Great Commission International, Okinawa

GCI service moved to Saturday 7:00 pm

2009-05-23T15:33:00.000-07:00

Folks,

If you were wondering what happened to updates? Here is one reason why. GCI decided to launch 'Saturday Evening Open Cafe' as a way to reach out to folks around our locality instead of meeting for 3:00 pm service due unavailability of time and other practical reasons.

So we have started meeting at 7:00 pm.

Same place: Okinawa Daiichi Baptist Church

Every Saturday.

Will keep you posted!

Sharing Faith-Do you?

2008-07-19T14:36:00.003-07:00

Dear Friends/Fellow Believers,

Sharing with you a video clip of July 19th worship.

A serious concern for each one of us who profess to be Christ' followers, Disciples of Christ, or Christians is the inaction in sharing one's faith to others.

Consider this information I used in my worship message (Source unknown) and measure yourself if you are one among them:

95% of all Christians have never won a soul to Christ.
85% of all Christians do not consistently witness Christ.
-2% of all Christians are involved in the ministry of evangelism.
63% of church leaders like Deacons, elders, have not led a single person to Jesus in the last 2 years through the method of "Go, Ye" evangelism.
49% of all Christians spend a ZERO time in an average week ministering outside the church.
89% of all Christians have ZERO time reserved on their list of weekly priorities for going to evangelize.
99% of all Christians believe that all Christians are commanded to share the gospel to a lost world.
97% believe that if the leadership had a greater conviction and involvement in evangelism, that would be an example for the church to follow.
96% believe their churches would have grown faster if they would have been more involved in evangelism.

How does this survey inform you about your statistic as a Christian who often shares the gospel to a stranger or even less, to a friend, family members, relatives around you? Honestly, our faith is now a 'faith for keeps' instead of 'faith for sharing'. For many Christians God is all about 'Me' and 'What He can do for me,' 'What can I gain' and 'How can I recieve' when it should be just the opposite. That is, our Christian faith is about 'God' and 'What He has done for me.' It is about 'What can I do for Him,' 'What can I give' and 'How can I serve'.

May we find the zeal of Christ's disciples and obey Christ's command to 'Go and Tell... meaning Don't stay put. Don't just go to the church. Don't just be a Pastor. Don't just be a church leader, convention leader, youth leader, deacon, elder. Don't just be a seminary professor. Don't just be a Bible student, Don't just be a Christian. BUT...Act out your faith, share it with someone, win a soul for Christ. Spread out the Gospel! Let people know who Jesus is! Come on Folks! A single soul saved leads to a great time of rejoicing in heaven.

God Bless and meet you again here at gciokinawa.blogspot.com

Vee

The Passion of a Street Performer!

2008-07-15T01:05:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends/Fellow Believers,

Friday 11th was indeed a time of reflection for me; a time that I needed to converse with God as I was i-witnessing in Mihama. I was impressed by the fact that these street performers (Video clip added) put all their efforts so passionately that I began to seriously think about us if we are as passionate as these street performers to spread the gospel. Really, how does that apply with us Christians? Often times I read from the attitude of Church members that we aren't willing to go out on the streets and share our faith. What is our faith for if we cannot share with others? Christianity is a faith that must be shared to people at all cost. If we, as Christians cannot do that we aren't living out our Christian life as Christ would have wanted us to. Christ shared is Christ lived for! Amen! In several Christian magazines I have found titles like 'People Leaving Faith' etc. Mission Frontiers' latest magazine dated May-June 2008 highlights in the cover page 'Losing Faith: Is there a cure for this Ongoing Problem?' That's not only a warning in itself why our churches are not growing but actually pretty alarming to know people are losing faith in Christ. May we exercise true faith in the truest sense. The more people we win for Christ, or should I say, the more people we bring to Christ, the more people in heaven.

My Pastor friend Tim Smith of Koza Baptist Church, Okinawa recently brought me a gift book called 'Planting Missional Churches' by Ed Stetzer What a fine book. It's timely for me and I am encouraged all the more to do outreach out on the streets. Anyway, my prayer for all followers of Christ is to find the passion Jesus' disciples had, and even like these street performers and learn from them what it means to share our faith with such passion and love that the Holy Spirit will just empower us and in doing so we find joy like we have never experienced. Amen!

July 13th Sunday evening, we started our International Worship Live at FM Koza 76.1. Interestingly, we had few audiences outside the studio listening to our worship. Praise God! Seen in the pictures are Left to Right: Miyui, Tracy, Mutusmi, Vee, Minako and Regin. Our program airs every Sunday from 7:0 pm to 8:00 pm. We have our worship schedule list with Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog and of course Japanese translations waiting to be aired as we worship live in the studio at FM Koza 76.1.

Vee

GCI worship!

2008-06-29T01:13:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends/Fellow Believers,

A 10 min video clip of Pastor Roger Adams, Senior Pastor of Crossroads Community Chapel, West Virginia bringing us the message on 'Faith' from the life of Abraham. Osamu Matsunaga serves as our interpreter.

Enjoy and be blessed.

Vee

Euodia Ensemble in Okinawa!

2008-06-28T06:14:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends/Fellow Believers,

Few months ago, I was privileged to watch, listen and celebrate the 20th anniversary concert of 'Euodia Ensemble' in one of the famous concert hall in Tokyo. A hundred piece orchestra sounded just awesome.

Anyway, this time the main ensemble (Principal players) were in Okinawa. People not only enjoyed the music; they were blessed by the testimonies. Here is a video clip of them playing at Koza Baptist Church.

Vee

Paul and Earl!

2008-06-26T17:54:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends/Fellow Believers,

Paul and Earl have been both playing together in a band and have in some ways playing with me during street live. We've started practicing for our next 'Street Live' that will probably be on the 27th of July. Paul plays lead guitar, Earl plays drums. I am looking for a good bass guitarist and a keyboardist so that I can concentrate on singing and other stuff.

