In our weekly round-up, Eternity looks at what some of our Australian missionaries are up to each week. 

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Mark and Rochelle Groombridge in Slovenia

Mark and Rochelle Groombridge have three young children and have been working since 2005 for Reformirana evangelijska cerkev (the Reformed Evangelical Church) in Ljubljana, Slovenia. They have been sent by Australian churches and Christians in association with CMS. Mark works as an assistant pastor and teacher alongside the Slovene pastor, Peter Novak.

This week, Mark blogged about the Bible Society of Slovenia’s annual Bible Marathon, a week when the Bible is read for 24 hours a day for 7 days.

“People from around Slovenia can come to a chapel in central Ljubljana and read the Bible aloud. Usually churches organise a few hours one day when they all come together and take turns to read chapters. The event opens and ends with pray and throughout the week there are some talks to accompany the theme of the Marathon. This year the event was held at the beginning of October and theme came from Jesus’ words in Mark 5: “Don’t fear, only believe,” Mark says.

“…This year Peter Novak, the pastor of the Reformed Evangelical Church (REC), who also happens to be my boss, organised for us to give two talks in conjunction with the Bible Society Marathon. The titles for the talks were “Do you understand what you are reading?”. This was Philip’s question to the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8. Our goal was to help people consider an appropriate approach to read, understanding and applying Scripture.” (Read Mark’s full post here, about how he prepared and how he preached).

Jennie Girard in France

Jennie Girard is currently serving as a supported missionary in France, where her husband Pascal is a pastor in a French Evangelical Church Union.

After returning to France from her home assignment in Australia during October, she launched into Combined Women’s Day preparation.  “Welcome Eternity in our lives” was the theme chosen for the day. Jennie blogs about the day:

“Our symbolic action was to take a stone from the bowl and place it at the foot of the cross to reinforce the commitment we made to God to act on our understanding of how being already part of eternity will affect our way of living out our faith. The stones would then form an altar, a bit like the Israelites did in the Old Testament stories, when they made or renewed an alliance with God…22 women came to this day – a first for our ladies’ group. We had stimulating discussions, felt at ease to share, enjoyed a simple meal, time out from busy lives and this special moment when we sang a blessing to each other.” (Read Jennie’s full post here, and see her photos from the day).

The Fields in Argentina

Martin and Julie are working with students in the city of Córdoba, Argentina. This week, Julie blogs:

“Every year in October our church offers local children another option to the Halloween celebration … the  Party of the Light  (Fiesta de la Luz).

“350 children came to church for games, songs, puppet shows and theatre. There was also a clear presentation of the gospel and follow-up in small groups with leaders.

“This year the church also offered a parents programme … but I chose to stay outside and chat with the parents who preferred to remain outside and watch their kids.  Its amazing how mate and cake can start a great conversation!” (Read Julie’s post on her blog here)

We know some missionaries work in sensitive countries and we’re setting things up so that they’re not compromised. Got a missionary we should know about? Email us here and we’ll follow them up.

Header image: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1170737