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International Presence
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We have offices in many nations. Please check
our list of offices for information
on contacting them directly. Most of them still use our
old denominational name. More information is available on our websites:
Africa
Americas
Asia
Australia & New Zealand
Europe
Some local church congregations have their own web sites.
These sites are generally maintained by someone in the local church and have
local information such as meeting times and places, information about the pastor,
and announcements.
Copyright 2009
Grace Communion International
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Our Missions Directors [MD] fill a vital role for
the denomination. They work in
teams to coordinate
and superintend our missionary activities. We are blessed to
have leaders with a rich diversity of ministerial experience.
Most of the team members serve as National Ministry Leaders in
their home nations.
The teams are:
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Gary Moore and Kalengule Kaoma for Africa
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Rod Matthews, Eugene Guzon and
John McLean for Asia, the Philippines, Australia and Oceania
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Charles Fleming and Hector Barrero for the Caribbean and
Latin America
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James Henderson and Santiago Lange for Europe
The MD acts as a catalyst and a facilitator for the living and sharing of the
gospel. They respond to new calls to mission from various places and people. They
confirm the legitimacy and viability of a mission call. Once they involve themselves
with a mission, much of their work is engaged in identifying and training indigenous
men and women. The MDs are becoming specialists in contextualizing
the gospel into diverse cultures and situations. This takes maturity and a great
deal of experience, since there is often a thin divider between the blessing
of a contextualized gospel and the curse of syncretism.
Other priorities of the MD may be summarized as providing pastoral leadership
development and succession planning, promoting personal well-being, providing pastoral
supervision, ensuring biblically sound teaching, spiritual formation and equipping
of pastors, providing evangelism guidance and coordination, linking available resources
from external sources to ensure greatest gospel value, linking developing missions
to the fellowship through communication, intervening when necessary, being a presence
for the denomination.
The mission of the Worldwide Church of God
outside the United States is funded in three ways. The first is through the donations
of members in the various countries in which we work. The majority of mission work
being done is being funded through this means. The second category is the money
that comes out of the denominational apportionment of the contributions received
in U.S. local churches, and the third source is from individual or congregational
donations that are in addition to the funds made available from the denominational
apportionment. Our Missions Directors and other mission expenses incurred at the
denominational offices are funded from this denominational apportionment.
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Kalengule
Kaoma, a native of Zambia, is
National Director for Zambia and Missions Director
for much of Africa. Over the past several years the number of refugees in Africa has increased
tremendously. Of the many congregations we have in this region, two are composed mainly
of refugees – one in Nairobi, Kenya, and another in Kakuma, in the north of Kenya
near the Sudan. Many of the refugees are Congolese, Rwandese, or Burundian. Some
in Kakuma are Sudanese or Ethiopian, and in Kakuma we have a number of members who
are hearing impaired. The refugee members have many needs, both physical and spiritual.
We have supplied a number of them with Bibles, and have also tried to set up some
self-help projects, as well as supplying food as direct assistance.
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Malawi is often described as the "warm heart" of Africa, and is certainly a
beautiful and friendly place. However, the country has not had good rains at the
right seasons for several years; there have been food shortages and near famine
conditions. Various churches in the developed world supported a fund that assisted
35 families with food for a period of around six months during the worst of the
crisis. In addition, land and seeds were purchased in order to plant crops for
the end of the crisis. This initiative resulted in a bumper harvest for our members
in need. Also, some years ago the Blantyre church planted a small church called
Minimini on the slopes of Mount Mulanje. This church is located in a tea plantation,
and now has around 70 in attendance. A literacy program has been established to
help particularly women to learn how to read.
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Madagascar. The WCG in Madagascar (Association le
Monde a Venir) has been helping kids from poor families for many years. With
our two congregations (Antananarivo and Antsirabe),
we are offering spiritual education, scholar kits,
protein complementary food every two weeks and some
educational activities for about 70- 80 kids between 2 and 13 years old.
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Angola. Oliveira Kitambala and his wife are beginning a school project for
orphans and street children just outside war-torn Luanda. Details are still being
obtained.
The church is active in most nations of sub-Saharan Africa.
