate staff to reach the local churches. We trained 24 coaches!

2006 Plans
Hansjoerg Forster said he gladly realizes that it is God’s time to step into lots of open doors. So they have doubled the “Ehe mit Vision” to four this coming year. In the fall they will have their first Pre-Marriage conference. Thanks to the Lord! Mr. Forster said, “We are not called to lament the disastrous state of marriage and family in our society, but to build up strong relationships as models of the power of God.”

Berlin, Germany

The all-African FamilyLife seminar was small in attendance but grand in what the Lord did. One man prayed to receive Christ by faith. All the couples in attendance prayed to seek the power of the Holy Spirit in their marriages. One key African pastor represented the largest African congregation in Berlin. He is praying that he can conduct a marriage and family seminar in his church.

Parenting Forum
Nearly 30 people came to hear about biblical parenting. There were four leaders including us who each gave a 10-minute message on a certain aspect of parenting. Then we sat at four group tables and discussed the issues: discipline, developing your child’s character, health and safety, and working as a husband and wife team. Then came the questions—lots of them. We believe that today’s young parents are very hungry for information about the ‘science and art of parenting’—God’s way. We pray that this forum will lead up to a two-day conference on parenting in the fall.

Also in the fall, we are planning a FamilyLife Marriage and Family conference in Leipzig. This is a wonderful opportunity and vision of seeing the family and marriage interest expand across Germany to the International English-speaking churches. In addition, we have three German conferences coming in 2008!