Category: Stay Connected

In Myanmar, the immediate concern now is the welfare of the people and the church in Myanmar in light of the military seizure of power. There is anger, injustice, a sense of loss and uncertainty with the ongoing protests, civil disobedience movement by the people and violence by the authorities. Coupled with the covid-19 pandemic, the lives and livelihood of ordinary people have become more difficult. The progress of the last 10 years is in danger of being rolled back, including the gospel work in Myanmar. We pray for God’s power and providence in directing the affairs of history in line with his will.

In Bangladesh, with the passing of John Biswas the BEA organization is regrouping. One member, Amiyo Bacher, is a Bengali national who is well connected to our GCI Asian leaders and wants to plant churches.

To help our GCI brothers and sisters in St. Vincent with urgent needs caused by the recent volcanic eruption there, GCI is sending $5,000 immediately from the Home Office GCI Disaster Relief Fund. This will help provide emergency food, water, and other urgent needs. We will monitor the situation for potential additional assistance needs. We have also learned that GCI Canada has sent $5,000.

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GCI Disaster Relief Fund

If your congregation is sharing the gospel about Jesus in the one square mile around your church and still has available funds and a heart to help members impacted by major disasters like the one in St. Vincent, one of the best ways to do so is to donate to the GCI Disaster Relief Fund. The Fund helps provide members in disaster areas with emergency needs such as food, water, medicine, clothing, temporary housing, home and/or church hall repairs, temporary local pastoral salary expenses and other emergency needs. Monies received into the Fund that are not immediately needed will remain in the Fund to be allocated in future disasters. In previous years, money from this Fund has been used to help members recover from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, storms and flooding in Bangladesh and Honduras, an earthquake and tsunami in the Solomon Islands, typhoons in the Philippines and an earthquake in Haiti.

If your congregation would like to donate to the Fund, you can set up a one-time donation through GCI Online Giving (https://www.gci.org/online-giving/) by selecting Give for Disaster Relief under the drop-down menu.

If your congregation prefers to send a check, make it out to Grace Communion International, indicating on the memo line that the donation is for the GCI Disaster Relief Fund. Send the donation to:

GCI Disaster Relief Fund
Grace Communion International
3120 Whitehall Park Dr.
Charlotte, NC 28273

Registration for the virtual 2021 Denominational Celebration is open! We will be focusing on the Hope Venue, shaping our worship services to be inspirational experiences that center around our hope in the person of Jesus.

Individual Registration for members and Watch Party Registration for leadership teams to participate and debrief together are both available. Make the Celebration a retreat for your congregation, click here for ideas on how to host a watch party.

Our Main Session Speakers

We are excited to present our GCI Superintendents & 2021 speakers! Each Superintendent will share stories of hope, revealing how the Spirit is moving in their regions. The Main Sessions will also feature an interview by GCI President Greg Williams with each Superintendent. Click here to visit our events page and read the Superintendents’ bios.

 

Project Hope

Don’t forget to share Project Hope with the kids in your congregation! For more info on the challenge, click here.

This Easter, Christian Family Fellowship, our congregation in Jacksonville, FL, hosted a children’s Easter play. Church members enjoyed the children’s presentation of the Easter story, as an extra special addition to their Hope Avenue service.

Click the link below to watch:

As we prepare to go digital for our denominational celebration, we have a special 2-part challenge for all the young people in our GCI Family. “Project Hope” is open to all children and teens who would like to participate. Here are the details:

Part 1- The Project

As we focus on HOPE, we want to know, ”What gives you hope?” The challenge is to create something to show “what gives you hope”. Your child’s creation could be as simple as a picture or drawing, a sculpture, a poem, a dance, any way he or she would like to express themselves. The sky is the limit when it involves the creativity of young people. Whatever they come up with, we would love to see it!

Part 2-The Videos

We are creating something special and need your help! We are asking for a short video of each participant answering the question, “What gives you hope?”. Friends, there are no wrong answers here. We are looking for authenticity and are fully prepared for amazing and original answers. Each participant should display their “Project” they created while answering the question.

But wait, there is more!

We need one more short video Clip of each participant clearly saying, “Our hope is in Jesus!” When you’re finished, you can email both video clips and the Signed Release Form to us at challenge@gci.org no later than June 1, 2021. (if the files are too large to email, please use the free service on wetransfer.com)

Be sure to check out our GCI Church Hack link on the Basics of Recording for important information like shooting your video horizontally, instead of vertically.

We can’t wait to see your final products!

