CHURCH PLANTING & HEALING CRUSADES IN AFRICA

I’m Brendan Kirby and I 'm the pastor of Hope Adelaide church . I just want to encourage you that I’ve had the opportunity to visit some of the churches in Africa.




Africa Missions Trip Video Report

First mission trip to Liberia

We have a pastor in Africa who’s interested in Hope international movement, and so I went to Liberia in February 2007 and introduced the movement to Pastor Sonny and his leadership team in Liberia. And they have adopted the movement. They have really had the same vision to plant churches around Liberia, and a year or so later, we have 5 churches in Liberia.

Latest Updates from Liberia

"Ps Sonny has only last week (30th July) returned from a 4 week missions trip around Liberia and Guinea designed to strengthen and train his leaders. These are a few of the highlights from this trip:

• Hope Foya which was started in January, and where we held two crusade meetings, now has over 220 people attending.

• Hope Voinjama which we started after our crusade and has been averaging over 30 people - recently had over 50 people while Ps Sonny was preaching the vision to the church.

• Hope Kouantan has now been birthed! Ps Sonny has started another church within a refugee camp in Kouantan, in Guinea (adjacent country to Liberia). This church has over 100 people already (most of whom Ps Sonny knew from his previous ministry in this refugee camp prior to his return to Liberia) - 30+ of whom just got saved after powerful deliverance meetings with Ps Sonny.

Hope International now has 5 churches under Hope Liberia, praise the Lord! Ps Sonny is doing great - please encourage him by emailing him on (sonnybrown2@yahoo.com) thankyou."

Healing Crusades in Liberia




I was recently there in march 08 and we did some crusades quite a few people were there and quite a few got healed. God did some quite miraculous deliverances there as well.

It was really quite exciting to see the number of converts and church attendance increasing. We actually did crusade church planting where we started our church straight after we did one crusade, where we gathered the converts and did a call for those interested, in contributing to a church plant.

Imparting the vision of Hope to African pastors




One of our hallmarks is that we’re not just starting a local church but we’re planting an international church movement.

we’re planting a network of churches so that when we commit to a local church we’re committing at the same time a network, a movement of churches . We are one church that meets in many locations, and this is very important that we stress this to the African pastors over there who are joining the movement, that we are part of an apostolic church planting movement, we’re not a series of independent isolated local churches but we are a network, we’re one family, with one heart, with one vision, to do our best, to extend the kingdom of God, by planting churches.

Ministry with Pastor Prapop & Pastor Thanon

We were very excited after our trip to Liberia, I was with pastor Prapop and pastor Thanon (Goft), pastor Praphop is the regional pastor for Africa, and pastor Thanon is the regional pastor for west Africa, so it was my privilege to travel with those 2 Thai pastors for about the first 5 or 6 days of my 9 day trip there, and that went very well. We were encouraged by what the Lord is doing.


Exploration trip to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)



After Liberia I went on a scouting trip to the democratic republic of Congo (DRC) , where I met with a pastor who’s interested in joining the movement.



I was able to share the vision with him, and with his pastors, he has planted over 30 churches in DRC. I had a couple of strategic opportunities to preach the vision to over 30 pastors and their wife’s and their leaders and that was a real privilege for me to have that opportunity and to experience the African worship it was really touching .

The spirit of God really touched the pastors, and they are really inspired to plant churches all around DRC , which has got about 60 million to 80 million people. And God’s heart really reaches out to those people.

DRC Joining Hope Movement



"After my trip, Ps Mapya has since formally confirmed with his regional pastors that they are very blessed by our Hope Movement, and that as a local movement of churches they want to officially join us!

Ps Praphop and I will be making a followup visit to DRC in September to visit more of Ps Mapya's churches and to confirm the impartation of the Hope Vision and Philosophy to the 30+ churches there. We are most inspired by the work of the Holy Spirit through Ps Mapya and the churches that he has planted over the last 10 years. They too have a great vision to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to plant churches - often at great personal expense and self-sacrifice to the pastors. We love them greatly - they are our brothers and sisters in a common vision!"

Expanding Mission Fields in Africa

"I am also planning to visit a couple of other countries, where there have been expressions of interest to join our movement. Please pray for much wisdom, grace and protection (from sickness!) as I visit these places, thankyou! We love all our brothers and sisters in our Hope family and pray that we might excel in serving the Lord together."

I want to encourage you that it is a great opportunity, privilege and honour to be a part of the Great Commission, to be a part of the Hope International Movement, and to serve God together, Amen !

Pastor Brendan & Helen Kirby
Hope Adelaide, Australia

For more information about Western Africa church planting write to Pastor Brendan Kirby Email (helenk_hope@yahoo.com.au)

OCEANIA MISSIONS FOCUS: MISSIONS PREPARATION

"I am so glad to see hundreds of church members in Oceania responded toward local, national and international missions during the recent Oceania convention in Brisbane. Hence, I would like to share some important steps to help leaders and members to prepare themselves for missions." May Cheung

Hope Oceania Missions Focus Video.

