Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the missions category.
Flood Relief
We have started administering the flood relief finances that we recieved from AOGWR. We came up with a four stage plan, releasing certain aspects of relief and assistance on a weekly basis to the 100 selected fanilies in the Fairview area. The relief goods are being released over a four week period in an edeavour to ensure that target families are assisted in the best possible way.
The assistance is termed a “Re-establishment Package”, where the aim is to give 100 families the various items needed to actaully conduct life. Families will recieve pots, pans, gas cookers, various household items, various containers, food preparation items, things to wash clothes, school uniforms, bags, stationary and shoes. Twice during the next month families will recieve a 50kg sack of rice, plus weekly food allowances.
A secondary goal with the flood assistance is too purchase as many of the items as possible from the sourrounding area and so inject finances into the local economy.
Pastor James Troup has so far been the one administering the relief and has done a great job.
Trip to Thailand
As some of you know we were recently in Thailand for a combined Aussie Missionaries Sumitt for the Pan Asia Region. It was great…
We stayed in what was for us, a luxury resort, Club Andaman…beautiful, quite, peaceful and a great swimming pool. Maybe 100 metres from the beach (although a bit rough for swimming). We both enjoyed the rest.
But the Conference was the focus of the trip. There were perhaps 100 Missionaries from India, China, Japan, Thailand, Parts of the Ukrain, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines. It was so inspiring hearing what the Lord is doing through them all in the countries He has sent them to. Some of them are really doing things that are effecting the whole nation. Stuff ranging from church planting, orphanages, clean water services, building of whole villages, drug rehabs, work amongst Muslims, lots of work amongst the poor…but the scale of some of the works was incredible…”we were like grasshoppers in our own sight” as we got to spend a few days amongst “giants of Faith”. So inspiring, way too much to say, except, “Thank you Jesus for sending us there.”
The most amazing thing, is that none of the Missionaries there were amazing, they all were amazing in so many ways, but really they are just ordinary people with an extraordinary God, who does incredible things through them all…
Baseco Missions TEAM…
Three of our best, Pastora Marivic, Pastora Annie and Riza went last week as our very first self funded Missions Team from the slums of Baseco to work with and bless, Lucy Longdon in the incredible work that her and her team are doing in Cebu.
The stories and testimonies are still coming out of our team, as they are now back in Baseco, but it is very clear that they were both blessed and a great blessing while they were there. They saw another world of ministry. The Lord used them to see baptisms in the Holy Spirit as they ministered in youth meeting, with women, in prisons, in the cemetery…many different places.
What did Jesus say “Go into ALL the World”…and do what…”Preach the Gospel”, and then what will happen…”Signs will follow…”. Amen. How simple is that.
Notice that He never mentioned “do this when you are FREE”, or “do this when you have some extra cash”, or “do this after bible college”…imagine, girls from a slum, with so little education, no bible college, definitely no spare cash, the 2 pastors still have small children at home…but still, they have enough faith TO GO on a “self funded” missionary trip…have you ever heard of anything so crazy in all your life….WHAT’S YOUR EXCUSE…
Mark
Nothing Happens Unless you PRAY…NOTHING ELSE WORKS
We all know this to be true, we teach on prayer, talk about prayer, think of ways to do it better…we are blessed, our people want to pray. We often have nights of prayer, cancel all activities and have a whole day of prayer…what better way to succeed than to pray. I was quitely happy when recently I was listening to a Messianic Jew share about his experiences in the Underground Church of China, he was making a big deal of the Chinese church’s 8-10 hour prayer meetings, praying “UNTIL” God did something…that’s what we do…PRAY UNTIL…
For us worship, prayer and bible reading is all rolled into one…just SEEK GOD…!
Storm coming…
How we would love this sort of rain in Australia…it comes here every year. For the poor , again it is simply another burden. When you live in a house made out of this and that, perhaps bits of plastic, bits of tent…and then maybe only the ground for a floor…lots of rain and wind is not your friend.
Imagine yourself living in a slum home, with say 8 kids, 3 are sick with various diseases, 2 are malnourished and a big storm is coming…your job is to keep everyone dry and maybe even to try and keep the house together in the strong winds. As the flood levels rise after 7-8 hours of torrential down pour, some kids are on chairs, some on a box, others on a pile of clothes, you are in the water trying to keep certain items dry…moving children away from the bigger leaks in the roof…and it rains like that all night…so you are doing everything in the dark.
What a life…
Mark
Slum Missionaries – “He said GO…”
History in the making…we are sending a “SELF FUNDED” team to Cebu for four days to work with another Aussie Missionary, Lucy Longdon.
They will fly there and back using their own money. Now, for some of you reading this you will think “big deal, so what”…BUT remember where these people come from, how much they earn, how huge this step is for them. They believe God is sending them, they are going as Missionaries themselves, they are going to give, to serve, they are not going to receive, they are not being paid…their own “Faith” is making this possible, not their financial situation.
Sometimes we have all the money in the world and we still find it hard to do what Jesus wants us to do. The Lord God Almighty in His infinite wisdom, spoke to people who live in a third world slum and told them “to GO into all the world and preach the gospel”, and as amazing as it might seem, they are “going”, just because He said. How incredible is that, sounds so biblical, sounds so easy.
