Caring, Coaching and Encouraging

St Peter’s Abbey from a recent trip to Salzburg with ship friends

Dear Friends, Family and Partners,

I (Dané) decided that this time, I would like to take the lead on writing our newsletter :).

Recently, I’ve completed the OM People Care Course Level 2, which was a truly wonderful learning experience, and during the course, our inputs were focused on the story of the Good Samaritan. This has stayed with me over the past few weeks, and I’ve continued to dwell on these thoughts, and wanted to share them with you.

So often, we look at the story of the Good Samaritan, and we compare ourselves to the priest, the levite or the Samararitan in the story. Would I pass by someone in need? Or would I stop and help them? For a moment, I would like you to consider it from this perspective: What if Jesus is the good Samaritan in this story? And YOU are the innkeeper? Jesus rescues the hurt and broken, and you are the one that He entrusts their care and healing to? He is the one that gives you all the resources needed to care for them, and promises He will be back to settle the rest of the debt that might have been incurred.

Who has Jesus brought to you lately, and how are you using the resources He has given you, to care for others?

Looking Back
The last few months have simply flown by, filled with many visits, from both new and old friends, and lots of ministry activities.

We have loved opening up our home to visitors, which included a OMer from Greece who is looking into possibly joining our team here in Austria, the team from the Logos Hope (4 wonderful young people who helped us remember how much we loved being ship parents), one of our ship daughters, Hannah, and her friend, and the very wonderful blessing of Siza and Hananja, who came to look after the girls so John and I could have a quick escape to Poland for our 12,5 year wedding anniversary. (Its a Dutch thing :)) Since starting to write this newsletter we have also had precious friends from our ship time, the McIntyre family and Fehrenbachs, visit.

In terms of ministry, John was very busy with the Logos Hope team, which saw over 300 people directly engaged throughout Austria. Please pray that the seeds that were sown during this time, will come to grow and bear fruit.

OM’s founder, George Verwer often said: When two or three are gathered, soon enough there will be a mess, and this is particularly true when dealing with people from so many different cultures and languages. I have found myself involved with a number of sensitive issues that have come up within our team, and I am grateful that I can be the voice advocating for the care of ALL involved, when its so easy to get caught up in processes and who was right/wrong and we forget that through everything that happens we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.

We are continuing to get more involved in our Austrian local church (what a blessing to have 2 church families to call home). John was recently voted in as an elder at Baptistengemeinde Linz. As department heads of small groups at church, we have been meeting weekly with a small group of young adults, and have really seen growth in the last few months, not just in number, but also in spritual maturity as we work through some spiritual practices using Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer (See more HERE). We are also trialling a “Small-group Sunday service” every other week, currently working through the gospel of Luke DBS-style in smaller groups, instead of having a normal service structure.

A great few days away at the annual OM Austria retreat

During June, we had our annual OM team retreat, and it was such an incredible blessing, spending time in fellowship and worship, and receiving input together as a team.

Looking forward
A little over a month ago, I (John) was accepted to OM’s next International Leadership Coaching Academy (ILCA) cohort starting in October 2024. While ILCA is recognised by the International Coaching Federation and open to anyone, the main purpose of the Academy is to equip coaches to be available to support the leadership development and journeys of leaders across OM.

My passion is coaching and encouraging Jesus’s followers to find their purpose, place and path in God’s kingdom and I am so incredibly excited about this opportunity. I believe that it is going to give me the skills, knowledge and opportunities to live out God’s purpose for me more fully.

To make this a reality, I need your help!

Firstly, I am looking for people willing to be coached by me as I participate in the ILCA training. ILCA has a very strong practical element to ensure that participants leave with coaching skills that are well developed and ready for all the demands of coaching in an international, multi-cultural organisation. I believe that EVERYONE can benefit from coaching, so if you or someone you know might be open to partnering with me in this way I would be very excited to have a chat!

Secondly, OM Austria has very generously agreed to contribute 50% of the cost of travel to the first in-person Intensive session happening in Cape Town from 6 to 13 October. We are looking for 100 partners will to give a once-off R100 (5€/$) towards the remaining travel costs and ultimately towards seeing leaders in OM and Jesus-followers in Austria and beyond, coached and encouraged towards greater effectiveness in God’s Kingdom.

If you would like more information about receiving coaching please send me an email.

If you would like to partner with us with a once-off financial donation you can find details here.

Photo Dump
A few snap shots from the past few months… including time with friends, our 12.5 year anniversary trip to Poland, some long runs and a bit of everyday life.