Prayer request from Wale & Emma at Liberty City Church

Posted by Bill on December 4, 2012

Wale and Emma are founding pastors of the Liberty City Church in Bradford, UK. They are on the CCI team and the Lord is doing wonderful things through them and through LCC. Emma recently sent the following prayer request. She says …

“Wale and I have such peace in the ministry. On December 8th we are inviting our community to a Christmas coffee morning at the Life Centre with craft activities for children. We are doing a letter box drop of over 2,000 leaflets in the area. Statistically, according to the distributors, you get 3 responses per 1,000. But just one more person, with a desire to know the Lord, would be wonderful!

I would appreciate a prayer request to the CCI team and support network for this event, that it may draw in those who wouldn’t necessarily come to church and start the ball rolling to salvation, discipleship and leadership”

Love to you, Emma! Friends, please pray with me …

“Lord, You are the Saviour of the world! You have commissioned us in our time on earth to live as your ambassadors of peace and salvation. We are glad for this divine appointment, and we take this global commission seriously. Emma and Wale have stepped out by faith, making preparations to lead their church to engage with their surrounding community, extending invitations to them to ‘come and taste You’. Lord, You are the dominant partner is such exercises. As Liberty City Church lowers their net, draw those to Yourself the Spirit has prepared for salvation. Help LCC to engage in this event by faith and prayer … not by force or human effort, but by You Spirit. May the harvesters of LCC return from their labour of love with much fruit, for Your glory. We pray this in Your name. Amen.”

ANCC in South Sudan needs help

Posted by Bill on May 19, 2012

CCI committed some time ago to support our dear friend Pastor Papiti Yowin and his church – All Nations Community Church in Malakal in Southern Sudan in prayer and any other means available to us.

Thanks to courageous leadership and a real vision of Pastor Papiti, this church is GROWING! Praise the Lord! And what is even more amazing is that even in the challenging and often harsh circumstances of Southern Sudan, Pastor Papiti and his congregation are doing whatever they can to develop their church facilities to meet the growing needs of the congregation and, even more importantly, the local community – so that God’s love and mercy can flow out of their church and make a real, positive impact in their town.

ANCC has already managed to construct a large part of the shell for a new school building to accommodate 8 classrooms – but because of the growth of the congregation they are also using it for regular worship for 750-800 people at a time! The ministry has also grown to the point where Pastor Papiti cannot continue in his job (he used to work to support himself as well as being the Pastor) and so he has left his job to minister full time, managing the church and helping to run the school (which is also expanding and cannot yet meet demand because of lack of facilities).

Pastor Papiti recently sent us some new pictures and has been keeping us up-to-date with the situation at ANCC, writing…

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Dear Pastor Bill,

My thanks are to you and all the members and supporters of CCI for your concern with ANCC ministries here in Malakal in the Republic Of South Sudan.

As you know, I have chosen to depend on on God since I received this vision for ANCC and I know He is the one in charge of it, that is why we have this rapid expansion without fear. I will continue to do what He wants me and our team to do, all the time depending on Him completely with whole our hearts. He has already enabled us to have a shelter for worship as well as school classes on other days. At the moment the sides are partially covered with bamboo and we use it for worship services on Sundays. When the structure is complete it will be able to accommodate 750 or 850 people. We are only temporarily using it for worship as it is meant to be 8 school classrooms by next year. Now every Sunday evening we divide it with some local materials into classes and remove them on Saturday evening, that is wisdom to us.

I really wanted to send you the detailed proposal for our needs so that you can put them on your website for people to see – but the only thing that always delays me is the network and power.

We have many problems in our new country and we really have challenges due to expansion of our ministries. I myself am no longer working to support my family now, I’m depending on His grace. Please continue to hold us up in your prayers. We have been so blessed, and feel sure that our God will provide for all our needs.

God bless you.

Pastor Papiti
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Dear friends, please prayerfully consider making a donation to support Pastor Papiti and the All Nations Community Church in Malakal, Southern Sudan.

If just 10 people donated $10 a week for one year, that would raise $5,200 – which by God’s grace would do truly amazing things to help this expanding local church in the heart of Souther Sudan.

If you feel led, just click on the PayPal button below.

Children in the Cell Church

Posted by Joel on

On a number of occasions when facilitating Small Groups’ Development conferences, a question I’m often asked is … “But what about children – what do we do with them in cells?” Good question. What about children? Can we incorporate them in the cells experience? My friend, Joel Comiskey, offers great advice on the subject of ‘Children in the Cell Church’. His counsel is simple and clear. It’s sound, and it works!

Joel says …

Jesus loves children. He said while on earth, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When He had placed His hands on them, He went on from there (Matthew 19:14-15). God loves children and prioritises them. So should we.

We know that children are the future, and in fact, they won’t be children very long. Some will even be our future leaders. U.S. statistics tell us that nearly half of all Americans who accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour do so before reaching the age of 13 (43%), and that two out of three born again Christians (64%) made that commitment to Christ before their 18th birthday (Barna, 2004). Of course, this may vary throughout the world, but the truth remains: we need to reach the children.

Cell churches prioritise children both in cell and celebration. I encourage, for example, churches to allow the children to stay in the adult cell for the icebreaker and worship time. During the Word time (Bible discussion), the children can leave the adult cell and receive a personalised Bible lesson directed by one of the cell members (if necessary, the members can rotate in teaching this time). It also works to show a Christian video at this time.

