Update from Verona Church planting

Dear Brothers and Sisters, dear Good News (St. Augustine) family,

We are grateful to God for His blessing during this year and thankful for your prayers for us. We write to you in the beginning of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic arousing in Europe, sharing with you some grounds of thanksgiving as asking to continue to pray for us in Verona.

On March 16 th me and my wife Alina could finally embrace Nathan. The childbirth took place during the first days of lockdown and I couldn’t remain with them nor visit them in the hospital. We also have to stay alone at home for the next forty days after discharge. It has been tough, especially for Alina, and we have been through difficult moments. But thanks the Lord,after five months we finally have been able to really enjoy for this special gift (Nathan means He Gave). These events provide our church in Vicenza with a sense of joy, gratitude and hope for Verona while we were sadly forced to change our agenda for the beginning of the weekly Sunday service, due to the restrictions imposed to safeguard public health.

After the spring a couple from Verona left communion with the church in Vicenza, receding then also from the church planting project “Verona2020”. But instead of representing an occasion of discouragement, this has led some members from the small group of Veronese, to a deeply engagement with the Scripture looking for awareness and sanctification.

Thankfully, on October 11 th God allowed us to celebrate the first Sunday service in Verona, thus starting the public witness in the city where we live. It has been an emotional and touching Sunday in which we have experienced joy and enthusiasm but also a bit longing for the community we left in Vicenza. Two adult daughters of a family of believers in Verona, have started to attend the Sunday service while we were still in Vincenza, and now one of them is always attending at Verona church. We strongly pray God may save her.

Due to the uncertainty caused by the pandemicwe haven’t rented a place yet, and we can no longer use the civic room given us by the city administration. We continue to celebrate Sunday service in a private place in Verona, providentially put at our disposal from one family, while planning the weekly Bible study in the houses taking turns.

We have just begun, and we see many challenges facing us, but we trust in God sovereignty, providence and favour and also in the power of your prayers.

Thank you very much for your support

Dedication of Belpuan Presbyterian Biahin (Church)

Belpuan Village is relatively a small village with much potential for growth. The village is at a very strategic location as it is surrounded by several small non-Christian villages. Belpuan Church has a great responsibility to take the gospel in the village and in the vicinity villages. Praise God for Belpuan Presbyterian Church, fifty new believers, and new church building. Please pray that every believer at Belpuan will faithfully witness for Jesus inside and outside their village.

Watch the dedication of Belpuan Church in India:

Belarus Update

Thank you very much for your interest and prayers regarding Gospel Ministry in Belarus. 

We are grateful to God for 7 young people who  were baptized last Sunday in our church. We were preparing them through Zoom! Praise God for such technologies at times like these. Please  pray for Nastya, 25 years old (second from the left).  Her parents and her sister refuse to talk to her after she was bapized, accusing her of their betrayal. They asked her to leave home and live on her own. They consider themselves to be Orthodox. The cost of following Jesus is that high for Nastya. 

Please, pray for two new church plants.
Valery Beza is launching a new church here in Minsk.

Sergеy Mozenkov is starting new church in Mogilev, the third largest city of Belarus. 

Please pray for political situation in Belarus. the 9th of August there will be a Presidential election in Belarus. The current President has been in office for 26 years. And he is not willing to let anyone to replace him. It is very frightening to see what is happening in our country now. 

In June our sons turned 10-years-old! We are happy for them and pray for their walk with God! 

We understand that it is a very challenging time for every nation. We pray for you all so that you will continue to be strong in faith! Our God is Sovereign! Thank you for your partnership! Yours in Christ, Dema, Alyona, Bogdan and Daniel Lazouta.

The Pangrati Project • Athens Greece

https://mailchi.mp/b03d5c03cffe/the-pangrati-project-newsletter-605930  

The Pangrati Project is the church planting effort of The Greek Evangelical Church of Glyfada. Our vision is to hear the narrative of the city, find its needs, and serve them in a new and unique way.  Our goal is to intentionally bring the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to every relationship we build, serve the needs of the residents of Pangrati, and create a new community of faith that will eventually become an evangelical church.

Thank you for your prayers and support of The Pangrati Project! As we all know the Corona-virus has changed the atmosphere of the whole world at the moment. With everyone anxiously waiting for this to pass, we wanted to send a quick update on how the project is moving forward at this time.

Corona-Virus in Greece 

We are very thankful and impressed by our government's quick response to the threat of the virus. On March 10th they closed all public and private schools and shortly after that all large gatherings. From there they continued to close all public places, as of now, we have been on lockdown for almost two months. The only places open are pharmacies and grocery stores and you must receive an online permit to visit them. Despite the strict "stay-at-home" measures we have found creative ways to stay connected as a team and continue to pray for our area. 

