This update, from GCI-Netherlands national leader Frans Danenberg, reports on developments in some of GCI’s congregations in the Netherlands.
In September, we were blessed to have visit our worship service in the city of Almere a couple who had served as missionaries in North Africa. Currently they are living in the Netherlands, reaching out to the Muslim community in Almere. My wife met them—she gives them Dutch language lessons.
The same weekend we traveled to the city of Leeuwarden where our congregation, made up mostly of immigrants from the Congo, held a combined service with a Dutch Reformed Church there. Our congregation’s choir sang in both Dutch and Swahili. The Reformed church pastor prayed for our congregation. It was encouraging to experience the favor that our Congolese members are receiving.
Service in Leeuwarden
Later that day, accompanied by members of our Leeuwarden congregation, we traveled to the town of Zuthpen to participate in a church service with an independent African congregation composed mainly of immigrants from Burundi. The leader (now pastor) of our Leeuwarden congregation, Matendo Makoti, knows the Burundian congregation. They have expressed interest in joining GCI. As is the African custom, the worship service lasted a long time (about three hours). About 50 people attended what was quite a lively service with drums, energetic music and excited and happy young boys and girls running around. It was quite a weekend—we experienced music in Dutch and Spanish, then Dutch and Swahili, and finally Dutch and Kirundi! It was wonderful to see (and hear) what God is doing in all three locations!
Service in Zuthpen
More recently, Santiago Lange and I had the pleasure of ordaining Matendo Makoti as an elder serving as pastor of the Leeuwarden congregation (see picture below). We also commissioned Bisimana Rukoka as a ministry leader. At this special service we had 81 in attendance, including several African church pastors (pictured below) representing other congregations in the Netherlands. It was a truly festive celebration.
Left to right: Frans, Matendo and SantiagoFrans (left) and Santiago (rear) with the African pastors
Please pray for GCI in the Netherlands. Pray that we remain open to God’s lead, willing to step out in faith to follow.
Kalengule Kaoma, one of GCI’s church directors and mission developers in Africa, provided these updates concerning annual church conventions held recently in western and southern Africa.
Ghana
The annual church convention in Ghana, attended by about 600 people, was held simultaneously in the cities of Kutunse and Hohoe. A major focus of the gathering was the 39th anniversary of the church in Ghana. Convention activities included the inauguration of a Young Ladies Club, which provides a forum for young female members as well as non-members to meet, fellowship, pray and study. It is hoped that this club will spread throughout the churches in Ghana. Also, seven ministry leaders were commissioned, a little child was blessed, a fundraiser was held and meals were provided to all participants on Family Day.
Nigeria
The annual church convention in Nigeria, attended by about 270 people, was held in the ancient city of Benin. Members attended from all over Nigeria. Dressed in brightly colored clothing, they sang and danced with great joy and happiness. The convention theme, “No Disappointment in Christ,” was based on 1 Peter 2:6. Messages encouraged members to put their trust and confidence in Jesus Christ alone. Convention highlights included a baby dedication, baptism of eight youths and 36 adults, a “singles/youth mingle,” honoring of senior members, a talent show and the ordination of a deacon.
Zimbabwe
The annual church convention in Zimbabwe was held at the GCI church building in Chitungwiza, 30 kilometers south of Harare. Thanks to the local members, the small meeting hall there was converted to accommodate the 200 people who attended the convention with the theme, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
On one day, the youth provided the music and messages and led other activities. During the convention, the Annual General Meeting of the church in Zimbabwe was conducted. A new church constitution was adopted by 100 delegates. On the last day of the convention used clothing, gathered by participating churches, was given to less fortunate members.
GCI Philippines held its annual festival in Baguio City on September 12-15. The theme was “Forward Together in God’s Mission.”
The festival was a grand reunion as more than 1,000 GCI members, family and friends gathered from various parts of the country. Speakers included Eugene Guzon (Philippine national director), Rex Dela Pena, Gil Llaneza (festival coordinator) and Rey Taniajura.
Festival activities included worship services, a seniors luncheon, a youth and singles outreach activity, a dance night, a “blind date” for couples and an evening with the multiple church bands. A special highlight was the ordination (pictured below) of Jina Raduban as an elder. Jina pastors the GCI Philippine’s Santa Rosa church.
