Mabuhay! Greetings from Philippines!

This report on Philippines might be a tad overdue but we decided to post it up to share with everybody on the works in Philippines as well as our church's partnership with the local churches through initiatives such as Arise to Mission (ATM), Arise Bible Schools, Arise Kindergartens as well as many various outreach projects.Furthermore, God's work is never late. =)

Impacting Philippines for Christ

Participate by going for short term mission trips

Love your neighbour, love your community!

Calling for marketplace ministers!

Equipping ministers for the fields

Training in Progress

Don't wait! Raise up to the Harvest!

Looking Back & Soaring Ahead

We had an emotional and heart-felt last prayer meeting of the year, and are excited at all that 2012 promises to bring. :) For those of you who missed it, here are some recaps on our last Taste Missions event. May the new year bring Christ's love, joy and peace to you and your families!

Feature story on 4/14 in The Philippines

The crowd descends! Everyone wants a taste of missions! ;)

Tasty yak meat from Yunnan, China

Getting to know more about the work in Lijiang, China.

Explaining the whats and wheres and whys.

Could it be? Someone from the Yi minority tribe from the mountains of rural China?

Alas, no. We were fooled by the costume!

Our Thailand booth with their very creative pop-ups!

Chefs at work!

The Thai salad was a hit!

Captivated by the myriad of Cambodian street food.

Cambodian street game for the young and old alike!

Cambodia church planting and iAim programs.

Cambodia children homes support.

Mala hotpot from our China City Church team!

"Only one each please!" ;)

Something for everyone!

Last but not least, our feature missions location - The Philippines.

Tasting Filipino delicacies! ;)

Arise To Missions!

That's all from us for 2011! Please keep your contributions and feedback coming, and write to us if you are interested in knowing more about our mission fields or going on a mission trip. Drop us a comment or e-mail us at missions [dot] editorial [at] gmail [dot] com! :) See you in 2012.

For those of you who missed the newsletter back in October, you can read them here:

We Are Back!

We've been busy behind the scenes, but this coming missions weekend is proving to be our biggest yet. Come join us for some fun and food, and get to know more about your missionaries and mission fields! :)

Big Welcome! :)

While it seems that this blog has been around for some time, we've kept pretty quiet about it so that we could slowly work on its contents and design, leading up to the missions weekend in church. Since its official launch over the past weekend, we have seen our page views spike drastically, so WELCOME! ;)

We have received some really nice comments since then about the new newsletter and the video that was shown during the main services. Thank you all for your kind words. Keep them coming, and let us know what we are doing right, and what we can do better. What was your response to the message? What would you like to see in the blog/newsletter? What do you think our next video should explore? We won't be able to please everyone, but we will value every single input for future efforts!

At the same time, keep your contributions coming in, either through the missions committee, or you can send it to us at missions [DOT] editorial [AT] gmail [DOT] com! Space in the newsletter is limited, but the blog is not. ;) If you would like to contribute your skills and be part of our team, we'll be glad to get in touch with you as well! We had a lot of help along the way, so a big thank you to all those who helped us with the newsletter and the video, sometimes on very tight deadlines, you know who you are! ;) We need all the creative energy we can get, and are particularly looking out for Chinese editors/translators and print layout artists.

Lastly, for those of you who missed it, here is the newsletter (English and Chinese versions) for your reading pleasure. We already have requests pouring in for us to upload the video, which we will do in our next post, together with the correct answers to satiate you curious cats, so keep checking back for updates! :P

Harvest Time in Lapu Lapu

Earlier in June this year, a group of mission trippers got to see the fruit of the work that was started there from scratch three years ago.

Deacon Victor's connection with Pastor Cleto in Lapu Lapu, the Philippines, proved vital in expanding the church there, and extending their reach to the lost. What has followed is the church building, two bible schools, and two ARISE kindergartens (as with the ARISE kindergarten here in COS(BT)).

The church in Lapu Lapu now has 200 people attending two services every Sunday, with the vision to grow it beyond 500. 22 pastors have graduated from the bible schools and are now actively pastoring 18 churches throughout the region of Visayas. Another 18 will be graduating this November.

Sis Elizabeth Lim shares her experience:

I felt really comfortable in the Philippines even though it was my first time to the country, because of the hospitality and friendliness of the Filipinos, in particular the pastor and his family. On this mission trip, I did not need an interpreter, unlike in many other countries. I could express myself freely, accurately and directly to the people in English. They could understand me without any problem, and that was a real privilege for me.

I never dreamed that I would have to do any preaching, but by the grace of God my preaching during our first Sunday service was very well received. I have concluded that our church has done well in feeding us with God's word, therefore we can in due course use it to bless others in the mission field, and to make disciples of all nations.

Lapu Lapu is a beautiful place with beautiful people, and I praise God that the church has matured and multiplied so quickly.