WE WANT TO PLANT CHURCHES & WANT TO HELP CHURCH PLANTS LOCALLY & THROUGHOUT THE WORLD!
We have said many times that we as a church want to plant a church one day (hopefully sooner than later), but until then & after then we want to encourage & help church plants.
Last week, we sent a financial gift to Michael Granger to help him, his wife Kenean, & their team plant Trinity Fellowship Church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Michael (center), along with several members of the church planting team, being prayed for & sent out.
HERE IS AN UPDATE FROM MICHAEL
April was supposed to be a big month out here. I guess it still was, just not in the way we had imagined. We had planned to start a church! Back in March, we were going full speed ahead. Together with Abenezer and Nega, we traveled to Dubai in order to purchase sound equipment as it is not easily accessible and very overpriced here in Ethiopia. Upon returning we were constantly meeting with individuals as we gathered our launch team. Then heading into April, Trinity Fellowship (that's the name of our church) was to have its soft launch followed by a hard launch in June. In fact, we were all geared up to have our first service on April 12th. Worship songs were selected, we were going to take communion, and we were going to do a 4-week series entitled Why We’re Gospel-Centered. But on April 11th, the government put out a new policy prohibiting gatherings larger than 4 people. So at 11 pm, the night before our first service, an email was sent out to our team informing them that the service scheduled for the following day was officially canceled.
We are now about 4 weeks into isolation and we do not leave the house for much more than groceries and the occasional ministerial appointment. But I think the most pronounced attitude in our hearts is that of thanksgiving and gratefulness. We have seen first hand how difficult those living in abject poverty are faring and feel overwhelmed by the kindness of the Lord that we have a home, food, health, and Christ above all things.
Looking forward, we're not sure when the government will allow us to meet; some are saying the height of this virus will hit us in Ethiopia sometime in May. Others say we're about to return to some kind of normalcy. But, the church is not a building nor is it a service. It's the people. And so, I think you could say in one sense Trinity Fellowship has already been planted. Even though we cannot have a service we are trying to have 1 or 2 individuals from the church over for lunch every Tuesday and Thursday in an effort to pray, read the Word, minister to them, create community, and establish fellowship.
Sharing the hope to be found in the story of Jesus sleeping in the boat as it fills with water from Mark 4 with this Muslim-background-believing family. Their father died one year ago and the mother recently quite her job at a hotel out of fear of contracting the virus. They were all smiles in their tiny home.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
Short term prayer requests:
Please pray for Abenezer—for growth in wisdom, grace, theological discernment, and holiness; for our unity; and for a wife.
Please continue to pray for Aster (the single mother who lives and works with us) and her two children. We want to disciple her and her children well. Pray for unity in our relationships and for the gospel to powerfully heal and strengthen them.
Please continue to pray for Muhammad and the Somali Christians. Pray for the Lord's comforting presence in his life.
Please continue to pray for my dad Mike Granger who continues to fight cancer.
Please pray for a building for our church to meet in. Our top two desired locations have fallen through.
Please pray for God to grow Trinity Fellowship in holiness, unity, love for Christ, and love for one another.
Long term prayer requests:
Please pray that God would give us grace for a life-long sustained obsessing love for the person of Christ.
Please pray for total surrender to Christ.
Please pray that God would help us to start a Christ-Centered Church in Addis Ababa that would serve as a model to all of Ethiopia.
Please pray that God would give us faithful and gifted indigenous partners; that he would lead us to the right men to disciple and train for ministry.