Category Archives: Missions

Missions in the Czech Republic (CZ07)

by Stephanie Shin

Since 2000, God gave Lighthouse Bible Church the opportunity to serve at the Christian Church of Ostrava in Czech Republic, and we have been returning annualy since. He has been faithful in building the partnership there and strengthening relationships with Meinolf and Martina Mellwig, the missionaries from Germany, have spent much of their lives in ministry to the Czech people and also the church members.

In past years, LBC’s primary ministry in Ostrava was focused on the English camp—a one week program devoted to teaching conversational English and to sharing the gospel with the unbelievers that attended. God has been sovereign in softening the hearts of many of the Czech people to the gospel message. And, in His constant and superabundant goodness, we have also been able to encourage and spur on the Church of Ostrava and genuinely see a spirit of likemindedness in Christ grow—this is the heart of this year’s Czech mission trip.

Now in the year 2007, much has changed for both LBC and its ministry in Ostrava. For this year’s team members, preparation and training finds an emphasis not only on the motivation for missions, which is wellexpressed by John Piper: “Missions exist because worship doesn’t,” but also on the correct theology of missions found in the book For the Sake of His Name by David Doran.

“Missions should be an extension of the local church and people should see the importance of not only them going but who’s sending,” said Pastor John. “What is the end goal of what we want to see happen? An ongoing work? A church being established? Or if someone is just going to share the gospel, while that’s good, is that the complete mindset?”

Training is not the only thing that’s changed this year. The Meinolf and Martina Mellwig won’t be there this year due to home-service in Germany. Although they will be sorely missed, this gives the Church of Ostrava different opportunities for ministry. Seasoned simply by virtue of the many years spent going to Ostrava, LBC has been made aware of the needs of the Christian Church of Ostrava for leadership training and a proper view of ministry in both the family and the church. Working closely with Ales and Eva Novotny—leaders at the Church of Ostrava—the team will be helping out with the church’s family camp. “The nationals are going to have to step up in terms of providing leadership and running the program,” Pastor John remarks. There will be a direct focus on building up the church in terms of investing in them and going over the lessons of the camp’s theme: Disciplines of Godly Man and Woman. Unbelievers are also invited to come out and efforts will be made to reach out to them as well during the course of the camp.

There is a hope that the team will be able to invest more in the church people, not only to strengthen the relationship with the Church of Ostrava, but also to cultivate a mentality of ministry in the LBC team members that will extend beyond the trip itself. “Since every person on our team is teaching at one point or another, we want to be well prepared and to be able to encourage them in the way they need to be encouraged and challenged,” Courtney Chow, one of the team members, says. “I expect to learn a lot and be humbled. I expect to grow a heart of compassion for the Czech people.”

Needs for Prayer:

    – Full provision of all the resources our team needs for this trip in terms of financial and prayer support
    – Team unity and training so that the team would be fully prepared for the work of ministry
    – Many opportunities to share the gospel, including on the plane trips over and back.
    – Preparation of the hearts of the unbelievers to hear the truth of the gospel.
    – Preparation of the church members to be receptive to training.
    – Safety and good health of all the team members.

There and Back Again…

by Pastor Patrick Cho

John and I recently returned from another trip to Tucuman in Argentina and what a blessing it was! It really has become like visiting family each time I have a chance to visit. Their love and kindness are remarkable and it is so clear that it is the bond of Christ that unites us. I was so thankful for the time we spent planning for this summer’s trip. I am really looking forward to returning with the team to minister there to the church and reach the surrounding neighborhoods. It was also a great time to encourage the church through teaching times and spiritual fellowship. I enjoyed some really great conversations with different individuals about how they came to faith and how their lives have changed since. One man in particular just recently came to know the Lord and came to Bible study with his two sons. It was so encouraging to see Deuteronomy 6:7 illustrated in his life as he sought to have his sons learn God’s truth. Pastor Jorge and the leaders of the church were quick to point out various families who had come to the church since the last campaign with our team because they understood the encouragement it would bring us to see the fruit of our labors. Praise God for the work that is being accomplished in Tucuman! I hope for many more years of ministry together as we proclaim Christ in Argentina.

Philippines Scouting Trip

by Jennifer Shin

Our church’s mission statement to make disciples of Christ comes directly from Matthew 28:18-20. As followers of Christ, we are called to not just go but to make disciples of Christ whether we are here in San Diego or in another part of the world. Each summer, we send out mission teams to the Czech Republic and to Argentina to work with churches there in proclaiming the gospel. This past December, we sent two of our own members, J.R. Cuevas and Tim Yu, to the Philippines on a scouting trip for possible future ministry there.

