Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Please join me in extending hearty congratulations to Pastor Rick Shallenberger who completed his Master of Arts in Religious Studies with High Distinction from Trinity University in Indiana.
And there’s more good news. Gary and Wendy Moore shared with us that Gary’s daughter, Rachel, became engaged to James Litchfield of Hunter’s Point (a suburb of Sydney), Australia! Gary added that Rachel just returned from a trip to Australia, and will now be applying for the needed paperwork for the appropriate entry papers. Rachel and James met while working on a cruise ship. They are planning on a fall wedding in Hawaii.
Photo to left engaged couple: Rachel Moore and James Litchfield.
Ministry coach training available
Church Administration and Development offers training for men and women who want to serve as ministry coaches. Advanced training is offered for those who desire to become certified coaches. Regional pastor Ken Williams is the first candidate to complete the advanced program and is now a certified GCI ministry coach. Several others are currently pursuing coach certification. To learn more about coach training and coach certification, and to schedule a coach training event, contact Randy Bloom at Randy.Bloom@gci.org.
Sri Lanka
Rod Matthews writes: The author of the book of Ecclesiastes observed that life naturally brings times to expand and times when it is appropriate to contract. At this time, it is happening simultaneously in the activities of our fellowship in Sri Lanka.
In the last couple of years, the church has developed an exciting new relationship with the Colombo Theological Seminary (CTS). Their publishing division printed the Sinhala edition of our 10-lesson discipleship course (left) which is called ‘Discipleship 101’ on the GCI website. Lokendra Abhayaratne, the former Anglican archdeacon of the city of Galle, and a cousin of Sri Lankan pastoral director, Mohan Jayasekera, arranged the translation into the national language of Sri Lanka. The growing relationship with CTS has been reflected in the invitation they gave Mohan last year to conduct a series of lectures on Trinitarian theology for students and faculty over a weekend. In addition, Mohan was invited to be part of the planning committee for the inaugural preaching seminars to be conducted in Colombo later this month by Langham Partnership International, an international ministry founded by eminent author and theologian, Dr. John Stott.
Subsequently, the discipleship course has been translated into Tamil, the second language of Sri Lanka, and this edition will be printed by CTS within several weeks. The church’s booklet entitled “The God Revealed in Jesus Christ” was read by the head of the Anglican Church in Sri Lanka, and he was so impressed that he requested 300 English language copies so they could be sent to Anglican pastors across in the country. This booklet has also been translated into Sinhala for a wider distribution.
In December, the Board of the Church in Sri Lanka met to review the operations of the church-owned school, the Worldwide Educational Institute (WEI), and confirmed the painful decision to suspend operations for the immediate future. Over the last few years, it has become increasingly difficult to recruit an adequate number of students to make the operation financially viable. WEI has focussed on improving the quality of spoken and written English of older high school aged students desiring to pass university entrance exams or qualify for better jobs, while striving to inculcate Christian values and business ethics in its courses. But in recent years, many other competing institutions have started up in Colombo offering English classes; and the traffic congestion in Colombo has made it a burden for students to travel from homes beyond the immediate suburban area where WEI is located.
In addition, WEI is located in an area of Colombo that has experienced significant growth in housing without a parallel development of adequate drainage infrastructure, and extremely heavy rains have caused the building to be flooded twice in the last two years. On both occasions our insurance coverage has funded repairs to the building but the disruption to classes and inconvenience to students having too often to negotiate potholes and mud has pointed strongly to the need to relocate.
The Board decided to suspend operations in the short term, sell the building and then assess what service WEI might offer in the current environment to serve the mission of the church in Sri Lanka – and where this would be best located. It was a sad moment farewelling the dedicated faculty and staff with prayers that they might find alternative employment and be blessed in spite of the closure of WEI. They have our lasting gratitude for their special contribution to the lives and the learning of so many young people over the past years.
WEI was originally founded in 1986 with the name of the Waterfield Institute by the Ambassador Foundation (AF) in the town of Nuwara Eliya. But when AF funding ceased and operational costs in Nuwara Eliya became prohibitive, WEI relocated to the church-owned building in Colombo in 1999. We estimate that nearly 3,000 students have graduated from a range of courses offered by WEI over the years. Many have obtained excellent positions and acquitted themselves so well that their employers seek WEI graduates when they want new employees. WEI has also been employed by Sri Lankan Airlines to upgrade the English competency of their staff. As a practical expression of the love of God, WEI has well served Sri Lankan youth over the last 25 years, and we look forward to God’s lead as we approach a new era for our fellowship in Sri Lanka.
GCI Singapore Brethren Supports Mangyans
Pastor Andy Ducay writes: My wife and I were able to attend the two worship services in Singapore scheduled for the month of January 2011, so we had the chance of fellowshipping with our Singaporean family after the services. After the worship service on January 15, the proposed project for the Mangyans of Mindoro, the Philippines, was brought up with Pastor Wong (Senior Pastor of GCI Singapore), and he was amenable of bringing it to the attention of the members here. So on January 22, I was given the opportunity to present the proposed project for the Mangyans, and the Singaporean members attentively listened as I shared with them what it is.
After the presentation, one of the members, who was visibly touched by the plight of the Mangyans, handed me an envelope containing cash as his personal contribution for this cause. Many other members expressed their desire to support the project and conveyed they will discuss later on what support they could extend. With this development we could look forward to tangible support to this cause from our church in Singapore.
Thirty Mangyans have been baptized by GCI pastors and more are upcoming. May this project bear good fruit for the sake of the plight of this marginalized tribal group in Mindoro, who only have the bare necessities for subsistence. Please include this humanitarian endeavour in your prayers.
Prayer request
Remember that prayer is the battleground where we fight the good fight of faith. Let’s encourage everyone to join together in prayer, for we belong to Christ, and by the Spirit it is in Christ that we pray. Prayer and other spiritual activities help keep our hearts in tune with God and remind us of who we are in Christ. He is our all in all, and in him we are eternally beloved of the Father and blessed to share his good news with others.
Love from my family to yours,
Joseph Tkach