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Gary Moore is the National Director
of our denomination in Canada. As such he serves as ministry leader,
and coordinates the administration and missions of the fellowship in Canada. Congregations
began to develop in Canada in the early 1960's, and have grown to a national family
of over 60 churches since then.
Gary married Wendy (Holladay) in June 2006. Wendy, a
native South African, served as the National Director in South Africa. Gary served the church in
southern Africa from June 2006 until June 2007. Gary and Wendy
now live in Canada.
Due to the connection with southern Africa, Gary has been partnered to serve with
Kalengule Kaoma as Missions Directors for that continent. Gary's responsibilities
include the activities of the church in South Africa, and the areas directly administered
from there - Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, and Namibia. Also, the Canadian congregations
and members have taken a special responsibility to help fund mission efforts in
Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Further, due to the fact that about 1/3 of our African
congregations are French speaking, a supportive relationship is forming between
those churches and the French-speaking congregations in Canada.
Gary and Kalengule are working closely together to support and encourage mission
in Africa. Africa is truly an exciting mission field. There is an openness to the
gospel that is very inspiring. Gary and Wendy strongly feel that the Canadian churches
will gain a great deal as they seek to partner with and serve their African brethren.
The mission of Jesus Christ in moving forward, and the light of the gospel is shining
strongly on the African continent!
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Eugene Guzon is
the National Director of the Worldwide Church of God in the Philippines
and Missions Director for northern Asia and Micronesia. He coordinates the day-to-day administration and missions and outreach activities
in the country. The Philippine church is keen on church planting, missions training
and deployment. In March 2007, the denomination held its first World Missions Congress,
attended mostly by Filipino tentmaking missionaries working in other countries,
church pastors, and church members who are already involved or waiting to be a part
of missions work. The congress also had delegates from India, Malaysia, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Pakistan, Nepal, and the United States.
In February 2007, Mr. Guzon was
appointed as Missions Director for the Philippines,
East Asia and the United Arab Emirates. He is responsible for promoting the missions
work of the denomination in the region. This includes missions awareness programs,
identification and development and mentoring of indigenous leaders, pastoral supervision,
ensuring biblically sound teaching, and networking for the gospel.
- The Philippines is one of the countries with the most members of the
Worldwide Church of God. The church in this nation began as a Bible study group
in 1962. From that small group, God led it to grow to more than 75 churches and
about 45 outreach Bible study areas scattered in major towns and cities, with
about 7500 members nationwide.
In the past few years, we have seen significant growth in terms of churches and
membership through holistic evangelism, missions and church-planting training,
and leadership development and the role of prayer in the personal and community
life of the brethren. Every year, our churches reach thousands through youth ministries,
summer camps, medical missions, evangelism training, crusades, medical missions,
relief and rehabilitation work during natural disasters. By the grace of God and
the commitment of our brethren, God adds an average of 600 to 700 members per
year in the church in the Philippines.
Most of the Philippine churches are led by bi-vocational pastoral teams. Many
of the members have also undertaken missions training, which has led to more people
who have participated in short-term missions trips abroad or have chosen to become
tentmaker missionaries. Currently, more than a dozen have been deployed as tentmaker
missionaries in Asia and Europe. Some have spent a few months on short-term mission
trips in various countries in the region. There are dozens who are trained and
willing to be deployed as tentmakers but are still raising funds for their deployment
or applying for jobs in host countries.
- China was the world’s largest economy for most of recorded history
in the past two millennia until about 1800. Because of the collapse of the Quing
Dynasty and the resulting chaos, China fast declined in the world scene. It was
during that time that the United States rose to become the world’s largest economic
power. In recent years, because of its competitive labor force, a strong economy,
and a more open-door economic policy, China is fast becoming an economic force
to reckon with.
The "official" orthodox faith system held by most dynasties in China until the
overthrow of the last dynasty is panentheism, which is centered on the worship
of Heaven as an omnipotent force. Taoism, which is centered on "the way," is also
considered a folk religion in China. Buddhism was introduced in China during the
Han dynasty and it is the largest organized faith in China; China has more Buddhists
than any other nation in the world, followed by Japan. Many Chinese identify themselves
as Buddhist and Taoist at the same time.
In recent years, because of its greater openness to outside influences, Christianity
is making good headway as we can hear of many new believers. The challenge is
how to train and support pastors and leaders to disciple them.
