On October 4, John Biswas was taken into the hospital for a gall bladder operation and survived a heart attack during the operation.
The doctors say they may let him home in a few days if he is well enough. The heart situation will be dealt with later. He was happy to hear everybody’s encouraging words, which I relayed to him one by one. He is very grateful for your prayers for him and his family. He is a tough Bengali.
Praise the Lord,
Roger Lippross
Please pray for our return to Sunday School and personal community outreach with a renewed emphasis on families in the neighborhood. Under the lead of the Spirit, we are offering our congregation as a place of hope and renewal in what will be tough days ahead for our city, physically and spiritually.
With increased unemployment and local budget deficits affecting city services, our community is dealing with issues such as soaring depression, food needs, and potential evictions. In order to be a better presence in our home community, we held our annual Back to School event (outdoors with COVID precautions) on September 13.
As we are returning to our normal worship routines, we were proud to have had our first live Blessing of a Newly Born on September 20. Her name is Icardi Ermene Elizabeth JR. She was born during our first Zoom service of the COVID crisis on March 15 when the pandemic was nearing the worst in the city and hospitals were frantic. She is a symbol of our own rebirth!
John Newsom
Pastor, New Life in Christ
Queens, New York
The GCI Home Office works to serve our dedicated pastors, who shine brightly in their neighborhoods. Here are some words of appreciation from a few of our Denominational Leaders.
Eugene (and Lulu) GuzonThank God for our Pastoral teams! In the last 20 years, our local churches, and our districts in the Philippines has been led almost totally by our lay pastoral teams. They continue to serve our congregations nationwide with selfless dedication and humility. We thank you, dear pastoral teams – our front liners of the faith, for responding to God’s call to serve our 70 congregations and about 30 fellowship groups towards our journey of becoming healthy churches.
We are grateful for your participation in worship, making disciples, and for reaching out to your communities demonstrating God’s love for them in many untiring ways. We are grateful to you for continuing to serve even in the face of many challenges and limited resources, yet abundant in faith and love for our great Triune God. Many of you continue to serve even in your senior years and some, even up to their last breath. I am blessed to have you all as friends and beloved co-workers in God’s work. I pray that God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit renew your strength, sustain your passion, and refresh you always to live out and share the good news of Jesus Christ. May he bless you, your families and your communities exceedingly, abundantly. We need you; we love you and appreciate you all! On behalf of the churches and communities you care for, and the greater GCI family, we affectionately commend you all before God!
Isaiah 41:10 TPT
“10 Do not yield to fear, for I am always near. Never turn your gaze from me,[a] for I am your faithful God. I will infuse you with my strength and help you in every situation.[bI will hold you firmly with my victorious right hand.”
Wong Mein KongOctober is Pastors Appreciation Month, and I am reminded of the privilege of working with you and your pastoral teams to participate with our Lord Jesus in his mission to the world.
You all serve Christ in unique circumstances in Asia, often challenging and difficult. Your dedication, loyalty, and humility towards the people under your care would surely be seen and felt by them, and most importantly, by our Lord himself.
It is a joy to see you and other leaders in the Asian region working together in unity and harmony. I am touched and edified by your friendship and exemplary servant leadership. The motto from GCI Home Office of “High Challenge, High Support, Grace Always” is something we can aim for.
I can find no more fitting words of encouragement and motivation than those of the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2: 19-20: “For what is our hope or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.”
May God’s blessings be upon you in participating with Christ’s ministry.
Daphne SidneyWhat a year 2020 has been! A difficult one for everyone – members and Pastors alike. Pastors have had to forego their usual spot at the pulpit and instead speak into tiny cameras and quickly acquire all kinds of zooming skills. There was no theology course to prepare them for Pastoring Pandemically…
Ministry has taken on new ways of serving, via zoom, telephone calls, masked and socially distanced visits depending on the regulations of the area. And maintain vigilance in keeping up with the latest Covid announcements and requirements.
One outstanding thing I have noticed with our Pastors is their deep desire to serve their churches and keep connected with the members, no matter what the circumstances hold! Their love for their congregations overflows through their conversations and activities they are able to undertake.
Eugene Peterson draws an analogy of members being like hikers who walk through the high country and come across magnificent views.[1] Along the way of course there are valleys and fatigue and hunger set it. The Pastor is likened to the one who brings refreshment and recovery in the spiritual environment. The weekly services can be likened to refreshment stops providing spiritual nourishment, “bread from heaven” and refreshing waters to help rejuvenate and inspire the hikers to continue their journey through the week. The Pastor is also there to provide comfort and preside over funerals when a loved one passes, or anoint and pray for the sick, and compassionately work with the hurting and broken-hearted. The Pastor is a joyful part of the celebrations of life, conducting weddings, baptisms, the blessing of children – such an integral part of the life and journey of members.
