Summer 2019 Missions

JAPAN

Thank you to everyone who prayed for and supported our Japan 2019 Prayer and Encouragement team. The number one question I was asked about this trip was, “What were you doing there?” Well, praying and encouraging! Christians who live, work, and serve in Japan battle isolation and discouragement, and simply showing up to pray with, listen to, and hang out with them is one of the best ways to build into the existing church there.

On this year’s trip, seven of us travelled over 10,000km and spent the week in Mito. We worked closely with Mito Church, but not exclusively. There are many pastors, leaders, missionaries, and even musicians from surrounding areas we spent time with. One day, we joined with church members, split into three groups, and did a prayer walk around the city. We visited people in their homes, shared life struggles over meals, and built one another up in the Lord. I don’t say that to be trite. It was a truly Spirit-led week.

Pastor George preached at Mito Church on Sunday, led a few prayer meetings throughout the week (one of which was a bit spontaneous), and shared a bit about what God has done through the Discipleship model we use here in our church.

Everyone on the team seemed to find someone to connect with on a really personal level. We were a motley group of different life stages and experiences, and God used each and every one of our stories, which I think we were surprised by…but we shouldn’t have been, because y’all were praying! Our team came back more convinced than ever that, although this is one of the world’s most unreached people groups, Jesus is building His church! And what a privilege to know, love, and pray for them!

Thank you again for all your prayers and excitement for what God is doing in the church in Japan.

Romania Kids Camp

“Marrog pentrutine dewareche teyubesk” – it means “I am praying for you because I love you.” My name is JP Merino and at the beginning of July, a group of us got to go on a mission trip to harvest Metanoia in Braila, Romania.  First of all thank you so much for all of you who prayed, gave and supported us as we embarked this one week journey. During our time in Braila, we got to run a kids day camp with about 80 to 90 kids. Our theme for the week was “impreuna e Mai bine” or “Together is better”. 

We did crafts, games, sports and other fun activities where the kids got to not only have fun but also hear the gospel everyday single day.  We also ran afternoons community outreach at two of the large parks in Braila. Through spending time with the kids, doing gospel-focused crafts and sports, we had the opportunity to invite the kids to come to the day camp. You know what was amazing? The next day kids showed up that had been invited at park outreach.  So we are so exited to share with you that the Gospel was preached, we believe lives where changed and that God was glorified!

And we are so thankful for what GOD did, is doing and will continue to do in Romania!

Romania Discipleship Camp

Thank you to all that prayed, financially supported, and encouraged the Romania Family Discipleship team this summer. We met up with the Armitage family in Braila, and together we partnered with the Church in Braila, Sibu and Moldova to run a Discipleship camp in Harghita Romania.

We had around 100 men, women, and children join us for 5 days of teaching, worship, and fun. Our theme for the week was “Prayer” and we used the curriculum from Daniel Henderson’s “Transforming Prayer”.  A volunteer from Braila church translated the material and each morning we watched a video and then gathered into small groups. Daniel Henderson teaches that everything changes when you seek God’s face, and we witnessed firsthand the spirit moving among His people as they lifted His name up in scripture-fed, spirit-led, worship-based prayer. Our time in small groups allowed us to connect with each other, and we watched as they grasped the simplicity of praying God’s word.

We could see the joy as they prayed, lifting high the name of Jesus. This really is just a snapshot of all God did during our week together, but we praise the Lord for answering our prayers!

Lebanon Kids Camp

Shukran to all you who prayed, financially supported and encouraged this year’s Lebanon kids camp team. 

We had the privilege of working with grain de ble, who partners with local churches that are active in refugee outreach. Throughout the year they seek to do children’s events which serve as a follow up to their summer camps. This year our team was given the responsibility of coming up with the content for two of these three day kids camps. The theme was do not fear, we looked at how our God is one of promise, who is present and powerful. This was taught through a formal bible teaching time as well as Gospel centred, crafts, games and Drama. Apart from this, the team and I got to experience the culture, have fun with the kids, and even visit their homes. We saw some children who attended last year and how they’ve grown in their faith and love for Jesus Christ. Our hope is that our gospel proclamation would bare even more fruit than what we’ve seen. This is a small glimpse as to what God is doing in Lebanon and would he continue to do far more abundantly than what we ask or think for that sake of his glory.