Greetings from Goa, India!

 Posted by Dylan Mathias

We are currently visiting Goa, India, for the month, and are excited to bring greetings from the Goa Church of Christ! This is a small church of about 22 disciples, led by Ramesh and Meena, with many similarities to our own. They too stated in 1995, the same year as the Cyprus church. They too have moved cities, from Paniji to Margao, just as we have moved from Nicosia to Limassol. They too have previously had a full-time ministry couple but are now led by a working couple. They too have to deal with many languages, Hindi, English and Konkan, just as we deal with English, Russian and Greek. Maybe they are our twin church!!!

We hope to bring photos next week, but send their greetings! Thankfully they all speak English, even if sometimes I find some of their accents hard to understand just as I am sure they do me! We had a good go at singing in Hindi, but it was probably babble! Fortunately the preacher did half his message in English and half in Konkan, effortlessly slipping and translating between the two. No need for translators here, inspiring and challenging me to maybe learn Greek so I could maybe do the same.......

More to come! God bless,

Dylan, Ann and Keable Mathias

God never gives up! Will you finish strong?

God never gives up. Throughout history he has sought to give salavation to his people, despite many failures.

Likewise we too should therefore never give up!

The video below by Nick Vujicic illustrates this perfectly.

What matters is "whether we will finish strong?" Will we perservere?

This formed the basis of our communion at Sunday service today.


Click here to watch this inspiring video

Man Looks At What Is On The Outside...

The video of Susan Boyle, a singer who surprised the judges and audience on the British TV Show "Britain's Got Talent" is both inspirational, and illustrative of the adage that we shouldn't always judge a book by its cover......



As it states in 1 Samuel 16, 7,

"The LORD does not look at the things man looks at.
Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

This was the basis of our message at church service this morning.

Click here to view this inspiring video

A Story of Father and Son

This movie was recommended to me by a member of our church, and is indeed a most powerfully moving and illustrative video of God's love for us. Please watch and enjoy, and pass on to your friends. It really is a powerful tool!

There Ain't No Mountaintop Experience Unless We Have Climbed The Mountain.

On Sunday the message addressed the cost of being a disciple. Their is no accomplishment without challenge. Nothing is worthwhile unless we have fought for it. There ain't no mountaintop experience unless we have climbed the mountain.

The message finished with the following quote, of which some asked to receive a copy.


One young Zimbabwean pastor was martyred for his faith. Among his papers, this note was found:

I'm a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I'm a disciple of His and I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.
My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I'm done and finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, or first, or tops, or recognized, or praised, or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by Holy Spirit power.

My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear.

I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of the adversary. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus. I must give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He does come for His own, He'll have no problems recognizing me. My colors will be clear!

A New Logo

I would like to welcome you to our new logo above, which as part of our "branding" we will now seek to use across all our materials as far as is practically possible. This will include our website, blog, letterheads, invitations and media outputs.

Importantly, it includes our mission statement, and seeks to incorporate its elements.

On the left is a picture of the sea from the pier near the old port (and therefore as it happens, not too far from our church office!) In truth, there is no significant, widely-recognised landmark within Limassol that could otherwise be incorporated. However, Limassol is known as a city of the sea, and those within Limassol who look out from the main sea road artery would clearly recognise this particular horizon. It emphasises the commercial nature of Limassol, as well as that we are an island surrounded by the sea. We could also extrapolate this travelling nature to the missionary journeys of Paul and Barnabas, who planted in Cyprus the first missionary church ever. As well as to the fact that we have a message we wish to take out from Limassol to all the world also.

A horizon also emphasises our desire to look outwards, and to be visionary. The world is ours to conquer!

On the right is a man with outstretched arms, encaptured and looking skywards. This is to emphasise our desire to provide personal empowerment to all, as well as provision of true worship towards God and spiritual completeness. (Body language is important. Stand in this position and your body will tell your mind you can do anything! Crouch, look down and hold yourself in, and you will not feel the same way.)

The church name is in "Alien Encounter" font, only because it provides a nice, subtle, large font, that is sharp and bold, without being too emphatic. We are trying to push a “brand”, but not a “brand name”! However the name of the font happens to be rather apt, as we are indeed seeking to provide an encounter with an out-of-earth being!

The mission statement is in a “Gungsuh” font, a type-like font designed to be simple, authorative, intuitive, press-like as if released by the press, a delaration of public intent if you will.

I hope you like it!

The Real Meaning of Christmas

At our church service we looked at the real meaning of Christmas, including looking at six different short videos (part of our move to instilling more worship-full, multimedia-orientated church gatherings). Clearly the real meaning of Christmas is the birth of Jesus and his impact and power upon our lives. Probably the most impacting video was the one below, Breath of Heaven. To view in full and purchase in high quality please visit the film's producers website here.

Features of a Strong Church

As part of the process of reaching a mission statement we looked at the features of a strong church we admired or had previously encountered.

This is the list we came up with:-

• Baptisms.
• Unity. Seeing love between enemies united in Christ.
• Powerful church vision / plan / goals.
• Maturity, counselling, mentoring, teaching.
• Raising up leaders.
• Church plantings.
• Powerful preaching.
• Powerful singing / worship / spirit-filled.
• Assisting poor.
• Youth ministry.
• Sharp, biblical standards, which are imposed.
• Powerful friendships.
• Persecution (?)
• Fun. Radical fun. The happening place in the city.
• Much praying. Spirit-filled.
• Conversion of locals.

This list is not neccessarily exhaustive or refined, but are things to bear in mind in our pursuit of the overall mission.

As it states in 1 Cor 12, 18, "God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be."

WE ARE THAT BODY!

Renewed Mission

We are a church with a renewed sense of mission. Last week the men met and finalised the mission statement of the church, constructed from the thoughts, inputs and brainstorming of all the members gathered the week before (and prayers!)

In current form it now states

"To wholeheartedly seek God, proclaim Christ, and empower to spiritual maturity."

We believe this encompasses all the important properties we discussed the week before, namely to seek and be led by the Spirit of God (ie. to be spiritual, and not of men!), to actively proclaim the gospel to all people, and to ensure we mature all people, through exciting, meaningful, inspirational and educational teaching and counselling. Salvation is an ongoing process!

This revival is separate from the members, and why this mission must belong to the church and not to the individuals, for if one individual falls, another must pick him up. We can not rely on one man or one vision, for as men we are weak, but in Christ we are strong!

Let us therefore build our foundation on Christ, as it states in Ephesians 2:20, "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord."

WE ARE THAT HOLY TEMPLE!

Welcome

Welcome to our new blog!