HIM FAMILY NEWS
Church Planting in Quebec, Canada
Ben and Dinah's visit to Quebec From April 26th to May 2nd 2012 this spring, Pastor Ben and Pastor Dinah travelled across the globe to visit and encourage the group in Quebec, the French part of Canada. Despite the cold rainy weather, they were warmed up by the love from a small group of believers in Chambly, a city half-hour drive south of Montréal. During the week they were among us, Ben and Dinah shared their hearts for church planting, loving Jesus first and taught us the Lord's heart for us to be fishermen of people.
They shared about the difficulties of being a church pioneer and how much we will be stretched. They themselves made the very long road journey to the Gaspese peninsula to meet potential church planting contacts in Murdochville and Val d'espoir. Their sheer presence was truly a blessing for us the people of Québec, every one of us felt encouraged to persevere and entering into God’s calling in the Gospel of Matthew 28:18-20. After the long trip back from Gaspese, they still prayed and prophesied for every member of the group. Their visit marked a turning point for our Chambly group with many decisions taken as each member took a stand before God, willing to be transformed by Him for the purpose of His kingdom.
Written by Eric Hebert
Holy Week Happenings – Easter Sunday On Easter Sunday, we got up early, went to church and prepared for the celebration of the special day when Jesus rose from the dead and showed us the way to victory! We played an Easter eggs hunt at the church and as expected, the group with the most children won! We shared the significance of the Easter egg: it represents new birth; the new life of Jesus, as well as the new life He gave us. We praised and worshipped with songs, watched a short animation clip of Jesus appearing to his followers after the resurrection and listened to Timothy preaching about the seven things Jesus said on Easter morning. We also celebrated the birthday of our April cumpleaneras, Emily and Elena.
Ecuador has a special tradition of eating fanesca during Holy Week. Fanesca is a thick, creamy soup; its primary ingredients include all sorts of grains, and you can add bacalau (salted fish), cheese, chilli and mini flour balls or empanadas on top. This year, in church, we also had fanesca as a family. Different people contributed the ingredients and Claudia, who is a wonderful chef, helped to make it with some of the other women in church.
Oasis Church International Bangkok Camp
Hope Kuching Beyond the Four Walls of the Church
Ben and Dinah's visit to Quebec From April 26th to May 2nd 2012 this spring, Pastor Ben and Pastor Dinah travelled across the globe to visit and encourage the group in Quebec, the French part of Canada. Despite the cold rainy weather, they were warmed up by the love from a small group of believers in Chambly, a city half-hour drive south of Montréal. During the week they were among us, Ben and Dinah shared their hearts for church planting, loving Jesus first and taught us the Lord's heart for us to be fishermen of people.
They shared about the difficulties of being a church pioneer and how much we will be stretched. They themselves made the very long road journey to the Gaspese peninsula to meet potential church planting contacts in Murdochville and Val d'espoir. Their sheer presence was truly a blessing for us the people of Québec, every one of us felt encouraged to persevere and entering into God’s calling in the Gospel of Matthew 28:18-20. After the long trip back from Gaspese, they still prayed and prophesied for every member of the group. Their visit marked a turning point for our Chambly group with many decisions taken as each member took a stand before God, willing to be transformed by Him for the purpose of His kingdom.
Written by Eric Hebert
Easter Sunday in Ecuador, South America
Holy Week Happenings – Easter Sunday On Easter Sunday, we got up early, went to church and prepared for the celebration of the special day when Jesus rose from the dead and showed us the way to victory! We played an Easter eggs hunt at the church and as expected, the group with the most children won! We shared the significance of the Easter egg: it represents new birth; the new life of Jesus, as well as the new life He gave us. We praised and worshipped with songs, watched a short animation clip of Jesus appearing to his followers after the resurrection and listened to Timothy preaching about the seven things Jesus said on Easter morning. We also celebrated the birthday of our April cumpleaneras, Emily and Elena.
Ecuador has a special tradition of eating fanesca during Holy Week. Fanesca is a thick, creamy soup; its primary ingredients include all sorts of grains, and you can add bacalau (salted fish), cheese, chilli and mini flour balls or empanadas on top. This year, in church, we also had fanesca as a family. Different people contributed the ingredients and Claudia, who is a wonderful chef, helped to make it with some of the other women in church.
Thank you brothers and sisters for contributing to a delicious fanesca! Finally, but also most importantly, we give thanks to God for two new lives this week – Gustavo and Roberto (Dario’s brother)! This is what Holy Week is all about – new, transformed lives! Pray with us that Roberto will be able to find a good, biblical church to grow in as he returns to Ambato and that both Gustavo and Roberto will grow firm in their faith, be protected against doubts and distractions and experience the great love of God and His spiritual family.
Hope Indonesia Easter Camp
We learned many important principles to live a successful Christian life at the camp. It is an honor to be a Christian because Jesus won His battle against sin and death for us. To be a Christian means we are more than conquerors and in Jesus’ name, we can fight all temptations. We need to guard our heart and be wise. We need to keep ourselves humble at all times so that God can continue to use us. Do not allow pride to hinder us from relying on the grace and love of God.
