Mission Blog – February 2012
Well Christmas is over and we are motoring into the new year – full steam ahead. I read a quote recently that said ‘The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity…’ By the end of 2012,OneChurch will have mobilised 28 international missions, involving approx 250 people; close to £200k and 2 tonnes of Aid – all in 4 years. This is just the start. 2012 will see the biggest international mission that we have ever done, with close to 90 people spending a weekend supporting Go Generation Church inLiege. We are also sending 3 teams to Eastern Europe; a team toAustria and a team toZimbabwe – I think it’s going to be a busy year!
The first weekend in March is our International Weekend – an opportunity to celebrate all that God is doing around the world. Gianni and Angela will be visiting us from Austria, speaking on Sunday morning and Sunday evening – at our ‘infamous’ International Food Court – please pop this in your diary. It will be a great weekend!
There’s plenty of opportunity for you to get involved – even though some of our trips this year are now fully booked, there is still space on the Eastern European trip in September – we are also encouraging applications for trips to Eastern Europe and the Philippines for 2013. If you are interested in joining us on one of our international missions, please contact the Hub or Information Desk on a Sunday and we will send you more details and application form.
Missions Blog – November 2011
Hi all
Here we are in November; what a fantastic year it’s been on the ‘International’ mission front – 3 successful trips to Eastern Europe; 1 Tonne of aid delivered; our first major mission to the Philippines; a FAX team in Austria; and several Belgium trips. What excites me about all of these is that each time we send a team, we are helping to build something significant. I am reminded of a famous missionary quote, “The true greatness of any church is in not how many it seats but how many it sends!” – Simon’s challenge to us 3 years ago was, ‘can we get the whole Church out there by 2012?’ – 2012, that’s next year!
2012 is certainly going to be a year of mission – Local, Regional and International. I have spent the last few months talking to various Department Leaders in One Church and it is so apparent that mission is a core part of our DNA, with many Departments now planning in mission activity of their own – whether it’s local community or international.
Plans for the Big Push to Liege in Belgium are progressing well, with around 90 people having signed up. The Programme will focus around us running an ‘English Community Event‘ in the guise of a traditional English Fayre in the main Town Square – that whole aim being to help raise the profile of Go Generation – the Church planted by Lauro and Rosane Castelli in 2009.
Oh – and don’t forget Missions evening - Sunday 27 November at 6pm. A chance to celebrate 2011 and to hear about how to get involved in some of our plans for 2012.
Missions Blog- August 2011
‘I really can’t believe where the year has gone – here we are in August already. It certainly has been busy on the Missions Front here in One Church. As I write this we have our first One Church mission team on the Island of Talim in the Philippines, where we are partnering with the local AoG Church. We have helped fund a sustainable ‘sewing’ project, which is providing much needed employment for many of the women on the Island. The team have also distributed over 100 bibles to local school children, and some of the money raised by One Church members now pays for an assistant Pastor.
Please continue to pray for Kennedy and Prisca in Zimbabwe. The Church is doing well and growing. We continue to support Kennedy financially and are planning to raise the funding needed to replace his car in early 2012. We are also just starting to plan for sending our second team to Zimbabwe in summer 2012.
The planning for the Big Push mission to Belgium in April 2012 is progressing well – with nearly 100 people now having submitted application forms.
Our second Eastern European team will head off in September, where we hope they will be involved in distributing some of the 1 Tonne of Aid being shipped out there during August
Most of all – please keep praying for all our mission partners and that God will continue to lead us as we support their work’.
P.S. Update – Prisca has given birth to a healthy baby boy. He was born at 3:30am on 18 September – mother and baby are doing well. Our congratulations go to Ken, Prisca and the boys!
Missions Blog
What a great start to March with our annual International Weekend. An opportunity to celebrate all that God is doing around the world – it is such a privilege to be involved. It was made extra special hosting Andrew, Avril and Masha, our friends from Eastern Europe – and to hear their vision first hand. This year we hope to run 3 trips to help them develop the new family centre.
We are also continuing to support Lauro and Rosane Castelli as they grow the ‘Go Generation’ Church in Liege, Belgium. Liege will be the destination for the 2012 ’Big Push’ mission – 100 One Church folk heading off to Belgium for 3 days to help with a programme of outreach and teaching. Space is very limited for the trip – so please contact the office to sign up!
