The May 11 issue of GCI Weekly Update told the story of Nova and Joseline Musafiri, refugees from Kenya who with GCI assistance now make their home in Canada. We’re delighted to note that the Musafiri family recently welcomed to Canada Joseline’s three sisters and one brother. Like Nova and Joseline, these refugees were members of the GCI congregation in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. We are blessed to now welcome them to our congregation in Ottawa, Canada.
L to R: Ndambwe (Joseline’s 14 year old brother), Dorcas, Rachael (Nova’s child with cap), Joseline, IOM staff member who accompanied the group, Esthella, Jessica (Nova’s child), Martha
GCI has helped several other refugees resettle in Canada in recent years. Here are some of them:
Upper left: Myint Ong (second from left), arrived in Canada two years ago and has been accepted to attend Carleton University to study engineering. Myint is from Myanmar. Upper right: the two women (Rosina and Aliane Cyuzuzo) fled the Congo about two years ago. Lower picture: The Kidane family (with their helpers) who fled to Canada last year from the Sudan.L to R: Baraka, Wendo, Julius and Leah Nashale. These four siblings came to Ottawa about a month ago after six years in the Kakuma camp. The picture is taken in front of the GCI church building in Ottawa. Their mother and three of their (younger) siblings will arrive in a couple of weeks.
GCI relief funds and congregations from various nations have been helping provide food to 100+ GCI congregations in Mozambique suffering from hunger due to ongoing drought. Manuel Vasco, National Secretary of GCI-Mozambique recently submitted a report on the relief efforts. Below are excerpts.
I set out on motorcycle to distribute drought support to our Mozambique congregations in the center of the country. At the beginning of the trip I hit a concrete bridge. I thank God I was not badly injured, though after spending the night camping out (see pictures below), my leg was badly swollen and I had to postpone the trip to obtain medical treatment.
When the trip resumed, I encountered very bad roads and given the dangerous political situation, I was only able to spend a short time with each congregation distributing aid at 19 centers where members came to receive support (see pictures of some of them below).
Because of the drought, many of our members have lost their crops and hunger is commonplace. They are now focused on their crops of corn and sweet potatoes (see pictures below), to supplement their diet of bananas, water lilies, pumpkins, watermelon, cucumbers and other fruits. At all the relief centers, I heard people lamenting the fact that their crops may fail if rain does not come. Please pray it will.
During the aid delivery process, the people expressed their deep thanks, saying they thought they were going to die, but now have food to eat and seeds to plant more crops. GCI’s churches in Mozambique thank their brothers and sisters around the world for their support through giving and prayer.
Kalengule Kaoma, one of GCI’s mission developers in Africa, reports on recent developments in the African nations of Togo and Tanzania.
Developments in Togo
In February, members of GCI’s Lome congregation in Togo planted a church in the town of Kpodzi Apéyémé about 35 miles from Lome. The congregation is named Porte Divine (Divine Gate). Its attendance averages about 90 people, including Agbagnons Kossi, the senior chief who oversees seven villages in the area.
Another project of the Lome congregation is the Social Medical Center, a health center in the Lome area that provides medical services to women and young children. It’s part of GCI Togo’s contribution to national development. To be ready for its opening in September 2016, the facility’s pharmacy, laboratory, treatment and doctors’ consultation rooms need to be completed and fundraising is underway.
L to R: Social Medical Center; treatment room at the Center; church plant attendees.
While visiting Lome, Kalengule participated in the baptism of six new members held at the Lome Worship Center.
L to R: Baptism ceremony; newly baptized members; praise team at the Sunday service.
Developments in Tanzania
Kalengule has been in contact since 2009 with representatives of 20 Sabbatarian churches in Tanzania with a combined attendance of about 800 people. Over the intervening years, these congregations have experienced a grace-awakening similar to ours. As a result, they recently decided to affiliate with us, taking on the GCI name.
L to R: Leaders of the Tanzanian churches now affiliated with us; one of those congregations.
