This update is from Rod Matthews GCI’s mission developer for Southeast Asia including Myanmar.
For years, GCI has had two small congregations in the nation of Myanmar. Then last year an independent network of churches requested to join us after the network’s supervising pastor, Chan Thleng, made contact through the GCI.org website, came to appreciate our theology, then met Wong Mein Kong, GCI’s coordinator for Southeast Asia, and lead pastor of our congregation in Malaysia. As a result of these multiple contacts, Chan Thleng has come to love our fellowship.
New doors have recently opened to us in Myanmar as a result of the recent historic elections (the parties opposed to the long-standing military regime gained a majority in parliament) and some other developments that I’ll describe here by sharing excerpts from Wong Mein Kong’s diary of a trip he and others recently made to the Myanmar cities of Yangon and Mandalay. As a result of their trip, we now have an expanded network of friends and fellow pastors to advance our part in the work of the gospel in the nation of Myanmar.
Wong Mein Kong’s diary
TRIP TO YANGON
Wong Mein Kong
We arrived in Yangon on Thursday (January 21). On Friday we met elder Naing Key Har at the hotel. I updated him on Chan Thleng’s group joining us. Afterwards Chan Thleng came to meet me and spoke of his plan for the church to generate income and support their church planter in Rakhine State. [GCI Malaysia] had donated some money for flood relief in Myanmar last year. In October he visited Chin State to distribute our flood relief to the affected churches. Chan Thleng has translated some GCI articles and our Malaysian magazine articles into the Matu Chin language to teach his group.
On Saturday morning we met with Kyaw Thu Min who has translated “The God Revealed in Jesus Christ” and another GCI booklet into Burmese. He and another friend are willing to translate our Discipleship 101 Course into the Karen language. In the afternoon we met Stephen, who had contacted the GCI website offering to translate material into Hakha Chin. He is a young man who teaches at a Bible school. Shortly after Dawt Lian Thawng and his wife Lily came. He is also a Bible school teacher who runs a children’s home in his house. Saturday evening [our friend from previous visits] Pastor Hung Ling came to fetch me to his Bible school in Shwepyithar to give a talk to 30 of his students. He is very thankful for the books and flood relief we donated.
Sunday morning we took a taxi to the village of Hmawbi about 40 km from Yangon to Chan Thleng’s church. I gave a split sermon with Chan Thleng translating. The church building has made progress, with walls and roof erected. We donated a box of clothing for the members. After lunch Chan Thleng and some of his leaders had a Q&A session with me. That evening Nyein Thu and Saw Ler Ghaw came to meet me. [Saw Ler Ghaw hosts a house church in the southern delta region.] We enjoyed fellowship and a meal.
Monday morning Chan Thleng and I discussed his proposed project. His church wanted to rent a piece of land a few miles away for three years. They will buy flower seeds for planting, drill a well onsite and install a generator to power irrigation. His church members have started planting and will harvest flowers from June onward to sell in the market. Here are pictures of their work:
Chan Thleng and I also discussed the possibility of me visiting Chin State later this year to meet his elders and members. That afternoon Dawt Lian Thawng took me to his home in Mingalardon where I met his wife and three children (they also house and feed 13 other children). I was asked to give a talk to them. His wife formerly taught in a Bible school but now she weaves traditional cloth designs to sell. He was impressed by GCI’s sincerity and that I was the first church leader to visit his Beulah Children’s Home. Tuesday morning we flew to Kuala Lumpur.
TRIP TO MANDALAY
On the following weekend I made a trip to Mandalay to meet pastor Andrew Bawi Ceu, who is about 45 years old and has three children. He has an MDiv degree, is working towards a DMin and is keen to learn more. He is taking one of our ACCM courses online with the intention of [exploring what is available that might eventually be offered in Burmese]. He strikes me as one with vision and ambition as pastor of an urban church that is active in outreach.