J.R. and Tim visited the city of Alabang, a suburb of Manila, to meet up with a contact, Pastor Marvin Adolfo. In the summer of 2006, J.R. went on a mission trip to the Philippines and visited a seminary during his stay there. He met Pastor Marvin who was a student at the seminary and has kept in contact with him ever since. Since that summer, Pastor Marvin started a church in Alabang. J.R. later brought up the idea to the leaders of possible opportunities in working with that church.

Alabang Baptist Church is fairly young and has only been around for half a year, consisting of about 15-20 single adults. But they still fellowship and worship passionately. Tim and J.R. stated that it was encouraging to see – that not much is needed to worship God. For Alabang Baptist Church, it isn’t about the elaborateness of their worship services. Rather, they are content with what they have and aren’t afraid to sing loudly during praise. Tim also said, “They were really hospitable. You could feel the love there. As the outsider (I’m not Filipino), they took me in and made me really feel at home, like part of the body.” J.R. stated that though the church is young, they desire to serve and worship God in the right way.

Much of their time consisted of spending time with Pastor Marvin and the church, where J.R. taught from the Word, preaching during a Sunday service for the first time (ironically back at home), and Tim shared his testimony of how he came to know Christ. During their time in Alabang, they were able to see the church’s needs and how our own church could work alongside them. Tim and J.R. shared that they were able to see the church’s philosophy in ministry and Pastor Marvin’s heart as well. For J.R., he wasn’t sure of how things would turn out, but through much prayer, he was able to see God’s faithfulness in making everything happen and run smoothly. The church in Alabang has expressed their desire for our church members to return and partner with them in ministry.

Though future ministry in the Philippines is still up in the air, we, as a church body can still bepraying for our brothers and sisters in Alabang – that God would continue to sustain Pastor Marvin in ministry (who is still in seminary and commuting far to be and serve at the church) and for the growth of the church members there.

Our church’s mission statement to make disciples of Christ comes directly from Matthew 28:18-20. As followers of Christ, we are called to not just go but to make disciples of Christ whether we are here in San Diego or in another part of the world. Each summer, we send out mission teams to the Czech Republic and to Argentina to work with churches there in proclaiming the gospel. This past December, we sent two of our own members, J.R. Cuevas and Tim Yu, to the Philippines on a scouting trip for possible future ministry there.
J.R. and Tim visited the city of Alabang, a suburb of Manila, to meet up with a contact, Pastor Marvin Adolfo. In the summer of 2006, J.R. went on a mission trip to the Philippines and visited a seminary during his stay there. He met Pastor Marvin who was a student at the seminary and has kept in contact with him ever since. Since that summer, Pastor Marvin started a church in Alabang. J.R. later brought up the idea to the leaders of possible opportunities in working with that church.
Alabang Baptist Church is fairly young and has only been around for half a year, consisting of about 15-20 single adults. But they still fellowship and worship passionately. Tim and J.R. stated that it was encouraging to see – that not much is needed to worship God. For Alabang Baptist Church, it isn’t about the elaborateness of their worship services. Rather, they are content with what they have and aren’t afraid to sing loudly during praise. Tim also said, “They were really hospitable. You could feel the love there. As the outsider (I’m not Filipino), they took me in and made me really feel at home, like part of the body.” J.R. stated that though the church is young, they desire to serve and worship God in the right way.
Much of their time consisted of spending time with Pastor Marvin and the church, where J.R. taught from the Word, preaching during a Sunday service for the first time (ironically back at home), and Tim shared his testimony of how he came to know Christ. During their time in Alabang, they were able to see the church’s needs and how our own church could work alongside them. Tim and J.R. shared that they were able to see the church’s philosophy in ministry and Pastor Marvin’s heart as well. For J.R., he wasn’t sure of how things would turn out, but through much prayer, he was able to see God’s faithfulness in making everything happen and run smoothly. The church in Alabang has expressed their desire for our church members to return and partner with them in ministry.
Though future ministry in the Philippines is still up in the air, we, as a church body can still bepraying for our brothers and sisters in Alabang – that God would continue to sustain Pastor Marvin in ministry (who is still in seminary and commuting far to be and serve at the church) and for the growth of the church members there.

Reaching Souls in Argentina and the Czech Republic

by Pastor Patrick Cho

It has been a while since our last post since Pastor John is enjoying his sabbatical and I have been away in Argentina for the past couple of weeks. Hopefully I will be able to get back on track soon and put up new posts. It is good to be back in San Diego but it was definitely difficult to leave Argentina. What a wonderful experience it was! In the city of Tucuman we were able to focus on two neighborhoods in a five day door-to-door ministry sharing the gospel for almost six hours a day. I don’t think anyone on our team had ever had such concentrated evangelistic ministry before in their lives.