In 2010 we began a relationship with ten other Sabbatarian congregations in Tanzania. They have a combined attendance of about 260 people. These congregations also have chosen to affiliate with us, joining hands in preaching the gospel in southwest Kenya and the Mara region of Tanzania. Here are some of their leaders:
This report is from Charles Fleming, mission developer for the Caribbean.
My wife Carmen and I recently were in Martinique to teach the ACCM Spiritual Formation course (intensive format) to a class of 40 GCI members from Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada and the Bahamas (the group is pictured below). We had held ACCM’s Christian Leadership course with many from this group in 2014, and its Jesus and Gospels course in 2015. In addition to taking the courses, a few were credentialed to teach ACCM courses with the goal of making them available to any members who are interested.
We were especially encouraged by the fact that a number of the sessions in the recent gathering were led by individuals credentialed as teachers. In our travels over the past few years, my wife Carmen and I have been focusing on inviting folks to try different spiritual formation exercises as a way of opening ourselves up to God so he can transform us. We certainly cannot transform ourselves but we can position ourselves before God so he can do what only he can do.
I encourage our leaders and other members to take ACCM online courses—you’ll find them at http://www.ambascol.org/. These courses can be completed entirely online, though ACCM classroom intensives are offered in various locations from time to time. ACCM will be holding an intensive for the Foundations of the Faith course as an add-on to the GCI International Conference coming to Orlando, Florida, in July 2017. Watch future announcements here in GCI Weekly Update for additional information.
This report is from Rod Matthews, GCI mission developer in Southeast Asia and Oceania.
On Friday, April 29, a very strong earthquake registering a magnitude of 7.3 struck in Vanuatu at 6.30 am local time and was pinpointed close to the island of Malekula where our GCI congregation is located. Vanuatu is on the “ring of fire,” which girdles the Pacific Ocean and is subject to earthquakes and volcanoes coming from the clashes and movements of the earth’s tectonic plates. Little was reported internationally about this quake because of the relatively low population on Malekula and with no reported loss of life. However our church community in Vanuatu is located on Malekula, and our facilities there sustained significant damage.
The quake was relatively shallow at 15 miles deep, and therefore it caused significant damage to buildings in the northern end of Malekula near the town of Norsup where the airport is located. The large circle on the map above shows how close the quake was to Norsup. Our church compound is near the village of Rory, about 6 miles north of Norsup.
We were immediately concerned about the welfare of the local people including our church community. Vanuatu pastoral coordinator, Rex Morgan, from our New Zealand office, received a text message from Vanuatu elder Billy Taren with the good news that no one was hurt. We are most grateful to God for the safety afforded our members there. Billy reported that none of their homes had significant damage.
Unfortunately, one of the two main buildings at our church facility was badly damaged (the one to the rear of the church compound pictured at right). The “guest house” in the compound, which contained the kitchen, bathroom facilities and two rooms used for storage and sleeping quarters also was badly damaged. This building was built with a more substantial construct and a metal roof in order to collect rain water for the tank, after years of suffering from a local water supply that was unreliable and intermittent often due to local political and social conflicts.
Vanuatu’s national pastor, William Davies (pictured at right with Rex Morgan, center, and Billy Taren, left) will travel from the island of Espiritu Santo (which also experienced a 6.0 earthquake a day later) to Malekula to encourage the members, help assess the immediate needs, and begin planning for how best to restore the facilities knocked out by the earthquake. We will be evaluating their need for outside assistance. In the meantime, they will be encouraged by your prayers for a more stable time ahead and by knowing that their brothers and sisters in Christ around the world know and care about their frightening experience and its results.
We are rejoicing that four more refugees from our congregation located in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya have been allowed to relocate to Ottawa, Canada. The four refugees (shown arriving in Canada at right) are members of a family of eight. The rest of the family will arrive later. The Canadian government allowed the family to immigrate due to their established relationship with Nova Musafiri, who previously pastored GCI’s congregation in the Kakuma refugee camp.
According to Gary Moore (GCI-Canada director and mission developer) the family is temporarily housed in a government reception house and is already attending GCI’s Ottawa congregation where they recently performed special music with Nova’s wife Joseline (singing a song with the appropriate title, Oza Malamu, meaning God Is So Good). As Gary noted, “This family has many adjustments to make, but with prayer, hard work and support from others, I’m sure their hopes for a better life for both themselves and their children will become a reality.”