Sunday morning they brought me to their church located on the rooftop of a shopping mall. The attendance is over 100 (mostly young people), the worship is lively, led by a youth band. Among them are 35 students of Andrew’s Bible school. I gave the sermon with Andrew translating. In the evening I gave a lecture to his students and some teachers. Andrew expressed his appreciation for GCI, and invited me to visit again.
Additional developments
In the past few years we’ve had contact with a young, well-educated seminary graduate named Van Thawm Lian. He is excited about our theology and delighted with our literature. In the last year or two, we have contracted him to translate several publications into the Falam Chin language and into Burmese. As a result we have been able to distribute hundreds of copies of our Falam Chin edition of the Discipleship 101 Course to pastors and interested Christians in Myanmar. This past month, I received a message from him saying he wants to formally affiliate with us. His goal is to establish a Bible school in his home area in the Chin State.
After years of having to work with caution and limitations in Myanmar, we now see new doors opening, indicating that exciting times lie ahead as we are enabled to share the blessings God has given us with the people of Myanmar.
GCI-Mexico recently held its annual conference for pastors and leaders in Guadalajara. It featured lively worship, fellowship (lots of food!), and teaching sessions addressing theology, mission and women’s issues. GCI members and guests from Mexico came from as far away as Tijuana (north) and Veracruz (south). The guest speakers who came from the U.S. were given a warm Mexican welcome with mariachi music, folkloric dance, fine dining and sightseeing. Conference highlights included the ordination of GCI-Mexico’s first female pastor, and the announcing of the up-coming hand-off of supervisory leadership of GCI-Mexico from Lorenzo Arroyo to Heber Ticas.
Alfredo Mercado, GCI national leader in Mexico and lead pastor of the Guadalajara church, led the ordination of Irma Selena Venegas de Soto (pictured at right). Selena has been leading worship, teaching and preaching in the local church for some time. She also is an educator with a master’s degree and teaches at a private school. Selena and her husband, pastor Luis Soto, along with their children Alejandro (24) and Andrea (17), are long-time members of the Guadalajara church. Both Selena and Luis have a strong missional focus in their ministries, which involve gathering, evangelism and making new disciples. They currently are planning the planting of a new church in Guadalajara. Our congratulations to Selena!
During the conference, Greg Williams (pictured at left), director of U.S. Church Administration and Development, represented GCI president Joseph Tkach in announcing that Heber Ticas will be the new ecclesiastical supervisor for GCI in Mexico starting January 1, 2017. Heber, who will continue as U.S. national coordinator for Church Multiplication Ministries, will add the leadership role in Mexico ably filled for about five years by Lorenzo Arroyo. Heber worked at Lorenzo’s side most of that time, making for a seamless leadership transition. Our thanks to Lorenzo and congratulations to Heber!
Heber (left) and Lorenzo
Heber will continue what Lorenzo began—leading the gospel work in GCI-Mexico in a Christ-centered, missional direction that emphasizes disciplemaking, growing churches and planting new ones. Plans are already in the works for Pastor Natanael Cruz and his Mexico City congregation to host an “Outside the Walls” (OTW) event in the future.
Greg gave the conference keynote address on the topic of church renewal and preached a motivating and uplifting Eastern Sunday sermon. Lorenzo’s wife Rita Arroyo (pictured at right with Selena), joined with Presbyterian pastor Rosario Salgado Cervantes in giving inspiring messages to the women. Rita also gave the women hand-crafted gifts that she had made, along with gifts from women involved in the GCI-USA Connecting and Bonding ministry.
Heber’s wife, Xochilt Ticas (pictured at right), led a devotional for the pastors and leaders and participated in missional workshops. Heber introduced Outside the Walls through a series of talks on mission in the community, and preached the Saturday sermon. Lorenzo gave talks on the theological and philosophical effects of dualistic thinking on western thought over against the unitary framework of Incarnational Trinitarian theology.
Thanks are extended from the members in Mexico to the churches and individuals in Canada and the U.S. who helped make this conference possible.
