Kingfisher International Family News - November 2020

KINGFISHER INTERNATIONAL FAMILY NEWS

NOVEMBER 2020

ISSUE 14

The Gospel of Peace in a world of anger I was speaking online to a group of Indian pastors just a few days ago. It was a video conference that had been delayed from its original date, because the day before that was due to happen there had been a shooting. Two young Christians had been shot - one, the nephew of our translator for the conference and the other his friend. One young man died instantly, the other was left in a critical condition.

Understandably, the conference needed to be rearranged because all of the pastors and leaders that would have been at the event were instead going to attend the funeral of the young man shot dead. Sadly, in the Punjab, northern India where this happened, this is not an uncommon event. Just a bit further south from there, in a city called Haridwar (in the state of Uttarakhand), a Kingfisher church has grown out of a tiny group of believers who had converted from Hinduism. Haridwar is a place of pilgrimage for many Hindus, a holy city where Hinduism is taken very seriously. The church that was planted there was, at the time, the only place of Christian worship in the city and was fiercely opposed. The pastor there, Mangesingh, faced great persecution. He was beaten, threatened by mobs, arrested and imprisoned by the police, faced abuse…all because he is following his calling to be a pastor. Despite this, just weeks ago, at an evangelistic event, many people gave their lives to Christ and 20 families were baptised there and then.

Today, that small church that was planted just a few years ago, is the largest in the city of Haridwar, with almost 4000 people attending - all Hindu converts!

Christians becoming the most persecuted religious group in the world. And yet, despite the rising tide of persecution, as we can see from above, the Gospel will not be silenced and the Kingdom of God continues to grow. Our new church centre in Pantay, the Philippines now has its roof on, the new training centre in Malawi continues to progress towards completion. Christians in China are experiencing a huge upsurge of persecution, and yet, as the Economist recently reported, “…As for China’s Christians, their numbers continue to grow. The government reckons that about 200m of China’s 1.4bn people are religious. Although most practice traditional Chinese religions such as Taoism, and longer-standing foreign imports such as Buddhism, Protestant Christianity is probably the fastestgrowing faith, with at least 38m adherents today (about 3% of the population), up from 22m a decade ago, according to the government’s count. The true number is probably much higher: perhaps as many as 22m more Chinese Protestants worship in unregistered “underground” churches, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Notre Dame. As China also has 10m-12m Catholics, there are more Christians in China today than in France (38m) or Germany (43m).”

We thank God for His fearless servants around the world, leading in the way in proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom. This is the Gospel of Peace (Ephesians 6;1) and how much the world needs that peace right now. Not just peace from persecution and online abuse, but peace the world cannot give - peace with God. Let us pray for our brothers and sisters around the world as they courageously promote this Gospel of Peace!

We are living in a world of great tension, with unprecedented religious persecution. Then UK Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt ordered a report on the subject just over a year ago, which found that Christian persecution is at ‘near genocide levels’, with

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Covid-19 relief continues

Dumagat Education Program update

Updates from around the world

KINGFISHER INTERNATIONAL FAMILY NEWS

As the pandemic continues‌ The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread around the world, with a second wave hitting across Europe.

Churches are beginning to open their buildings again for worship services with social distancing in place.

The priority for churches in many countries is to provide help fn the form of food and household items for those who have been the worst affected by lockdowns. Thanks in part to the Gift Day that formed part of the International Day of Prayer, Kingfisher family has been able to send financial support to Delhi (India), the Punjab (India), Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, the Philippines and Macao. Many hundreds of food parcels have been delivered to families in need, whilst thousands of believers have joined together in prayer for the nations of this world.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the Covid-19 pandemic has meant that there are changes in the education system, resulting in more online, modular teaching. It also means that notes downloaded from a computer need to be photocopied for the students.

This presents a real challenge to many schools as they have neither the equipment nor the budget for this.

