Dr. Greg and Susan Williams’ recent visit to Fiji was an awe-inspiring weekend for us. It was one we’ll find hard to forget.

Kicking off with a befitting traditional welcome usually accorded to a Fijian chief, the kava ceremony was breathtaking to witness in all its intricacies. Dr. Williams drank his first bowl of kava.

You’ve never really visited Fiji unless you’ve tried kava! The traditional welcome was followed by a lovely spread of morning tea coupled with Fijian classic serenades of the past led by one of our pioneer members, Mrs. Mere Tora and her son, Tukai.

The atmosphere was filled with joy and laughter. You could tell that everyone felt God’s presence moving in the hall. The congregation broke into groups with Mrs. Williams joining the ladies’ group. Dr. Williams joined the youth, then spent the afternoon taking them out for some ice cream and fellowshipping.

On Sunday, it was a pleasure to hear Dr. Williams speak on healthy church and the three Avenues of Hope, Faith, and Love. We were encouraged to have Hope, Faith, and Love Avenue teams that work together in a team-based, pastor-led model through worship, discipleship, and witness. A major highlight for the church was the ordination of Mr. Frank Boyd to Elder. What a day to witness God’s amazing work for the Fiji church in play.

The day ended with Dr. Williams sharing with us a glimpse of GCI’s international family and a slideshow of the remarkable team working tirelessly across the continents of the world doing God’s great work. Though we may be operating locally, it was comforting and humbling to know that we are part of a bigger family in Christ. All these were again shared over a beautiful spread of tasty goodness. If there’s one thing that brings Fijians together, it’s good food!

We were fortunate to also have Mr. Dennis and Sue Richards accompanying the Williams to Fiji. It was a joy, as always, to have them around.

Though brief, it was truly an unforgettable weekend for us. There’s a sense of excitement for GCI Fiji, and everyone’s looking forward, young and old.

May God continue to bless us all!

By Epeli Nakautoga

On July 16, Heart of the Cross Church (HOTC) in Marion, Ohio, was blessed to be able to invite our community members and engagement partners to join us at our parking lot for the Summer Bash. Members of HOTC shared their gifts by cooking hotdogs, handing out water, performing music, and playing games with the children.

Our thirty-seven guests included staff and clients from the Turning Point Domestic Violence Shelter, neighborhood children, and members of the Newgrass Station Band. The Band provided music at no cost to the congregation and was led by HOTC Assistant Pastor George Breece, who is the lead singer and acoustic guitarist. A youth member of HOTC, Kaleb Marquis, was invited to play with the band as a stand-in guitarist during each of their sets.

Assistant Pastor Sharon Marquis led the children’s games. All leftover hotdogs were donated to the domestic violence shelter at the conclusion of the event. During the two-hour event, our 12-member congregation shared a joy-filled experience with new friends and further built partnership in the community as Jesus led us outside our walls.

By David Marquis, Pastor

New Life in Christ, the GCI congregation in Queens, New York City, conducted its annual Back-to-School event during the last weekend of July and focused community engagement into August.  We distributed 300 backpacks (more than double any previous year), reaching hundreds of households in its home neighborhood of Richmond Hill, Queens. (Our community of Richmond Hill is one of the most diverse communities in the most diverse borough of a very diverse city.)

The backpack distribution event and cookout took place on Saturday, July 30, followed by a special Sunday Service attended by some of our outreach guests.  The message, “Rich Towards God,” focused on the liberation Christ offers from the burdens that society seeks to impose.

The congregation used the month of August to focus on effective follow-up steps and deeper community engagement. On August 13, the congregation also joined with a community partner, The River Fund, as a sponsor and as volunteers. The River Fund is a non-profit focused on combatting poverty and its effects on families, with its back-to-school/food outreach for thousands of families in our greater community.

The total effort, which involved nearly every active member and ministry of the congregation, was implemented in the process of refining each of our Hope, Love, and Faith Avenues to facilitate the Spirit’s ongoing transformation of our congregation’s heart to better align with the missional imagination of Christ for our community.  Members took time to design special mugs, prayer cards, and encouragement for students and teachers.  Our hospitality team crafted a special cookout experience for all our guests.