Anthony Mullins, who directs GCI Generations Ministries (GenMin), recently reported on progress in 2013:
1,144 campers and 750 staffers participated in a GenMin camp (these numbers do not include CrossWalk and Souled Out, which are yet to be held this year).
38 missionaries on GenMin sponsored mission trips served 460 indigenous children and 307 indigenous adults.
Three camp coaches were appointed to provide skills coaching and mentoring to GenMin camp directors. Mark and Anne Stapleton are coaches in the West and Jeff Broadnax is coach in the East.
Lee Berger was appointed coach of GenMin’s mission directors and mission resource team.
GenMin moved from one annual camp/mission leadership conference to two, now named Converge: one in California and one in Ohio. As a result, there was an 80% increase in attendance and a greater sense of community and passion for Christ’s mission.
85 young emerging leaders participated in five Journey with the Master retreats to help them understand who Jesus is and to participate actively in Jesus’ ongoing ministry.
GenMin launched two “Dream Teams” (one in the East and one in the West), each with five young adult leaders. Their charge is to help imagine GCI’s future with dialogue surrounding key questions:
How can local churches experience the relational closeness and inspiration that camps are known for?
To what is God calling your generation?
How can GCI better meet the needs of your generation?
Why do you think many college students leave the church and how can we better prepare them to be involved in the body of Christ?
Heartland SEP
One of the GenMin camps this past summer was Heartland SEP in central Illinois. Camp director Todd Woods reported that 83 staffers served 75 regular campers and 15 junior campers. Of particular note is that many of the camp’s older staffers caught GenMin’s vision for preparing the next generation of servant-leaders. There were three new chapel message preachers and campers and staffers were helped to grow in ministry ability through classes in worship, drama and missions. Other camp activities included sports, paintball, pottery, archery and cake decorating. Three baptisms capped off a wonderful week of fun, fellowship and disciple-making.
GCI’s St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada congregation recently celebrated its 40th anniversary with 40 members in attendance (see top picture, below). Angela White, who is one of the original members, is shown in the bottom picture along with John Adams and Angela’s grandchildren. John, who is a retired GCI pastor, formerly pastored the St. John’s church, attended with his wife Edna. Also attending where Neil Earle, who pastors the Glendora, California church and his wife Susan, who serves as the registrar for Grace Communion Seminary. It was a rich celebration, with a sermon from John and an update from Neil. Former pastor David Sheridan sent a message of congratulations.
The 16th annual Connecting and Bonding Conference was held recently in Ontario, California. Ministers’ wives from across the U.S. and Canada attended. The theme was Resting in Jesus’ Presence, based on Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Jannice May (pictured at right, above, honoring the wives of retired pastors), coordinated the conference, which provided periods of rest along with the meeting of “friendship teams” that focused on enjoying the presence of the Lord.
Guest speakers at the conference were Lucinda McDowell (pictured at left—her presentation was titled: “Renewed, Restored, Revived”), Kathleen Hart (“Intentional Living with God” and “Jesus and the Holy Spirit”) and Naomi Beard (“Stop, Rest, Catch Your Breath”).
Sylvia Fried (a professional worship leader) led uplifting times of conference worship. Another highlight was the second annual concert put on by the ministers’ wives emceed by Sharie Meyer.
Hands for Christ Community Church, a newly planted GCI congregation in Staten Island, New York, recently held its first women’s retreat. The 18 women who attended (some pictured below) shared a meaningful and insightful time.
The topic of discussion on Friday evening was Women of the Bible—letting God talk to his daughters and princesses. Each participant played the role of a woman in the Bible; seeking to see life through their eyes.
The topic on Saturday was What Is Sin? Related questions were addressed and participants jotted down some of their deepest struggles, tossing what they had written into a pit to be destroyed by fire. In this way, personal struggles were given over to God.
The event ended with communion, solidifying the women’s bond of fellowship and accountability.
As we look back on the summer camp season of 2013, we rejoice in all that God did in and through our 17 US Generations Ministries camps. We are particularly grateful for the generosity and excellent ministry of about 800 teen and adult volunteer staffers.