What This Means For The Pangrati Project

Unfortunately with all the restrictions outreach ministry in Pangrati has been put on hold. But with the relationships we have already established, we are staying in communication with them as best we can through calls, messages, and social media.  
Fortunately, we are also able to continue our team training and prayer meetings through Skype. Every Friday evening we come together, through our screens, to see one another's faces, to pray for Pangrati, and the effects of the virus around the world. Every other week we look forward to receiving training, lead by Emmanuel, to learn more about how to better serve our area. A curriculum that focuses on personal growth, community building, and evangelism. 

One of the creative ways we are staying engaged as a team and continuing to think about our community is through small groups. We have divided into three different groups, each of which, is focusing on one of our three target groups; families, college students, artists. Each group is reading a book on the topic of their target group, discussing it together, and planning creative ideas for outreach in the future. At our bi-weekly meeting, they also share these ideas, along with what they are learning, with the rest of the team. 

Even though we cannot be together physically, we are so thankful for the ability to continue meeting together online, and we are excited about the things we are learning as a team.  

We are also taking advantage of this time to work on the more technical side of church planting, such as websites and social media. We are using these platforms as a way of engaging with our community, connecting people with our space, and "advertising" events. If you would like to check them out, click the icons below.

Our main prayer request in this season is that as a project, a team, and individuals we will use this time to seek the Lord more, pray more, and listen more. We want this time to be fruitful and we hold on to the truth that God is in control. 

• We pray for new ideas as we continue exploring creative ways of reaching out to our community through social media during this time of social-distancing. 

• We pray that God will make clear to our team in what ways we can help the spiritual and physical needs of our neighborhood without putting anyone at risk.

• We pray for direction as a team on how to move forward once the restrictions are lifted, and how we can be prepared to support those who need fellowship.

In this interesting time, we look forward to seeing and being a part of the ways the body of Christ can serve and bring hope through this situation. If there is any way we can be praying for you and your community please let us know!

Thank You!

Once again we just want to thank you for your continued support of The Pangrati Project, for believing in the vision God has placed in our hearts of seeing the establishment of a community of faith where one does not currently exist. 

If you have questions about the project, want to know how to pray for us, or are interested in knowing how you can get involved, please contact:

gec.pangrati@gmail.com

+306985633486

www.thepangratiproject.com

Update from Movement Leader Khen Tombing :: India

In the midst of many changes due to COVID-19 the Lord has been enabling us to continue in our church planting efforts and we are grateful to him.

• Belpuan Church is supposed to be the first to be inaugurated but due to COVID -19 we have to tentatively fix August 23 for dedication.

• Sinzawl Church is ready for inauguration and dedication on 18 July. Since we are under LOCH-DOWN order, we will take travel permission from our District Magistrate and go for Sinzawl Church DEDICATION service on 18 August.

• Please see photos of the construction progress for SINZAWL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

PRAYER REQUEST:

• Thank God that we are making a good progress in building construction and wining people to Christ without any obstacle. God is at work in Sinzawl Village.

• Pray the Lord will add new believers daily as everyone in the village is witnessing for Christ in the village and its vicinity. Pray for boldness and tactfulness in their gospel presentations. 

• Date for dedication is set for July 18, 2020. Thank God that we will be able to complete and dedicate the church building even earlier than scheduled.

Submitted by: Pastor Khen Tombing, Church Planter in India

Sinzawl Presbyterian Church building construction in progress

Update from Movement Leader Ricardo Agreste in Campinas, Brazil

We are excited to share how God is moving through our movement leaders in Campinas, Brazil

Global Outreach 2019-2020 Annual Report Released

 We are excited to share our 2019-2020 Annual Report with you.  Please pray God will use the our vision of church planting to bear much fruit in the years to come.

Good News is a local Church with a Global Vision. We partner with church planting movements around the world. We partner with movement leaders to plant gospel-preaching, national-led, self-supporting, multiplying churches. In 2020, we will start 15 new churches and surpass 100 new churches planted.  $25K helps launch a new church plant with the goal of making disciples in its local context.

Will you partner with us and join the church planting movement?

Mongolia Update

Lucas and Juliana received Christ in 2006. Since the beginning, they were involved in evangelism, discipleship and church planting projects at their local church and in partnership to help other churches. 12 years ago, Lucas was called to Mongolia and he spend 10 years preparing to serve this amazing people. In 2013, they Lucas and Juliana went first time to Mongolia. They visited missions, some local churches and places which tell the Mongolian history. In the countryside, they spend with a nomad family some days and they could see the great need and gap on the making disciples among the nomad families. All they did that time to plan better how to establish their family in this different culture and how they could plant a relevant church for nomadic people.

From August 2015 to June 2016 they lived in Trinidad and Tobago to learn the English Language. At this time they supported and served in the local church. The country is divided by three major world religions: Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Islam and Hindu have very strong presence and trained them to deal with the challenges of how to live in a different culture.