It was awesome being able to work with the members from Missionary Bible Church and the interpreters from Word of Life in Buenos Aires. By God’s plan, we also were able to work with some local unbelieving interpreters. We had the opportunity to share the gospel with them throughout the week and they also were able to translate it for us over and over during the evangelistic campaign. It was great that they were able to have so much exposure to the gospel message. Praise God also that He allowed us to see some of the fruit of our efforts as we witnessed a good handful of people from the neighborhoods and possibly even some of the interpreters respond in faith to the message of the gospel.

There is a lot of talk lately about what kinds of strategies the church should adopt to engage the culture around us. But in all the debate about cultural relevance, we must be careful not to miss the point that the Bible has given us exactly the strategy that we need: Preach the whole counsel of God and the true gospel and God will work through the message preached to save sinners. This is a principle that extends to all cultures and peoples. If we dumb down the gospel or start redefining it, we play with the God-given message of salvation. This is what is so great about the trips to the Czech Republic and Argentina (one a highly atheistic nation and the other a predominantly Roman Catholic nation). We have witnessed the trustworthiness of this principle to preach the Word in season and out of season (2 Tim. 4:2) and we have seen people saved as a result of the message preached.

I am very excited to hear of how this year’s Czech Republic summer mission went. The Czech team arrived the day before the Argentina team departed so there was not much opportunity to hear stories from them. I am definitely looking forward to the two missions report nights on September 10 (Czech Team) and 24 (Argentina Team). I cannot express how blessed we are to be able to work alongside like-minded churches in other countries reaching souls for Christ.

EV in the Community

by Pastor Patrick Cho

The Argentina Mission team had an opportunity this past Sunday to go door to door in order to share the gospel with our neighbors in the local community. This was an important part of our missions training since this is what we will mostly be doing in Tucuman. Aside from the 100 degree weather, things were really amazing. The team came back with really encouraging testimonies as well as lessons learned and even funny experiences. All in all, it was a profitable time to practice much of what we have been covering in our team meetings – understanding the whole gospel and preaching it to others.

One reflection I had as I was knocking on doors was how sad it was that people refused to even listen to the gospel. Some simply said they weren’t interested and closed their doors. Others gave a look of scorn as they informed me that they were of another faith. Others were polite but refused to listen nonetheless. I couldn’t help but remember Jesus’ lesson in Matthew 19:23. It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. In affluent San Diego, where the people are comfortably living their plush lives, it will be hard for people to respond to the gospel message. Who will recognize their desperate need for a Savior if they are enjoying everything their heart desires? Who needs Jesus when you have a home, a car (or two or three), cable TV, wireless internet, multiple bank accounts, and an IRA?

The hope that I carried with me as I talked to those in the neighborhood was that God is sovereign in evangelism! Without this truth, I might have given up and simply conceded that no one would listen. But the promise that kept resonating in my mind was that God might have other sheep in the community (John 10:16). Though house after house might close their doors to the message of the gospel, there might be one household who would be ready to hear the Word of truth, to trust in Christ as their Lord and Savior, and to live new lives as new creations for His glory.

I was so encouraged to find the team enthusiastic about the experience. We went out into the community tired and hot. We returned with our hearts strengthened and much more prepared to handle the barrios of Tucuman. Praise the Lord!

Prayer for Missions

by Pastor Patrick Cho

It’s June 28, which means that the LBC Argentina mission team departs in just thirty-four days! And the Czech Republic team leaves in less than two weeks! Time is quickly winding down as both teams make their final preparations and raise their final support. It is an exciting time for sure, but it has also been easy to become anxious. Even though we are returning to the Czech Republic for the sixth time it is still impossible to foresee every contingency and there is still a great deal to plan. For the Argentina team, last year’s trip was our first and we are very much looking forward to building upon the relationships that were begun. However, with that trip we do not have the advantage of years of experience in that country.

It becomes very tempting in light of the circumstances and our inability to foresee all the challenges to simply plan more and more. Plan for hardship. Plan for unforeseen hindrances. Plan for financial setbacks. Of course planning is good but everything gets turned upside down if we plan to the point that we neglect the Lord’s plan. “The mind of a man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps,” Proverbs 16:9. One of the most encouraging aspects about this year’s missions preparations is the commitment that the teams have had to prayer.

Please pray during these last few weeks. The teams have been praying but hopefully our senders are also praying (as they indicated on their support cards!). We trust that the church has been praying. Hopefully our families and friends have been praying. With so much planning, it is easy to start trusting in our own preparedness and to neglect the crucial lessons that God might be trying to teach us along the way. Think of the number of missed opportunities, missed life-lessons, missed blessings all because of our failure to seek the Lord in prayer. We recognize that God is the one who has orchestrated everything thus far in our preparations, and He is the one who will see the work to completion. Praise God for His sovereignty in all things!