- United Arab Emirates: About 96 percent of the population is Muslim
(80% Sunni, 16% Shiite), with the remaining 4% composed of Christian, Hindus and
other faiths. The country is relatively restrictive, although not as much as Saudi
Arabia and others in the Middle East. Christian churches still find a way to worship
during Fridays (the regular holiday) in private villas, restaurants and hotels.
Some gather in small groups in Christian households for Bible studies. For the
past 18 or so years, the WCG has had a thriving church in the Dubai. The congregation
had a major setback in the mid 1990s, but the work in Dubai has begun to grow
in the past few years. It is a vibrant community of about 40 people in attendance
composed of about 35 baptized members and their families. Almost all the members
are Filipinos who are in Dubai as overseas contract workers. We previously had
expatriates from Europe, but these have returned to their home countries.
- Japan: Over the years, we have had scattered members living in Japan
for job contracts and business. But their tenure in Japan usually lasts for only
a year or a few years. We now have a small church composed mostly of Filipinos.
They are ministered to by a Japanese bi-vocational pastor. Because of its homogenous
culture and language, strong traditions and relatively and costly financial requirements
for setting up churches, Japan poses a real challenge for missions.
- Guam and Micronesia: The work in these islands consists mainly of giving
pastoral care to scattered members. Eugene Guzon recently visited to meet with
members and leaders of other churches for possible networking opportunities. The
trips this year have been more of listening to the needs, challenges and opportunities,
networking with some religious leaders, and meeting national labor officials who
are involved in the deployment of Filipino workers to these territories. There
are also initiatives of partnership for leadership training among pastors in the
area since they have expressed desire for more training in preaching and other
leadership issues. Mission opportunities in this area will mainly be the promotion
of tentmaking ministries, leadership training, and pastoral care visits.
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Rod Matthews
helps coordinate activities in
nations from Afghanistan in the west to
French Polynesia in the east; Nepal in the north to New Zealand in the south (although
the church is not involved in activities in every country in this region). He is
responsible to the denominational president for overall supervision of the
activities of the church in the region, except for Australia.
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Pakistan, Nepal & India: There is ongoing communication with a number of
church groups who have requested contact, assistance, and association with the
WCG. The process is slow and incremental as we get to know one another in
order to determine their needs and what motivates their requests, and match
that with what we can offer within our limited resources. In Nepal we have
developed a working relationship with a small ministry and have jointly
established a medical clinic for the poorest people, especially those working
in the brickyards on the outskirts of Kathmandu. In Pakistan we are assisting
an established ministry develop biblical and
vocational training facilities and meet the social needs of minorities.
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India: In Bangalore, we publish
a free national magazine titled Living Light, which is designed to appeal
to people of Hindu origins. In Hyderabad we have a counseling center, support
orphanages for homeless boys and
girls, as well as youth development camps.
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Sri Lanka: We
operate the Worldwide Educational Institute teaching English and business skills
to high school graduates. This enables them to gain better employment or be equipped
to enter tertiary educational courses. We are also expanding our congregations
and pastoral support in the poor rural areas in the mountainous central region.
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Bangladesh: The church’s
presence in Bangladesh is through an energetic and active ministry offering
humanitarian, vocational, educational and Christian outreach initiatives that
works from a base in a village in southern Bangladesh under the name of the
Bengali Evangelical Association. The facility includes a classroom and
assembly building funded by the Canadian churches, and a
three-story concrete building that was
recently completed as a disaster refuge in the event of cyclones, storms,
tsunamis and floods. Vocational, self-employment and agriculture projects
strive to lift the people from poverty while sharing the good news of God’s
message for them.
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Malaysia: We publish a free
magazine that targets the non-Muslim population in Malaysia and Singapore.
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Thailand: We provide pastoral
and humanitarian support for a congregation of Karen refugees in
an internment
camp in the western region bordering Myanmar. We
offer personal support for
a Christian Thai couple in their English language schools
in Chiang Mai, where God’s values are being taught.
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Papua New Guinea: We
provide pastoral oversight for congregations in Port Moresby and have
installed a solar-power generator for the church-owned buildings near Mt. Wilhelm
in the central highlands so the local congregation can have evening functions
as an evangelical outreach to neighboring villages, which have no electric power.