J.B. London who was known as a ‘Pastor to Pastors’ preached his final sermon, aptly entitled – “Pastors Are People Too”[2] Interesting that he preached this message at the end of his years, most likely with the loss of his youthful energies and the dawning and acceptance of his human frailties and mortality. These beg a deeper connection with life and loved ones and are often very productive years. That’s one thing I have noticed with our retired Pastors – they just keep on serving! Their wisdom and experience is a great blessing to those they are mentoring and serving.
And yes, pastors are people too — they have feet of clay, believe it or not, and they do get tired and sometimes grumpy…well, just a little. It’s always an encouragement to know that Jesus in His humanity grew weary in His travels, sitting beside the well for shade and refreshing water (John 4:6,7). Pastors too need to have that time – time out to sit at the well, time to drink in deeply of the living waters so that they are renewed. It is out of the ‘deep well’ of the life of Jesus Christ in them, that they serve. Their work is a participation in the work of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As shepherds, they point people to the Good Shepherd, the ultimate source of spiritual nourishment and life. What a joy and responsibility they carry. Thank you for your prayers for them. The greatest gift you can gift a Pastor with, is yourself. And that’s one thing I have noticed with our members — loving and faithful members who show up regularly, who participate in the life of the church – who support and pray for the church and the generations to come — what a blessing you are to your Pastor. Thank you!
As October is Pastor Appreciation Month, most of all, thank you for your prayers for our pastors and their families. Perhaps you would like to find some practical ways to express appreciation for your Pastors as well. A card or note of encouragement always goes a long way, or any other creative ideas you may think of. I would like to conclude with Paul’s words to the church in Thessalonica: Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other [I Thess 5:12-13].
[1] E. Peterson: Five Stones for Pastoral Work, Grand Rapids Michigan 1980
[2] www.Christianitytoday.com/news/2018/0ctoberdied-h-v-london-focus-on-famiy
Michael D. Rasmussen,Words cannot express my deep appreciation for all of you! You are amazingly resilient servants of our Lord! This year has been difficult to say the least and yet you have all maintained great attitudes and stayed focused on how you can join Jesus in being the Church. You have been creative in how you have stayed connected to your members and your neighbors, even though we have had to physically distance most of the year. I can’t imaging working alongside a more dedicated group of servant leaders. Please know that in the darkest of times, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are often making the greatest transformation of hearts and minds. We are not alone or without the great love and guidance of the One who makes a way where there seems to be no way. Please know that you are loved and valued, not just by the leadership of the denomination, but by our Lord and Savior Himself.
What does Healthy Church mean to you? Snap and submit photos from your GCI church events to enter our 2020 Healthy Church Photo Contest.
Individual prizes include up to $150 in GCI Spreadshirt Web Store credit.
For more information go to: https://resources.gci.org/photocontest
With a heavy heart, we must announce the death of a former long-term employee and member, Gene Michel. He was the longest-serving GCI full-time employee before his retirement in 2005. As of Gene’s retirement, he had 51 years and 6 months of full-time employment. He was a wonderful man and a faithful employee.
Gene Michel passed away peacefully in his sleep. He has been in a care facility in Pasadena for over a year along with his daughter, Elizabeth. Being in the same facility was a comfort to both.
Gene attended Ambassador College beginning with the class of 1951. That is where he met his wife, Betty Bates, who was in the first-ever class at Ambassador. Gene headed the Accounting Department for many years and later was responsible for all church properties worldwide. He was a gentle, capable and faithful employee who served well for 51 years.
According to his wishes, Gene will be cremated, and his cremains will be placed with a mausoleum with his wife. There will be no ceremony. Just a few family members will gather at some time in the future for a time of remembrance.
Please keep the Michel family in your prayers as they go through the natural process of grieving and celebrating a life well-lived.
Gene’s brother Bernell specifically asks that no flowers be sent. However, cards of encouragement, love and support can be sent to the family at the address below.
Bernell Michel
2878 Sycamore Lane
Arcadia, CA 91006-6352
8:15 am, Sunday, August 23, 2020
Cape Town South is one of two congregations in the city of Cape Town. The congregation is under the leadership of Pastor Mark Powell, supported by pastors Europa, Visagie, and Christoffels.
