Developing Gifts Within the Church

Hello Brothers & Sisters in Christ

We have so much to thank God for that i wanted to give you a quick update and ask you to join us in prayer as we seek God.

One of the things that’s particularly encouraging is seeing God develop gifts within our congregation and people being brave enough to put those gifts into action. It’s an amazing thing to serve the Lord and see how he blesses others through our serving Him.

This is definitely an area we are praying that the Lord continues to grow.

We are praying that the Lord will continue to raise up and bring in spiritually mature believers, who will be willing to allow God to use them to grow His Body.

As i pastor the church, i also lead the English Bible study, Spanish Bible Study, Prayer meeting, head up the Evangelism and am also the Worship leader, if that made you feel tired add in two young children to the mix haha. But God is so good and God is at work in our congregation!

Monthly Praise Evening & Translation

A spanish speaking couple from our church have begun leading our monthly worship meetings, and this has been a huge blessing! For me as I can enjoy just worshiping the Lord!, for the whole church family, but also for them as they step forward and use the gifts God has given them. They are also an integral part of our Praise Band and even starting to sing in English!

As a bilingual church it’s important that we can minister in english and spanish; so no language barrier ever stands in the way of people receiving from the Lord! I want to thank God for Sam, who has been translating the sermon every sunday for the past 18 months! Please join me in praying that God blesses and strengthens him as he also works a full time job including saturday nights!

God has brought a lady into our congregation who has translated a few times from Spanish to English, we pray God will continue to grow this gift in her!

A New Christian Bookshop

We have also had the joy of starting a Christian multilingual bookshop within the church, led by a wonderful sister in our congregation. This has been a real blessing and gives people the opportunity to f ind Christian gifts, books and Scripturebased items that point people towards Jesus. Here in Spain, Christian gifts and resources can sometimes be diff icult to f ind, so we are especially thankful to have this opportunity within our church.

Minister in Training

As you know, my husband Bruno is a Minister In Training and he heads up the Childrens Ministry in the church and is also in charge of all the maintenance and practical running of the church. He does a wonderful job and he’s a great evangelist! He just loves talking to everyone he knows about Jesus. He works a full time job and we thank God he gets every Sunday off!

He also has started preaching occasionally on Sundays. Please lift him up in prayer as he works, studies and serves the Lord joyfully each day.

Almuñecar

I wanted to give you an update from our Almuñecar church (Elim International Christian Community) and also ask for your prayers.

Praise Jesus the congregation continues to grow in numbers, both adults and children. There is now an urgent need for much larger premises, the current rental contract ends in March 2027. It needs to be large enough to have a kitchen and room for the growing amount of children for their classes. We know the Lord has everything in His hands we just need to find where to move to and the finances to be able to do so.

Pastora Patricia now has two elders, Peter & Marie who will take some of the responsibilities from her. We continue to pray for the Lord to send us the correct person to take over the pastorate as Patricia wants to retire from the pastoral responsibilities now she is in her 80’s. She had thought a couple who were moving into the area would be the ones, however for now it is clear that they have changed their minds. We had the pleasure of a baptism in the sea this summer, it is always a great reason to celebrate a new believer taking their steps forward in Jesus. We are so encouraged another baptism was celebrated at the end of September whilst Pastors Howard and Sue ministered there on that Sunday. Over the summer months the bible study group stopped due to the heat and as it now resumes, we pray that the folks here will be discipled well and will step forward in the work of the Great Commission that Jesus commanded us.

Please pray for this church, that the Lord brings the right person/persons who will lead this church forward and for new premises.

Looking Ahead

We are excited about what God is doing and expectant for what lies ahead. Please pray that we will continue to grow not only in numbers, but also in spiritual maturity. Pray for those who are stepping into new areas of ministry, that they will have confidence and wisdom. Please pray for our Almuñecar church, that the Lord will guide and open doors for new premises, new leaders and for Pastora Pat that the Lord would continue to stregthen and sustain her as she faithfully serves him.

Thank you for continuing to stand with us through your prayers, encouragement and support. We are so grateful that you are part of what God is doing here.

More to share next month!

We have recently started prayer walking and street evangelism twice a week here in Benalmádena. There is so much to share about what God is doing, but unfortunately, I've run out of space in this month's newsletter!

Blessings and love from
Lucy, Bruno, Lilia, Joel, Howard and Sue.

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