Our Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In these unprecedented days, we want to first ask how YOU all are doing!? Please feel free to reply and stay in touch so we can be praying and walking through this with you. You are very much in our thoughts and prayers these days.

Sending some social distanced Greek kisses (you know - the holy kind) to say thank you! Without your prayers and generosity, none of this would be possible.

COVID-19 in Greece
Here in Greece we have been “social distancing” for about 3 weeks, and we’ve been on a mandatory lockdown for over a week now. That means no leaving the house at all now except for specific reasons.  The government took a preventative approach and shut down schools and retail quite early in the virus’ progression.  Until now, that has kept the number of cases relatively low.  This is an important strategy for Greece because there would be tremendous suffering in the general population and among refugees if an outbreak overwhelmed our already strained infrastructure and health care systems.  

Thankfully we are all safe, healthy, and have the food we need. Please pray for many in our community who have lost their jobs or who are unable to work or get paid because of the shutdowns. We anticipate that it will be increasingly difficult for some families in our church and neighborhood to buy food, and we will be stepping up our diaconal work as a church plant to help out as we are able.

Some of you have asked whether we will remain in Greece at this time. We feel a great responsibility in this crisis to represent the love of Jesus and your partnership by continuing to work as hard as we can to serve the emotional, physical, and spiritual needs of those around us here in Athens. This is both our joy and our calling.

Church Plant Update
The Greek Intercultural Church Plant has been meeting monthly for worship since October. These have been such sweet times together, and we are seeing our little church family grow month to month.  Philip is preaching in Greek, and our team of translators puts the message into English and Farsi. The music is a highlight as we sing together in multiple languages and get to join others worshiping in their heart language. We were 50 people at our February service from 12 different countries. We are thankful for the growth we are seeing in people’s lives as groups still meet throughout the week for Bible study and prayer in multiple languages.  

For now we have moved our church community life online. In fact, with so many stuck at home now, we have actually seen a couple new Bible studies start since the lockdown!  Our small groups are meeting via Zoom and we are posting our Sunday sermons online.

Family Update
The kids are all adapting to this new situation. The girls have continued their studies online from home, and we have Abraham on a daily schedule so he can keep learning. Joy is staying quite busy as well with managing the response to outbreak for Faros and its shelter for unaccompanied minors and meeting with counseling clients online.  

Philip and Joy Kirkland
MTW - Greece