Author: Elizabeth Mullins

On October 30, we celebrated our 6th annual Surrey Hills Trunk or Treat. This year we moved the event to the parking lot of our church in Surrey. The location change was amazing. We had access to electricity and bathrooms and had ample space for all the fun! An estimated 3,500 people attended.

At GC Surrey Hills, we believe we are better together. This neighborhood event was only possible because an entire neighborhood worked together. We had 26 sponsors and more than 20 trunks passing out candy to all the kiddos. The Surrey Hills Lion’s Club joined the fun by volunteering at the carnival games, and even the OKC police cadets and Fire Department attended.

Thanks to the generosity of neighbors and neighborhood business owners, we were able to provide inflatables (bounce houses), six professional carnival games, trophies, face painting, and loads of candy. We passed out more than 30,000 pieces of candy!

It was an incredible day of family, community, fun, and relationship. We are blessed to be able to serve this amazing neighborhood. Our goal isn’t simply to get our neighbors to join our church, but for us to BE the church to our neighborhood. Jesus builds his church, and we are so thankful to be able to join him in everything he’s doing in this neighborhood.

I want to give a HUGE shout out to our Love Avenue Team. Every person on the team had a job to do and worked hard to build teams and ensure the event went smoothly. The music was rocking, the parking crew was grooving, and the trunks and carnival games were popping! God is so good!

Ceeja Malmkar
Love Avenue Champion

 

The GCI church in the United Kingdom (UK) hosted a two-day denominational conference for Europe in June. This conference was the first time many of our ministers in Europe were able to gather together in person since 2019. It was an excellent chance to catch up and strengthen relationships.

With more than 100 attendees, the focus of the event was Healthy Church. We also explored how our theology and values are behind the Hope, Love, and Faith avenues and our move to embracing a Team based—Pastor led structure.

By Gavin Henderson
Superintendent, Europe

Greetings from Paris where Susan and I visited in October. We were able to meet with the church there, with the French leadership, and with the European Community of Practice (CoP), Marie Angélique Picard, Frans Danenberg, and Gavin and Sinead Henderson. It’s wonderful to talk to Christians of like mind and to feel their enthusiasm for Jesus and his work.

Since his retirement some years back, James Henderson has served as the GCI Superintendent for Europe on a volunteer basis. My personal thanks go to James and his wife, Shirley, for their dedication to our fellowship and for the care they have shown as they ministered to others.

One of the main priorities in the international areas has been to establish ideas about succession planning, and James and I reviewed the need for this in Europe. My idea was that James’ son, Gavin, the current UK national church leader, should take on the mantle for Europe. When James became aware of this, he stood back from the discussion because they are family. James also did the same thing when he stepped down from being a trustee of the UK Board. He excused himself from any discussions about his son to avoid suggestions that he might have influenced the UK Board when Gavin was appointed.

I consulted with the other international superintendents about Gavin’s possible appointment as the new Superintendent for Europe, and all of them were in favor. The other two European CoP members, Frans and Marie Angélique, both consented willingly to the idea. The UK Board of Trustees was concerned about Gavin’s workload, as am I, but they gave their considered and considerable support for this development.

With his ministry and office experience, his background within our church, and his GCS Master in Pastoral Studies, Gavin is a qualified and capable candidate for the role. Gavin and Sinead have a young family and are aware of workload implications. And they want to minimize the impact of frequent travel on their family. Bearing this in mind, Gavin has requested that his father continue to offer support to Europe should the need arise. I agree that this is a good idea, and James and Shirley will make themselves available when required.

Therefore, it was with great joy that Susan and I were able to commission Gavin Henderson as the new GCI superintendent of Europe while in Paris. Sinead was with us, as were Frans and Marie Angélique. James and Shirley were child-minding in the UK, but they were with us in spirit!

Congratulations, Gavin. Thank you so much for your support of our wonderful fellowship!

By Greg Williams, President

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On the weekend of October 7-9, thirty women enjoyed a retreat at the St. Bernard Retreat Center in Cullman, Alabama. The retreat was sponsored by Grace Covenant Fellowship in Helena, Alabama. The theme for the weekend was Salvation Joy! The speakers were Gerrie Bayley, Barbara Dahlgren, Ruth Miller, and Sondra Peters.

Singer/songwriter Ann Hartmann provided wonderful music (annhartmann.com). Mary Jo Leaver gave a beautiful presentation of Music to the Eyes. Mary Jo’s ministry to the hearing impaired involves amazing lyrical sign language renditions of some of her favorite songs.

Gerrie Bayley, who lives in England, is involved in ministry to the children of Chernobyl, Ukraine. Her slide presentation of the conditions in the Ukraine and her descriptions of the type of help needed resulted in generous donations to assist those in need.

Friday and Saturday evenings were filled with lots of great fellowship and board games! Beautiful fall weather helped make it a memorable weekend for all who attended.

