Many people wonder how we "do church" while living in Lithuania. It's certainly been an interesting process, but we're so thankful for how God has provided us with a church home that truly has become the body of Christ to us.
From 2002-2005 we attended St. John's English-speaking Anglican church. Services were in the evening so we could rent building space from the Evangelical Lutheran church. Our pastor was an English Anglican Minister married to a wonderfully sweet Dutch woman. Toward the end of 2004, the British dioceses decided that St. John's was not a self-sustaining congregation & needed to close its' doors. In other words, the congregation couldn't pay to keep the church going. But the congregation was made up of missionaries & students -- go figure!!
Since the majority of our congregation was made up of LCC staff, faculty & students, we made a decision to go through a period of discernment to seek the Lord's leading on what was next for us. At the end of it all, we felt led to begin our own body - International Christian Fellowship (ICF). We partnered with the local Salvation Army ministry, as they have a large facility that is perfect for our needs & our rent helps them fund their work with the local homeless & street kid population. Partnering with them also gives us opportunities to join in their ministries, which has been a tremendous blessing for our congregation!
It used to be difficult to worship with the same people every Sunday that we saw at work every day. But the longer we're there, the greater sense of community we feel within that specific group. Not everyone at LCC attends ICF. There is also an evangelical Christian Lithuanian church called City Church that meets at LCC each week where many colleagues go. It tends to have more upbeat & modern worship and there is translation from Lithuanian into English for non-Lithuanian speakers. We've attended at times, but have consistently felt led to stay at ICF and worship and engage with God in the language of our hearts.
ICF is yet to have a full-time pastor & the leadership is still searching for someone to fill that role. We currently have a leadership team of 2 elders, 2 deacons & a couple who are both ordained pastors serving in part time pastoral roles. Their leadership has been a gift this year.
At the time Ieva was born, she was the only baby at ICF and the only other 2 kids were about 3 & 6. About a year later those kids left & Ieva was alone until another baby was born to the congregation. The two babies had about 8 months as the only ICF kids until the 2nd baby left and in August of 2007 4 new kids came!!! Having 5 kids in the congregation has allowed us to have children's sermons (which Ieva has just recently begun sitting in on), a Living Nativity Christmas program and it also means that she won't be alone playing with the babysitter in the kid's room. We don't have any organized children's church yet, but are hoping that will come. We hear there are a couple more families coming to work at LCC this fall and we're hoping they'll decide to come to ICF to keep our children's population up!
We're so thankful for the many ways God has blessed us through the church. Kim learned a lot while serving on the leadership team a couple years ago and both of us have enjoyed the variety of spiritual expressions we've encountered while ministering within such a broadly ecumenical body. It's a rich place to be!
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