Kingfisher Family has been able to supply two photocopiers, one for the Rio Chico National High School and one for Rio Chico Elementary school. The teachers are thrilled to have received these gifts, which will benefit both the DEP students and every other student in those schools. (See page 3 for more details)

The pandemic has meant that we have not been able to visit any of the countries that are part of Kingfisher Family. However, this has opened doors in arms that we have not explored before. In September we had our first Pastors and Leaders Video Conference with people in the Punjab, northern India. 23 pastors and leaders gathered together for a conference call with James and Stuart. The conference was organised by Pastor Sukhbir Singh in Amritsar, and as a result of this conference, we are welcoming six churches into the Kingfisher Family.

We have also begun a relationship with Pastor Shibu Appukuttan and his church, the Navjeevan House of Prayer in Panama City, Central America. Pastor Shibu is Indian and lives in Panama with his wife and two children. They planted a church for Indians living in Panama City two years ago and are encouraged to see the church growing and thriving, even during the pandemic.

Above and right: Pastors Conference and food delivery in Amritsar, Punjab

Left: Food parcel proration at living Word Bible Centre, Macao. Below: Building materials for the toilet block at Kingfisher Centre in Limbe, Malawi

Above: Pastor Shibu, Navjeevan House of Prayer, Panama City Left: Buckets delivered for clean drinking water in Malawi

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KINGFISHER INTERNATIONAL FAMILY NEWS

Update from the Dumagat Education Program The electric meter was installed in the student/family accommodation in Sibug in July. Each unit now has a socket and light bulb which will enable the children to study their lessons in the evening when it’s dark. The communal kitchen and bathrooms have connections too.

To adjust to the current challenge that Covid-19 has brought to the Education System, the Philippines Department of Education has had to change the framework around the way that they teach children. They had already postponed the start of the new school year from June to October and have now decided to implement a home learning style of study because it’s still not safe for the children to be together at school. Because not every household has access to computers, each child or student will be given printed modules instead.

The Kingfisher International fund have sent money to both Rio Chico High and Elementary schools to enable them each to buy a brand new printer, a second hand printer and 4 litres of ink (a months supply). The printers were delivered on Tuesday 15th September and will help to print modules for 1,000 Elementary pupils and 400 High School students to take home. Our Dumagat Education pupils will receive printed modules from these printers too.

The headteachers of both schools were very grateful of Kingfisher’s generosity and Vivian Maducdoc PhD, from Rio Chico High school, posted this thank you message on Facebook:

Head Teacher Thelma Caballero

Tuesday Blessings: 2 printers with ink in big bottles( Epson L565 & L360). Thank you very much KINGFISHERS INTERNATIONAL FAMILY @ Gloucester, England. God bless you more!

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Department head teacher Vivian Maducdoc PhD

KINGFISHER INTERNATIONAL FAMILY NEWS

Updates from around the world Update from Zimbabwe “Greetings Pastor James, am pleased to be testify on how you, pastor Ollie and the entire Kingfisher international family church. You have brought smiles, relief and new lease of spiritual revival to us here.

We always share insights of all the Sunday service series and weekly updates.

We have to reach disadvantaged and their families with the gospel of peace. We are witnessing many coming and accepting Jesus Christ as their personal saviour. After our first and second distribution of covid relief hampers we later assisted a young granny who was left with grand daughter who has cerebral palsy both parents abandoned the child. Now the granny is unable to do her duties as she will be nursing her, no wheelchair and the child has never gone for physio. We were privileged to encourage them and give to food hamper and masks to the family and next door neighbours. Here are the photos of the granny and the child.

number of people.

Saturday two services with youth and children church, Sunday for adults and one new opened branch in town. We are therefore asking for prayers for God's enablement.”

Challenge, given the current pandemic it is so difficult to go church services due to the fact of banned public transport. It takes torrid time to attend church services. We thank God for his enablement. We have mobility challenge as most our church members are not technological connected. We are therefore forced to do physical services with limit

Pastor Joseph Maravanyika

Update from Macau Pastor Edwin Alfaro and the Living Word Bible Center Macau handed out 100 relief bags containing 2kg rice, noodles, 3in1 coffee, biscuits, canned goods, alcohol sanitisers, personal hygiene kits and more. This was their way of reaching out and helping those who were stranded, jobless or in a ‘no work-no pay’ situation because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Update from the Philippines The roof is on! The work on the new building in Pantay, the Philippines has taken an important step forward with the new roof having been completed.

The next step is windows and doors...