This update is from GCI-Canada director Gary Moore.
My family and I had the pleasure of visiting the Montreal-area GCI congregations (French and English) for a combined Palm Sunday service. The French youth band (top picture below) did a superb job leading us in a bilingual worship. The service included a lovely potluck meal, and the fellowship went on for three hours. It was a great time of togetherness and worship.
GCI’s congregation in Jacksonville, Florida, recently hosted an Outside the Walls training and community outreach event. Here is a short video, some pictures and a related cartoon.
Church Multiplication Ministries (CMM) coordinates Outside the Walls training and events as part of renewal church consulting services provided by Church Administration and Development. Congregations receiving these services are trained in incarnational outreach, assimilation through hospitality, and other approaches to joining Jesus in reaching outside the church walls to connect with non-churched people, then assist them in becoming mature followers of Jesus within the fellowship of the congregation.
To learn more about these consulting services in the U.S., click here and contact your regional pastor.
GCI in the Philippines is celebrating both the baptism of new members and the completion of 50 years of membership by one of its pioneer members. To read more, click on the links below.
On March 11-13, Jannice May and her assistants hosted the 11th Connecting and Bonding conference in Lexington, Kentucky. The theme, Why Talk to God?, was based on Jeremiah 33:3.
The joy-filled, prayer-charged and word-based conference brought together 20 women (pictured above). United by their high calling in Jesus, the group relaxed, laughed, cried and shared from the heart. Wives of retired pastors were honored for their many years of faithful service. Worship minister Keysha Taylor led times of powerful worship. Pastor Jeanne Moore, the main speaker, showed the group the importance of maintaining balance in all aspects of life, and led the group through the Lord’s prayer as a guide for their prayer life. The group watched and discussed the movie “War Room” and a recorded message from Dr. Sylvia Hart Frejd on the “digital invasion” and the necessity of staying connected to Jesus, ourselves and others. A highlight of the conference was a white elephant gift exchange where their love for one another was tested (in jest, of course).
The group left with batteries recharged and a readiness to share what they had experienced with others back home.
We were delighted to learn of recent baptisms in the GCI congregations that meet in the towns of Tilburg and Tiel in the Netherlands. Here are pictures:
About 200 people representing all age-groups attended the GenMin Converge East conference on March 4-6 near Columbus, Ohio. For information about the event, including pictures, click here. Plenary speakers included CAD Director Greg Williams, Pastor Timothy Brassell, GenMin Coordinator Anthony Mullins, Elizabeth Mullins and National Ministry Development Coordinator Jeff McSwain.
Below is a video of Jeff’s presentation, which summarized the theological basis for Celebrate the Grip, the theme for this year’s Converge conferences and the teaching curriculum for GenMin’s 2016 camps.
For information about Converge West to be held in April in Southern California, click here.
This update is from GCI-Philippines National Director Eugene Guzon who returned recently from a trip to the Arab state of Dubai where we have several GCI members.
Left to right: Cecilia, Eugene and JB
I traveled to Dubai with Jean Baptiste Sibomana (JB), an African national who is from Burundi. JB had spent several years in the Philippines completing a Masters in Divinity degree. He then returned to Burundi where he helped plant several churches. In 2014 he returned to the Philippines to start work on a doctorate. JB and his family have been attending GCI’s Crossway Fellowship in Manila where he started giving messages and is involved in the parenting ministry at our Christian school.
We spent ten days together in the Persian Gulf area visiting members in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. We’re happy that our members in that region are recovering from a church split that occurred two years ago. New people have begun to attend—some are from GCI Philippines working in Dubai.
One of our Filipino missionaries, Cecilia Bangay, has been in Dubai since November. She joined us in conducting a spiritual formation retreat with about 25 members. She hopes to find a job so she can remain in Dubai helping minister to our members. With her help, we now have three small groups operating. We believe these groups are the best way to serve the needs of the members and to reach out to others who are predominantly overseas workers and professionals.