Much fruit
Kingdom fruit resulted as campers and staffers experienced a profound encounter with Christ in our camps. Many were baptized, dozens of new young leaders emerged and new camps were started. Stephen Webb, director of The Rock camp, commented: “We have learned the value of multiplication—starting new camps out of existing ones by raising up and sending new leaders.”
GenMin camps are powerful “incubators” of young leaders who not only serve at camp—many are integrated into leadership roles in their home churches. At SEP SoCal, older teen campers participated in ministry training—choosing from multiple training tracks including worship, drama, photography, public speaking and audio/visual/tech. Arrangements have been made for teachers to mentor their students following camp.
Several camps partnered with various churches and community groups to sponsor camps and to reach out to communities near and far. SEP Montana brought together 41 organizations, including ten denominations. SEP SoCal reached out by gathering “gently-used” T-shirts to distribute overseas.
Standard curriculum
This year’s GenMin camp curriculum, titled It’s Time, helped campers embrace God’s “kairos time” on a six-step journey: behold, believe, belong, become, behave and begin. The curriculum, posted at http://genmin.gci.org/Web%20Documents/Curriculum%202013.pdf, may be used by churches (for a series of sermons or studies) and by other camps.
Camp reports
Following are brief reports from several of this year’s GenMin camps. A full list of camps and additional videos and pictures are posted at at http://genmin.gci.org/campministries.htm.
2013 was SEP So Cal’s 12th year. They had 174 campers and 100 staffers, age 2 to 82. This intergenerational group was also multi-ethnic and interracial with Filipinos, African-Americans, Hispanics, Middle Easterners and Caucasians. 31% of the campers were first-timers and 26% of the staffers formerly were campers. About 70% of the campers received some sort of scholarship to help them attend this year. Thanks to the generous donors!
SEP So Cal
Here is a video showing SEP Rockies in session in the mountains of Colorado (view it on YouTube at http://youtu.be/R0J6m0C6s1A):
Pathways staffers
Pathways, held in Southern Ohio, had 104 campers and 67 staffers this summer (an increase of 14 staffers over last year). They have begun a junior staff mentoring program to enhance the camper-to-staffer development journey. Senior campers participated in life-equipping tracks including photography, drama, worship, American Sign Language (ASL) and leadership. Campers reached out to 20 disadvantaged children from the local community who were made campers for one day.
After two years of praying, dreaming, planning, sweating and sometimes weeping, this new camp was born in the Sauratown Mountains of central North Carolina. 90 campers and 55 staffers shared the many facets of camp life. After daily chapel services, campers participated in paintball, field sports, zip line, arts and crafts (including blacksmithing), archery, swimming and high ropes.
The final day of camp featured a formal banquet with white linen, fresh wildflowers and candles. Pastor Howard Blakeney spoke about the campers’ royal identity in Jesus. The evening ended with a dance.
One of The Rock’s staffers, who had no previous exposure to GCI, was recruited from a local university. She noted feeling “overwhelmed” in being made to feel “a part of the camp family” from the moment she arrived. She is planning to volunteer again next year. Camp director Stephen Webb commented: “Watching the staff’s love for one another and their unity in service was perhaps my greatest joy.”
After operating locally for six years, SEP Montana became a GenMin camp this year. Held at Holter Lake near Helena, the camp had 107 campers and 47 staffers representing ten area churches.
Activities included tubing, jet skiing, Christian living, arts/crafts, paintball, sapphire mining, team building, wilderness skills, service projects and Montana animals in the wild sponsored by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. At a formal church service on Thursday night during camp, the campers were invited to Christ, invited to be prayed for and invited to write down their struggles and nail those to a 6-foot cross nearby. That service was followed the next day with a baptism service with parents present. Some of the campers will be baptized back home in their local churches. 24 kids and adults were baptized at the camp this year.
SEP Montana
YES camp, held in Lousiana has two sessions—one for pre-teens and one for teens. There were 60 campers in each session—the highest attendance to date, served by 40 staffers each session. Three of the campers were baptized. You can see these camp sessions on YouTube (teen session at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtW388IVRMI and pre-teen session at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqM9C4xuKoE).