Church Administration and Development (CAD) is holding seven regional conferences in the U.S this year. Three are past (Ontario, CA; Portland, OR; and Northbrook, IL) and four are yet to come:
May 20-22 in Morristown, New Jersey (New York City area)
June 24-26 in Charlotte, North Carolina
July 15-17 in Dallas, Texas
August 5-7 in Orlando, Florida
Registration for the New Jersey conference is closed. Registration for the Charlotte conference is open (go to http://gci.org/go/16nc – sign-in required). Other sites will open later—watch for announcements at http://www.gci.org/events.
Pictures from the Chicago conference (the bottom row shows GCI pastors sharing their experiences)
The theme for the regional conferences this year is Renewal (building on the foundation of Jesus). CAD director Greg Williams commented:
We believe that God is not only renewing us where we are, but we firmly believe that he is bringing us new vitality for ministry and service. At the 2016 regional conferences we look forward to interacting and working with you as we refine that focus and the renewal opportunities God has in store for us all.
Pictures from the conferences in Ontario and Chicago. At upper right, Betty and Doug Johannsen (center), receive 25-year service watches from Charles Albrecht and Joseph Tkach. At lower left, Greg Williams prays for Pastor Merv and Helen Walton.Joseph Tkach
Each conference opens on Friday with a group dinner at 6:00 pm, followed at 7:30 with worship, a message from Greg Williams, and small group discussions concerning how the Spirit is transforming our lives and congregations. Saturday sessions include a presentation from Gary Deddo on the theology of renewal, testimonies from pastors and others concerning renewal in their areas, a presentation from Anthony Mullins and Jeff McSwain on supporting renewal, and workshops on various topics including mission with Heber Ticas, focused training for church treasurers with Mat Morgan, and opportunities for renewal in various sizes/types of congregations (churches and fellowship groups). The conference concludes Sunday morning with additional workshops followed by a worship service ending at 12:30 pm. GCI president Joseph Tkach delivers the sermon.
Conference speakers Charles Albrecht, Gary Deddo, Jeff McSwain and Greg Williams
Reflecting on the three conferences held already, CAD associate director Charles Albrecht said this:
An encouraging development has been the number of new faces we are seeing at the conferences, with attendance up by about 16% overall. After a quick show of hands by the attendees in Ontario, it appeared that about 10-15% of the attendees had never attended one of our regional conferences in the past. It’s encouraging to see the growing interest.
CAD office executive assistant Nancy Akers added, “I keep hearing from attendees that the practical nature of the sessions make these conferences some of the best ever.” Tim Sitterley, associate regional pastor in the Western Region, agreed:
This year’s conference did an excellent job sharing “best practices” from the previous year. It also set the bar high for the future. From Outside the Walls, to liberating our smaller fellowship groups to be who they really are, we learned that GCI is anything but static in its forward movement in Christ.
Patrick Quinn, GCI intern in Portland, Oregon, added this:
The conference was a great opportunity to talk to others who share my passion for ministry. It was good to see and hear what they are doing in their churches and communities and to learn from them.
Church Administration and Development provides a ministry coaching service through a team of certified coaches. These men and women assist GCI interns, church planters, new pastors, newly appointed pastoral teams and pastors of congregations going through a renewal process.
Anthony Mullins
In order to equip existing coaches and to certify new ones, Anthony Mullins, national ministry coaching coordinator, recently conducted a coaching clinic in Columbus, Ohio (see pictures below). The clinic was hosted by GCI’s Columbus congregation, pastored by Jeffrey Broadnax. Anthony was joined in the training sessions by David Howe, pastor of GCI congregations in Indiana and an experienced life coach. In reflecting on the clinic, Anthony noted this:
Ministry coaching is a relationship and language of empowering the other. I’m grateful for the willingness of our coaches to be equipped for this important ministry of helping others achieve their goals as they follow the Lord’s lead.
We are rejoicing that four more refugees from our congregation located in the 