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Australia: Rod serves as
liaison with the John McLean, National Director
for Australia, and individual pastors to match offers of
assistance and resources with needs and opportunities in Asia and the Pacific.
For example, sister congregation links have been established between
Australian and overseas congregations in order to support the work of the
church in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka and the Karen
refugee congregation in Thailand.
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Solomon Islands: A boat has been provided for the Ranongga
congregation to allow them safe transit to the regional center of Gizo for supplies,
and to enable them to continue outreach and evangelism activities in this large
town. A copra collection and re-sale facility had been established to support
the church and help serve and fund outreach projects.
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Vanuatu: We have a village
life development at Rory (where the congregation on Malekula is located) including
water supply, building of a hall for women’s activities and promotion of economic
livelihood activities.
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New Zealand: Southern
Light is a community service initiative established by the local
congregation in the city of Invercargill. Donated secondhand household goods
are displayed and sold at discounted prices for needy citizens, and often
given away to those in severe need.
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Myanmar: We have two congregations
in very remote areas where we provide humanitarian and pastoral support.
Outside
of Australia, the church
directly employs only five people —two in India, one in Malaysia and two in New Zealand.
Activities
in other countries are guided by either local
partly funded or non-salaried pastors
or congregational leaders, and sometimes include designated supervisory and support
pastors from other countries who make annual or bi-annual visits. Therefore, there
is much individual communication between the Missions Director and the leaders in
other countries involving the coordination of resources and events, in addition
to the need for routine pastoral supervision and care. Training and pastoral education
and development is important, but especially for those who have very limited contact
with colleagues during the year. Therefore, the provision and organizing of conferences,
seminars and training weekends and personal visits are part of the annual calendar.
John
McLean is the National Ministry Leader in Australia and coordinator of the
mission work being done by congregations in Australia. There are more than 1,400
members in Australia, meeting in 36 congregations.
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Hector Barrero, National
Director for Colombia, is our
Missions Director for Latin America. He is well known
in Columbia because
he hosts a radio program. Easily 60 percent of our members in Columbia came in during
the past few years as a result of the radio program. Hector served as vice president
for both the NAE in Colombia and for the largest pastor’s association in Bogotá.
He is also the national representative for Christian Schwartz’ Natural Church Development.
He is often invited to speak at various churches. Recently he was called in to share
his testimony by a group of churches that are concerned with the growth among many
churches in Columbia of Jewish practices from the Old Testament.
Mexico: We have over 200 people attending church services every week in 15 groups
scattered in the country, the one in Guadalajara being the largest. We have members
in Chihuahua, Cuauhtemoc, Mexicali, Mexico DF, Monterrey, Tepic, Tijuana, Torreon,
Tampico, San Luis Potosi, Ciudad Juarez, Xalapa, Veracruz, Jalpa de Mendez, Orizaba,
and Francisco Villa. At present we have two yearly seminars of three days each for
the leadership. In these seminars we work on doctrine, governance, promote unity
and direction.
The groups in these cities are working within their communities helping and reaching
out. They have weekly church services, in most cases at member homes. They invite
family and friends to their Bible studies. The Guadalajara congregation has a rented
hall.
Central America: We held a yearly seminar for members and leaders in either El
Salvador or in Honduras. We invite leaders and members from Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
This seminar is the only opportunity we have every year to see each other to plan
for the future of the congregations in this area.
In Honduras we have two groups: one of about 50 people in the capital Tegucigalpa,
led by Mauricio Diaz. This congregation has a ministry serving prisoners in a local
jail. Members of the congregation are allowed by the prison authorities to present
Bible studies. Members also take used clothing and Bibles to the prisoners.
The other congregation is in the northern part of the country, in San Pedro Sula,
attended by about 30 adults and 50 children, led by Marco Antonio Mejía. Marco Antonio,
a former school teacher, has a growing children's ministry in the area. At the end
of each year the congregation gives children school supplies for next year. Parents
of the children appreciate this gesture very much, as many of them need the help.
In El Salvador we have a small group of about 12 in the capital, San Salvador.
There we have David Agreda, who translates our church publications into Spanish.
