The Missions Teams Sent Out From Christ the Rock Church

The remaining supported organization I have left to write about is a little bit different in that it is a collection of missionaries instead of just one entity. Perhaps that is why I saved it for last.
The money is given to a missionary fund that supports several teams in various places around the globe. There are to many for me to write about all of them so I will tell you about the work of 2 in particular that have really impressed me with their what they have been doing.

Papua New Guinea

This is one of the most amazing examples of perseverance and following Gods call despite all the unexpected difficulties I have ever heard.

A couple went as missionaries to one of the native tribes of Papua New Guinea with the idea of translating the Bible into the native language. A big and worthy job but not, in itself, an uncommon one. Here is the twist: upon arriving there and spending some time with the people they discovered that not only were the people speaking a language they didn't know, they were entirely illiterate. They did not even Have a written language! 

I am blown away by their next choice. They spent the next 20 years of their lives learning the language, creating a written form and then teaching it to the natives! What a wonderful couple! What a life sacrifice and display of the love of Christ!

A couple of years ago, along with our regular support, Christ the Rock collected $5000 as a Christmas offering so that they could finally print Bibles in the new language. Just over a month ago the gentleman who has been devoting his life this came and spoke at our church. He left, as a gift, a copy of the translated Bible.

They had no idea when they went what lay ahead of them, but the glorious way in which they showed Gods love and worked until they had given these people access to His Word is beautiful and amazing.

Brava, Cape Verde

This little island was (and is) one of  the destinations of our church missions trips. Several years ago a couple named Eurico and Dina Lomba, who are native to Cape Verde, joined in the trip hoping to reach out to the people of there own country. Little did they know the impact they would make. 

On returning home from the trip they began to feel the call of God on their harts to go back as full time missionaries. They approached the pastor to let him know that they were moving home to Cape Verde, where they had grown up. They told him that they wanted to start a bible study when they get back on the Island of Brava. The Holy Spirit prompted our pastor that they were going to start a church. They traveled back to Cape Verde with great expectancy of how God would use them. 

Eurico and Dina began doing relational evangelism on Brava and a small congregation was birthed. At first the church met on the patio of Eurico's home. He latter move the congregation into a basement room behind his house. In 2010, with the help of three stateside churches that support Eurico and Dina, they added a second floor onto their residence to build a sanctuary for the church and guest rooms for missions teams.God is moving on the island of Brava. In 2012 and 2013 a team of ministers from Christ the Rock Church journeyed to Brava to do outreach with the Lombas.

Some of the testimonies coming back with the teams who went over are mind blowing. Stories of people trying to give there children to the church workers to bring them home to America, stories of people having a bath for the first time in there lives. The need there is great but the Love of God being show is also great. God is using this church to show himself to the hurting people on the island of Brava and I am proud to be able to help them continue His work.