Month: April 2022

April 28, 2022 The Homeschool Ministry

The homeschool group does parenting discussions on a quarterly basis at Believers City Church. This year we began a new series that has been based on the series by Gary Thomas titled Sacred Parenting.

One of the methods that God seems to use in His followers’ lives is using us to serve Him in some way and also changing us through that service. Going on a mission’s trip is a good example of this. We may look at the trip as an opportunity to go and serve God, which it is. But at the same time, God uses the trip to change our own hearts in some way. 

As parents, we often find that God does the same with us through parenting.  God is using us as parents to raise the kids but He is also using the process of parenting to change us.

A secondary aspect of this is that raising children will make or break the kids and the parents.  When a parent is unwilling to rear their children in the way God has called them to, its often a reflection on other areas of their lives. If we are failing in our role as parents, then we are likely also failing in other parts of our relationship with God.  God not only uses our role as parents to shape us, He also uses our relationship with Him to help shape our kids.

God is merciful and He covers our weaknesses. As we move forward as parents, we need to remember that parenting well has a lot to do with how close we are to God. God uses the calling of parenthood to bring us close to Him.

Check out the promo for the current series we have been working through.

April 25, 2022 Shofar Missions Cebu

Keep reading to learn what we have been up to in the Philippines and the USA over the past month.

While we were in the USA, we got to spend time with Annemieke, a missionary from the Netherlands, while she was on her speaking tour among the three Street Level Ministries locations. Before she spoke at UW-Stout, we handed out fliers with her on campus. As missionaries in service to the King, we face many of the same challenges. We also joined the Street Level House for dinner, a night with food and fellowship as we planned for the next chapter of ministry, and a Sunday night in a quiet backyard with grilled food, friends, and a fire on our last Sunday night in the USA for a while.

THE MINISTRY CONTINUES

We arrived a few days before Easter, so we grilled out with our neighbors on Saturday and had pancakes with a couple of students after church on Sunday. As many employers continue to work from home and schedule online meetings, Dyreen doesn’t come into Cebu City very often. When she does, we always try to meet – even if it is for a short amount of time – since she has been a great friend since we moved here.

We have been teaching Sunday School each month at the Inayawan Church of the Nazarene for the past few months. On Easter Sunday, we had an opportunity to teach there again. This is a church and school that Shofar has been ministering with since 2017. We know the staff and pastors there, along with several students that attend the church. Some of the students Laura teaches in school are part of the kids & youth group. Brittany handed out copies of Word on the Street Magazine to the youth after their discussion. Two of the youth contributed to the article about Typhoon Odette, so they were all excited to get a copy.

Since we returned to Cebu, we have spent a lot of time catching up with people and planning for the next few months. Laura has visited with staff and taught Exploring Creation Science lessons for students at Banawa Nazarene and Southern Bethany Christian School. Though classes remain digital with very few exceptions for in person learning, schools are seeking as much face-to-face interaction as possible. Students living near each other are finding ways to join activities in groups when the opportunity allows, and teachers are joining together at schools or coffee shops.

STREET LEVEL MINISTRIES

Last Friday marked the beginning of a whole new format of SLM meetings. Not only have we resumed free dinners, but we have also changed the weekly meetings to be heavily discussion based. A day or two before students attend, they can watch a short Bible teaching on our Facebook page. On Friday night, they can come together to discuss what they learned. Meetings happen simultaneously in Toledo City and Cebu City, with a different student facilitating the discussion each week. It’s an exciting change, which we hope and pray will bear much fruit for the Kingdom. To get the word out, posters have been hung all around Cebu City, and on Wednesday, Jael and Britt will host a live radio broadcast downtown. There are many college-age individuals roaming around and some third and fourth years attending limited face-to-face classes… now it’s a matter of being in the right place at the right time, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in order to meet them.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

  1. Please pray for all the churches/schools that we work with – specifically the health of Pastor Allan at Inayawan Church of the Nazarene and Jim Young.
  2. Pray for new ministry opportunities as Laura seeks to spend more time ministering with the Nazarene School.
  3. Pray for all those we were able to minister to at the Universal Church of Christ in Toledo. In February, Laura taught a science lesson during kids church and Britt gave WOTS to the youth.
  4. Pray for the upcoming Street Level Radio broadcast and posters – that students would know about SLM and desire to get connected.
  5. Pray for the discipleship of the SLM students – that they’d grow in love for Jesus, holiness, and discernment about the decisions they’re making.
April 20, 2022 River Falls Ministry

Keep reading for the latest news from Believers Church ministry in River Falls.

This semester went quickly. Here we are with just a few short weeks left, knowing that our now-familiar small group will be broken up soon for the summer. But in the mean time we have remained busy with events, frequently fellowshipping, and consistently studying God’s Word together.

Plant Sale at the Coffeehouse

We ended March by doing a plant sale at the coffeehouse. We had a great turnout –  around 100 people came. This has become one of the best ways to bring people into the coffeehouse. The plants were provided via donations from people in the Menomonie and River Falls as well as propagations from the coffeehouse “plant wall”. We have already begun new propagations for the next sale.

Missionaries on Campus

In early April, Street Level hosted Dutch missionary Annemieke Roering on the UW-River Falls campus. This was her last stop on a speaking tour hosted by Street Level. She shared on her missions work to individuals in prostitution in the Red Light district of Amsterdam. It was good experience for students in Street Level to work together postering, flyering, and hosting this event.

Additionally, we were joined by the Philippines missionaries for Wednesday night at Campus Church. Laura and Brittany shared about their personal entry into missions and the ministry they have been doing over the past few years.