And finally – the Philippines – we have some great news from the Church there – One Church provided the funding to establish a livelihood project on the Island Talim. The machines have arrived, been installed and the project has started! For more information – please see the Philippines webpage.
Bless you…
Kev
Missions Blog – January 2011
‘We bought some sewing machines this week! bet you didn’t know that…
One of our key missions this year is to the Philippines. Rose and Ernie; Paul and Mandy and their families are setting off to the Island of Talim. The mission will focus on a number of community projects, including helping with a wealth-creation venture based around the manufacture of clothes (hence the sewing machines) to help provide work and income for women… providing meals and distributing bibles. Hear about this trip on International Sunday - 6 March - a chance to celebrate our part in a world-wide Church. We will have a visit our friends from Eastern Europe – Andrew and Avril. Here is a message from them -
“Just wanted to say happy new year and another big thank you. We were able to give about 80 children a small gift each…I used some good stuff from the Aid. We had guests staying for Christmas and two children….we were able to give them a few gifts. Without your help they would have had nothing….”
Our plans this year include 3 trips and another aid consignment – already flooding in – we have just received 3 boxes from Next HQ!
Our vision is to facilitate folk coming to One Church from other nations. We are receiving a team from Austria at the end of January, who have asked to come and learn from us about Church Growth. What an honour!
As our programme for 2011 picks up I feel stirred to challenge you – where should you be going? What role should you play in supporting our Missions Programme? – This could be your year! Maybe Belgium? what about Eastern Europe? There are still spaces available on the trips – if you would like to know more, please contact the Church Office.
God bless you all – here’s to proclaiming the love of Jesus – right across the globe.
Kev Martin
Missions Blog – September 2010
‘Anyone know how to butcher a pig?’ – this was the last message I received from our team in Eastern Europe this week. Apparently as a sign of thanks, one of the families turned up with ½ a pig as a gift! I thought bacon came in packets!
August, September and October have been our busiest months so far on the missions front – ONE Church had teams in Zimbabwe, Austria, Eastern Europe, Belgium and Diss (Norfolk). One of the highlights was seeing a whole ton of Aid – clothing and toys – head off from Gloucester to Eastern Europe. This will make a huge difference to the families that we work with there – some have never received new clothing before! My thanks to Gloucester City Homes, who partnered with us on this project – and will be accompanying us on trips in 2011.
Planning for 2011 and 2012 is progressing well – our missions programme is really filling up for next year and we have some exciting ‘new’ plans developing for 2012. To hear about these plans, and how you can get involved, please come along to our next Missions Vision Night on Sunday 7 November at 6pm. We will be telling stories from this year’s trips as well as sharing future vision.
And finally – please partner with us – can you spare just a few pounds each month to sow into the development of missions work? ‘Sowing Monthly into Missions’ forms are available via The Hub or at the Information Desk.
Kev Martin
Mission’s Blog September 2010
Zimbabwe was an incredible experience! It was great to see Kennedy, Prisca, TK and TJ and it really didn’t seem like 15 months since they left Gloucester to start a new chapter in Zimbabwe. The church is thriving, with about 60 people regularly attending in Rusape town each Sunday. Kennedy is also involved planting new churches in the surrounding area. One of our most memorable exploits was when Ken took the four of us to lead a meeting some 25km from Rusape – 6km was along dirt track taking us right into the bush. With no lighting and no PA, it was a real experience to spend a couple of hours worshipping African style, sharing testimony and God’s words with about 100 villagers – all by the light of a mobile phone! There will be plenty more stories at our Zimbabwe evening on 28 Sept at 8:15 in One Church – please be there!
That was August – in September we have a team setting off to Liege, Belgium to help our friends in One Generation Church, led by Lauro and Rosane Castelli, in the area of leadership development. Our team will be the first to use the new church building. October sees another team travelling to Eastern Europe to help with various DIY and Aid Distribution projects.
And finally a big push for Sunday 7 November – when we will be holding our next Missions Vision Night – an opportunity to hear all about the various trips made in 2010 and an opportunity to sign up to get involved in the various missions planned for 2011 and 2012.
Thank you all for your support
God bless – Kev Martin
Mission Blog – June 2010
It’s time to move to the next level! There is a real sense from God that now is the time for us to step up to a higher level in Missions. It’s so exciting to be involved in what God is doing across the nations and at times like this, it is vital that we put the right structures in place. Over the last few months I have been working on a new Missions Team who can support us as we move forward.
