A GLOBAL VISION
It was great to celebrate the impact of our overseas work and sister churches around the world on Sunday as part of our Global Missions service on Sunday 3 July.
The church follows the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:16-20 where Jesus instructed his disciples to "go and make disciples of all nations." This is referenced again in Acts 1:8 where Jesus said: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
As well as investing heavily in the local church King's Church International supports many projects and churches overseas in places such as Burkina Faso, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Israel and Iran, which are detailed below.
KCI ROBERTSON
King’s Church International has a campus in Robertson, South Africa, near to Cape Town. It is a multi-racial church where people of all ethnic backgrounds are welcome and where reconciliation and healing are emphasised in post-apartheid South Africa. In 2008 KCI Robertson started a ministry for children from the poorest backgrounds which now has over 500 children in regular attendance and over 1,000 on special events.The children are also given meals each week and receive new and warm clothing during the winter as many come from poorer backgrounds in local township communities.
Lindelize Jonker, a Kids Church worker said: "The kids church is so inspiring as it draws in the young children before they're exposed to things such as drugs and violence, their loved for the time they're there, which is different to being with their parents who would be drunk and not able to look after them...at kids church they're being offered love and hope...in a community which has a lot of fear."
There are three Sunday services at KCI Robertson, with the morning service averaging between 180-200 people. Along with the kids service, there is also a youth service which averages 60 in attendance, where they also split into small groups to discuss issues discuss important issues, hear a relevant message for their age group, worship, pray and have lots of fun! The youth also had their first camp this year, with over 40 young people attending a life-changing weekend, which you can find out more about here.
SRI LANKA
King's Church International also supports New Covenant Life Centre church in Sri Lanka which has four campuses. One of the campuses in Ratmalana, has a great impact on the local area which is made up of many slums. They feed 60 children lunch three times a week, minister to their families and give free education to children.
They also meet in various homes in a predominantly Buddhist village in Bandaragam and have been accepted by the community after some physical, legal and emotional opposition.
A third campus is in Talawathugod where over 300 meet on Sundays. The campus is continuing to grow and there are kids, youth, women's and men' meetings. There are also monthly miracle meetings, weekly prayer meetings, as well as periods of fasting and a powerful youth camp. There is also a fourth campus in the heart of the city, where over 80 people meet every Thursday.
BURKINA FASO
The church has also built a long standing relationship with a leading Christian NGO in Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest nations. For over 25 years KCI has provided substantial support for the building and development of six schools, adult literacy classes, a health centre and new wells for clean water. There is also an orphanage which takes care of 50 children and and a medical centre which is supported by generous donations from KCI and other churches around the world.
ELAM MINISTRIES
King's Church International also supports Elam Ministries which was started to train and equip Iranian Christians to reach and disciple their country.
KCI has close links with Reverend Sam Yeghnazar and his wife Lin, who has been a minister for over 40 years and believes that everyone in Iran has the right to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. He founded Elam Ministries in 1990 with the mission of strengthening and expanding the church in the Iranian region and beyond.
In 1979, there were less than 500 known Christians in Iran. Today the most conservative estimate is that there are at least 360,000 believers in the nation. They also equip the Iranian church with Bibles and resources for evangelism and discipleship, as well as sending the Gospel into the Iran region through trained evangelists, church planters and Christian media. One of Elam Ministries aims has been to translate the Bible into Persian and they produced 1 million copies and put them into Iran, they're aiming to make it 2 million. To find out more about the work they do watch this video here.
JOSEPH'S STOREHOUSE
KCI also supports Joseph's Storehouse project which was set up by Barry Segal to take the gospel to Arab and Jewish people living in Israel. They support victims of terror and minister to them and have reached 3,000 families affected by this, they also send education packs to help over 200,000 school children, support lone soldiers, holocaust survivors, new immigrants and give aid to the poor. They have also created a building called the Millennium Center to provide resources, ministry and life-saving aid in times of peace and war. To find out more watch the video here.
HOW TO SUPPORT OUR MISSIONS
If you would like to give towards the overseas missions activity you can find out how on our giving page here.