Celebration at Christian Fellowship North in Warsaw

Posted by Bill on September 27, 2011

Dear Friends

Yesterday (25 September), Beryl and I experienced, a rich time of worship and fellowship with the Christian Fellowship (North), a church family of 500 members, in Warsaw. Not being able to understand the Polish language did not inhibit us from experiencing the amazing presence, power, and pleasure of the Holy Spirit at work in His people. An elder of the church sat behind us and quietly translated the message that was presented by Pastor Krzysztof Zareba, a humble man of God. Krzy preached with simplicity, passion and power.

Pastor Krzy invited us to lunch with him and his wife, Mariola, at a nearby Nepalese restaurant after the service (the owner of this restaurant has a brother who manages a Nepalese restaurant [Café Kathmandu] at Broadbeach, 15 minutes from where we live at the Gold Coast!). At the end of the meal, Krzy asked if I’d be willing to preach next Sunday, at both AM services. So, this boy is now chained at a desk in our bedroom, working on a message. (Your prayers would be appreciated.)

Tonight (26 September), Iza, Martin, and I will team up to facilitate training with Monday’s group (about 10 people). And, tomorrow (daytime), Iza, Agata and I will facilitate training with Tuesday’s group (10 people). The pace is slowly stepping-up. Iza and Martin’s phones have been busy with trainees from last Saturday’s group calling to express appreciation for the training they received, and new trainees were signed up last night, for today’s and tomorrow’s group – every training spot has been taken up!

Thank you for your encouraging support to us, and to the Lord’s work in Poland, and beyond.

Bill and Beryl J

A new step for Finley, Berrigan & Tocumwal!

Posted by Bill on April 1, 2011

Last week I had an exciting opportunity to fly to NSW (that’s New South Wales for you non-Aussies out there) to visit the Presbyterian churches of Finley, Berrigan and Tocumwal to present our Small Groups Church Plan to their Elders and lay leaders. I’m glad to share this report with you, not just to prove that I’m still up and about but to inspire and encourage churches and church leaders everywhere who may be considering taking on the small-groups challenge!

I met many fantastic people who made my visit a blessed experience. These three churches are pulsating with healthy hearts and I sensed a clear desire from the people I met to go forward with the Lord. I was privileged to join with the Elders of these churches on Friday night to brainstorm thoughts about where their churches desired to go. On Saturday, 29 representatives (Elders and lay leaders) from these churches took part in the Small Groups Development presentation. The session flowed smoothly and the participants were exceptionally warm, open and receptive to what was presented. I was also blessed with an opportunity to preach the Gospel at Berrigan and Finley Churches on the Sunday – praise the Lord for His presence and power at work in His people!

I am grateful to David and Chris Milburn who hosted me in their home during the four days visit. Thank you both sincerely for your generous hospitality, and for allowing the Lord to use you as a catalyst in making this great event possible.

To the church families of Finley, Berrigan and Tocumwal I extend a heartfelt bravo for taking these courageous, first steps in looking at biblical ways to (1) grow closer together in fellowship with each other, and with God, (2) develop new generations of leaders in your church, and (3) see how small groups can be effective in impacting unchurched family and friends with the love of the Lord. May the Lord richly bless you as you continue in this journey with Him, experiencing His will for you.

Every journey needs a first step! In this case, it came from the willingness of the church leadership to open their hearts to receive an objective assessment and recommendations for new ways of “doing church” that promises fruitful outcomes. I am privileged and thankful to the Lord for raising-up CCI to serve these churches in this way. It warms my heart to know that God is on the move, equipping and mobilising his people, here in Australia.

Can your church use some assistance to know how to step out in a new and exciting direction?

From peanuts to plantations!

Posted by Bill on March 16, 2011

Recently, my dear friend Bob Brown shared news with me of a small group in his church that had multiplied to two groups. I wrote back to him and pressured him for a short testimony of this exciting development. He responded with surprise that what he had considered to be “peanut-sized” news would be worthy enough for broadcasting on our website. Friends, from the Lord’s perspective, plantations result from peanuts. Zechariah says, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin … (Zechariah 4:10)”

Anyway, at the end, Bob came quietly like a lamb to the slaughter … here’s his story:

Hi Bill.

Thank you for praying for us. Last October after your visit to Central Queensland, we wrote asking for prayer support as we began the transition from a conservative older church to becoming a Cells Church. We are seeing God’s hand on us for good.

We have been praying for the ‘E’ emphasis of the LIFE acronym (Living In Fellowship to Evangelise) to impact our people and become a catalyst. We desire church growth to take place in new cell groups. Our small beginnings have moved from one to two groups and we are gaining momentum. That’s progress, huh?

For some weeks we have considered the full armour of God each Sunday morning, and some in the congregation have learnt the Ephesians passage off by heart. God is good!
There is an excitement among our people. They want to see God do great things among us.
We called an all-day prayer vigil last week, seeking God’s direction for future days and we rejoiced as people kept turning up at all hours to pray. God is good!
Some recent testimonies have been wonderful. We have been blessed with new attendees and we have contact with some Sudanese. Thank you, Lord!

Bill, your leadership and encouragement is greatly appreciated. Keep us on your radar. You are a great friend.

In Him.

Bob Brown and his wife Margaret are pastoring Bundaberg West Baptist Church in Queensland

Please pray for Bob and his church family to live and serve the Lord, believing that He can take them from their “peanut-sized” small beginnings and grow them into a flourishing plantation.

Bill

PS ~ click on the image at the top of this page to open a map to show you how to find Bob & Margaret’s church in Bundy!

Off to Poland … again!

Posted by Nick on February 13, 2011

In May I will be travelling to Poland again – it will be my fourth visit – and I am looking forward to renewing old acquaintances but, more importantly, I am really excited to have been invited to lend a hand with the birth of a new small groups church!