He does an excellent job translating and keeping updated our Spanish web page. David
is also our contact reference for all our leaders in Latin America. Two U.S. pastors
and the local congregation in San Salvador give David a monthly offering for his
work. We appreciate the help of those who contribute to make possible this monthly
offering. David is translating into Spanish some of the classes offered by Ambassador
College of Christian Ministry – material used by the denomination to train leaders
and pastors.
South America: This is a huge area with over 450 million inhabitants.
Our denomination is present in the following countries:
In Colombia, we have two congregations - one in Barranquilla, of over 50 in attendance,
pastored by Sonia Orozco de Vengoechea. Sonia is the owner and principal of a school
with 270 students. Sonia registered her school as a Christian-oriented institution,
so she is allowed to teach Christian values to the students. As a result, many students
and their parents are attending weekly services. Sonia has in the school a youth
ministry led by a deacon with an attendance of 35 youngsters. The influence of Sonia’s
school in the community is positive and well received by the neighborhood around
the school.
The other congregation is in Bogota, the capital, with over 100 people in attendance.
The church’s three-minute daily program in radio station Nuevo Continente reaches
many Christian homes. We constantly receive new visitors to church services and
phone calls from people who want spiritual guidance and counselling. The radio program
has been on the air for over seven years and has given us the opportunity to come
into contact with other denominations and their pastors and with secular radio stations,
which have occasionally invited us to discuss a variety of subjects. We also receive
constant invitations from the other Christian radio station, Vida AM, to participate
in opinion programs. Our church is well known among the Christian community in the
city. Nuevo Continente officials have invited us to increase our time spot
from three to five minutes for 2008. Vida AM has invited us to have our program
on their station but we have not accepted it because of our limited budget.
In the Bogota congregation we have been working to train small group leaders,
and we have 10 small groups going during the week. We also send trained missionaries
to visit scattered members over the country.
In Peru we have three small groups in the country. In Lima, the capital, we have
12 to 15 people who meet weekly with pastor Jose Kasum. This year we had a two-day
seminar with attendance of 47, children included. We invited leaders from the Piura
and San Benito groups. We plan to continue having a yearly seminar in Lima as budget
permits.
In Argentina we have two congregations, one in Bahia Blanca of about 25 in attendance,
and the other in Buenos Aires with close to 50 in attendance, whose pastor is Julio
Fernandez. Julio works for a local Christian publication and is in contact with
other evangelical pastors and denominations. In 2007 we held a two-day seminar in
Ezeiza, near Buenos Aires, attended by over 50 people. The Ezeiza congregation owns
a nice church hall in the middle of a community in which residents are somewhat
related by family ties. When the MD visits Argentina he also visits Uruguay and
Chile, where we have friend congregations. We want to keep our commitment to visit
members and friend congregations in this area once a year.
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Charles Fleming is the Missions Director for the Caribbean
region. Within the region, the desire is to see each congregation become missional
– joining other WCG congregations as well as Christians from other denominations
in sharing the love of God with those around them. For those looking for mission
partners, here are three values that shape who we seek to become:
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Mission is personal service. Experiencing God’s patient
yet insistent determination to set our denomination free from self-imposed legalism
has left us with a desire to patiently, but persistently serve others with the
hope that they too will come to know the life-changing love of God. We wish to
partner with those who understand that mission involves entering into personal
relationships with the people we serve.
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Mission is part of life’s daily rhythm. Recognizing that Christ’s life was
a life on mission, we wish to make mission a natural part of the rhythm of our
lives – individually and as congregations. We wish to partner with others for
whom a mission is a sustainable part of their own life-rhythm.
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Mission is joint-effort. Having experienced the way the diverse gifts of the
Spirit come together in the Body of Christ to express God’s love, we welcome opportunities
to do ministry with committed Christians of different denominations.
The Worldwide Church of God has 23 congregations in 15 of the 27 nations that
make up the region. For those interested in joining Caribbean congregations of the
WCG in mission work, here are a few of our current mission-efforts.
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In the Bahamas, in June 2007
a group of WCG members and United Methodist members were involved in upgrading
the Bahamas church building to better serve members and the community. A follow-up
mission trip is planned for June 21–28, 2008.