During my visit, U.S. music minister Ross Jutsum joined us for a night of worship and fellowship that included Filipinos, one from England, and several from nations in Africa (including Uganda, Ghana and Burundi), along with some new contacts from Dubai. This multi-ethnic group is now meeting to study the book of John as we work to disciple people in the way of Jesus.
Here from Neil Earle is a report on some of the celebrations of Black History Month in GCI congregations in the United States.
All across our fellowship and across this vast land, GCI congregations showed respect and appreciation for Black History Month during February. Doing so has particular relevance in GCI, which has been mixed-race almost from its beginnings. Some of our U.S. churches have former Tuskegee airmen in their midst, and members who walked in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-56, which helped ignite the modern civil rights movement.
GCI’s congregation in Bellflower, California, had a special slide show in February highlighting significant contributions by African-Americans that have bettered the lives of all people in this country and worldwide. Lead Pastor Larry Dietrich commented:
Black History Month was established to give due credit and recognition to African-Americans. We wanted to make sure that all our members were made aware of their contributions, whether they are inventions, progress or break-throughs in fields like medicine, agriculture and many others. We also honored those patriotic individuals in our past or in our midst whose lives and efforts stand out from the crowd.
GCI’s Glendora, California, congregation held its 20th celebration of Black History Month. Lead Pastor Neil Earle commented:
We usually start with a Call to Worship that could be a Negro spiritual or something reflective of the vast African-American cultural contribution. We make sure the hymns reflect that as well and there are usually readings offered from significant members of the Black community such as Frederick Douglas, Martin Luther King, Jr. or Dr. Carter Woodson who started Black History back in the 1920s.
This year’s special guest speaker at the Glendora celebration was Celestine Olive (pictured at right), assistant pastor of GCI’s Eagle Rock, California, congregation. As an African-American woman growing up in Texas, part of a family of 12 children, Celestine explained how she quietly but steadily broke through glass ceilings of race and gender. “I discovered that God had his own personal plan for me,” said Celestine, “and that being in his hands were the only hands that mattered.”
In Cincinnati, Ohio, George Hart, the lead pastor of GCI’s Christ Community Church (CCC) leads a chapter of the Office of Reconciliation and Mediation (ORM), a parachurch ministry associated with GCI. CCC leader Sandra Hamilton is responsible for Black History Month celebrations. The congregation hosted three events this year—inviting in a group called Ebony Strings for a mini-concert of black spirituals; providing an update given during church life featuring African-American women who share their culture through song, dance and sign language; and hosting a Gospel Jazz band (featuring Michael Wade, pictured below) during their annual “Soul Food Potluck” after church.
“Cincinnati is a good spot to celebrate Black History,” George Hart reminds his congregation and visitors. Built on the Ohio River, the city was a transit point for the Underground Railway where abolitionists ferried runaway slaves to the Northern states. “This rich background comes to life every February and our events are well-attended,” says Pastor Hart.
“Black History Month has many benefits,” comments Neil Earle, a history teacher for much of his life. “It reminds us all of a time when Christian ministers such as the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Medgar Evars and Andrew Young preached and taught and prodded the country to make real change, often at the cost of their lives.” George Hart adds: “I feel as a pastor it’s important to foster learning about each other to ease the fear and suspicion.” Commented one visitor in Glendora: “The black story is the American story, is the Christian story, and that is something to celebrate.”
About 200 people representing all age-groups attended the GenMin Converge East conference on March 4-6 near Columbus, Ohio. For information about the event, including pictures, 
One of our Filipino missionaries, Cecilia Bangay, has been in Dubai since November. She joined us in conducting a spiritual formation retreat with about 25 members. She hopes to find a job so she can remain in Dubai helping minister to our members. With her help, we now have three small groups operating. We believe these groups are the best way to serve the needs of the members and to reach out to others who are predominantly overseas workers and professionals.
