Millbrook Christian Centre

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News for May

Missionary offering this month will be taken on Sunday morning 26th May, Jim and Evelyn Palmer will be here to give an update on Barnabas Ministries.

John Medcraft’s new book ’E.A.B. the First 40 Years’

Please click this link to read a few sample pages and to order at Amazon.

Benefit Cafe Training continues this month – for further info please speak to David Swieton.
The dress rehearsal will be at 6 pm on Thursday 9th May.

Visit our website MillbrookChristianCentre.Com

QR Code Contact Info and mobile URL.

Youth Diary - see Facebook or www.theeventsouthampton.webs.com

Regular Meetings

May Diary

Mission News

IBTI – INTERNATIONAL BIBLE TRAINING INSTITUTE

Marian was able to call in on IBTI with a lot of craft materials and clothes for the students. They have just made the decision to start building the walls of the new teaching and accommodation block, the foundations having been completed about 5 years ago. This is a huge step of faith, but one they feel God will honour so that the students can be trained in the Word of God.

PHILIPPINES Jim and Evelyn Palmer

Jim and Evelyn will be in the UK for about 3 months.

COLOMBIA David Taylor

Dary Luz is still teaching English, we don't have any other option at the moment.

We have 13 people arriving tomorrow from Virginia, USA, and one of the events will be a Women's Conference in Elsie's church. The team are going to do so many things from Silk Screening - Garden project - Tie-Dying - Sewing machine project - crochet - Construction project at Pueblo Viejo - Baseball - Mechanics - Art classes....that's about it, but that's going to take some facilitating on our part.

See you in the summer at Bournemouth... be blessed!

Southampton City Mission

Thank God that despite feeding and clothing a huge number of people over the last few months, Basics Bank has not run out of food or clothes. It's great to see God providing all that we need to help our clients, through all who support us. Please pray for the process of recruiting the right person to the post of SCM Basics Bank Manager - interviews will conclude and a decision will be made next week.

Every blessing, Chris

CONGO Debbie Howard (Pete’s sister)

Please keep praying for the country of Congo as a whole, as many areas are plagued by insecurity, rebel militia activity and political confusion. Pray for peace to be restored.

As the security situation has been worsening in the Lubumbashi area, Debbie and the other missionaries have left the country and are now in the UK. Please pray about the whole situation.

EAB BRAZIL

First fruits at Fonseca On March 10th the first evangelistic service was held at the ex-slave community of Fonseca where we have completed the most challenging well project of EAB’s history. This was the first step towards planting a church in this discriminated and distant community and a large crowd gathered for the service. Local Manaíra pastor Francinaldo preached on Luke 4:18-19 and at the end 11 people made commitments of their lives to Christ.
Brazilian Evangelicalism today is a complex hotchpotch of divided denominations. The largest denomination is the Assemblies of God which is divided into hundreds of factions and some of their pastors even go armed to business meetings! The neo-Pentecostal prosperity theology groups are the greatest disgrace. Churches are run as businesses led by TV-pastors or evangelists, five of which have just appeared in the Forbes magazine’s millionaires list! We do not recognize these prosperity groups as genuine evangelicals but the problem is the press puts us all in the same sack and the Gospel suffers the consequences.

24/03/2013

Another woman has been murdered in Patos and was buried this morning. This beautiful young woman had come to our church as a child and now in more recent times, as an adult, was coming regularly on Sundays. She had separated from a previous partner some years back and was now with a new partner. Apparently it was her old partner who stabbed her to death according to the press. Many men here think they own women and kill if things don't work out. We are all very sad at this tragedy. We pray to God for justice.

The press is reporting that food prices are rising 4 times faster than inflation as a result of the on-going drought which means all food has to come in from great distances and pushes costs up. Oh Lord! This drought is catastrophic.

03/04/2013

I have been exchanging emails with the EAB Pastor Manoel's wife who had a stroke whilst preaching earlier in the year. Gladly he is steadily improving although he still loses some sensitivity on his left side at time and his speech and sight get minor bleeps from time to time. He is to have both brain and artery CT Scans this Friday to evaluate what is damaged and how he is doing.

I have just received the terribly sad news that our EAB ActionChild at João Pessoa - Boa Esperança called Gessiane had an arson attack on her house with all the family inside it at the time. Gratefully all escaped but the house was totally destroyed. This ghastly attack was directly linked to the fact that she has a sister who lives with a drug trafficker and the attack seems to have been some sort of revenge for lack of payment or the likes as happens so often here. Please pray for Gessiane and her family as they live temporarily in a Council Centre having lost everything. (I visited her home last year. Marian) 

I am preparing a powerpoint presentation for an EAB fundraising event to be held next month at Cadnam Methodist church. It's a lot of work but all part of the job.

07/04/2013

There is a lot of political infighting in the Patos hospitals and some professionals do all they can to maintain the corruption as it always was, whereas the present Governor is adamant and firmly intent on stamping it out. An example is that 3 doctors are on duty to cover emergency, urgent and semi-urgent incoming cases at a hospital. 2 of the doctors go off to their private practices whilst one covers for the 3! As the government refuses to accept this there are those who boycott to cause chaos! Please pray.

16/04/2013

It was a long tiring day yesterday travelling afar. I got to bed early for an 5.30am start but this was messed up by a phone call at midnight and a visitor arriving at 2.30am. Nevertheless I made it to Manaíra bang on time at 9.30am together with pastors Wostenes and Lindon Carlos. In that region they have had rain and it was nice to drive through water and mud in the jeep. We went up to the top of the Fonseca mountain and were pleased to see the well/pumping/pipes system all now working properly, and eight of the eleven who made decisions recently showing clear signs of transformation and genuine commitment to Christ.

We had lunch in Manaíra and then went on to the well/plantation project at Pinheira. The plantation project has clearly been set back by the drought, but is now showing signs of recovery. We ended up in Caroá prior to heading back to Patos where we arrived at 9.30pm. It rained 19mm at Green Pastures. PTL! Not a lot, but if it keeps going every night things could brighten up.

19/04/2013

Things get increasingly and steadily worse here as the drought just drags on and on. Those of you that know Green Pastures will know how we have had 12 geese there for years. They have served as guard dogs and generally brightened up the place at camps and events. Well this week nine of them have died and despite medication we expect the rest to die soon as they are very sick. The drought is wiping out everything and people's chickens are dying like flies with the same respiratory tract symptoms.

Liz went to Green Pastures this afternoon to check the toilets in preparation for the next event there and found that with the drought the plastic flush cisterns are simply cracking and breaking up in the intense heat and dry conditions. Most will have to be replaced.

There were lovely clouds which looked like rain was coming this afternoon... but sadly as usual it didn't rain.