For this visit I have been invited by Marcin Gochnio, who I’ve met twice before during earlier trips to Poland to facilitate small groups development workshops. Marcin is a member of Chrzescijanska Spolecznosc Warszawa Polnoc (Christian Fellowship Warsaw North) where Krzysztof Zaręba is the pastor.

So, as an encouragement to them, you and the CCI team, I would like to share with you Marcin’s invitation for me to visit their wonderful church again …

“Our church Christian Fellowship North has grown since your last visit: from about 200 persons to about 600 persons at sunday services, and I would like to share with you an exciting development that has grown out of the small groups’ ministry – as a church we have made the decision to plant a new church in the Eastern part of Warsaw, and Marek Sobotka (who is currently responsible for home groups in our church) has been chosen to be the pastor of the new church, which will be based on the small groups model.

They’ve had church services twice a month Sunday afternoon and social activites for about 9 months – about 80 people are attending and now the baby is ready to be born! In the middle of March they will begin holding separate Sunday services. It is a great moment and exciting thing for the whole congregation. As the church we pray for them at every service and Pastor Krzysztof encourages people to join the child church – of course some leaders and home groups will pass to the new church. Andrzej Jakoniuk will be responsible for the home groups in the new church. We really have on our hearts to support them as much as we can – Andrzej and some colleagues will be a part of our conference and we want you to spend some individual time with them.

The responsibility for the development of our home groups in Christian Fellowship Warsaw North has recently been assigned to Izabela Pazdyka, Agata (my wife) and me. We understand each other very well and feel very comfortable working together. Many of us in the church remember your visits to Warsaw, where we were trained to serve as small group pastors, using the 7-session, Small Groups Development course which was translated into Polish.

But as our experience is not extensive, we request your help. We would be very glad for you to be our small groups’ mentor/consultant as we look to developing our home groups ministry.

Let me tell you about our team and vision …

Izabela Pazdyka is a 35 years old woman. Her husband was a pastor who died in a car accident some time ago. Although emotionally crushed, Iza recovered well. She now serves the Lord with a grateful heart, thinking and doing His work every day. Iza works as a full-time art designer. She enjoys her work and speaks English with a moderate level of proficiency.

Agata (my wife) and I are in our early forties and we have two children (David 8, Emilka 5). For many years Agata served as a missionary in Moscow, Sweden and Poland. She is a very compassionate woman, with an amazing heart for people. She takes good care of our children and manages our home well. She studied in a Bible college in the USA and speaks English well. Agata and I are often preoccupied with our children because of recurring health issues.

I presently work as a consultant/project manager for a company dealing with organising and managing IT companies or IT departments within a company. This is basically a full-time job. Agata and I have decided to set aside time to oversee the development of small groups in the our church.

Ephesians 4:12 and 16 – that was presented by you as the basis for small groups – is the vision we want to follow. We love every word of this passage. So the first thing we want to do (we have already made a start) is to better understand the current state of our groups; to get to know leaders personally, and to assess the health of our groups. We also want to become effective teacher/trainers and coaches to teach and support others. We want to refresh our small group leaders with your small groups’ development course and be better prepared for the challenges that will come with the new church plant.

How do you feel about helping us? I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Marcin (Martin).”

Well friends, it will not surprise to you to know I said yes – and I am fired up and ready to go. I am grateful to God that he has provided the funding for this trip and I look forward to investing quality time with my Polish friends – and by the way, I am tagging this visit to Poland onto a scheduled trip to visit one of our other field partners in Africa, Dominion Impact Church, in Nigeria.

Please hold up Marcin, Agata and Izabela in your prayers as they take these courageous steps forward in developing their ability to lead, manage, guide, mentor and encourage the small groups development work not only in their own church – but in a new church plant too!

Small groups are alive and growing in Warsaw, Poland!

Are you “prayer-pared”?

Posted by Bill on February 2, 2011

Tim Meyers, one of the directors of Pioneers, is a dear friend who is seriously committed to motivating his internationally-based team of ministers to be “prayer-pared”.

Tim’s introduction to the Pioneers Prayer Directory, expressed the following …

tim-meyers-australian-pioneers

Of all the “spiritual disciplines”, prayer is one, which perhaps remains the most difficult of all. We only need to mention “prayer life” to bring about conviction in the heart of so many Christians. Because, although we all hunger to be people of prayer, it is a common and profound struggle to actually spend time in concerted, focused and consistent prayer. Every believer knows how critical prayer is. We only need to glance through the Bible to discover that, over and over again, God moved His people to pray, and acted within the context of those prayers.

We don’t fully understand it, of course. How can sinful, finite creatures with limited understanding actually move the heart of God? We cannot even comprehend in what manner God’s heart is actually moved. And yet He is the one who calls us to pray! In fact, He challenges us to a lifestyle of constant, meaningful and expectant prayer. In a wonderful little book entitled “Quiet Talks on Prayer,” S.D. Gordon writes …

“How much prayer meant to Jesus! It was not only His regular habit, but also His resort in every emergency, however slight or serious. When perplexed, He prayed. When hard pressed by work, He prayed. When hungry for fellowship, He found it in prayer. He chose His associates and received His messages upon His knees. If tempted, He prayed. If criticised, He prayed. If fatigued in body or wearied in spirit, He had recourse to His one unfailing habit of prayer. Prayer brought Him unmeasured power at the beginning, and kept the flow unbroken and undiminished. There was no emergency, no difficulty, no necessity, no temptation that would not yield to prayer.”

Friends, you don’t have to walk far with the Lord to know that a prayer-less life means a power-less life … power-less to understand, and power-less to undertake, the work of the Lord.

Your decision to “be prayer-pared” is a decision that will empower your life and ministry in your walk with Him.