One Church Mission

Philippines

As Christians we often think about reaping and sowing… our mission trip to the Philippines is taking it literally –  with a bit of poetic licence!

One Church Mission Fund has just financed the purchase of 5 sewing machines through the AOG church Navotas, on Talim Island, Philippines.  This is the first step in an exciting mission trip to support their church as they develop this ‘livelihood project’ which aims to provide a sustainable way of earning a living within their local community – see below for some photos of the sowing machines in action.

Two families from One Church – the Calzado’s and the Cresswell’s – visited the Navotas Church in August 2011 to further support this particular project, as well as to link  up with the church leadership team as they  reach out to the local community in practical and spiritual ways. Here’s their story, told by Paul Cresswell.

It all started with a ‘chance’ conversation with the church’s Mission Leader, Kev Martin, at the One Church Men’s Christmas meal in 2009 – “wouldn’t it be great to do a family mission,” he said…… “we’re thinking about the Philippines….”

So that started it all and over the next 18 months the plans were made for the Philippines Mission Trip 2011, which turned out to be from 7th to 28th August.  What an amazing journey it’s been……the plans, preparations, the friendships made and especially the amazing efforts of the church’s Connect Groups, who each took £10 and between them turned £180 into £3,500 to invest into projects for this Mission! So much happened but here’s the trip summarised in a few ‘numbers’

  • 3 – large boxes containing clothes, toys and books –collected in Gloucester – given out at 2 Community Events on Talim Island
  • 5 – industrial sewing machines we funded to start the first of what we hope will become many ‘Livelihood’ projects to  generate a sustainable income on Talim Island
  • 7 – new cell groups that have been started, for which each leader is being supported by our funding.
  • 200 –bibles bought in the local language (Tagalog) –119 we gave out to year 5 & 6 children at Navotas Elementary School.
  • £450 – the amount we invested in a laptop for the Pastor and church as a whole – an answer to his prayers for over a year!
  • 550 – men, women and children cooked for and fed in 2 community events during our time there.
  • 6700 – number of miles from Gloucester to Talim Island

Between us we preached, gave testimonies, sang, played, taught, laughed, cried, worked hard and ‘hung out’ with people from the church and with Rose’s family. We loved them all – what an fantastic bunch of people, who welcomed and hosted us with amazing generosity.

At the end of the trip the Cresswell’s spent 2 days in Manila, hosted by an amazing Christian Charity “P-C-F” (www.p-c-f.org). This was a real eye opener to the amazing work they are doing with families living on the Dump sites and how this is literally saving lives and building hope for a better future.

What a privilege to serve God and share his blessing with others – we’d love to go back again!

Paul Cresswell, Team Leader

Philippines Mission team: Paul Cresswell (Team Leader), Mandy, Hannah & Ethan Cresswell and Ernie, Rose, John, Sarah & Jasmine Calzado.