And another amazing thing is they actually believe that they have something to contibute, I am not sure how they saw themselves before, but now they see themselves as preachers, ministers, and missionaries. They see themselves as “able to have an impact”.
It might seem like a small thing, but it’s very exciting.
Can we learn any lesson from this simple display of FAITH…?
Bless you Mark
Kids Crusades…Sarah Harrison
JOHN 14:12 Kids – Crusades over the Holidays…lot’s of FUN…
Since we follow the American system of schooling, it’s holiday time over here, so all the kids are home with nothing to do. This week we did four seperate kids crusades in different locations and then had a final combined kids crusade to bring all the groups together. It is always hard to estimate numbers (and it is something we rarely do at all, as numbers mean very little…), but we definitely had more than 100 kids at each small crusade, and perhaps 400-500 at the last combined one. Great event, great way to share Jesus and sow seeds of faith into little hearts.
We had plenty of action for them all – balloons, face painting, small beach balls flying around, bubbles being blown, loud music, great kids action songs, dramas about Jesus, small prizes – as you can imagine it was a bit crazy at times, but great fun. Sarah put it all together with the youth and other church workers, they did such a great job, everyone worked long and hard on the day and with all the preperation.
The junior youth all worked, help to teach dances – everyone was involved.
Reaching Mindanao – Faith or Fear
Reaching Mindanao – Ministry Amongst the Muslims
Faith or Fear – what leads us…?
We have been conducting seminars in Northern Mindanao for the past 3 years, but have just recently began to move South. For anyone who knows Mindanao, it is predominately southern Mindanao that is dominated by various Muslim and militant groups, all active, most anti-government. It is a feared area, even by some locals. Indiscriminate bombings and shootings, aimed at basically anyone who does not belong to that particular group are regular and widespread, and has bred a culture of fear and caution. Driving into the Southern region for the first time is a little bit daunting, the further you go, the more army checkpoints and road blocks you pass through, from time to time you be subjected to full body searches as various check points search for people and vehicles carrying weapons or bombs. Many of the local are not involved in the conflict, but are all effected in one way or another.
One of the effects in the south is that many white missionaries are afraid to go there, or the locals are afraid to host white missionaries for fear of attracting the wrong type of attention. This leaves that local christians (of whom there are many) without much needed encouragement, training and resources to develop the work of the Lord in their region. It can “cut them off” in practical terms from parts of the body, it can rob them of life giving connections. I hear of events that are cancelled by white missionaries due to outbreaks of violence, wisdom based in fear seems to often cancel out faith. I also hear of the “safe places” that seem to get all of the attention when it comes to seminars and training, safe is an evidance of the “weakness” of faith, then there are those who won’t go, or won’t travel with armed escorts, a faith based in a worldly form of protection, where did the great, almighty, never failing, miracle working God go. The challenge is this – THE WHOLE WORLD NEEDS JESUS. The great commision in no way indicates caution or care, it never excludes any area, region or people group for any reason at all – ALL EXCUSES ARE IRRELEVANT…we are to go into ALL the WORLD and preach the good news.
The original vision that the Lord gave me, was to conduct seminars in the North aimed at pastors. He showed me that by the end of one year (seminars every two months) the pastors who would work with us in the future would be revealed by their faithfulness over that year. It might sound like a slow team building plan, but none the less it was clearly from the Lord. There were other details connected with what the Lord showed me and they have all worked out. We now are connected to Pastor Rolly and Sharon Madrigal in the north, Pastor Dela Cruz in the south and through these two men of God we have access anywhere in this region.
This is now the year for church planting in this region…but not just churches in the “safe areas”, churches in the “unsafe areas”. All the advice givers will say “but brother you have to be careful, you have to be wise, God does not call you to be reckless, you can’t preach when your dead”, and while all of those statements are right in themselves, they are also oh so wrong when they begin to limit the call of God, sowing doubt where faith should be. An man of God whom I respect greatly once told me in the early days of my christianity, that if you don’t take risks you will always fail. Faith in it’s very nature is always a risk, because you are believing in the unseen, the intangible.
The next few blogs will focus on Mindanao. Pray for us as we begin to lay hold of this region for Christ. There are many missionaries who are here doing great works for God, and in Jesus name we will make our small mark for the Lord as He leads, guides and directs us. Please pray for us as the Lord may lead.
“Many hands make light work – carry your share of the evangelistic load”
The POWER of Prayer
One of the constitutional enforcements of the Gospel is prayer. Without prayer, the Gospel can neither be preached effectively, promulgated faithfully, experienced in the heart, nor be practiced in the life. And for the very simple reason that by leaving prayer out of the catalogue of religious duties, we leave God out, and His work cannot progress without Him. Praying men are essential to Almighty God in all His plans and purposes. God’s secrets, councils and cause have never been committed to prayerless men. As praying men are a help to God, so prayerless men are a hindrance to Him.
The work of Ministry and the work of Missions has so many varied methods that it employs to accomplish it’s work – how many of those methods are backed by really solid prayer..?
