Gary and Aline Douglas have been faithfully serving the Lord at Elim Pentacostal Church, South Wales, UK, for the last two years. Gary is our UK Field Director. One and a half years ago, he was appointed small group director of the Elim Church. Gary and Aline are ‘top shelf’ servant-leaders – living ‘at the ready’ to go anywhere in the world … to serve the Lord in any worthwhile way. The following news update has recently come from Gary …

Small groups at Elim Church

In March, 2011, we started small groups development training – running two courses concurrently. In the second course I appointed Craig, a trainee from the first course, as the assistant trainer. The first two courses saw 22 people trained and 8 small groups form in April, 2011. Since then Craig and I have facilitated another training course, graduating another 8 people in November, 2011.

The enthusiasm for small groups and their potential for church growth, and reaching-out to the lost remains strong in the Elim church. We are also close to starting a small group for Polish speaking people (there is a large Polish community in our township). The two leaders who have been attending training don’t speak any English. This has presented us with many challenges.

In January, this year, I was able to pass on the role of small groups director (which has been my goal from the start) to Craig who is already doing a great job, with enthusiasm. It is in safe hands, and Craig and his wife, Nicole, (who have been leading a group together since last April) will start the fourth training course in April, targeting young people to be able to start older youth and 20’s groups to reach their peers. Praise the Lord for what He is doing here in Llanelli – training, equipping and releasing people.

The fruit of Bill’s visit, in May 2011

It was wonderful having Bill visit after his trip to Poland. Bill facilitated three meetings at Llanelli, two for the Elim Church and one for leaders of other local churches. As well as inspiring many within the church, the following two testimonies have come from those inspirational sessions:

Cynon Valley Lighthouse, Mountain Ash, South Wales: Pastor Anita and her nominated small groups champion met with me after Bill’s visit. After sharing the Small Groups Vision further as well as CCI’s other materials, Anita decided that she, and the small group director-to-be, would attend the third small groups development training in Llanelli each week. So from September, they travelled an hour each week to attend the training that was facilitated by Craig and me. As soon as training was finished, they started their own training course in Cynon Valley Lighthouse to skill their leaders for groups. They are excited and doing well.

Bethel Elim Pentecostal Church, Neath, South Wales: The Pastor of Bethel Elim, at Neath, was also at the seminar with Bill. I has since visited him for a chat about the small group vision and have also had the opportunity to present the small groups vision to some of the potential small group leaders in his church. Watch this space for further news.

Other Churches: There is one other church in Llanelli who are interested in meeting with me to discuss our small groups vision, as well as a church in London who I have met with a couple of times over the past two years to help them with their small group development.

Gary