Our Love Avenue team (driven by our Women’s Ministry) began this outreach and engagement process in the spring with our ambitious plan in prayer to reach hundreds of households in the community and distribute that many backpacks.  This year, we especially focused on enhancing the guest experience and follow-up steps rather than merely putting on an event.  Our guiding principle was Christ’s admonition, “One Thing is Needed” from Luke 10: focus on the presence of Christ, focus on the guests. This involved concentrated planning, including equipping a team that focused on welcoming guests, praying where feasible, and embracing opportunities to present our congregation.  We wanted our members to express confidence in the power of their short stories of faith and encouragement.

About half of our guests pre-registered for the event through our social media channels. So, we had a good sense of who would be coming, their circumstances, and some prayer concerns.  We also prepared for the engagement process (as part of community exegesis) by attending community meetings, visiting businesses and schools, and engaging local law enforcement.

We are joining with Christ’s enduring mission for spiritual, physical, and emotional transformation in our multi-racial, multi-ethnic community in forming lasting relationships in genuine place sharing.  We recognize that incarnational engagement is not “extra,” but a very part of our own identity as disciples of Christ.  In line with the biblical admonitions, “let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18), so that we are able “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:18).

By John Newsom, Pastor

August 9 is Women’s Day in South Africa. We thought it a good time to have our first post-COVID women’s retreat around that date.

From beginning to end, the event was marked by a very palpable need for communing with one another and several emotional encounters happened where we could share in one another’s grief and minister with great compassion. Since we last saw each other, many of us lost loved ones, jobs, businesses, and others suffered natural disasters. All that hurt and grief came to the surface, and we were grateful to God that he made this retreat possible.

The topics chosen by the various speakers from different church areas also leaned into the mood of things and one got the feeling that, “It Can Only Be God!” That was also the theme for the retreat.

We had pastor Carolyna Katengeza from GC Malawi as a guest speaker, and she really blessed us with her presence and her message.

Activities at the retreat were early morning devotions hosted by different regions and one could hear them singing in the chapel at around 6:00 a.m. as a signal for all to come. We had an African-themed day and a gala dinner as the grand finale. The staff at Aruka really pulled out all the stops and made every experience memorable.

We had about 60 ladies in attendance with most regions in the country represented. Those who could not make it, sent their greetings via video messaging.

One of the most special activities we had was a clothes exchange! Each one brought clothing items in good condition that they do not need or want anymore. We displayed these and everyone went looking for what they want or need. Whatever was left was donated to the needy. This was such a feel-good activity and very helpful.

It was very hard to leave the place at the end of the retreat and it made the promise of the next one even sweeter.

By Margaret Musekwa
Webmaster for GCI Solid Rock Church in Riviera, Republic of South Africa

One year ago, our congregation began meeting in St. Michael, MN. Formerly, we were located in Champlin and felt that Jesus was calling us to a new location to join with him in the ministry and work that he is already doing in the St. Michael community. We rent a banquet hall in the St. Michael movie theater. Unless you go to a Sunday movie or do a Google search specifically looking for us, you wouldn’t know we exist.

We were hoping to change that by introducing ourselves more broadly to the greater community by participating in the community’s Family & Youth City Connection (FYCC) street fair on September 10. This is a fundraising opportunity for the FYCC where businesses and organizations set up booths along the street and offer some activities or prizes for kids. The community comes out and can learn about the different businesses and organizations who paid to participate.

At our booth, we had a spinner wheel where kids had the possibility of winning a sucker, a fidget spinner, or the grand prize – a miniature oil paint painting set with a back-boarded canvas. We also had a face painting station for the kids.

For adults, we gave the opportunity to enter their names into a drawing to win one of two gift cards to the movie theater where we meet or one gift card to each of the two nearby gas stations. While the kids were participating in the activities and adults were entering the drawing, we talked a little about who we were and passed out flyers about our congregation.

God blessed us with a breathtakingly beautiful day. I would appreciate prayers for the seeds that were sown at this event. If there is anyone that stopped by who could be helped by participating in our congregation, pray that God would work in their lives to help them be comfortable to take the steps to visit us.

By Jon Arnold

This GCI Buzz describes place-sharing and provides examples. #gcibuzz

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