March 7, 2012 [On
May 5, 2012 the Grand Re-opening Celebration of the St. Paul Cultural
Center will be held. You are invited! If you’d be able to join us for
that very special weekend, please do inform either Renata or me.
Alternatively, I invite you to send a congratulatory message between now
and then, and we will be sure to include it in a planned commemorative
booklet, which will include a history of the SPCC Antalya.] Antalya?
Yes, Antalya. In 2010, in terms of international airport arrivals, this
city ranked as the world’s fourth most visited city. And its 2011
visitor total ranks even higher than New York City’s 2010 figure. About
a dozen years ago, a few years after Renata, our children, and I moved to
Antalya to establish the St. Paul Union Church (SPUC), a fellow pastor in
Europe asked me, quizzically, “Why Antalya? What is there in
Antalya to warrant there being an international church?” Back then that
was a good question, to which I simply replied, “With booming tourism,
Antalya is the fastest growing city in Turkey.” Though I didn’t know
it then, Antalya was actually growing faster than any city in Europe. And
it still is. Since 1996, when we moved to the city, Antalya has grown on
average just under a staggering 6% a year. If that growth rate continues,
in one decade the population of Antalya will be well over 2,000,000,
roughly equivalent to the current city populations of Paris, France and
Houston, Texas. As
the tourism capital of Turkey (the country with the world’s second
fastest growing economy), Antalya has a steady inflow of Turkish, Kurdish,
and foreign immigrants. Many of the new believers in the two Turkish
congregations in Antalya moved here from cities afar, and many of the new
attendees at the SPUC, for example, come from various countries in Africa;
a number of them are very intelligent and industrious students, chosen by
the Turkish government for educational scholarships in tourism. Such
demographic realities present tremendous opportunities to those of us who,
by active service or vital support, engage in the Lord’s work in this
land – where the church is also growing faster than we tend to realize.
At the St. Paul Cultural Center (SPCC), we aim to contribute to church
growth on micro-, meso-, and macro-levels, while also running a
self-supporting operation that honors God in all it does. At
the micro-level (in the city of Antalya), we can rejoice that person after
person is becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. At a Christmas party, for
instance, a new attendee, an English-educated Iraqi woman, married to a
Turkish businessman, got into a discussion with a German woman. After a
while, the German woman came to me and said that the Iraqi woman was ready
to receive Christ. Somewhat surprised, I entered their discussion, and it
soon became clear to me that the woman had already made an initial
decision for Christ, whom she viewed as the end of a life-long search.
When I asked if she was ready for a prayer of confession and commitment,
she answered with an unequivocal and enthusiastic “Yes!” … an
energizing earful to this one who sometimes suffers the droopy effects of
an aging faith. At
the meso-level (the province or region of Antalya), we aim to use the
cultural-center model, with its proven effectiveness over the course of 12
years, to grow clusters of congregations in other leading cities. One
well-endowed, discriminating charitable trust fund has already contributed
generously to our next SPCC project, the location of which we have
narrowed down to two cities. Individuals, too, are already contributing to
this new endeavor – investing for eternity in the world’s
least-reached land. This
brings me to the macro-level; that is, the country of Turkey and even
other Turkic lands. Last year we founded the SPCC Turkey Foundation, the
vision of which is an ever-growing number of Turkish communities that are
enriched with Spirit-filled churches, compassionate service, and cultural
opportunities – all to the glory of Jesus Christ. Through my PhD
dissertation on the Turkish Protestant Church and subsequent writing and
teaching endeavors, I hope to also help catalyze church growth on this
broadest level. There is a sense in which Turkey is the most
post-Christian country on earth: I can think of no better reason to join
efforts to spread the knowledge and love of Christ from coast to coast. If
you’ve not already joined the ranks of vital supporters, please do
consider becoming not only a one-time but also a regular donor to the SPCC
Turkey Foundation. Together, Lord willing, we can indeed achieve
multi-level church growth throughout the Turkish world, where the
phenomena of inner peace, assurance of forgiveness, and personal salvation
are as rare as a local church. Renata
is doing an exceptional job keeping on top of her many roles. At the SPCC,
she oversees Human Resources, Finance, and Paul’s Place. She directs
Olive Grove. She leads an English Conversation Group. I could go on with
her numerous lesser roles, but, needless to say, she’s a remarkable lady
– and a great wife. Kristoff, an aspiring history teacher, will wed a
fellow Whitworth grad on August 18th; Renata & I are
delighted with his choice of a bride and with the planned service-oriented
direction of their lives. Anna-Kate, a sophomore at Westmont College, is
advancing in the extraordinary world of super-yachting, where she and the
captain for whom she works seek to provide that particularly hard-to-find
witness for Christ. Talya, a freshman at Black Forest Academy, is thriving
and, by nature, exuding joy. So
thankful for your partnership in this front-line work of God, James
Bultema, for Renata (renatabultema@spccturkey.com)
and the children too Please
visit www.SPCCturkey.com for more
to see & read. NB:
Our personal support – for which we are unspeakably grateful –
still goes through TEAM, P.O. Box 969, Wheaton IL 60187; for credit to
Bultema account 001144 (or online giving at www.teamworld.org).
Tax-deductible donations for the SPCC ministry and Olive Grove
should henceforth be sent to the SPCC Turkey Foundation, P.O. Box 7247,
Ann Arbor, MI 48107. The highly committed SPCCTF Board Members are:
Ramazan Arkan, John Brent, Arie de Boer, Steve Dresselhaus, Steve Doerr,
Bill Rigg, and Phil VerLee. Please
inform us by a reply e-mail of any needed changes to the address list of
this mailing. Thank you. James Bultema P.K. 447 Antalya, Turkey
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