Study & research.

Start researching about the country or city God has placed upon your heart. Find out about their culture, their history, and their people. Befriend the people of that country in your local area.

Train yourself.

• Grow and diligently train yourself in your character, skills and knowledge to be ready to go onto the mission field.
  

• Be accountable to your shepherd and leader in your growth process. Complete a Church Planters Assessment (available from missions@hopebrisbane.com) to identify areas of your strengths and weaknesses.

• Be a student of their culture and start learning the language as soon as possible, as it takes time to acquire a new language.

Explore the land

Go visit the country or city either for an exploration trip or a holiday. Start to identify entry vehicles for yourself into the country.

Pray

Commit all your plans to God. Prov 16:3 “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” Pray and trust in God’s timing and preparation. Pray for your personal growth and preparation. Intercede for the needs of the city or country.

Church planting in Oceania

• Hope Wollongong (NSW) started their outreach service on 4 May 2008.
  
• Hope Darebin, Frankston, Ourimbah, Gold Coast, Katanning, and Mandurah are going on strong in the local missions efforts.

International Missions Updates…

1) Exploration to Papua New Guinea (22nd Sept - 3rd Oct, 2008)



Hope Oceania will be sending out our first 2 exploration teams to the South Pacific Islands in the next 3 months, as we aim to pioneer churches there in the near future. Hope Melbourne will be sending a team to Papua New Guinea.

2) Exploration to Fiji (29th Oct to 5th Nov, 2008)



Hope Brisbane is sending a team to Fiji. Please keep the teams in prayer as we embark on this very exciting journey. If you have friends in PNG and Fiji, please contact missions@hopebrisbane.com.

Reaching locally & globally,

May Cheung
Hope Oceania Mission Manager

Philippines Missions Report




Norma & Terry from Hope Brisbane went to Philippines for 6 months missions trip. Watch their video interview and read exciting missions report...

Philippines Missions Video Interview

We have returned from the Philippines within the last two weeks of the mission trip, my wife and me. All the things you gave us: the clothes, the glasses, and the many things we received from KFC - the children really appreciated it. Even I did some face painting with the gifts we received.




Hi! I’m Norma, I just came back from the Philippines, and I’m so just so happy that we served God over there. In obedience, we went and shared the Gospel, taught the Word of God, and blessed the people and children too with the money the church gave us.

• Over 270 children were blessed; we bought some bag packs, school uniforms and were giving away balloons and other objects that were given to the church. There were also personal things to bless the people with desperate needs.
  

I really encourage you to come with us; the youth in the Philippines need to receive ministering as well. I really encourage you to come with us, we really in desperate need of youth to be ministered as well.

God has just been blessing us.

• There were 331 people came to Christ.
  
• Over 200 bibles have been given to the people
  

and also people are looking forward to their own church, to bless the people, and also to just be a blessing and just to give hope to the people.



Hope Manila is sending some people down in 2010. We are looking forward to have our own church in this region; to have a community centre, where all needs of the people from all different age groups are catered for.

By Terry & Norma

Hope Hobart 3rd Anniversary & Launceston Mission Trip

Hope Hobart 3rd Anniversary & Launceston Mission Trip

On the 6th of July this year, Hope Hobart celebrated its third Anniversary. Indeed, the day marked a tremendous milestone as Hope Hobart dedicated the day to thank our God for what He has done in the last 3 years.

In the beginning, the church started off with only three members and the service was held in a house. The church has grown these years as God has graced the church with an amazing team of committed members who will faithfully go to the street to pass out gospel tracts weekly.

The church is now averaging around twenty people with a good blend of students, professionals, families, Australians, Africans, and Asians, and meets in a community hall in the city centre.




Hope Hobart has also seen God moving miraculously to minister to many people during their second Supernatural Sunday. For the first time, the church stepped out in faith to provide a sermon message that was coupled with Chinese interpretation for some of the Chinese students at the service. The team were so encouraged when two Chinese students gave their lives to Christ at the end of the service.

Mission Trip to Launceston

As the church grows, God has also graced Hope Hobart to have a heart for mission. Recently, 13 people from Hope Hobart went to their second mission trip to Launceston.

During the trip, the team shared the gospel message in the city mall through street preaching, one-on-one sharing, praise and worship and reading of the scriptures. The team also went to the university campus in Launceston for a prayer walk where they were burdened by God to pray for more harvesters to reach the students there.



During the trip, the team felt led by God to start the first Hope Sunday church service in Launceston. As the team stepped out in faith, God graced them by giving them a venue and seven visitors coming to the service. Since the mission trip, some team members have since grown in their heart burden to reach the people of Launceston for Christ.

We praise Him for his faithfulness to us and His work here in Tasmania as we look forward to the many amazing years ahead. It has been great to make history with God in this land.

Shen Yee
Hope Hobart, Tasmania