Newfrontiers International News - June 2011

An update of what's happening in Newfrontiers around the world. Please use it to pray for the work in these countries.

Canada

Rhys and Sara Scott are moving from Christchurch London to Vancouver to lead a church planting team into that great metropolitan city. Rhys tells us more about their plans.

Central Asia

Central Asia has a long and tumultuous history. It seems that God has opened a window of opportunity for the gospel in the region. Find out more about Newfrontiers activities there.

Cyprus

With much unrest in surrounding nations, Cyprus has a steady flow of migrants.  Find out how Grace Church in Larnaca is taking the opportunity to minister to these newcomers.

West Africa

Newfrontiers churches in West Africa continue to grow in faith and work to establish vibrant New Testament churches that demonstrate Kingdom values. Read reports from Eglise Cite d’Adoration in Cotonou, Benin, Riches of Grace Church in Lagos, Nigeria and Cite de l’a Gloire in Lome, Togo.

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Newfrontiers International News

An update of what's happening in Newfrontiers around the world. Please use it to pray for the work in these countries.

The Balkans

Currently there are about 30 churches, church plants and developing relationships with new or existing churches in seven Balkan nations. Martin Dunsford tells us more.

Mexico

Douglas Bell reports on a gathering of 70 leaders, a youth event of over 100 young people and the start of Foundations for Farming in Mexico!

New Zealand

Following the devastation of the recent earthquake and continuing aftershocks in Christchurch, Operation Comfort was started to bring the warmth of a human touch to those affected. Ken Shelley tells us more.

North Africa

Despite the upheaval experienced in the region and opposition to the gospel, a small group of believers in a tourist city continues to grow in faith.  Elsewhere a church planting team in a large city with no known Christians continues to build friendships ready to share their faith. Find out more.

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Love Holbeck - bigger and better!

Back in January we did our first ever Love Holbeck day which was a huge success and this time was no different. In fact we managed to make it even bigger and better....we even had sunshine!

Firstly, a huge thanks to everyone who came and helped out, especially those on set up and set down; it was great to see so many of you there. And a special thanks must go to Louise Wood who did all the work behind the scenes to make it happen.

In terms of the event itself; hot off the heels of their cup success the footy boys (including Matt Hobbs & his broken leg) ran the football cage. Emily Bosworth, despite battling hyper-active boys managed to keep the masses entertained with parachute games. Jenni Hill did stirling work again with the arts and crafts. Jade Beakhouse, Lydia DeSaintOurs and their teams were busy hair braiding and face painting and Jane Mitchell oversaw the huge quantities of food and drink (thanks again to Jos McLaren’s mission group for making so many cakes!).

Mark Sunderland led the way with the music and was followed unexpectedly by a brilliant team of African drummer, headed up by our very own Anselm. They brought a carnival-style feel to the whole event with their funky rhythms and smooth voices. After that we finished with the dulcet tones of Mikey Walker who nearly got one of the elderly locals dancing along - he certainly had the biggest fan club (and the cheesiest selection of songs). It was also great to see some members of City Evangelical pop down to help out as well.

However the event is all about “loving Holbeck” and the highlight for me was talking to various local people who had remembered us, were pleased that we had come back and were really enjoying the day. I spoke to one lady who was very keen to speak to a certain Mosaic person because she had remembered their conversation and had really appreciated it. That is why we do it and it really feels, with more and more of the church moving into the area, like we are starting to build relationships with the locals which is fantastic.

Next we are joining in with the Holbeck Gala on Saturday 11th July - so get the date in your diary, come along, muck in and LOVE HOLBECK!

Bonjour tout le monde! Greetings from sunny Paris!

We have been having an amazing time here with our friends from Le Chemin, la Verite et La Vie church. The gospel has been shared with people of many different nationalities and from different walks of life, we have seen healings and salvation and the church in Paris has been strengthened and encouraged, God is really at work in this city and it has been a privilege to share in all that He is doing here.

Each day we have been joined by members of the church to go out ‘treasure hunting’ on the streets of Paris. Before going out together we have prayed that God would give us pictures and clues about the places he wants us to go and the people he wants us to meet. We have been led on some amazing adventures and have found some exciting treasures!

Here are a few stories to whet your appetite:

