bless at bethanie
On a former cider farm in Normandy, France, we are establishing a missional community to serve as a hub for the bless network. Bethanie is the training base for all bless replacement, a home for some of our core team and interns and the heart of our prayer ministry.
Tealight Raclette. Power cut at Bethanie - time for candle ingenuity (Taken with instagram)
It stands as one of the greatest tragedies of human history that so many, over the past several centuries, have left the Church because they didn’t find in it a sufficient belief in humanity. Humanism only became the enemy of faith because the Church had so resolutely become the enemy of human endeavour. The Bible, by contrast, presents the most positive view of human potential to be found anywhere in the literature of the religions of the world. We have a special place in the purposes of God because, by God’s design, we are gifted beyond all other creatures.
The Bless Network: at home at Bethanie?
Bethanie is a Christian Centre in Normandy, France. Just 20 minutes from the pilgrimage centre of Lisieux, 40 minutes from ferries to the UK and 1 hour 45 from Paris, Bethanie is ideally placed to form a centre for training and prayer for mainland Europe. The complex has been run as a Christian Centre for some 15 years, offering a programme of retreats, seminars and prayer activities. During this time it has been developed significantly from its origins as a Normandy farm. Bethanie is known already in France and the UK as a place of prayer and has been used by the Bless Network a number of times for training and retreat activities.
Bethanie Christian Centre
The current owners of Bethanie are Bill and Jan Gordon, who will be moving on to pursue other ministry commitments in the summer of 2009. Determined to pass the centre on to a ministry that will both continue its work and develop its potential, Bill and Jan have offered Bethanie to The Bless Network at very attractive price. Our aim is to buy the property in the summer of 2009 to create a Missional Training Centre at the heart of Bless.
The Centre
The property currently has accommodation for 20 people, and we believe that with a small investment we will be able quite quickly to extend this to 40. Additional work will eventually bring the capacity to between 50 and 60 beds. Much of the infrastructure for these changes is already in place. A missional community will be planted at the very heart of the project, so that training programmes, prayer events and other activities flow out of an established rhythm of life and prayer. We believe that personal renewal and passion for mission are closely intertwined and we want to offer all those associated with the Bless Network opportunities for growth in both directions.
Prayer at the heart of mission and mission at the heart of prayer
Once purchased, Bethanie will become the hub of Bless, offering regular training activities, an ongoing centre for prayer and opportunities to engage in local mission through La Source and other Normandy churches. By maintaining a regular rhythm of prayer built around the centre’s dedicated Prayer Room, the Bless team will offer all who visit the opportunity to engage in creative prayer for the continent of Europe.
Mario, from Poszega, Croatia
Founded in 1995, Bless has established a strong reputation as a European missions agency. Our goal is to transform the lives of people in Europe by empowering Christians through prayer, personal creativity and strategic partnerships to live for the service of others. We have long believed that a ‘channel bridge’ could be established between the UK and mainland Europe, offering young people the opportunity to engage with God’s mission amongst their near neighbours. The development of Bethanie as a centre of mission, training and prayer will allow us to take this vision further, benefitting young people and the churches and communities they serve.
Year2bless training week, September 2008
A key strand in the Bless vision is our work with young European leaders, fostering faith and purpose through missional experience. With partner churches in the UK, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Croatia, the network is seeing a growing movement of young people commit to ‘live for others’ across the borders of country and culture. As the hub at the heart of this movement, we believe that the new centre at Bethanie will greatly increase our capacity to serve the rising generation.
Gerard and Chrissie Kelly, founders of Bless.
We are looking for partners who are able to stand with us in the purchase and development of Bethanie. To date Euro 50,000 has been pledged towards our target of 450,000. If you would like to know more or are willing to join with us in this venture, please contact Gerard and Chrissie Kelly by e-mail.
You can also:
- visit us at the Bless website
- view more images of Bethanie here
- Download Digital Brochure here
THANK YOU for reading this proposal. Please consider standing with us in the vital task of transforming Europe through a generation empowered to live for others.