On-going activities: the Nassau congregation is involved in a weekly soup
kitchen to the local community. This ministry especially focuses on members of
the Haitian migrant community. The church is also involved in refurbishing the
facilities of the Simpson Penn School for Boys. There is a sustained effort to
reach out to youth in the community, and an annual basketball tournament has been
a popular feature.
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In Trinidad our campus has
become a service center to the larger body of Christ. Dozens of Christian groups
– from a wide range of denominations – along with para-Church agencies – rent
the facilities for seminars, retreats and celebratory activities. The campus is
one of the official training centers for Evangelism Explosion (EE) and for Kids’
EE. It is also the base for the United Methodists ‘Walk to Emmaus,’ a retreat
weekend committed to strengthening the discipleship process of local churches.
It is also a site for training persons involved in Prison Ministries.
On-going activities. There is a major
effort to serve economically challenged families in a nearby community, addressing
family needs and providing educational opportunities.
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In Jamaica, over the past two years, trips by the Orlando WCG congregation to
the Christian Pen congregation have led to a working relationship between the
congregations. Plans are being made for another trip May 21–26, 2008. Construction
projects along with continuing efforts to strengthen the Christian Pen’s congregation’s
outreach effort to youth in community. The leadership of the Christian Pen congregation
has shown great commitment to meeting the needs of people in the surrounding community,
and the Orlando congregation is anxious to help.
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In Guyana, an English-speaking country on the northeastern coast of South America,
our Georgetown congregation partners with the Queens, NY congregation in serving
our small, 15-member congregation in Paramkatoi, an Amerindian village deep in
the mountainous hinterland of the country. Once a year members from Georgetown
visit Paramakatoi to provide training, to minister and to meet with villagers
and share the Gospel.
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In Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenada, our churches have growing outreach
programs into the community.
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In Haiti, the congregation, in partnership with WCG congregations in Ohio and
Indiana, runs a school. Unfortunately, the breakdown of law and order has made
it difficult for most parents to send their children to school, and so we are
reviewing our best way to support the congregation. The church also sponsors a
program for training dozens of young people to become bakers and so giving them
a way of making a living.
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In Bermuda, the church is
known for its hospitality and has a growing passion for serving young people in
the community.
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James Henderson, in addition to being National Director
in the United Kingdom, is also one of the Missions Directors for Europe. He writes
the following:
Europe – the challenge and opportunity
Modern Europe is
changing. Alongside stereotypical national images is emerging a new world order
with staggering potential. The sad thing is that this brave new world is often
godless. God is not on the agenda. Europe has been called neo-pagan,
post-Christian.
Of course, communities of Christians do survive and at times
thrive, and in some places an archaic form of Christianity remains amidst the
debris of failed state religion, adhered to nominally for the most part. Faith
in Christ, however, is in short supply whereas secularism, humanism and faith as
multiculturalism seem the order of the day. To be a Christian is regarded as
possibly fanatical, a social indiscretion or an embarrassing inconvenience.
Europe is stony ground indeed for the gospel. But the work of
faith must go on. Christians tell their stories of courageous faith amidst an
increasingly disinterested and sometimes hostile society.
What can the Worldwide Church of God do in the spiritual
wilderness that is Europe? We think that God can perform a miracle. Just as he
transformed the five loaves and two fishes and fed thousands, so Christ can take
what little we offer and through his miracle feed spiritually tens of thousands.
Scattered throughout Europe we have grace-filled congregations and contacts who
seek to be used by God in his mighty work. We need to hold their hands in faith.
Below is an introduction to their stories. Please pray with us that God will use
us to proclaim the good news of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
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United Kingdom and Ireland):
There are 1,414 members in the British Isles
and Ireland, meeting in 46
congregations. However, without God, we are nothing. Our fellowship has come
to realize clearly that we cannot do his work on our own strength. The
Worldwide Church of God in the UK and Ireland has rededicated itself to the
work of God. It is our prayer that he will use us for the furtherance of his
gospel. Our congregations participate in living and sharing the gospel
nationally and locally where they live. To find out more, check out our
website at www.wcg.org.uk.