It was a Love Venue initiative led by Grant Erasmus, GCI CTS Worship Ministry Leader. The aim was to serve the neighbours in their street who were not able to attend church services at their respective churches due to the lockdown resolution still in place in South Africa.
The residents in Runge Street were excited as the session was opened in prayer by one of the neighbors. Families gathered outside their homes on the pavement and lifted their voices in song. The church sound system was set up in the Erasmus’ driveway to play the music.
Tim Maguire and his wife Veronica from GCI Pretoria, who were visiting Cape Town, joined Trevor Weber, Regional Pastor, and his wife Virginia at the praise and worship morning. Tim also prayed for the community, who face many challenges as a result of the slump in the economy leading to unemployment and hunger concerns.
Pastor Freddie Europa, who is well known in the community, closed the praise and worship session in prayer. The residents immediately requested another morning of praise and worship, but requested that a Communion service be added as well.
8:15 am, Sunday, September 6, 2020
The day dawned as God blessed us with beautiful sunshine and no wind. Praise and worship was again enthusiastically received. During the service, Sandra Mumpies, a member of GCI CTS, gave a short testimony.
The Communion table was set up on the pavement with disposable glasses as part of the symbols and plastic gloves, per recommended protocols.
Pastor Trevor gave a short message from 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, after which the symbols were served by deacon couple Basil and Cristal Benjamin. The residents waited outside their gates on the pavements to maintain social distancing and the servers had to go from house to house.
After a few more songs, the morning presentation ended with the residents again requesting another praise and worship morning.
Dominique Erasmus, the GCI CTS Children’s Ministry Leader, then handed out “Dignity Bags” to some of the young girls. These contain items of personal care products. Dominique had seen the need for these essentials as families had to make the tough decision between food for survival or toiletries. Dominique made a call to the GCI CTS Women’s Ministry and church members for donations to this ongoing “Dignity Bag” initiative.
GCI CTS will continue to strive towards the GCI RSA Vision 2025 of Healthy Church as we share the love of God and the gospel of Jesus with the community.
Over the last decade, we have attempted the development of younger, emerging leaders through the U.S.-based Intern and Pastoral Resident program. There has been measured success and we have several graduates of the program who have entered pastoral ministry, congregational ministry or engaged in para-church ministries.
A major weakness that was discovered is that many of these younger ones were placed in congregations that were lacking essential resources for adequately training and mentoring the young leaders. There was an expectation on the young, inexperienced leader to bring new life and growth to the church. This was unrealistic and fostered a sense of frustration and perceived failure.
A major course correction that is underway is to group interns and pastoral residents together in the life of congregations that already have established ministry avenues of Faith, Hope and Love, and there are layers of capable ministers to offer mentoring and positive ministry experiences. When younger ones are adopted into the life of churches with team-based ministry, the hope is that they will learn and grow within this existing structure and be prepared to replicate ministry beyond this educational experience with the ultimate goal of all healthy churches becoming natural ministry training centers.
I conducted an informal question-and-answer review with Dr. Kerry Magruder about the strategy for Ministry Training Centers (MTCs) across the global landscape of GCI. Dr. Magruder is Curator of the History of Science Collections at the University of Oklahoma, where he holds the John H. and Drusa B. Cable Chair in the History of Science. He was ordained as an Elder by Grace Communion Surrey Hills and is an adjunct professor with Grace Communion Seminary.
Grace Communion Surrey Hills is the first official MTC site, and it is no accident that Dr. Magruder is part of the community of leaders alongside Superintendent Michael Rasmussen, who has lived with his wife Juli in the Surrey Hills neighborhood for more than 20 years.
There are other potential MTC sites in the U.S. and overseas. Our newly appointed Development Coordinator Cara Garrity is already engaging leaders from potential sites to talk about “what could be.” She is skillfully crafting the development to happen in multiple stages to assure that progress is being made carefully and steadily. We solicit your prayers that the Spirit will guide our steps and the Lord supplies our provisions.
Q: Kerry, as an educator, can you articulate the benefits of creating a learning center like an MTC?
Training for ministry that is Trinitarian and Incarnational will be both relational and embodied. First, Trinitarian theology is relational at its core. Love is the ultimate reality: a love that is acted out in life together, that will never give up, and that is nourished in real community. Second, Incarnational theology is embodied in the full circle of created reality. Jesus took on our flesh, the fullness of our created life together. Thus, relational and embodied modes of ministry training are central to living out our Trinitarian and Incarnational theology. It was the same for Jesus, who prayed, slept, walked, worked, wept, and feasted alongside his ministers-in-training. The MTCs will ensure that ministerial learning and training does not take place on only a cognitive level, but is of a kind that unites the head and the heart in a context of community and real-world shared experience.
