Category: Stay Connected

Here are reports on the community outreach ministries in two GCI-USA congregations.

Federal Way, Washington

New Hope Christian Fellowship, GCI’s congregation in Federal Way, WA, has been involved for several years in outreach to the community through serving the homeless. This ministry has given the congregation significant visibility in Federal Way, as evidenced by a recent article in The Federal Way Mirror (click here to read). As noted by GCI member Rick Miller,

though we have not sought this exposure, the city views us as the “gold-standard” in sheltering and serving the homeless. This is the work we have found God providing for—it is the heart of our small congregation. We have an abundance of resources for this work.

Pikeville, Kentucky

As reported by a local TV station (click here for the report) Grace Fellowship Church, GCI’s congregation in Pikeville, Kentucky, recently held their annual community dinner. As the TV report mentioned, “Hundreds came through the doors to eat a warm meal and be surrounded by friendly company.” The report then quoted Debby Bailey, the congregation’s pastor:

What is heartwarming to me is that we are able to build a rapport with people—it’s not just coming in and providing food, but actually getting to know each other and know their names and catch up and say hello, and it’s more relational as well. By ourselves, we would be limited with what we can do, but when we have support from the city of Pikeville and others it takes what little we have and expands it and we are able to do so much more.

The city of Pikeville recently gave the congregation a $3,600 grant to help them continue their ministry to the community.

GCI President Joseph Tkach, accompanied by US Regional Pastors Rick Shallenberger and Tim Sitterley, recently visited the Philippines. The visit began with a training conference on February 16-17 in Tagaytay for 300 seasoned and emerging Filipino pastoral leaders (pictured below, click to enlarge). Along with inspiring worship, three ordinations, and a couple of special presentations, two workshops addressing the topics of healthy church and healthy leadership were conducted by Rick and Tim.

Following the Tagaytay conference, the group travelled to Manila for a worship service held at the Philippine International Convention Center on February 18. The service was attended by more than 1100 GCI members. One of the highlights was a worship song sung in eight Philippine dialects. President Joseph Tkach (pictured at right) gave the sermon titled “Here Comes the Judge,” addressing the profound love that God has for mankind. He also led the group in communion. Following the worship service, some of the Philippine members put on a show with presentations from several regions around the Philippines. According to Rick Shallenberger, “It was abundantly clear throughout the weekend that the Filipino members have a deep appreciation for President Tkach.”

GCI-Australia pastoral leaders Randall Bourchier, Mary Bourchier and Phil Van Dijk recently visited GCI members in the Solomon Islands. Due to ill health, Henry Kuper, GCI’s coordinator for the Solomon Islands, has been unable to travel within the islands as he has done in the past. Randall, Mary and Phil visited Henry in his village on the island of Santa Ana, then traveled to the north-west corner of the Solomons, where they visited the church in the village of Qiloe on the island of Ranonnga (see map below, click to enlarge).

Santa Ana

Henry together with the small church in Santa Ana made the group feel welcome (see picture below). Conversations with Henry were helpful in exploring the immediate future God has in store for the relationship between the GCI-Australia church and the churches in the Solomon Islands. The group met for services with the Santa Ana congregation twice—sharing the gospel, prayer, communion and meals. One of the most moving times came at the end of the first service when Henry and his wife Elisabeth were honored for their years of devoted service to the church in the Solomon Islands. The group gave them a certificate of appreciation from the Australian church along with some small gifts.

Communication and travel is very difficult within the Solomon Islands. For example, a journey that would take an hour by plane may take anything between a couple of days to a week by ship. Sometimes shipping connections may involve a wait of days or weeks. Phone connections are sometimes unreliable and access to the Internet and email is available to very few.

Qiloe

The group then travelled to the village of Qiloe, where they were again warmly welcomed and cared for. They met three times with the GCI congregation there, sharing worship, meals and informal discussion. They also met with the church board. Since a visit a year earlier, there has been much progress. Newly ordained deacon, Tipa Andrew (pictured with his family below), has been instrumental in advancing a development plan for the village, including a new church building. It was thrilling to hear how God has led the church in Qiloe to seek partnerships involving local government, the neighboring village and GCI Australia.

Teaching in the Solomon Islands

The GCI leaders from Australia, in visiting the Solomon Islands over the last few years, have learned a lot about how to teach there. Some approaches work and some don’t. Originally they taught in English, being assured that the villagers would understand. That turned out not to be true, and so the teachers adopted a multipronged approach with an emphasis on the use of visual props. Now messages are delivered in simple, clear English, using as few words as possible. Those words are then translated into the local dialect by the best local English speakers available. The teachers engage the audience by sitting at floor level (see picture below), sometimes moving around displaying a picture or even creating a visual illustration. In a village culture where the men and women sit on either side of the hall for services, moving between the men and the women with the visual props creates an effective illustration of our one new humanity in Christ.

Messages during the visit centered on God’s big story with Christ as the center, our fruitful attachment to Christ as the Vine through the Spirit, and our life together as the church gathered in worship, in learning and in fellowship; and the church dispersed as each member extends God’s love to all as they go about their daily tasks.

Reflecting on the trip, Randall wrote this:

For Mary and myself, this trip was a time of emotional farewell to our brothers and sisters in the Solomon Islands. We’re thankful and privileged that God has made possible our visits during the past decade. We continue to be encouraged by what God is accomplishing in all our lives as we live responsively in fellowship with him, in Christ and through the Spirit! We’re also overjoyed that Phil has been able to be with us during the final two visits. We’ve enjoyed watching his God-given gifts blossom as God prepares him for future trips to visit GCI Solomon Islands. May God bless him and those who accompany him as he visits in December 2018.

This update is taken from a report by Assistant Camp Director Leslie Asare-Akoto.