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Estonia:
The church has had members in Estonia since 1988. In 1989 one
member of the WCG together with seven other Estonians started an organisation
that could help fellow Estonians. This project is now one of the largest
Estonian organisations helping released criminals find work and housing,
helping street children, a boy’s home for the homeless and other projects. The
WCG has 15 members living in Tartu, Estonia, which is the second-largest city
in the country. The pastor of WCG Scandinavia visits Estonia four times a year
serving the members, holding public lectures, where the public requests the
topics. And for the last three years the WCG in Europe has, with qualified
staff members, held a summer school for the Estonian youth of the town of
Kallaste. The local school requested the subjects: Basic and advanced English,
Computer, Art, Principles of living and American football (especially
requested by the local school)!
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France: L’Eglise
Universelle de Dieu / Le Monde à Venir is a Christian community of 700 members
spread over 10 churches in metropolitan France and three churches in the
Caribbean. In France, churches are in Bordeaux, Laval, Lille, Lyon, Marseille,
Metz, Narbonne, Selestat-Mulhouse, Paris and Orléans. House churches are also
being developed. The church’s work in France began 40 years ago, in 1967, with
the publication of a magazine. Our magazine La Vie Chrétienne reflects
our new understanding and doctrinal orientations. The WCG France teaches
salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The church teaches the
values of the New Testament and that salvation is offered to all humanity.
Members are encouraged to live their daily lives according to these
principles.
The National Ecclesiastical Council,
composed of three pastors and a spokesperson, works hand in hand with the
church board to offer pastoral care and handle administrative matters. We
encourage members to get involved in church activities as well as in their
local communities. Outreach ministries for the elders, youth and little ones
are encouraged and developed. A prayer ministry binds the local churches with
our scattered members and those who are in difficult situations. The annual
"Celebration of the Kingdom" is a strong moment in the life of our Christian
community. Information can be obtained on our website:
www.lemondeavenir.com.
Email:
contact@lemondeavenir.com Street
address: 53 rue Raymond Losserand, 75014 PARIS – France.
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Italy:
In 1982, there were only a few Italian
members. They had come into contact with the WCG in other parts of the world.
The first elder was ordained in 1985, and congregations were formed in Rome,
Milan and Catania. New contacts mainly came through heavily subsidized media:
a nationwide television program, an Italian version of our magazine, which at
one point had a circulation of 100,000, and through various booklets on
aspects of Christian living and doctrine.
Today the church in Italy is growing again, mainly through
personal evangelism, and there are about 120 people meeting in small groups or
churches in Turin, Milan, Genoa, Trento, Vicenza, Ancona, Rome, Bari, Catania
and Lercara Friddi (Sicily) and Sassari (Sardinia). There are also members in
Alessandria, Naples and the Calabria region. The church publishes a free
quarterly magazine titled Seguimi and organizes a nationwide festival
during the last week of each August.
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Portugal: The
Portuguese church is small in numbers but big in heart. Our members are
geographically distant from one another, some living in the north, south and
central part of the country. There are also members in the Madeira and Azores
islands. Portugal has a long coastline facing the Atlantic Ocean and in the
age of discovery established colonies in diverse parts of the world. They
share language and cultural links with these countries. Meetings are held in
the Lisbon area, so if you are ever in Portugal you are welcome to fellowship
with us. Our website www.idm.pt
contains our contact information as well as many articles in the
Portuguese language.
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Scandinavia: The WCG
has had members in Scandinavia since the mid 1950s. The members have always
been scattered in this region because they came in contact with the church
through mass media. There are 65 members in the three Scandinavian countries
of Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The church has regular meetings in Oslo,
Copenhagen, Stockholm and in other areas on a less regular basis. The church
produces five booklets a year in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish with a
readership of just over 1,000. The church has a homepage in all three
languages: www.gvks.org. The WCG in
Scandinavia has Estonia as an outreach project and serves the members there.
In recent years the WCG has held a summer school for Estonian youth of the
town of Kallaste. The regional pastor for Scandinavia is Carl Fredrik Aas.
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Santiago Lange is the National Director of the WCG
in Germany as well as one of the Missions Directors for Europe.