The MTC offers pastoral residents an experience similar to that of graduate students in major universities. Graduate Assistants devote about half of their time to academic study, in which they immerse themselves in coursework. They complement that mode of training with half-time service, for which they receive a livable wage, supporting the activities of their department. Graduate assistants work in a cohort together, learning from one another and from mentors. Such embodied, personal relations comprise a community of professional formation. This is a tried and tested mode of training adopted by universities around the world. In a similar way, the MTCs will work in synergy with academic study through GCS to enhance ministry preparation with relational and embodied practice in a community of spiritual formation.
Q: And thinking on a grander scale, what could it look like for an organization to have a global network of these centers?
GCI is a geographically-dispersed community of believers (30,000+ members spread across 66 countries with some 700 churches). The MTC model, embodied in various locations around the world, will provide the needed residential complement to GCS online education. Moreover, they will scale to a global network, united personally as people move to and fro over time, and united virtually as events and workshops are jointly hosted across multiple MTCs.
Q: Then if these centers truly express the Spirit-led dynamics of healthy church and they replicate leaders who can form church planting teams, what will that mean, not only for the mother organization but for expansion of the kingdom of God?
One of the historic strengths of GCI is an appreciation for the significance of gathering together, whether in the practice of the feasts in the earlier times, or in the regional and denominational celebrations of today. Wherever I have traveled, I have been impressed by the way that GCI members in far-flung congregations invariably recall memories of being physically present with one another. So and so in the UK worked one summer at a camp in North America with so and so from Australia, etc. From such shared experiences, long-lasting personal relationships were formed. To me, this relational intertwining of people across different regions and countries is a hidden strength of GCI. The MTCs will reinforce this denominational identity by contributing to embodied, relational connections that unite us in a profound sense of shared mission and support. The implications for church growth on a more regional level are equally profound.
Q: The Lord’s training of the Twelve is the paradigm example for ministry training. Many of our churches today also have small community groups for lay training. From the New Testament to recent times, the history of the church provides countless examples of relational and embodied approaches to ministry training. As you reflect on your own experience, were there experiences of that sort that played a role in your own spiritual formation?
One effort that greatly influenced me is the L’Abri community, founded by Francis and Edith Schaeffer in the mountains of Switzerland, which has had a widespread influence among evangelicals over the last 50 years. Francis was not kidding when he insisted that more people came to Christ “through Edith’s muffins” than through his talks and books! Although visitors came to L’Abri because they were seeking “honest answers to honest questions,” as he put it, everyone, no matter who they were or what they had come for, balanced a period of study each day with a shift in either the garden, kitchen, housekeeping, or taking care of the grounds. The life of the community was marked by prayer and worship together. Through the integration of all these activities, the multi-dimensional reality of the Lordship of Christ over all of life became manifest. Knowing God was never limited to cognitive apprehension alone.
Another example is that of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. As a teenager, growing up in rural Missouri, I had never heard of Bonhoeffer. But I was privileged one summer to attend a week-long church camp in North Carolina. This camp was not anything like the camps I knew in Missouri. Most importantly, it had a bookstore — it was the first time in my life I had ever seen a theological bookstore. Every day, in awe, I spent the lunch hour in the bookstore, poring over which books I might buy with my food money. At the end of the week, I came away with a geography of the Bible and four books by Bonhoeffer including Life Together and The Cost of Discipleship. Back in Missouri, I stumbled into my house gaunt and faint from the sacrifice of the moment, but I still have those books and treasure them to this day! The books by Bonhoeffer describe the embodied experience of ministry training for the Confessing Church in Germany during the rising years of the Nazi party. Many young ministers in training came to Bonhoeffer’s underground seminary at Finkenwalde. Books and pamphlets read in isolation during those trying times would not have been enough — only through shared life together could they be fortified for the challenges of ministry that lay ahead. Reflection upon these books was formative for me.
Q: What are some of the lessons we might learn from Bonhoeffer’s residential training center?