We have spent a couple of days in an area called La Defense which is an important centre for business and commerce. Before setting out one team compared their clues and found that they had ‘dreadlocks’, ‘blade’, ‘right arm’, ‘video games’ and the name ‘Emily’. They headed to a ‘video games’ shop as that seemed like the most obvious place to be and when they arrived they saw a giant cardboard cut out of Jack Sparrow who has ‘dreadlocks’! They stood by Jack wondering where to go next and then noticed a dvd of the film ‘Blade’ that had been put back in the wrong place. It seemed like their clues were coming together so they thought they’d speak to the next person they saw and see if they matched up with any of their other clues. When they approached the lady at the cash desk and explained to her that they were on a treasure hunt and their clues had led them to her she was really excited and was keen to hear more about what they were doing and why. She said that the lady that worked in the shop next door was called ‘Emily’ so the team headed next door to meet her. On speaking to Emily they discovered that she had pain in her ‘right arm’ so they were able to pray that it would be healed. Emily’s boss arrived back at that point and she was anxious that the team leave the shop but they returned to the video games shop and shared more with the lady they had met there - she’s hopefully coming out for a drink with us this Saturday night!
On the same day some members of the team had found an area where they could play and sing worship music in the open. Many people stopped to listen and a couple of team members had a conversation with a man called Francois who had always believed in God but had been disillusioned and confused by his experience of religion. Francois was really keen to speak with them and gave His life to Jesus right there and then! Members of the church will be meeting up with him and he is hoping to come to the church, please pray for him.
Today we have spent time in an area called Issy which is where the church is located. A team set out with the clues ‘metal post’ (but not a lamppost), ‘manhole cover’, ‘digital clock’, ‘metal railings’, ‘nail varnish’, ‘something around the neck’, ‘infection’ and unknown to them another team had the clue ‘encouragement in evangelism’. They arrived at the square where the band were playing worship songs and found a metal lamp-post with no lamp on, by some railings and a manhole cover opposite the pharmacy which had a digital clock in the window. They thought they were probably in the right place so they waited to see if any treasure would come along! They soon spotted two ladies who were singing along to the music so they approached and asked if they were christians. The ladies were sisters, Naomi and Joy. Joy was wearing a neck scarf and nail varnish. The team explained what they were doing and asked if there was anything that they could pray for them. Joy said that she had a scalp infection that was often really itchy and irritable so the team prayed for her. Naomi said that she was fearful of sharing the gospel with people and would like prayer for that - as the team prayed she got down on her knees on the street. Joy and Naomi both go to a church in another part of the city, please pray that they and their church are encouraged and given new vision to see God’s kingdom come in Paris.

Tonight we are heading to a café called ‘Chez Benjamin’ to meet up with some of the people we have met this week.

We would love you to join us in prayer for:
1. Friends and contacts made this week to make it to the café tonight.
2. Friends and contacts made this week to come to church tomorrow.
3. God’s word to lead us through the next 24hours as we continue to share the good news of His son.

Thanks for you prayers, see you soon

Adventure Parisienne: Premiere Partie

Paris is a beautiful, bustling city where people of all nationalities mingle together to live, work and play. On Friday 10th April fifteen people from Mosaic Church arrived here in Paris amidst throngs of holidaymakers to celebrate Easter with Le Chemin la Verite et la Vie Church and spend a week on mission together.

Le Chemin la Verite et la Vie (the way the truth and the life) Church was planted in the summer of 2008 after God spoke to it’s leaders about unblocking wells of living water that exist in the city of Paris. The vision of the church is to build a community of believers that remain in the presence of God and live in His freedom and grace.

In the two days that we have spent with the church we feel as though we have been welcomed into a big family.  Today, Sunday, we joined the church for their Easter morning service, shared a delicious bring and share lunch and took communion with our new found Parisian brothers and sisters.

We are so excited about all that God is going to do in us, the church, the city and the nation this week as a result of His desire to see a church established here in Paris.

Tomorrow we will be joining with members of Le Chemin la Verite et le Vie Church to go into the city in teams of 3 or 4, asking God to lead us to people with whom we can share the truth about Jesus. Most of us feel that our language skills are being stretched and are aware of the challenges that face us as we seek to connect and communicate with the people that we meet, your prayers for this would be very much appreciated - it is only with God’s help that we can do it!

We are praying that we can be completely obedient to God’s leading and guidance as we search the streets of Paris for His lost coins.

Mosaic’s First Blog Entry

Welcome to our new blog site. This blog will hopefully provide a conversation that will help keep you in the loop, give you a place for questions and feedback and help me externally process all the thoughts about Mosaic that are crammed into my brain. However, I'm new to this so be gentle with me!

Given this term we have tackled some huge subjects together we thought it would be good to have a dedicated space to create conversations about our life together.  We’ve tackled issues such as eldership, women in leadership, the doctrine of hell and eternal punishment.  Just recently we announced our decision to multiply our services to 10.30 and 5pm from Feb 1st 2009.  We would love to know your thoughts, opinions and questions. 

So, why not suggest some topics to tackle or tell us what you really think? Simply click on the “add a comment” link at the bottom of this post.

I would really appreciate some thoughts about our carol service and our servant evangelism event in the city centre - ‘wrap it up’.  We had around 300 people come to the carol service and many guests seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves. At ‘Wrap it up’ we must have served hundreds of people by wrapping up their Christmas presents for free and maybe thousands got to hear about our carol service, chat to people, complete a survey about the true meaning of Christmas or have someone pray for them.  Personally I am always so proud when Mosaic hits the streets.  People served so hard and seemed to really enjoy themselves.  One observer came up to me and said “I’m not a Christian, but I think what you’re doing is superb!”.