Greetings in His precious name. On the eve of the New Year, the believers and pastors, together with the workers, send our best wishes to the saints of God and the co-partners of the Church of God International by way of our ministry report. First of all we would like to say thank you for your partnership both in prayer and in financial support, which has helped to take the church planting work forward in Sri Lanka.
Brief history
The work of the Church of God has been in progress for the last 23 years. I remember the first believers’ baptism that was held at Norton Bridge. Since then the Lord has added many more believers who have confessed Him as Lord and Saviour through believers’ baptism. Adding new members has caused us to plant several churches in many parts of the country. Many of these fellowships average 20-80 members. This phenomenal growth has caused us to find and appoint pastors and workers to provide pastoral care for these new believers.
Financial support
At the moment we have 24 full-time workers who are serving as pastors and Christian workers. None of these congregations are able to pay a stipend to their pastor and workers; hence we have to depend totally for financial support through the global mission of the CoG. We are very grateful to the CoG congregations and individuals who are sending their support through the global mission office. We are mindful that the world economic situation has changed so much, yet God is graciously providing for us year by year.
All of our pastors and workers are full-time in the church work but none receive 100% support for their sustenance. Most, if not all, continue in their work with a sense of contentment even though many of their needs are unmet. We are proud of, and certainly very happy for, their commitment to the ongoing work of the CoG in Sri Lanka.
Women Empowering Programme
This programme, initiated by Dr Sidney and Mrs Jean Johnson, has brought much help to about 30 groups or families who have received financial assistance by way of an ‘interest-free loan’ scheme. Some who have received a loan from this scheme are still struggling to pay it back, but others are able to make regular repayments to clear their loan. These repayments have enabled us to build up capital that we can use to provide a loan to others in need.
We are very thankful to the brothers and sisters who have contributed to the Women Empowering Programme fund so that we can empower women, both individually and collectively as a community, within the body of the CoG.
General Council Meeting
This meeting is held once a year during our Annual Convention in the month of September or October. During this meeting the regional leaders share their reports from their respective regions; the treasurer presents the audited statement of accounts on behalf of the Board of Management.
October 5th-8th 2011 was our Annual Convention, which was attended by 120 members including lay representatives from local churches. This convention proved to be a spiritual feast for all parties as we had a delegation of five distinguished pastors and leaders from CoG fellowships in the USA and Canada participating. They were: Pastors. Denny Huebner, John Boedeker, Richard Fields, Michael Blackmer(Canada) , Abby Lanman and Christine. It is needless to say how much we were all blessed and encouraged. We invite CoG Pastors and Leaders from USA/Canada and other countries around the world to visit us.
Ordination
During our Annual Convention we had the joy of witnessing nine men receive their ordination as full-time pastors. Each made a pledge to serve the Lord in and through the CoG, and to be faithful to the Lord by upholding the Word of God and also by keeping the main tenets of the CoG. It was a very colourful sight to see them ordained by the laying-on of hands by our international leaders. This was followed by the Breaking of Bread in the spirit of unison according to the command of our Lord.
Church building reconstruction and dedication
The church building in Ampara had received much destruction and devastation due to flooding in 2010. For several months the believers met in a makeshift place for worship and Bible study. We made an appeal to Rev Don Armstrong, the regional leader of the SE and Pacific Region. He sent out a special letter on behalf of this fellowship that brought the needed money to make the necessary renovation and refurbishment of the church.
Pastor Sis Susantha Ekanayake single-handedly oversaw the entire repair work. Pastor Joe was able to assist her through advice and the building plans. All the work was completed by August 2011 but we had to wait until October for the church to be rededicated. The believers in Ampara are happy that they have a more or less brand new church sanctuary in which to worship the Lord. Ampara is situated on the east coast, an area very much affected by the tsunami in 2004.
Theological education
A total of ten pastors are continuing their theological education at South Asia Institute of Theology, Norton Bridge, while they are in full-time service. Attending a 5-day training programme (Monday-Friday) during the 4th week of each month is a very convenient way for them to continue their theological education. These pastors are very grateful for the opportunity they have to follow their studies whilst they are in ministry. Pas Sis Susantha Ekanayake will be graduating in March 2012 with a BTh degree. She has been an ardent student who travels 200 miles each way via 3 buses to follow her studies at SAIT.
In closing we express our appreciation and thanks to our regional leader, Don Armstrong, area leader, Rev Bowman Royce, and not forgetting Dr Sidney and Mrs. Jean Johnson for their prayers and encouragement.
Yours sincerely in Christ
Sam Thevabalasingham
Chairman- CoG Ministries Sri Lanka