Tonight was the second meeting of the Smiltene YOUTH.
We haven't got a name yet, please be patient.
The main issue tonight was that the guardians of one of the young people who attended last week have been to the police to complain about our meeting!
The police in turn, came to visit the director of the Family Help & Crisis centre where the youth meetings are held and, were we meet as a church on Sundays.
When I spoke with the director of the crisis centre some weeks ago, she had said that, as her organisation is a registered children's & youth organisation then, our youth group would come under that 'umbrella'.
Thus, we would be considered 'official'. It appears that is not the case as we are a 'religious' group.
Christianity is not particularly welcome here in Latvia and most Latvians if asked would not say that they are Christian. Church groups not in one of the 7 denominations 'recognised' by the Latvian government are treated with suspicion by all.
Latvia, quite rightly, wants to protect itself from an influx of cults, sects and other 'isms' and, (on the surface at least) has quite a high regard for 'child protection'.
Add to the fact that as a 'church' we are not registered - we don't have to be - and that the church is officially classified as a 'sect', and that it is run by a foreigner, there is quite a bit of suspicion and antipathy towards us.
Young people in Latvia have many rights. Freedom of speech, freedom to express themselves etc. But, the law states that the religion of a young person shall be that of it's parents!
It doesn't appear that the police are too concerned because, they haven't contacted me at all, nor did they come to our second meeting to see what was going on.
The result of all of this is;
1 - We have the freedom to keep meeting. However, each young person must bring a letter from a parent/guardian giving express permission that they may attend the group. At least one person will not be able to do that. How we handle that is a point for prayer.
There is also a curfew in Smiltene for under 18's so, we will need to end earlier to allow them each to be home by 10pm.
The Bible teaches us to obey the law of the land and pray for those in authority so, we have taught this to the group and are content to comply.
2 - We are going to try to register officially with the Latvian government as a church. The youth group and other 'ministries' we want to be involved with will all then come under that one 'umbrella' registration.
There are many rumours abounding about such a process. Everything from "the process is a piece of cake" to, "noway will you get registered unless you are one of the 7 denominations recognised by the Latvian authorities." And we aren't!
The rest of the evening went very well. None of the teething troubles of last week.
Five young people who had not been last week turned up. One young man got healed right there and then in the meeting. Several others gave testimony to be touched by God.
We haven't got a name yet, please be patient.
The main issue tonight was that the guardians of one of the young people who attended last week have been to the police to complain about our meeting!
The police in turn, came to visit the director of the Family Help & Crisis centre where the youth meetings are held and, were we meet as a church on Sundays.
When I spoke with the director of the crisis centre some weeks ago, she had said that, as her organisation is a registered children's & youth organisation then, our youth group would come under that 'umbrella'.
Thus, we would be considered 'official'. It appears that is not the case as we are a 'religious' group.
Christianity is not particularly welcome here in Latvia and most Latvians if asked would not say that they are Christian. Church groups not in one of the 7 denominations 'recognised' by the Latvian government are treated with suspicion by all.
Latvia, quite rightly, wants to protect itself from an influx of cults, sects and other 'isms' and, (on the surface at least) has quite a high regard for 'child protection'.
Add to the fact that as a 'church' we are not registered - we don't have to be - and that the church is officially classified as a 'sect', and that it is run by a foreigner, there is quite a bit of suspicion and antipathy towards us.
Young people in Latvia have many rights. Freedom of speech, freedom to express themselves etc. But, the law states that the religion of a young person shall be that of it's parents!
It doesn't appear that the police are too concerned because, they haven't contacted me at all, nor did they come to our second meeting to see what was going on.
The result of all of this is;
1 - We have the freedom to keep meeting. However, each young person must bring a letter from a parent/guardian giving express permission that they may attend the group. At least one person will not be able to do that. How we handle that is a point for prayer.
There is also a curfew in Smiltene for under 18's so, we will need to end earlier to allow them each to be home by 10pm.
The Bible teaches us to obey the law of the land and pray for those in authority so, we have taught this to the group and are content to comply.
2 - We are going to try to register officially with the Latvian government as a church. The youth group and other 'ministries' we want to be involved with will all then come under that one 'umbrella' registration.
There are many rumours abounding about such a process. Everything from "the process is a piece of cake" to, "noway will you get registered unless you are one of the 7 denominations recognised by the Latvian authorities." And we aren't!
The rest of the evening went very well. None of the teething troubles of last week.
Five young people who had not been last week turned up. One young man got healed right there and then in the meeting. Several others gave testimony to be touched by God.
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1 comment:
You have in faith started something that will flourish, its like drilling for oil, you will strike the oil because you are drilling in the right place. The next issue is what are you going to do with it all when it starts emerging, it needs channeling.For this you need to start building the super structure to manage the flow before it starts gushing. Getting the paperwork in place is a very important part of that. Blessings!!
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