By Ruth Miller

 

 

Five years ago, we relocated our church from the Youth Horizons building to Derby, Kansas. We attempted to engage the neighborhood with limited success. At the end of a neighborhood prayer walk, a member prayed, asking that we could serve our local elementary school. A short time later, Youth Horizons asked us to participate in a mentoring program at the school. A few members could mentor. We were excited and praised God for this opportunity.

The following year, we doubled the mentors, but COVID kept us from being with the students. A couple of members planned an afterschool STEM/Art connection group. We just had to wait for COVID to decline. When we were able to resume mentoring, a teacher asked us to assist with an afterschool STEM coding club. This in-school club, meeting twice a week, provided more effective engagement than the original plan. One day, a child walked by and asked, “Bible Club?”

After investigating, we discovered they had a Bible Club with Campus Kids Ministries, Inc. before COVID, and we could host it the coming year! The program provides course materials, treats, and a nice bible for each child after attending three weeks. We provide take-home copies, snacks, adult leaders, and prayer support.

This year, we continue assisting the STEM club and mentoring. Now we host the Bible Club. We currently have 50 students from kindergarten to fifth grade. We enjoy support from the principal and staff. We are permitted to pass out flyers inviting the club to our church events. Many came to our trunk-or-treat experience.

We’re looking forward to our winter GC Derby Camp and Parent Day Out. God continues to bring us opportunities that allow us to participate where he is already active. God shows us that he goes before us.

By Pastor Kirk and Laura Hayden
Grace Communion Derby

On Sunday, October 9, GCI Carina in Queensland, Australia hosted a Love Avenue event in support of Mental Health Week. For this community engagement, GCI Carina partnered with Blue Phoenix, a group of volunteers who are passionate about changing the way people think about mental health issues.

As one of the co-founders of Blue Phoenix, I helped to spearhead this community-church partnership event. Blue Phoenix is determined to address the significant gap in mental health education in the community. Its purpose is not only to encourage people but to admire people and give them recognition and applause — it’s a big ask to recover from a mental illness.

Blue Phoenix is a group of volunteers who share their personal stories publicly to encourage conversations about mental health and to dispel myths about psychiatric conditions. They believe we should talk about mental health and well-being because when we talk, tell the stories, discuss stigma, and encourage a dialogue, we can dispel ignorance and myth. And we open our own and others’ hearts and minds to connection, hope, compassion, and recovery. That was our hope for gathering our neighbors for this event.

The Carina congregation hosted Blue Phoenix volunteers and community members for the launch of the sunflower quilt to celebrate its completion. This major textile work is a group initiative and challenge that took more than 12 months to complete. Now it has embarked on its mission to stimulate discussion and to promote thinking differently about mental health issues at the grass roots community level.

What a joy it was to join our larger Queensland community and neighbors celebrating Mental Health Week!

By Suzanna Free
Love Avenue Team

Grace Communion now has a presence in Bangladesh after a legally registered Trust was formed in February 2022.

It all started after my wife, Christina, and I graduated from International Graduate School of Leadership (IGSL) in Metro Manila, Philippines. We had the privilege of being sponsored to study in this school. It was even more of a privilege to meet Dr. Eugenio Guzon in the library, and an instant friendship began.

[Editor’s Note: IGSL, formerly International School of Theology-Asia (ISOT-Asia), is part of Campus Crusade’s formal training resource. IGSL equips Spirit-filled men and women with the knowledge, character, competence, and vision to make an impact for Christ and to make disciples.]

Dr. Guzon asked me where I attend Sunday worship. I was looking for a church where my family and I could attend. Then, Dr. Guzon invited me to attend the GCI Crossway fellowship where Aron Tolentino was pastoring. We took an instant liking for the fellowship. The choir, sermon, doctrine and friendliness of the fellowship impressed us. We continued to attend until we graduated from IGSL. We were also privileged to attend GCI annual celebrations, pastoral trainings, youth camp, small group training by Dr. Gary and Cathy Deddo, and combined services with President Dr. Greg Williams.

After we graduated, we felt a strong connection with GCI. I made a request to Dr. Guzon to plant churches under GCI in Bangladesh. After sharing this vision with a few dedicated people, who were my students earlier, they were all willing to come on board. With their help we were able to reach out to many small villages where people were wanting to belong to a fellowship.

Now we have five house churches in two provinces. We have 108 baptized members of GCI. In addition, we have four potential house churches. These house churches are led by a team of two leaders. At the moment, members gather every Sunday in one of the houses of our leaders. They are very happy and passionate to walk with Jesus Christ.

After researching on registering churches in Bangladesh, I began preparing the documents with the help of a lawyer. After several corrections with the help of Dan Zachariah, Dr. Guzon, and the Home Office, we finally were able to register on February 15, 2022, as Grace Communion Church Bangladesh. We praise God for this accomplishment.

Many challenges remain. Bangladesh is a predominantly Islamic country. Only around 0.3 percent of the population are Christian. Limited resources and access to leadership trainings hamper our efforts. Nevertheless, we plan for sustainability and hope for 20 house churches in the next three years. The prayer of our worldwide fellowship is much appreciated.

By Amiyo Bacher
Bangladesh Church Planter