{"id":258754,"date":"2022-12-12T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-12T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/?p=258754"},"modified":"2023-08-08T11:46:02","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T17:46:02","slug":"saying-yes-to-gods-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/blog\/saying-yes-gods-call\/","title":{"rendered":"Saying Yes to God\u2019s Call"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

One week after Tilon and Caitie Pervenecki married, Tilon\u2019s grandfather suddenly passed away. He was known as Opa, German for \u201cgrandfather,\u201d because he had lived in Germany until 1982. That\u2019s when he immigrated with his wife and daughter (Tilon\u2019s mother) to the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Tilon & Caitie Pervenecki<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

While exploring his things, Tilon and Caitie discovered The Wheel<\/em> Illustration by The Navigators and a discipleship plan, both written in German. Tilon\u2019s Opa had worked with Youth For Christ<\/a> in Germany for decades and even traveled and preached the gospel in more than 100 different countries.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

These discoveries prompted the couple to pray about next steps in serving with The Navigators and looking at ministry opportunities in Germany.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWe knew we would finish Navigators Staff in Training in San Diego soon and then be placed in our next assignment for ministry,\u201d Caitie says. \u201cWe wanted to see if there was a need in Germany. After visiting The Navigators World Missions<\/a> page, we noticed the top job listing was for campus ministry in eastern Germany.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

They learned from colleagues that only 4 to 6 percent of Dresden\u2019s population claim to be gospel-believing Christians. Eighty percent of the population consider themselves atheist or nonreligious.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThese statistics are staggering to think about,\u201d Tilon says. \u201cIn our conversations about marriage before we got engaged, we said if God called us overseas, then we would be willing to go, but \u2018someday\u2019 came a lot faster than we thought.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

December marks eight months in Dresden, Germany, for Tilon and Caitie, Navigators staff for the campus ministry at Technische Universit\u00e4t Dresden (TU Dresden). While there are other student-led ministries on campus, The Navigators is the only staffed ministry.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tilon and Caitie join a small Navigators team and 15 students involved in campus ministry. Currently, they\u2019re focused on connecting Navigators students with international students through a German-learning caf\u00e9 started by The Navigators.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cMany of the international students aren\u2019t believers,\u201d Tilon says, \u201cbut they consider The Navigators a family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Building Community on Campus<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Their fall ministry launch didn\u2019t go as planned since Tilon and another teammate were sick for the first Navigators Night, a gathering of The Navigators community from TU Dresden. Despite the sickness, Caitie saw how God answered their prayers for more students.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWe prayed for God to bring students to our group, even ones we had never met,\u201d Caitie says. \u201cTilon specifically prayed for five new students to come this semester and so far we\u2019ve had eight new students. Some came with friends who have been a part of The Navigators and others heard about the group and wanted to check it out.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As the group studies the book of Ephesians<\/a>, the theme for their times together is \u201cMittendrin nicht allein,\u201d which means \u201cwith one another, not alone.\u201d Their goal is to emphasize the purpose of community and how it\u2019s connected to our identity in Christ, as described in Ephesians.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This was the theme of Tilon\u2019s first Navigators Night talk completely in German, which encouraged the students that because our identity is in Christ we can live this out together, as a community.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tilon and Caitie continue to pray for at least five students to stick around and be a part of this ministry at TU Dresden. They have also been praying that discipleship relationships would form and see God providing opportunities. Tilon meets with two guys for what they call \u201cZweierschaft,\u201d which means \u201ca two-ship\u201d in German. It\u2019s how the Navigators ministry in Germany refers to discipleship<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThese guys are both excited to meet with Tilon and grow in their faith,\u201d Caitie says. \u201cI\u2019ve become friends with a woman from Ghana who attends a different university in Germany. She has also expressed interest in meeting with me for discipleship.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While adjusting to language and culture continues, Tilon and Caitie are preparing for more changes as they welcome a baby into their lives in May 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trusting that God will get us to where we need to be with the language and everything else,\u201d Caitie shares, \u201cso we can deeply invest in the students.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Pray<\/strong> for Tilon and Catie to continue reaching and discipling those in their ministry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Click here to become a ministry partner with Tilon and Caite!\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Discipleship Tip:\u00a0\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Sometimes your next discipleship step may look different than you had planned. Pray for the Lord\u2019s direction and the eyes to see the opportunities He provides.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\t