It often seems so easy to do so much, but often the “much” has very little if any eternal value.
WE MUST BE PEOPLE OF DEEP, EFFECTIVE PRAYER.
An Encouragement to FAITH…
Sunday Morning Sermon – An Encouragement to FAITH…
One of the aspects of Salvation is to bring us to a position of faith, from un-faithfulness to faith, and then for us to continue to walk and grow in faith.
As we look at the book of Colossians we get a lesson in FAITH.
Heb’ 11:1 tells us that “faith is the substance…”, so faith is a real thing, it’s “a substance”, it can somehow be seen, be touched, it can be developed, grown, used and abused. It’s a thing that we can all lay hold of. Hebrews goes on to tell us that “faith (real, living, active faith) makes things that are hoped for real”. Clearly it is not some magic wand fulfilling all of our personal desires, but it makes the things “hoped for in Christ”, the promises of God come alive for us, in our personal experience.
Heb’ 11:2 “by it the elders obtained…”, faith obtains things, it sees things happen in reality – faith works in the real world.
Because it is real, it’s alive, it has it’s own substance, it also must have evidences of it’s reality…
Col’ 1:4-6 “…since we heard of your faith…”. People were speaking of the faith of others, faith had a voice through the voices of the people who saw it, who experienced it. Faith could be heard of because it was a reality in the lives of those who professed to have it.
It’s interesting to note that faith led to love, no love, no faith or at best a defective kind of faith (another sermon).
In the text we can see how the hearing of faith, produces faith -
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we have heard of your faith…so we are praying for you…prayer takes faith…
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your faith came by hearing…
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others hearing of your faith are inspired to faith…
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so faith is bearing fruit – your faith will bear forth fruit, that’s what faith does…
John 15:5 We are called to faith, we are called to bear fruit – one leads to the other, the process is natural and unforced.
John 15:8 faith produces great fruit, not just enough, GREAT FRUIT, great in quality or quantity, often both, BUT GREAT FRUIT ANYWAY YOU LOOK AT IT…
Everyone can come to faith today, those who come to faith WILL produce GREAT FRUIT – you’re faithfulness will make you fruitful.
So far we have read about an “effective faith”, bearing fruit, being heard of in other places by other people, a great faith…but Paul says “we do not cease to pray for you…”.
FAITH IS FED BY PRAYER – PRAYER IS THE POWER BEHIND A LIFE OF FAITH
Prayer can be quenched by seeming success, do not cease to pray. Today people have opinions on everything, they can discuss and debate, get their point across so well…but how many people really PRAY. Talking is so much easier than prayer, but it is prayer that feeds your faith – LEARN TO PRAY, MORE THAN YOU LEARN ANYTHING ELSE.
Paul is praying for very specific things to happen…
Col 1:9-10 That we might be filled (to fill up, to finish, to be complete and perfect)…
and that we might filled specifically with knowledge (meaning recognition, to recognize) of His will. We are supposed to know what is and what is not His will for us, so that we know what to “stand with” and what to “stand against”, to know what is “for us” and what is actually “against us”…and that we might be filled with all wisdom and spiritual (literally supernatural, knowing what you cannot know) understanding. Understanding means to put together mentally, it’s a connecting and building term for strength and stability.
Paul is praying for us to be established in the faith and our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ…it’s a significant prayer.
Col 1:10 then he is praying that “we would walk (a spiritual walk that effects and overcomes our natural tendencies 2 Cor’ 5:7) worthy (literally in a Godly manner) being fruitful (the thought is that we are spiritually fertile and able to produce) in every good work”.
A Godly walk, produces Godly fruit and it is all based in prayer and faith…!
Paul has already been speaking of great things, faith, great faith, fruit, growth and he goes on and prays for “INCREASE”…as he has not mentioned enough already, he prays for increase. Such are the UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES for every person of FAITH…
NO MATTER WHERE WE ARE, AND WHAT WE ARE SEEING GOD DO…THERE IS ALWAYS MORE, ALWAYS INCREASE TO BE HAD IN EVERY AREA…absolutely incredible…what a mighty God we serve…and all it takes is FAITH!
But even this is not enough, it’s not where Paul stops, he is not talking about normal increase…Col 2:19, he is talking about the increase that comes from God Himself…supernatural, divine, heaven sent increase, stuff that is out of this world type of increase…who wants some of that, who needs some of that…then get into faith, power up that faith through prayer, lay a hold of some stuff today.
Paul is once again opening up some of the incredible possibilities attached to Christian living, but it needs your active participation…
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you need an ACTIVE FAITH…
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you need an ACTIVE PRAYER LIFE…
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you need a CONSTANT WALK…
…all of these things build upon each other, each feeds the other and before you know it you are a spiritual giant doing great exploits in the Kingdom of God.
These things are available to everyone, we are going to see squatters from Baseco rise up in Christ, poor people, rich in Faith are going to go to the ends of the earth preaching the gospel of the Kingdom in the Power of the Spirit. You are some of those people – SIMPLY BELIEVE’.
God Bless you – Mark
