Samabula Gospel Chapel Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your family. Acts 16:31

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1 Samabula Gospel Chapel Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your family. Acts 16:31 Our Mission: Our Vision: His commands: our first concern Upward Outward Growth Inward 28 Belo St., Samabula. P.O. Box 3936, Samabula, Suva, Fiji. Phone: (679) Dearly Beloved The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him. Lamentations 3:22-24 Warm Christian greetings from the saints at Samabula Gospel Chapel. It has been a busy first half of the year indeed and we want to tell you all about what God has been doing in our midst. 1. Ladies Retreat The year commenced with our ladies camp at Coral Coast Christian Centre. It was a time to reflect on 2010 and plan for Eldership strengthened In March, brothers Caleb Ludwig and Bernard Grundler were commended as elders of the assembly. Caleb was deacon for a number of years and continues to serve as missionary with Campus Crusade for Christ with his wife Rose. Brother Bernard is no stranger to SGC either. He is the elder of our outreach assembly in Nauru and is in Fiji for 2011 to do MBA studies at the University of the South Pacific (USP). Both the brothers make a welcome and much needed addition to the elders team. 3. Visiting Speakers and the strengthening of Fiji Mailbox Bible Club and Emmaus Bible School In March SGC hosted two evening seminar series. The first was with brother Joe Philip, author and itinerant teacher on the Levitical offerings. Joe, from North Dallas Bible Chapel, USA visited us for the first time in 2009 with his family and the Lord had laid it on his heart to venture back. During the day he ministered to students at the Gospel Schools. God did a great work over the week he was here and brought in a rich harvest. More than 100 students of Gospel High School and 97 students from Gospel Primary School committed their life to the Lord as a result of Joe s presentation of the gospel. Follow-up sessions were held for the students over lunch and 16 high school students made a commitment to be baptised. Of these 4 were baptised at SGC on 26 June with the event web-streamed to brother Joe in i

2 Dallas. This is the first time that a baptism has been held in such a way. How marvellous technology can be sometimes! Brother Joe brought a generous gift from his assembly and other saints to help us print the first batch of Mailbox Bible Club Courses. The reproduction rights for these courses have been secured from the HQ in USA. We have been helped by brother Kelvin Dixon of the NZ Mailbox Bible Club who provided the introductions and contacts. The NZ Mailbox Club also sent us 25 sets of Course 3 as well and these courses are being done by Gospel High School students. 5,000 copies of the first course, A Country Called Heaven will be printed soon for distribution. The second set of visiting speakers in March were brothers Rajeev Nicholas from Sri Lanka and Stephen Grant from Scotland. After spending several years studying and working in the UK and USA, Rajeev returned to Sri Lanka in 2003 to serve the Lord. Rajeev is part of a team which has been co coordinating various projects following the 2004 Tsunami in south east Asia. Rajeev has also been involved in helping believers and assemblies located in remote areas that have been affected in the 30 year civil war that engulfed the island. He is one of the elders at the Bethesda Assembly in Colombo, Sri Lanka and he is also a Regional Director for the Emmaus Correspondence School overseeing the work in 7 Asian countries. Stephen has served the Lord throughout the United Kingdom and other countries such as Sri Lanka, South Africa, Indonesia, India and Nepal. He is in fellowship in the Bridge of Weir assembly in Scotland. At school, as a student at Dundee University and later while working as a solicitor he was active in the work of his local assembly and in the study of the scriptures. Increasingly busy in serving the Lord in teaching and preaching around Scotland, he left secular employment in 1998 to give himself full time to the work of the Lord. He continues to teach the scriptures and preach the Gospel to all age groups and has involvement in school work in Scotland and other countries. Evening sessions in Suva focussed on Genesis 3 with ministry in the day to Gospel School students. We were able to take Rajeev and Stephen on a successful speaking tour to the western-side assemblies as well (Ba, Lautoka, Tavakubu, Benares and Nadi). Our Emmaus Bible Correspondence courses work received a tremendous boost with the generous gift of 100 books of 9 titles from the Lord s Work Trust in Scotland facilitated by brother Stephen. All the March evening sessions have been deeply enriching and edifying to all those present. Apart from the assemblies present there was good representation from other churches. Joe Philip, Rajeev Nicholas and Stephen Grant are God s provision for the specific prayers on funding for the Mailbox Bible Club Courses and Emmaus Bible School as well as strengthening assemblies though sound teaching. We are looking forward to their visit next year and to other speakers that they can send our way this year. ii