GCI in Ghana, Africa held a youth camp last December. The theme, based on Matthew 28:11, was Christ is the answer. Participants included 50 campers (age 12 to 19) and 43 staff. About 30 of the campers received scholarships from the Jon Whitney Foundation.

Camp activities included morning devotions, music appreciation, soccer, softball, fireside–chat, volleyball, Christian living, Bible study, bead-making, dance etiquette and debate, along with a banquet night. An outreach activity took campers and staff into the communities around the camp to inform parents and youths not only about the camp and its benefits, but also to invite them to a watch night service on New Year’s eve. An educational trip took campers and staff to the Bonsu botanical gardens and canopy walkway where they were briefed about different plants and their medicinal properties.

During the camp, three campers accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and were baptized. The baptism was performed by National Pastor Emmanuel Okai and Pastor Jonathan Hammond, host pastor of the Kutunse congregation who had counselled the baptism candidates.

GCI’s congregation in Charleston, South Carolina, recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. Two years ago, the congregation, led by Pastor Tommie Grant and his wife Robin (pictured at right), moved into their own church building. After much prayer concerning where God would have them locate, the building, which had been vacant for two years, became available. It has served since then as an effective place from which the congregation reaches out to the surrounding community.

The anniversary celebration was special as the congregation thanked God for his provision. The event drew guests from the community along with family and friends. The guest preacher was Charles Young who pastors a GCI congregation in Atlanta, GA. It was a joyous day!

GCI Vice President Greg Williams recently announced the following changes to GCI’s denominational leadership in Africa.

Kalengule Kaoma (pictured at right with his wife Nsama) has been appointed to serve as Director over all GCI churches on the continent of Africa. In making the announcement, Greg wrote this to the GCI mission developers, regional directors and national ministry leaders in Africa:

We are confident that Kalengule will provide thoughtful and effective oversight for all of the regions that make up the vast continent of Africa. We congratulate Kalengule and ask that you support him as he endeavors to serve you in the gospel work of Jesus Christ.

Greg also announced that Takalani Musekwa (pictured at left with his wife Margaret) was approved by GCI’s South Africa Board to serve as the new National Ministry Leader for GCI in the nation of South Africa (RSA). Takalani will be working with a national ministry team that will share the office previously held by Tim Maguire.

Greg thanked Tim for his 10 years of service as RSA National Ministry Leader. As Greg noted, 2017 was a very trying year for Tim, capped off by a serious injury to his foot and ankle. Tim resigned from his denominational leadership position in November, but will continue serving the church in South Africa in a volunteer capacity.

We solicit your prayers and support for this new phase of GCI denominational leadership in South Africa and all the continent of Africa.

We are pleased to announce that the following women and men were recently ordained as elders serving GCI congregations in the nations noted.

• Vicky Constantino, Philippines
• Dolores Gibe, Philippines
• R. Avila, Philippines
• Gibe Constantino, Philippines
• Antoine Nsekandontonia – Ndjili, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Lutumba Masula – Binza, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Jean-Claude Wamba – Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Larry Shirley – Lancaster, CA, USA

Here are pictures of the four ordinations in the Philippines:

Here from GenMin national coordinator Jeffrey Broadnax, is a report on the GC Ignite conference held over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend (January 12-15) at a Christian camp near Dallas, Texas.

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Though the weather was chilly, GC Ignite was filled with warmth, love and lots of Southern white gravy! The conference was designed for young adults age 18–30 who provided a high-quality worship team, event organizers and a highly-motivating young pastor. Participants included 43 young adults from the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands, along with a few GCI pastors and denominational leaders. Focused on the theme, Inside & Out, the group celebrated Jesus and discussed ways to grow as a Christian community within GCI. Workshops led by the young adults addressed prayer, worship, biblical literacy, self-care, multi-cultural ministry, identifying community needs and other topics.

As noted in the pictures above (click to enlarge), GC Ignite gave participants opportunity to be creative, to converse in a safe place, to find peace, reconnect with friends, eat, worship and be still with the Spirit. If these things sound good to you as a young adult in this age group, please consider attending GC Ignite 2019. We are grateful for all the prayers, hard work and donations that made GC Ignite 2018 possible. Shared experiences like this keep GCI young adults connected and rejuvenated, creating memories that will last for decades. For more GC Ignite 2018 pictures, click here.

GCI-Canada National Director Gary Moore, who is retiring this coming summer, recently announced several other personnel changes in the Canadian office and pastorate. We appreciate your prayers about these transitions.

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  Kathleen Horwood has been hired to serve as business manager for the GCI-Canada office when it moves to Saskatoon this spring.

• Pastor Eric Warren will retire in June 2018. Alvaro Palacio (pastor of our congregation on the eastern side of Toronto) will serve as senior pastor for Cornerstone Christian Fellowship (Toronto West), and will look for a part-time or perhaps full-time person to serve initially as associate pastor in the area, living near the Cornerstone building. This should allow the outreach ministries of the congregation to continue to flourish in that part of the city.

• Fitzroy Martin is being hired to pastor the London, Ontario, congregation and the small group in Sarnia, as Colin Lauchlan looks to retire by the end of 2018. Fitzroy has served as a deacon in the London, Ontario, congregation.

• Pastor Steve Posiak (who pastors the Okanagan, BC congregations) will take on the role of District Superintendent for Western Canada for GCI when Bill Hall assumes the role of GCI Canada President on August 31 when Gary Moore retires.

Nick Bapst, who with his family (pictured below), attends GCI’s congregation in Grove City, OH (in the Columbus area), experienced a miraculous recovery after experiencing cardiac arrest during basketball practice. His story is told in an article titled “Gift of Time Matters Most to Bapsts.” To read it, click here.