letter from Portugal
One of the spin offs from my links with the Latvian Biblical Centre is receiving invitations to lead preaching seminars with Russian-speaking congregations in Western Europe. At the end of June this brought me to Lisbon for a weekend of basic preaching training in Lisbon. 15-20 people gathered over the weekend to reflect on what we can learn about preaching from the Sermon on the Mount.
I shared the training with Victor Petrenko, the Director of the Latvian Biblical Centre, whose wife is Portuguese, and comes from Lisbon originally. We gave particular attention to how to begin and end a sermon; listeners are particularly keen for preachers to learn how to do the latter effectively and promptly!
The Centero Evangelico Church in the northern part of Lisbon is home to Russian speaking Christians from Ukraine and Moldova. Some of the Ukrainians arrived here after the annexation of Crimea in 2014; others are more recent arrivals as a result of the most recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
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One of my favourite psalms is Psalm 133 which begins: 'How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live …