3 4. Emmaus Bible Correspondence Courses The men s group on Tuesday evenings has successfully completed Christ Loved the Church and Basic Bible Doctrines. They will embark on Securely Saved and Sure of It next. The women are studying the course Plant My Feet on Higher Ground. Day classes are being planned for youth with an invitation made to all assemblies. Classes commence 3 afternoons a week at SGC on July Fulltime workers A week prior to Joe Philip s visit brother Thomas Wong joined us as fulltime worker. He is teaching Scripture at Gospel High School in Samabula and is based in Narere to help Eliki and Lata in the ministry there. He leads the combined SGC-Narere youth meetings on Fridays, teaches Sunday School in Narere and preaches there too on Thursdays and Sundays. Thomas hails from the island of Rotuma, the northernmost island of Fiji (closer to Tuvalu than to Fiji) and with a distinct Polynesian ancestry. He is an MA candidate at the Fiji College of Theology and Evangelism (Lautoka) and has been teaching there for 8 years. We are privileged and delighted to have him join us. Helping Narere for a short stint is Philip Pasisi. Philip is from the Solomon Islands and is studying at the South Pacific Missionary Training College (SPMTC). He is being supported by Raiwai Assembly and based in Narere till June to help with the work there. 6. On the Family Front Wayne Irava tied the knot with Daisy on May 7 th. Daisy is from China and the couple met in the Gold Coast, Australia where they were both studying. Two babies were born in April, David May Junior to David and wife Jessica May and Shamaya Prasad to Simon and Ajeshni Prasad. Shamaya was dedicated to the Lord on May 22. The first birthdays of Azareel (Avishek and Sylvia Singh) and Nicholas (Paul and Rachel Singh) were celebrated at SGC. It was a good time to meet the extended families and friends of the couples. Divine, Isoa and Angelique Makutu s daughter was dedicated to the Lord on her first birthday on June New members Fredhiery Raukevu, a Solomon islander studying environmental science at USP joined us this year and has been attending the Men s Bible study group as well. From an Anglican background and from Orange, Australia, Ray and Jeanette Wilkinson are currently working in prison ministry in Suva with Pioneers of Australia (PoA) under the banner of Operation Foundation (OF). Jeanette spends about three hours Monday to Friday mornings in the women s prison iii

4 working with sewing, numeracy and literacy. Ray volunteers in the men s prison at Nasinu, one or two mornings Monday to Friday. Jeanette trained and worked as an infant s school teacher. Ray worked as a Medical Laboratory Scientist for 26 years in pathology, following training in Agriculture. They both went on mission to Jos in central Nigeria for six years ( ) and served as hostel parents at a Christian mission school. They came to Fiji looking at work possibilities in 2010 and returned here on 2nd March 2011 to take up work in prison ministry. They have 5 children, all in Australia. We are blessed to have this couple in the assembly. Transferring from Veisari Brethren assembly this year are Keni and Judy Rokomasa and their family. Judy is the Head of Scripture Department at Gospel High School and the family have transferred to Samabula for the very practical reason that they live two streets away from the chapel th International Brethren Conference on Mission (IBCM5) The IBCM5 Conference was held on June 2011 in Strasbourg, France, at the invitation of the Entente Evangelique of the Communautes and Assemblees Evangelique de France, the body which unites many of the Brethren churches of France. The theme was 'I will build my Church'. The conference was attended by more than 460 people from some 90 countries. Taking into account countries which have been represented at earlier IBCM conferences but which could not be represented at IBCM5, approaching 100 countries (out of the 130+ countries where there are churches connected with the Brethren movement) have been represented at IBCM conferences. Nilesh attended the conference, the first time Fiji was represented and he presented a seminar on The Brethren and Care of Creation, provided a report on Fiji and facilitated a session on the Mission to the Gentiles. The missionary outreach of the Brethren movement has been remarkable. There are now churches linked to it in at least 130 countries. There are over 20,000 congregations with over 2 million Sunday attendees, and maybe more. But often Brethren churches in one country have little contact with those in other countries - and even within a country. In some countries, the number of churches is small; in others, large. Some groups are growing rapidly; some are stagnant or declining. Countries which received foreign missionaries are now sending workers abroad themselves. All this means that it s good for Brethren leaders from the different countries to meet regularly for fellowship, prayer, spiritual reflection, renewed experience of the Lord, networking, exchange of information, discussion of common questions - above all, for mutual encouragement. IBCM conferences provide this opportunity. iv