Mongolia first phase report

In 2017 May, Lucas and his family moved to Mongolia. First year and four months in the capital Ulaanbaatar they could start learning the Mongolian language and adjusting the family in this different culture, also at this time they travelled though 17 provinces of Mongolia to know about some of the needs, to listening the locals, to see the reality about the fewl churches in the countryside and listen the missionaries who is working over there. This was to find out the Jesus direction about where they should leave and start the project.

Well, Khovd Province situated at the extreme west of Mongolia by the China and Russia’s border was the place chosen by God for them to leave. In 2018 end of September they moved to Khovd Province to leave in a Ger (Mongolian traditional tent or yurt) and start to introduce their life into the real Mongolian nomad culture. There they are improving the language, creating connections, visiting families in the village and among the nomads, serving the community – as a part of their volunteering job with World Vision that is giving them the visa to stay in Mongolia, and they already start sharing the Gospel of Jesus to some families. By God’s grace Lucas and Juliana are gathering with two families to study the Bible, counselling, worship our Lord Jesus and discipling those families who showed open heart to the Lord.

Parallel to this, they are meeting in different towns and cities with some believers to encourage them and enable them to share their faith and make disciples in order to plant new churches. Lucas and Juliana have regularly met Christian students, doctors, and teachers so they can make new disciples in their own environments.

Even with great challenges, they have been visiting nomadic families and sharing the Gospel for them. Also, twice a week they meet to ask God for the lives of the Mongols and Kazakhstans. Now in September 4 th they are back to Brazil to present the report for this first years of the project and to show all the partners the next steps and they had their baby Marcos who was born in November 7th in São Paulo Brazil. In March, when the baby get all the vaccines they are planning go back to Khovd in Mongolia to continue the project. (READ MORE BELOW.)

Luncheon for Movement Leaders from Brazil

Good News Church recently hosted a luncheon for key partners from Brazil. Movement Leader Leonardo Sahium from Rio de Janeiro brought two church planters GNC has invested in:

1) Pastor Maksuel from Muriqui

2) Pastor Evaldo from Monte Alto

We had a meaningful time hearing how the churches are doing and the future vision of church planting in Brazil. Thank you for your joyful generosity to help make the GNC church planting vision a reality!

Exarcheia Church, Athens, Greece

Update from Alexandros and Tim:

Here in Exarcheia, we are experiencing the growing pains of a neighborhood in transition. You can see this in the posters and graffiti on the street, often decrying signs of tourism and gentrification like AirBnB and a proposed metro station. You can hear it in anxious conversations about increased crime and more police presence. As rents rise, crime swells and residents become worn out, the whispers grow louder: Is this the death of the dream of Exarcheia?

When we first began to plan and pray about planting a church here, the tone in the neighborhood was much different. Even in the wake of the economic crisis, there was a buzz of excitement in the anarchist community, saying that it was proof that the gods of capitalism were dying. Exarcheia became a symbol of hope of a new way to live, a flower that was growing out of the ashes of a city that was burning. As followers of Christ, we were eager to be part of this movement towards a new way to live and to bring a church into the neighborhood as people were looking for something different.

Nearly six years later, we see that this sense of excitement has given way to despair. It’s impossible to ignore how the decay of the neighborhood has affected everyone. In our dual roles as followers of Christ and committed residents of Exarcheia, we ask ourselves the question, “Do we continue to fight to preserve the dream of Exarcheia, or do we accept that the death of this dream is allowing a new path to be seen?” The same threat  of a burning city that we saw during the economic crisis has now come directly to our doorstep. What flower will bloom out of these ashes?

In Luke 10:2, Jesus says to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” We believe that the harvest is plentiful here. Instead of despairing about the inability to change the city, we look instead at the faces of the people who make the city. Our neighborhood needs changed people, with changed hearts and homes. The gospel message that we bring is of a Creator who will never die, who speaks directly to every heart that cries out for eternity.

We do not share these things out of fear or discouragement, but rather as an invitation to pray in a new way. Pray that we will listen closely to the direction that God is calling us to take, that we will hear the cries of the city and respond with the grace and peace of Christ.

New Building Update

Since renovations were finally able to begin on our new church building late last year, we have been slowly seeing progress in each of the spaces. The top floor is finished with the offices and a conference room, and we've been working in there since January. Having been without our regular office space since November 2017, this has been a huge blessing to have more space! We were grateful to have a friend from the US come for two weeks to help with renovations, and in March, a team of four men with professional construction skills completed the complicated task of replacing the 100 old subfloor in the worship space. In July, our first partner church, Presbyterian Church of Kennett Square, brought a team and "adopted" our Sunday school room, completing it in the week!

We moved out of our current building at the end of September, and we are prayerfully anticipating that the renovations in the worship space will be ready in time for our first worship service in early November. Will you join us in praying for this?

Interview with Slava from Belarus

Slava is a movement leader in Belarus. The country’s population is 9 million people and the country has less than 1% of evangelical churches. Please pray for them to find mature leaders and to grow to be church planters. Pray for the government to grant permission to plant churches.