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

Smyrna – the poor, rich church

Posted by Bill on March 31, 2012

Are you going through a hard time? I pray that the example of the Church in Smyrna will be an encouragement and strength to you as you pass through your hard time (Revelation 2:8-11).

PROBLEM

The Church in Smyrna was going through a hard time. Jesus said to them, “I know about your suffering and your poverty …” (v 9).

Suffering: The Lord knew their sorrow, counted every tear, felt their pain, and completely understood their physical and mental anguish. (‘OIDA’ = Know: A complete knowledge that is attained by experience.)
Poverty: The Lord also knew the extent of their poverty. The church was probably deprived of a right to make a living because of economic sanctions imposed against those who did not participate in emperor worship. (PTOCHEIAN = Poverty: Extreme poverty or beggary.)

SOLUTION

The Lord comforted the Church at Smyrna with these promises … “Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer” (v10) … “I will give you the crown of life” (v10), and reminded them, “you shall not be hurt by the second death” (v11).

Dear friends, hard times are common occurrences for all of us. Usually, it is through these times the Lord does something very special in our lives. Yes, we don’t enjoy the process, but are usually thankful for the outcome. What special thing is the Lord doing in your present time of hardship?

Bill

P.S. The Church at Smyrna is the only church that did not receive any criticism from the Lord.

Helen Achiro, CCI Field Director in South Sudan

Posted by Bill on March 3, 2012

I am really glad to inform you that Helen Achiro has accepted our invitation to serve on our team as Field Director of South Sudan.

I have known Helen since our first meeting in 2002 at Maadi Community Church in Cairo. She was introduced to MCC and small groups development by Fredrick Omoh-John. After completing small groups training, Helen served at MCC as Small Groups Pastor, Coach and Zone Director. Through her commitment, passion, and willingness to sacrifice, the Lord was pleased to do many amazing things through our sister, Helen.

Here is the text of an email I received recently from Helen in South Sudan …

Dear brother Bill,

I am also glad to hear from you and I know you always care and pray for me and my family. I am doing well. I wish that communication was easier than what it is. I will update you as soon as possible. I believe God will make a way where there is no way. I said this year is best ever in my life because of what I went through last year. I had never experienced such difficulties in my whole life. Praise the Lord, I was able to stand by His grace. I have hope for this year! Here are answers to the questions you asked me:

I am living in Juba
I haven’t had contact with my children since last July. I believe they are doing well with their father in Uganda. Victoria is in fifth grade primary school. Anthony and Sarky are in grade seven primary. They are preparing form exams to go to secondary school, next year.
The name of the church I belong to is “The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministry”
My role in the church is helping out wherever needed.

Regarding Helen’s availability to serve on our team as Field Director of South Sudan, she said, “Nothing can stop me from serving in this role. I am more passionate to serve the Lord than ever.”

Please pray for Helen and her children. Pray also for wisdom for us, asking the Lord to help us know how to best support Helen in her life and role on our team. I can see her being a great help to Pastor Papiti and All Nations Community Church. If you have time, you might like to forward a short email of encouragement to her at helenluri[at]@gmail[dot]com.

Please prayerfully consider making a donation, through CCI, to help support Helen. Just click on the PayPal button below.

CCI takes no fees or charges from your donation. The amount you send, less only what PayPal charges us, will be sent to Helen.

Small Groups Momentum growing in Warsaw

Posted by Bill on February 25, 2012

Received from Iza, the Small Groups Director we worked with in Warsaw during our European “Vision of Visions” trip

Bill, the small groups presentation to our church family, last week, was more than amazing!

I couldn’t sleep afterwards, of course . I’m still excited, actually – everyone is. It’s hard to describe how I am feeling. I’m still in Heaven (not Coffee Heaven .

Our presentation included: Adam Dulinski speaking about following Jesus, later we had four people share testimonies. Martin spoke about how the pastors and elders supported God’s work at Ephesus. I then spoke about discipleship, saying …

“We want to follow Jesus, knowing His way of walking with His disciples. Twelve people (one small group) spent 3 years with each other, learning to accept and love each other, grow spiritually, and looked for lost people. This is called discipleship. In the small groups of our church, we are learning to do the same. We take on challenges of mutual love and acceptance, spiritual growth, and to lead people to Jesus. Jesus modeled this, so did the apostles. Then Paul and Timothy continued to do this. Through small group, we want discipleship to be a part of our lives and we want this pattern conveyed to future generations. Through discipleship, we want to follow Jesus.”

The Elders and Pastors of our church then prayed for us.

Bill, many people expressed sensing God’s Power and His Holy Spirit. After the presentation, telephone texts and emails were being circulated, expressing joy and happiness for the presentation! We thank the Lord for this ministry!

Bill, thank you for helping us.

Iza

Inauguration of Liberty City Church!

Posted by Bill on

Praise the Lord for the birth of Liberty City Church! Praise the Lord for Wale and Emma, for their courageous step of faith! Last Sunday (19 Feb 2012) in the Leeds-Bradford locality in England, Liberty City Church was born and commissioned into service to the King of Kings. This is exciting stuff!

The following message was received from Wale and Emma:

Dear Bill and Beryl,

Good morning! We’d just like to give you some feedback on our first church service. Firstly, we’re so grateful to God that we’ve crossed the line from dream into reality. Hallelujah! Including ourselves we had a modest turn-up of 14 people, including a family of four, some of Emma’s family and a work colleague of Wale’s. We were excited because just this morning Wale had a revelation of four angels taking their places in the community centre for the church inauguration. Feedback was very positive from everyone who attended; the adults enjoyed the message and the kids enjoyed kids’ church. Unfortunately, there was a technical problem with the recording of the sermon, but this should be rectified for next week. Other than that, everything went very smoothly and we felt God’s peace and presence throughout.

We are very excited about what God is going to do and are trusting Him for great things. Thanks so much for your support and your prayers,

Love,
Wale and Emma

Wale and Emma are standing on water in their faith. Please uphold them with words of encouragement and ongoing prayers. Let’s adopt a spirit of great expectation that the Lord will do amazing things in the life, ministry and mission of Liberty City Church .