5 Recordings of the main addresses, photos and montages of the conference can be found at the following link: Nilesh has been approached by Echoes of Service to write an article on the brethren work in Fiji for their monthly Echoes magazine. He will also be writing an article for the UK-based Brethren Journal, Partnership Perspectives. The journey to IBCM5 began with a day s stopover in Sydney and fellowship with Burwood Gospel Chapel. Brother Pradeep Narayan who is an elder at the fellowship visited Fiji in May with his dear wife, Bethany. 9. Baptisms We celebrated the baptism of four Gospel High School students (Ruci Ranadi, Marika Toroca Halaiwalu, Kelevi Natokalau and Osanna Harris) and another four SGC members (Eta Pratap, Sylvia Singh, Ajeshni Prasad and Prathna Narayan) were baptised on Sunday 26 June. The four that were students were among those that made this decision when brother Joe Philip preached in March and the baptism was unusual in the sense that he and his family were able to watch the event via skype from Dallas, USA. The baptisms were witnessed by incoming principal of Gospel High School, our sister Daiana Nainoca. The baptisms gave us the opportunity to have fellowship with her family as well as to dedicate her to the Lord for the service He has called her to at the school. 10. Narere and Nauru assemblies Brother Eliki continues to be supported by SGC for the work in Narere with incoming fulltime worker Thomas and Philip contributing to the work as well. Nilesh preaches in Narere once a month and there is a combined SGC-Narere leaders meeting once a month for enhancing coordination and communication. Brother Vivian Nainoca continues to minister in the assembly in Nauru and is the Lord s provision for the work in Nauru while Bernard finishes his studies in Fiji. 11. Highlights for the second half of the year Fred and June King s visit (Aug 21) A fulltime worker for SGC to commence in August Emmaus Bible School day classes commence in July Mass printing of Mailbox Bible courses locally for distribution Elders: Bernard Grundler, Caleb Ludwig, Nilesh Goundar v

6 Photos Montage Joel Philip Gospel High Schools Head of Scripture, Judy Rokomasa and Principal, Daiana Nainoca Fulltime workers in Narere: Philip Pasisi & Thomas Wong Maloni Bole, (Elder of Nadi Brethren), Nilesh Goundar, Rajeev Nicholas, Stephen Grant, Isei Tudreu, (Elder of Nadi Brethren) New Members Fredhiery Raukevu Ray and Jeanette Wilkinson vi

7 Family Front Ajeshni Prasad and daughter Shamaya Wayne and Daisy Irava David Jnr and Mum, Jessica May Divine and Dad, Isoa Makutu Azareel and Dad, Avishek Singh Baptisms Thomas baptising Marika Halaiwalu Thomas Wong baptising Ruci Ranadi R vii

8 Marika Toroca Halaiwalu, Osanna Harris, Kelevi Natokalau, Ruci Ranadi, Ajeshni Prasad, Prathna Narayan, Sylvia Singh and Eta Pratap IBCM 5 Strasbourg Photos Sydney Stopover: Burwood Gospel Chapel Members,(Pradeep and Bethany Narayan, far right) Dr Neil and Pauline Summerton (Neil is IBCM 5 secretariat and visited Fiji in 2005 with his wife). Dr Cseslaw Bassara of CEF International Bible Teaching Ministry, Poland, Nilesh, Fares (IBCM Chairman) and Ada Marzone Carol and Ken Daughters (Ken is President of Emmaus Bible College, USA) viii