We thank God for the many Hope centres that attended the camp such as Hope Jakarta, Hope Magelang, Hope Bandung, Hope Semarang, Hope Salatiga, Hope Johor Bahru (Malaysia), Hope Batu Pahat (Malaysia). We all look forward to the next annual Easter Camp.
Written by Susanto Tjhai
Hope Indonesia Easter Camp
The theme of this year Easter camp was “Victorious Church”. The camp was held in Wisma Elika, Bandungan. The campsite is around 30-45 minutes away from Semarang in mid Java. There were around 200-300 people attending from Indonesia and Malaysia. PS Kwong Lie was the speaker of the camp. He shared about his mission trips to the churches in Pakistan. It was encouraging to hear how people in Pakistan serve God even with very limited resources.
We learned many important principles to live a successful Christian life at the camp. It is an honor to be a Christian because Jesus won His battle against sin and death for us. To be a Christian means we are more than conquerors and in Jesus’ name, we can fight all temptations. We need to guard our heart and be wise. We need to keep ourselves humble at all times so that God can continue to use us. Do not allow pride to hinder us from relying on the grace and love of God.
We thank God for the many Hope centres that attended the camp such as Hope Jakarta, Hope Magelang, Hope Bandung, Hope Semarang, Hope Salatiga, Hope Johor Bahru (Malaysia), Hope Batu Pahat (Malaysia). We all look forward to the next annual Easter Camp.
Written by Susanto Tjhai
Oasis Church International Bangkok Camp
To continually strengthen the relationship of its members, Oasis Church International – Bangkok recently held its second annual camp that took place on April 13-15, 2012 at the Puang Luang Camp Ground in Prachin Buri, Thailand. The theme centered on “F.A.M.I.L.Y – Fellowship, Adoration, Mission, I Love Yahweh.” The camp’s objective was for every participant to experience three important things: enjoying the fellowship with the campers’ spiritual family, knowing and worshipping God more, and learning the things that each can contribute in expanding God’s kingdom.
Although the camp’s programs consisted of different sets of activities per day, significant segments were appointed for spiritual connection and nourishment through praise and worship, as well as, the sharing of the word of God. All the activities included were designed to draw the participants to worship God (Adoration), to acquaint other people about the Lord and His Greatness (Mission) through the guest speaker, and to work together to achieve the vision of the church (Fellowship). Day one opened with fellowship songs. Following that were different workshops: painting and sketching, for the artistic campers; computer literacy course, for the technically inclined; “Mad Science”, for those who were interested in exploring Science and its significance to Christianity; and lastly, “Doing Hard Things” was a course which aimed for campers to be aware of what they can apply practically in their daily lives.
The camp wrapped up the first day with a guest speaker from YWAM, Phi Sam Sarvis, encouraging the campers to walk in faith and spurring each one’s faith – reminding everyone that it is easy to follow God if you know Him because you know that He is faithful and He will surely do what He promised. The second day began with the sunrise worship where the campers enjoyed a refreshing worship time outdoors basking in God’s blessings. After everyone enjoyed the sunrise worship with nature’s splendor, the games started. The campers were divided into three teams. It was during these games that the ‘Best Campers’ were being observed. After the games, a water fight was unleashed. The goal was to use water guns so that no one was left dry; even Ptr. Mayette Alkuino was not spared.
The third day started early with a group devotion per demographic - youth, special parents, couples, kids and singles. In the afternoon, it was a non-stop praise and worship celebration. Many campers testified that they were blessed and this was verbally relayed on the last night because everyone was given a chance to share their thoughts on the camp program. It was also during the third day when the Talent Night was held and awards were presented. The camp was beyond a doubt, spirit filled; a further attestation of this were the visitors who accepted the Lord. Truly, God’s presence was in that place!
Written by Lisa
Hope Kuching Beyond the Four Walls of the Church
“You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden... In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16 NIV) God opened doors for us to go beyond the four walls of our church, to serve the community creatively. Recently, we were involved in two major community events in Kuching -
“Together for Humanity”: Dancing Competition Charity Project
On 14 April, more than 60 of our members volunteered help with this event, organized by Malaysia Red Crescent (MRC). MRC is active in humanitarian works and disaster relief efforts. The funds raised are used to secure basic necessities such as blankets, rice, biscuits, pillow, mattresses, hygiene packs to victims of disasters. This dance competition attracted more than 50 entries from dancing studios, universities, private sectors and schools. We praise God for the RM 75,000 raised!
“1heart2bless” Charity Project
15 days later, we were involved in another charity sale project. This event was held at the Hills Shopping Mall, Kuching. About 2500 people turned up! 1heart2bless is an initiative by a local kindergarten which is owned by the one of our members. This charity aimed to create awareness and educate people about family-social responsibility, to support early childhood education and to fulfill their Corporate Social Responsibility. The RM 50,000 raised were channeled to the Sarawak Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA), Sarawak Children Cancer Society (SCCS), Dyslexia Association of Sarawak, Sekolah Kebangsaan Semban (a school) amongst others. Overall, it has been an interesting learning experience for us as we work out how to be effective in engaging and reaching the local community.