When children are consistently attending the cell group, pray that God provides an adult or teenager who desires to lead a children’s cell group. This might be someone from your own adult cell group, or from your church. The children can then meet with their cell leader in a different room of the same house for the entire cell meeting (or at least for the lesson part). This is a normal, permanent children’s cell group that promotes a similar cell order-icebreaker, worship, lesson, prayer and outreach. The church should provide material for the children’s cell leader and all the support necessary.

Another option is to hold small groups for children in various neighbourhoods around the city. An adult would lead this small group. These afternoon cells are a lot like the small groups of Child Evangelism Fellowship.

Children’s ministry on Sunday morning is also vital. You might not call it Sunday School, but it’s the same idea. Adults receive teaching during the celebration service, so shouldn’t the children? Yes, God calls children to celebrate and learn on Sunday.

This month on the JCG blog, we will be exploring different aspects of children in the cell church. Experienced cell church pastors will write 28 blogs on the topic of children in the cell church throughout the month of May. If you’d like to receive these blogs daily via email, please sign up HERE. We’ll cover:

Week 1 (May 06-12): Biblical Foundations. What is the biblical foundation for focusing on children? Jesus loves the children; the New Testament is a house church book and those house churches were filled with families with children!

Week 2 (May 13-19): The need to reach the children. Parents are the primary disciplers of their children and teens; Christian parents need to take this role seriously, both within the cell and outside it. Yet, so many children today have non-Christian parents who cannot bring up their children in the way of Christ. Children’s cells are a lifeline to those kids who need Jesus. Cell churches reach children in both cell and celebration.

Week 3 (May 20-26): Inter-generational Cells and Cells for Children. All generations should build each other up. We’re talking about living as an extended family (just like the early house churches). It is about putting the singles in families, giving Godly role models like the older women with the younger women.

Week 4 (May 27-June 02): Practical Guidelines for children in cells. We’ll talk about tips for children’s cells and what others are doing to minister to children in cell groups. We will also look at some pitfalls and how to avoid them.

What do you believe about children in the cell church? Please feel free to comment HERE.

Joel Comiskey

Absolutely fruitful and fulfilling at LTCC

Posted by Bill on April 14, 2012

The Quaks!

Dave and Jess Quak stepped out in faith last year and planted Living Temple Christian Church at Elanora, Queensland, Australia. LTCC is a small groups based church. In the short time of the church’s existence, they are thrilled to pieces with the amazing things the Lord has done. Dave says …

“This year has been fantastic for Living Temple. We began the year with seven life groups and they are all going along very well. God has blessed us with an amazing group of leaders who are truly pastors to the flock in their care. Our celebration services have really been building momentum as well. God has blessed us with two amazing worship leaders, and an awesome bunch of people willing to be committed to see the Kingdom come on earth.

We started our sermon series last year, preaching through the whole Book of John. It’s already March and we are only up to Chapter 7! There is so much gold in this Gospel we just cannot rush it!

Personally, Jess and I are feeling like this is an absolutely fruitful and fulfilling season, probably the best we have ever had. By God’s grace we pray it continues for a very long time. Thanks CCI community for your love and prayers… chat soon! Dave Quak.”

Friends, Living Temple Christian Church is a church on the ‘go’. You can know more about this exciting church through …www.livingtemple.com.au

Bill

Liberty City Church – “energised by this journey of faith”

Posted by Bill on April 7, 2012

Only eight weeks since the launch date, Liberty City Church is pulsating with exciting news. Fantastic things are happening in this infant church! Pastor Wale Oladipo, and his wife, Emma report …

“It’s now eight weeks we have been running our Sunday morning service, and five weeks our cell group. Thank God for his faithfulness! Since sharing the vision with friends, a family of four have come alongside us and are supporting us wholeheartedly. This has been greatly encouraging for us.

Even more encouraging was the arrival of a young man by the name of Andy who responded to our leafleting in the local area. When Wale first met him, he gave his life to Christ on a park bench. Today, he attended our Sunday service and, most importantly, enjoyed it! It was refreshing to hear Wale being asked to stop and explain a couple of things mid-sermon!

We’re also delighted by the participation of Jill in our cell group. She is a colleague of Wale’s and openly tells us that she’s on the verge of committing herself wholeheartedly to God. We have been praying for her grown-up daughter who has been diagnosed with MS. Jill reports that since that first cell meeting, her daughter has been feeling much less tired and less in pain.

Personally, for us, it has been really refreshing to go back to the weekly outreach-style cell group, which we haven’t experienced since our time in Egypt. We’ve been reminded about just how powerful and uplifting these times are.

We are also encouraged by the online activity regarding the Liberty City Church website, Facebook page and Twitter. Wale regularly updates these with blogs, devotionals and tweets and has received responses in the forms of phone calls, emails and messages to thank him for it, many from people he doesn’t know.

For now, we are trusting God for strategies for promoting the church and what we stand for. We are trusting the Him for divine opportunities and appointments. We are truly energised by this journey of faith and, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for your prayers and support.

With love, Wale and Emma.”

Friends, let’s get behind Wale and Emma … encouraging them, and praying for them, and Liberty City Church, as we have opportunity. LCC is a vibrant church plant that is worthy of your attention. Pray for them, and share in a mighty harvest!

Bill