 

On Saturday, March 20, I had the privilege of ordaining and commissioning Kairis Chiaji, Michael Smith and David Houck to serve as the pastoral team for Living Grace Fellowship, our GCI congregation in Sacramento, California. In addition to other elders present, I was also joined by Michael’s father (who pastors a GCI congregation in Fairfield, CA) and Kairis’ son Dwight, who served as the former pastor in Sacramento until last year.

The day included an inspiring worship service, praise dancing, prayers offered by the spouses of each of the team members, the lighting of a unity candle by Kairis, Michael and David, and a message presented by Kairis. Many of us were able to continue the celebration outside at a nearby restaurant afterward.

 

 

Tim Sitterley
Regional Director USA, West

CenterPointe Church’s Love Avenue held its second Community Care Day on Sunday, March 21, 2021. The team spread smiles, warm wishes for a great 2021, and spring cheer in the neighborhood immediately surrounding the church. The team went door to door and gave away over 85 gift bags containing candy, flower seeds, an inspirational quote, and information about the church. Nearly twenty members volunteered in various capacities to make this day a huge success.

“We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”

– 1 John 4:19-21 (NIV)

 

Jen Gregory
Pastor, CenterPointe Church
Grove City, OH

 

Grace Communion Seminary, working in partnership with Grace Communion International, is happy to announce new diploma options designed for GCI members who lead the ministry avenues of faith (discipleship), hope (worship), and love (witness). This will include new courses designed for each of the three avenues.

The GCS Diploma of Christian Ministry involves seven classes. Six of the requirements are the same no matter which ministry a person is involved in; one class will be different based on the avenue of focus. The courses may be taken in any order, and at any pace, as fast as one course each semester, or only one course per year. Students are welcome to take one course without a commitment to take any others.

Not everyone will be able to keep to the same schedule, but we encourage the avenue champions (Faith, Hope, or Love) to take courses together and to stay together as a group.

Here is a basic sketch of the diploma program:

• • One Bible course, either Biblical Interpretation or New Testament Survey (both taught by Mike Morrison)
  • Three ministry courses: Practice of Ministry (Ted Johnston), Church Planting and Development (Randy Bloom), and Polity of GCI (Greg Williams and Mike Rasmussen)
  • One theology courses: The Holy Spirit, the Church, and Last Things (Gary Deddo)
  • One additional Bible course or one additional theology course
  • One ministry course chosen based on the ministry avenue:
    • For the Faith Avenue (discipleship): Pastoral Leadership, Trinitarian Youth Ministry, or a new course in Small Group Bible Study Leadership
    • For the Hope Avenue (worship): Trinitarian Youth Ministry or a future appropriate elective
    • For the Love Avenue (witness and outreach): a future appropriate elective

All courses are taught at a graduate level, discussions are held at a graduate level, and students are required to read several textbooks and to write papers. Each course will entail about 140 hours of work – about 12 hours each week for twelve weeks. Those who want to audit are still expected to read the textbooks and participate in the discussions.

Contact the GCS Registrar at registrar@gcs.edu with any questions.

 

Charles Young, GCI Pastor in Atlanta, sent me word that his older brother, Larry, died last week of a heart attack. Please remember Charles, Debbie and the entire Young family in your prayers as they grieve and say goodbye for now.

As last Sunday powerfully bore witness, we don’t grieve as those without hope. Thanks be to God for the promise of the resurrection!

If you would like to send condolences:

Charles & Debbie Young
6290 Ponderosa Court
College Park, GA 30349-4038

 

Blessings,

Anthony Mullins
GCI Regional Director, Southeast

GCI mourns the eight lives senselessly lost at Atlanta-area spas, including six women of Asian descent. The attacks took place against a backdrop of increased violence against Asian Americans and intensifies fear and trauma for many in the Asian-American community.

GCI denounces violence and hate in all forms against any person or persons made in the image of God. To raise your awareness, over the past year, nearly 3,800 incidents of name-calling, shunning and assault against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been reported to Stop AAPI Hate. Some of the incidents include being spat at, coughed on or physically attacked while being verbally blamed for the coronavirus.

Christians are ambassadors of grace and reconciliation. We have a unique and compelling call to provide leadership for the benefit and dignity of all (2 Corinthians 5:16–20). The Bible uniformly teaches the essential dignity of all humans and the shared desire to belong in community. GCI understands that the heart of Jesus is for the “other” and the marginalized.

As Christians, we seek to stand with the marginalized. We encourage our members to grieve for the families and friends of the victims, then to seek understanding of the historical and contemporary facets of racism in our country, to willingly enter into hard conversations, and to humbly listen to the hurt while empathizing with the pain of others. All in the hope of the healing that can only come from Jesus.

Greg Williams