Over the next 4 months we have teams travelling to Austria; Zimbabwe; Belgium and Eastern Europe – and each mission has a very different flavour. The Austrian team will be made up of our FAX students who will be helping to run an annual youth camp; the Zimbabwean team will be spending time with Kennedy and Prisca supporting the work in Rusape and ministering at their annual conference; a small team will be travelling to Belgium to deliver the next instalment of Leadership Training; and a team will be continuing the practical work in Eastern Europe supporting foster children and their families.
So how can you help? There is one very practical need. We have launched a project to send an aid consignment to Eastern Europe to arrive at the end of September. We need quality (ideally new) clothes and shoes for all ages (inc adults) and good quality toys (but not needing batteries). Please can you start gathering such items and we will let you know when to bring the items to the collection centre.
Have you thought of joining our missions-giving programme? Could you spare a few pounds each month? It will make a huge difference enabling us to launch even more projects. To join – you can either contact THE HUB or collect a form from the information desk. And of course, should you be going? If you are interested in finding out more about how to get involved – please contact me via THE HUB or grab me on a Sunday.
Kev Martin
Mission Blog – April
Wasn’t International Sunday amazin’… not only did we get to hear a challenging talk from Ian Green in the morning, we also met some of the ‘names behind the photos’ – as we were joined by 3 of our missions partners. We cried with Andrew and Avril as they shared their heart for orphan children in Eastern Europe – we were inspired by Gianni and Angela as they shared how they have planted 9 churches in Austria and plan to plant 1 new church in every region – and we laughed with Lauro and Rosane as they shared about their new church planting initiative in Belgium.
Over the weekend of 18-21 March – a small team from ONE Church drove from Gloucester to Liege – some 400 miles – to partner with Lauro and Rosane Castelli – Brazilian missionaries with a heart to reach the Belgium nation. Our weekend was packed from start to finish – we prayed for the nation during times of intercession, we led their mid-week group (a version of Connect), we delivered 6 hours of leadership development training to 15 potential leaders, led a youth meeting in a hotel and ministered on the Sunday morning. Amy Jorden led worship in French and Pete Montgomery preached a ‘blinder’.
The thing that inspired me the most was the way in which a small group of Belgium Christians have such a heart and passion for their nation – approx 0.3% of the population are Christian – in Liege that is less than 3000 Christians amongst 1 million people. Many of the church members have to travel long distances to attend meetings – one elderly lady (in her 70’s) would catch 2 trains and 1 bus (often daily) to get from her village to church. We are now in discussion with Lauro about how we could commit to support their leadership development programme over the next 2-3 years – more on this soon! Did you know that it was as recent as 2005 when Christian Churches were ‘officially recognised’ in Belgium, before that they were classified as ‘Cults’.
We are asked to pray for a new building for ‘Go-Generation’ (the name of the Liege Church) – they have outgrown the hotel conference room they rent and are progressing with a building that they have seen holding 150 – please pray for ‘change of use’, favour with the City authorities and the finance to cover the rent.
My thoughts now turn to Zimbabwe – please pray for the team, Rob Lowe, Simon, Yemi and myself, who fly out there on 13 August for 9 days – we have doctors appointments to attend, flights to book, programmes to prepare etc…
If you want to know any more about our Missions Programme – please stop and ask me…
Kev Martin
Mission Blog – February
Do not miss INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY – 7 March – this will be an awesome day. We are flying in a number of our missionary partners to spend time with us, share their hearts, inspire and envision us. We will be hearing from Ian Green from Next Level International; a Missions Story-telling Night – an opportunity to hear the stories our missions partners.
Glen Baker has come on board to help with the growing missions Programme, taking on the task of moving forward support of Andrew and Avril. The first team will travel to Belarus in April and we already have candidates for a second trip in October.
I have been exploring opportunities to support some dear friends of mine – Lauro and Rosane Castelli – missionaries working in Liege, Belgium. We are sending out a team of 7 in March to help with leadership development/ teaching/ worship.
The first Zimbabwe trip takes place in August – time with Kennedy and Prisca and ministering at their annual Church Conference.
Finally – please keep praying for our missions partners… for the teams that are going… oh – ‘and when will you go?’ … come talk to me.
Remember our target– everyone on mission by 2012!
Kev Martin