A number of
years ago the WCG launched a media ministry that has now expanded to include a
magazine in the Russian language. The Bulgarian Sviata Istina has a
bimonthly circulation of 4,000, while the bimonthly Russian edition,
Sviataja Istina, has a circulation of 1,000. Our readers include
Christians from many denominations, who have come to appreciate our literature
as excellent discipleship tools. The magazines also reach many people who live
far from existing churches. In eastern Bulgaria there is a group of about 30
Christians associated with the WCG that has been meeting regularly for worship
services three times a week. We hope to increase our media operations as
additional resources become available. The WCG regularly supports three
orphanages in the towns of Jambol, Elhovo and Kermen. Eastern Europe is open
to the gospel, and we hope that our work there will bring many more good
fruits in the future.
Germany and Austria:
There are about 130 members attending or affiliated with our five
congregations or small groups in Germany and Austria. The WCG in Germany
sponsors a magazine entitled Nachfolge. There are about 4,600
subscribers, mainly in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with about 700
subscribers in other nations. Germany, known as the land of Martin Luther and
the Reformation, has become hard soil for the gospel. The WCG in Germany has
been sponsoring the building of a medical center in Togo, Africa, and supports
Eastern European missions. Our congregation in Bonn is a member of the
Evangelical Alliance and the ACK (the working group of Christian churches). In
Austria, representatives of our fellowship have been instrumental in the
organization of a yearly celebration involving several evangelical churches.
The Netherlands: The
Dutch WCG has 79 members, attending in four congregations. The age range of
those in attendance is between 2 and 91 years. A widely distributed Christian
magazine in the Dutch language titled Lifeline reaches 1,600
subscribers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Surinam and Indonesia.
The Houten congregation is part of an association of ten
Christian churches that is involved, along with the government, in supporting
the elderly, the needy and youth. The ecumenical work among these churches has
proven to be constructive in spite of theological differences. The goal is to
bring the message and the person of Christ nearer to the Houten community.
Unfortunately, many people do not think of the word of God being relevant in
their lives today.
The Tilburg congregation is also an active member of an
ecumenical association and it supports an orphanage in India. The congregation
in Antwerp is associated with the Evangelical Alliance. After many difficult
years, the WCG’s work in Flanders (Dutch-speaking Belgium) is now being
positively recognized.
The Dutch WCG national church is active in a number of mission
projects, particularly in Bulgaria. In 2007, the congregations sponsored a
youth group that is building hospitals and schools in Malawi. Other activities
involve street evangelism and the support of WCG activities in Estonia. Most
members in the Netherlands are fluent in English. The WCG Netherlands
continues to remain in contact with two members in Surinam, South America, who
are supported spiritually as well as financially.
has a
population of over 45 million. About 1.5 million people have an evangelical
background. Most of these Christians migrated during the last ten years to
Spain from South America, Africa and Eastern Europe.
The WCG in Spain held its first worship service in 1988. There
are about 20 members regularly attending the Madrid congregation, although
there are an estimated 100 Christians, mostly of Brazilian background, who
occasionally also come to our fellowship.
We have been blessed with a second and very vibrant
congregation of about 15 members in Vilafranca de Bonany, Majorca. Most of
those in attendance are "second generation" Christians whose parents had been
attending the WCG.
About 35 additional members are scattered throughout Spain.
Most of them came in contact through the old denominational magazine, La
Pura Verdad. Some are also visiting other Christian congregations even
though they want to remain members of the WCG. The church produces two
magazines, Juntos and Verdad Y Vida. Juntos provides the Spanish
members with strong spiritual nourishment. The second magazine, Verdad Y
Vida, has 500 subscribers. The gospel faces great challenges in Spain and
we would greatly appreciate prayers of support.
There
are currently 68 members attending our three multi-cultural congregations in
Basel, Zürich and Geneva. The church in Switzerland subsidizes the printing of
a Christian magazine in the Italian language entitled Seguimi. Among
the projects supported by the WCG Switzerland is a youth camp in Kallaste,
Estonia, as well as a humanitarian program supporting street children and
released prisoners.
As you can probably appreciate, our Missions Directors take seriously the unique
characteristics of the cultural and historical context in which they have to minister
within the realities of their regions. We hope that this information has broadened
your overview of the international work. There is still so much to do. We appreciate
your regular and fervent prayers that God will inspire and uplift our MDs as they
respond to the Holy Spirit, that God will bless and protect the many fellow laborers
scattered throughout the world, and send even more laborers into his harvest.
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