At Finkenwalde, Bonhoeffer deliberately put into practice an Incarnational approach to ministry training. In a helpful book on the subject, Paul House explains that Bonhoeffer’s residential center reflected his view that disembodied theological education is not enough. Paul House shared some of the insights from his study in a Beeson Podcast, where he said: “All fully Christian ministry is Incarnational… person to person… face to face… life on life….” Bonhoeffer reminded the church in his day that “God sent his Son, not a phonograph record.” Indeed, it is true that Bonhoeffer loved his phonograph records! He played recordings of African American spirituals for his students at Finkenwalde, to convey to them what true spirituality sounded like. Yet Bonhoeffer never mistook the recordings for the reality they pointed to. For the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; God did not merely produce some online media for us to watch, nor did he count on a Zoom chat as the primary way to connect with us. Paul House observes that Bonhoeffer “was asked to accept an industrial, technological, pragmatic approach to education. He rejected that trend in favor of a biblical, theological, wisdom-based approach…” In other words, in an Incarnational approach, students in fellowship, on mission day-to-day together, become responsible to one another; they learn not to see themselves as independent agents, but as walking together in the Spirit. Ultimately, ministry training is not about gaining a credential or a degree, but about becoming brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. By analogy with Finkenwalde, then, the MTCs will provide a needed complement to the online education of GCS. There’s much more in the book, but start by listening to the podcast.[1]
Q: What might we learn from other evangelical ministry training centers?
Centers of Christian community and learning have sprung up near major universities across the United States and Canada as supplements to the university experience. Charles Cotherman has written a history of the evangelical study center movement over the last 50 years, and he offers stimulating food for thought regarding the possibilities of training centers.[2] Cotherman points to James Houston, the founder of Regent College (who was also a friend of T. F. and J. B. Torrance), as providing the central model. Houston wanted education “to do away with the trappings of technocracy in favor of personal relations.” As these study centers provide evangelical students an essential residential complement to university study, so our MTCs will add an Incarnational and personal dimension to seminary study at GCS.
Q: MTC residents will be mentored in the ministry avenues of Faith, Hope and Love in the context of healthy church communities. But at the same time they will also be devoting their time to seminary study through GCS. How will residential life together help the MTC residents with their studies in GCS?
Seminary study is not an individual sport, but a team effort. Similarly, in Bandersnatch, Diana Glyer explores how “writing groups” are essential for writers, using the Inklings (C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and others) as a case study. Practically everything she says about writing groups also applies to graduate students generally, including ministry training groups and seminary student cohorts. This book is full of practical wisdom and advice for pursuing a life of study together, and I have already recommended it to my graduate students here at the University of Oklahoma. Glyer deepens our understanding of how relational, embodied life together is essential to any activity — writing, study, or, we can say, ministry training.[3] I learned a lot from Glyer about how students today benefit from real-life interaction on multiple levels, from the renewed focus that arises from casual conversation over a meal together, to the importance of parallel study in proximity even when conversation is at a minimum. Glyer suggests that in community we serve as “resonators” for one another, helping each of us develop our own skills and projects and understanding of how to live out our calling. An analogy is a violin, where the wooden case resonates at the same frequency as the string — the string by itself would hardly make an audible sound, but with the resonator, our voices ring out. In MTCs, the students will be resonators for each other.
Q: Thank you, Kerry, for sharing these reflections.
It’s been a privilege. I’ve been excited and inspired about this ever since I first heard Michael Rasmussen begin to talk about GCI’s vision for a global network of MTCs!
By President Greg Williams
[1] Paul House, Bonhoeffer’s Seminary Vision: A Case for Costly Discipleship and Life Together (Wheaton: Crossway, 2015). Listen to Paul discuss his book on the Beeson podcast (for the section quoted, fast forward to 25 minutes in): https://www.beesondivinity.com/podcast/audio/beeson-podcast-episode-248-house.mp3.
[2] Charles Cotherman, To Think Christianly: A History of L’Abri, Regent College, and the Christian Study Center Movement (Wheaton: InterVarsity Press Academic, 2020); See the review at Christianity Today: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/may-web-only/charles-cotherman-think-christianly-study-centers.html.
[3] Diana Glyer, Bandersnatch: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings (Kent State University Press, 2015). Give a listen to a recent discussion with Glyer on The Habit Podcast: https://omny.fm/shows/the-habit-podcast/s2-e20-diana-glyer. Whenever Glyer says “writing group,” just substitute “ministry training cohort” and the insights transfer quite nicely to student experience in the MTC.
Our Eugene, Oregon congregation, has undergone quite a transformation this year as they transitioned from their old facilities to a new home facility.
To follow their journey from services under a tree, now on their new property, and soon to be in their newly renovated new-to-them building, check out the Grace Communion Eugene Facebook page.
