"I'm a miracle, standing before you!"

An update from Phillip & Vivienne Hatton, BMS workers in Metz, France

We hope you all had a great Easter. On Good Friday we repeated what we did last year and invited those who wished to come to our home for hot cross buns and other light refreshments followed by a short message and a time of prayer.

The Easter Day service was a good time of celebration and in spite of a number of families being away, we had a few visitors too which made up the numbers.

Easter here is a time when families get together and share special meals together. 

Stephen Lungu’s visit was a great time. He opened his talk/testimony with ‘I’m a miracle, standing before you!’ We had heard him speak on several previous occasions but his testimony is so powerful that we’re always ready to hear it again and to have updates.

He began life as an abandoned child, lived under a bridge, got into gang culture and anti-white violence... and now is a trained pastor, General Director of African Enterprise and speaks before national assemblies and leaders.

A lot can happen in a week. After all the activity of Easter weekend we thought it might be a quieter one, with fewer people present. However, it turned out to be quite a day.

We had a few new faces. One was a young woman who has just arrived in Metz to work. There were also two young Chinese men who have also just arrived.They’re studying at the nearby engineering faculty. Getting an ear round French with a Chinese accent was interesting!

We hope that they and some of the 20-40 group will have lunch with us next Sunday and get to know each other. 

For a number of months Maxim, an African, has been coming along fairly regularly, with his family. When we suggested visiting them he said he wasn’t ready as they were getting the house sorted out and had other concerns but yesterday he invited us to fix a date to go over and talk with them.

He has a wife and children and his sister-in-law and her children are often with them too. It was worth waiting for him to make the suggestion. 

The French Baptist Federation annual congress will be in Orleans 17th – 19th May so we’ll be going to that with two of our church council members, Jean-Louis and Brigitte.

As we’ve said before, with churches here being so spread out, it’s important to have such gatherings. The Congress is always held over the Ascension Day holiday break to allow as many as possible to participate.

Thank you for praying for us.

With love from

Phillip and Vivienne