The Pangrati Project • Athens Greece

https://mailchi.mp/b03d5c03cffe/the-pangrati-project-newsletter-605930  

The Pangrati Project is the church planting effort of The Greek Evangelical Church of Glyfada. Our vision is to hear the narrative of the city, find its needs, and serve them in a new and unique way.  Our goal is to intentionally bring the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to every relationship we build, serve the needs of the residents of Pangrati, and create a new community of faith that will eventually become an evangelical church.

Thank you for your prayers and support of The Pangrati Project! As we all know the Corona-virus has changed the atmosphere of the whole world at the moment. With everyone anxiously waiting for this to pass, we wanted to send a quick update on how the project is moving forward at this time.

Corona-Virus in Greece 

We are very thankful and impressed by our government's quick response to the threat of the virus. On March 10th they closed all public and private schools and shortly after that all large gatherings. From there they continued to close all public places, as of now, we have been on lockdown for almost two months. The only places open are pharmacies and grocery stores and you must receive an online permit to visit them. Despite the strict "stay-at-home" measures we have found creative ways to stay connected as a team and continue to pray for our area. 

What This Means For The Pangrati Project

Unfortunately with all the restrictions outreach ministry in Pangrati has been put on hold. But with the relationships we have already established, we are staying in communication with them as best we can through calls, messages, and social media.  
Fortunately, we are also able to continue our team training and prayer meetings through Skype. Every Friday evening we come together, through our screens, to see one another's faces, to pray for Pangrati, and the effects of the virus around the world. Every other week we look forward to receiving training, lead by Emmanuel, to learn more about how to better serve our area. A curriculum that focuses on personal growth, community building, and evangelism. 

One of the creative ways we are staying engaged as a team and continuing to think about our community is through small groups. We have divided into three different groups, each of which, is focusing on one of our three target groups; families, college students, artists. Each group is reading a book on the topic of their target group, discussing it together, and planning creative ideas for outreach in the future. At our bi-weekly meeting, they also share these ideas, along with what they are learning, with the rest of the team. 

Even though we cannot be together physically, we are so thankful for the ability to continue meeting together online, and we are excited about the things we are learning as a team.  

We are also taking advantage of this time to work on the more technical side of church planting, such as websites and social media. We are using these platforms as a way of engaging with our community, connecting people with our space, and "advertising" events. If you would like to check them out, click the icons below.

Our main prayer request in this season is that as a project, a team, and individuals we will use this time to seek the Lord more, pray more, and listen more. We want this time to be fruitful and we hold on to the truth that God is in control. 

• We pray for new ideas as we continue exploring creative ways of reaching out to our community through social media during this time of social-distancing. 

• We pray that God will make clear to our team in what ways we can help the spiritual and physical needs of our neighborhood without putting anyone at risk.

• We pray for direction as a team on how to move forward once the restrictions are lifted, and how we can be prepared to support those who need fellowship.

In this interesting time, we look forward to seeing and being a part of the ways the body of Christ can serve and bring hope through this situation. If there is any way we can be praying for you and your community please let us know!

Thank You!

Once again we just want to thank you for your continued support of The Pangrati Project, for believing in the vision God has placed in our hearts of seeing the establishment of a community of faith where one does not currently exist. 

If you have questions about the project, want to know how to pray for us, or are interested in knowing how you can get involved, please contact:

gec.pangrati@gmail.com

+306985633486

www.thepangratiproject.com

Exarcheia Church, Athens, Greece

Update from Alexandros and Tim:

Here in Exarcheia, we are experiencing the growing pains of a neighborhood in transition. You can see this in the posters and graffiti on the street, often decrying signs of tourism and gentrification like AirBnB and a proposed metro station. You can hear it in anxious conversations about increased crime and more police presence. As rents rise, crime swells and residents become worn out, the whispers grow louder: Is this the death of the dream of Exarcheia?

When we first began to plan and pray about planting a church here, the tone in the neighborhood was much different. Even in the wake of the economic crisis, there was a buzz of excitement in the anarchist community, saying that it was proof that the gods of capitalism were dying. Exarcheia became a symbol of hope of a new way to live, a flower that was growing out of the ashes of a city that was burning. As followers of Christ, we were eager to be part of this movement towards a new way to live and to bring a church into the neighborhood as people were looking for something different.

Nearly six years later, we see that this sense of excitement has given way to despair. It’s impossible to ignore how the decay of the neighborhood has affected everyone. In our dual roles as followers of Christ and committed residents of Exarcheia, we ask ourselves the question, “Do we continue to fight to preserve the dream of Exarcheia, or do we accept that the death of this dream is allowing a new path to be seen?” The same threat  of a burning city that we saw during the economic crisis has now come directly to our doorstep. What flower will bloom out of these ashes?

In Luke 10:2, Jesus says to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” We believe that the harvest is plentiful here. Instead of despairing about the inability to change the city, we look instead at the faces of the people who make the city. Our neighborhood needs changed people, with changed hearts and homes. The gospel message that we bring is of a Creator who will never die, who speaks directly to every heart that cries out for eternity.

We do not share these things out of fear or discouragement, but rather as an invitation to pray in a new way. Pray that we will listen closely to the direction that God is calling us to take, that we will hear the cries of the city and respond with the grace and peace of Christ.

New Building Update

Since renovations were finally able to begin on our new church building late last year, we have been slowly seeing progress in each of the spaces. The top floor is finished with the offices and a conference room, and we've been working in there since January. Having been without our regular office space since November 2017, this has been a huge blessing to have more space! We were grateful to have a friend from the US come for two weeks to help with renovations, and in March, a team of four men with professional construction skills completed the complicated task of replacing the 100 old subfloor in the worship space. In July, our first partner church, Presbyterian Church of Kennett Square, brought a team and "adopted" our Sunday school room, completing it in the week!

We moved out of our current building at the end of September, and we are prayerfully anticipating that the renovations in the worship space will be ready in time for our first worship service in early November. Will you join us in praying for this?