Summer Ahead

We are now to setting our sights on summer and the outreach possibilities before us. We are seeking plans for worthwhile engagement with the city. While most of the students will be gone, there will be great opportunity to meet people throughout the community.

Prayer Requests

  • Outreach plans for the summer.
  • Continued growth and maturity in group.

For Further Information

April 13, 2022 Believers Church Duluth

Greetings to all from Duluth, this last month has been full of opportunities and things happening in and through our church. It seems common in our area that people stay “in” and wait for the weather to get nicer before getting out and doing things so this could end up being a boring time of year. We are thankful that Gods mission and His church don’t wait around for better weather to get out and do stuff. Here’s what we have been up to,

Street Level

Street Level has been continuing to meet for Bible study on Monday nights and have been enjoying plenty of time to hang out together including some Friday night movie nights at the Street Level House. For spring break this year a group of Street Levelers from Duluth joined up with Street Levelers from Menomonie to go on a mission’s trip to Waverly Tennessee, a small town about an hour from Nashville that was devastated with a flood last fall. They teamed up with a disaster relief organization there to help homeowners in need of many home repairs including flooring, painting, sheetrocking, and hanging doors. They were also able to meet some of the homeowners, talk with them, and listen to some of their stories about what had happened in their small town. It sounds like the people there have really had to rally together to support each other through this difficult time.

UMD Campus Church

UMD Campus Church has been continuing to meet together on Wednesdays to go through the book of Exodus. The people involved in this have been diligently trying to meet students and spread the word about the Wednesday service. They took a break from the normal schedule to welcome Annemieke Roering from the Cleft Ministry in Amsterdam to speak. She spoke about her almost 2 decades of ministry to the women in the red-light district. It was very powerful and inspiring, she seemed to be clearly answering her call from God to minister to and help these women. A number of people from the public and campus were able to join us to hear her speak.

Church

At Church this past month Pastor Justin finished up our trek through the book of Romans and Paul’s wonderful description of the gospel. We have moved on to the Gospel of Matthew on Sunday’s and started out with the genealogy of Christ which helped us look at our own past and what Christ has done and is doing in our lives. On Wednesday’s we have been continuing to do small group recaps of Sundays sermon which has been very helpful to dig in a little more to what we are hearing on Sundays with the hope that God would be speaking to us through it and that we would be responding. We did take a 2 week break from this on Wednesdays to watch a video on the American Gospel which explained what many churches throughout America are teaching. It was very eye opening to be aware of what people are believing out there.

Community Group

Community Group is gearing up for a busy spring/summer season starting with an outreach at the Zoo on Easter weekend and planning to set up at a number of local events to get out in the community and meet people. We have been continuing to go into an assisted living home every other week to study through the gospel of John with all who can attend.

We are very grateful for all of Gods work in our church and are excited to continue to see new visitors at church on Sundays somewhat regularly. Please pray for us to have love for these visitors and each other along with the wisdom to be able to minister. You can also pray for the upcoming months as we have many things planned for the spring/summer and that we would be having the right heart behind all that we are doing.

Adam

April 11, 2022 Pastor Jesse Moss | Duluth

Envision that you are on a ship clinging tightly to whatever it is that you have on this earth that you treasure the most. Imagine whatever it is that you value so highly slipping out of your grasp only to fall out of reach. You lounge forward in a final futile attempt to catch hold of it, only to see it fall forever into the depths of the sea, unable to ever be retrieved again.

This is exactly the picture that John Foster uses in his book from the early 1800s entitled “The Improvement of Time.” In it, he points to another treasure that moment by moment is wasted by being dropped over the edge, but its loss is many times unnoticed. The 234-page book’s entire intent is to convince the reader not only of the value of time but to also see how easily it slips away from us, never to be seen or utilized again.

The Value of a Minute

When we are young, we are constantly given unheeded warnings on the speed and shortness of life. Usually, they passed over our heads under the assumption that the “old” men and women giving them were out of touch. But did you realize that God gives the very same warnings? 

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.

Psalm 90:10

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

James 4:4

In Ephesians God tells us that he has things for us to do. We are His workmanship and He has created and prepared things for us to do. We only have this life to do them. There is no second shot. There is no reset button on this journey that we are on. When we reach the end of our lives, as Christians we will give an account for the life that God has given us. I’d like to leave no task that God has prepared for me undone.

In John 9 Jesus tells us that “We must do what God has for us now while it is day for night is coming when no one can work.” We will never accomplish what God has created us for if we aimlessly drift through this life, allowing it to passively pass us by. It’s our choice to either spend ourselves on the things that matter: God, His Kingdom, and His mission, or to spend our lives on cheap thrills, comfort, and ease. But only one decision will have anything to show for it in the end.  

Minutes Easily Spent

Imagine having $40,000,000. You would likely give little thought to dollars spent here and there. Some costs are paid so gradually that the total expense paid slips away without notice. But when those small payments here and there are totaled, the sum would be staggering. When it comes to the investment of our lives, I think many of us spend them in that way; wasted, not all at once for we are far too wise to make such a mistake. Instead as fools, we spend our life savings of time on little trinkets here and there. Our time purchases nothing of great value, worth investing in, but it is spent in such small instances, that it concerns us very little.

If you are an average man or woman in the United States your life will likely consist of just over 40 million minutes. What are you going to do with them? It would be easy to excuse wasting a great deal of it, but be careful, you just might find at the end of it all you wasted more than you realized.

No Getting it Back

There is no way of getting time back, once spent it is gone for good. If time has slowly been falling out of your hands beneath the surface of the sea you cannot dive down to retrieve it. The moments were wasted. All you can do moving forward is to fight to keep more from drifting away. I don’t know how much time is left in your bank, but you have some. You have one life to live. Spend it where it counts and make it count.

So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12