Anyway, will update you all with a video soon.

Earl and Paul (Had lunch together at a Thai restaurant)

Vee

Celebrating Years of God's Blessings!

2008-06-26T05:13:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends/ Fellow Believers,

Last Saturday's Kosaka Chu and Euodia concert was worth the watch. It was a wonderful celebration of what God is doing in their lives and through their lives. Euodia (String Ensemble) was celebrating it's 2oth year while Kosaka Chu (Mictham Recording) was celebrating their 30th anniversary.

With Kosaka Chu

With Nishigomi (Recording Engineer)

Check his webiste
http://www.adamants.co.jp/

Thanks.

Vee

GCI Worship-Preaching!

2008-06-17T04:26:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends/Fellow Believers,

GCI Worship message from 1 John 1:1-3, 'What is our mission?' by Pastor Ai Nohara Tetseo.

GCI Worship Video Clips!

2008-06-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends/Fellow Believers,

A short worship clip of GCI.

June 14, 2008

Message follows on my next upload.

Vee

Praying for Japan!

2008-06-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

Friends/Fellow Believers,

News nowadays always seems to be troubling. The recent news had me wondering where peoples's sanity is. Can a person turn out to be such a merciless, crazy and kill people randomly just because he is tired of life? These kind of things don't really happen elsewhere. Why in Japan? One thing I do know is that life is so fast paced that there isn't much time to reflect back to our work, friends, society etc. Secondly, many people are so lost in 'self' that once stress, challenges comes by, they cannot handle it anymore. There is no moral authority to guide their life or give them a boundary that one can go only as far as this. Society has turned it's face away from people who are going through difficult times. Where does Christ come in here for us as Christians? How can we impact our society? Are we too timid so as to influence our society with Christian morals?

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about this Okinawan Phrase 'Ichariba Chode'. It means once we meet we become brothers and sisters. What would it mean to us as Christians? How can we apply this concept of 'Ichariba Chode' in our faith practice for Christ has already said in Matt. 22: 39, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Are willing to go a step further from where we are and cross the line of fire? May we followers of Christ bring the true meaning of Christianity to those who are in need.

Anyway, with all these burdens on my heart I am posting few Tokyo pictures from my recent visit. 1) To call for prayers for Japan, 2) To seek to plant a gospel seed in Japan, 3) To call for a simple prayer of a believer who can move God's compassionate heart for our people in Japan.

There were many bands who were performing on Street. This one is a unique one.

Enjoy and hopefully this will disturb your heart to pray for Japan. I love our people here and will do whatever I can that is culturally, morally and ethically correct to spread the gospel in Japan.

In Jesus,

Vee

i-witness campaign!

2008-06-08T19:21:00.001-07:00

Friends/ Fellow Believers,

I went to the township office last week and reserved the meeting hall to start with our 'i-witness; campaign. 'i-witness' means that I would encourage every believer who is helping out with the evangelism thrust to be able to talk to the person he/she is reaching out to. 'i-witness' is taken so with two things in mind. 1) We are eyewitness to the Great Commission of God. When we meet Pre-Christians (As Jon Junker calls it and I like it too) we see them eye to eye. Our evangelism must not be a passive one but pro-active in the sense that we are able to get into conversation. 2) You and I, as individuals are taking the gospel of Christ to the lost and so 'i-witness' means, ('You') I am witnessing Christ to those potential Christians. (Pre-Chri: In Japanese terms).

The whole thing on Friday is going to be done as a presentation of the gospel to those who do not know Christ. I am preparing to connect with this strategy called 'TSL: Thoughts for Simple Living that will be woven in such a way that our Pre-Chri friends will be able to apply the concepts in their lives. I believe the gospel message has to be presented in the simplest way that would help the 'Pre-Chri' understand who Christ is immediately.

Anyway, we are excited. Bro. Mario and I will hopefully be down at Mihama by 5:00 pm distributing tracts and talking with people. We will start our service at 7:30 pm or 8:00 pm.

If you are a follower of Christ and would like to be a part of 'i-witness' let me know at gci.okinawa@gmail.com. J4J Acoustic band will provide music.

All 4 Jesus,

Vee

GCI Members!

2008-05-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and fellow believers,

We are 5 adult members with 4 children at this moment of time. We do hope more will come but most of all we want to get new members who will receive Christ through us, receive Baptism through GCI and become active members of the church.

Last Saturday we had the joy of listening to David preach and hear Mario's testimony. David preached about how failures are a window to God's handiwork. Mario shared about the amazing protection of God in Iraq and that God's promise to not forsake was just experienced through his deployment. Praise God!

(Mario Parzino and David Turley)

Thanks.

Vee

Marvelous!

2008-05-26T00:28:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Fellow Believers,

Indeed a life has been changed forever. Pastor Bill Wilson did not only give this faith-determination through his books but also through his life as a person. Although he is so well known around the world as the Founder and Pastor of Metro Ministries in New York, he is such a down-to-earth, spirit-full, humble gentleman of Christ that once you meet with him, you could only tell that your pride in crushed down to the bottom.

I had the privilege to lead worship with J4J Acoustic Band but all the time I served as lead worshiper I knew that the Lord was hitting me straight to my heart, "Are you giving yourself to the point of death?." I am just awed by the way God has used Pastor Bill's message to hit me like it has. We were just so blessed because we could see the work of the Lord among the people. Literally people were in tears. Almost everyone was in tears and I knew that God has begun His work afresh among His people in Okinawa. This time I know it's for real.

Anyway, just want to praise God for everything. Here are some pictures from the past 2 days.

(1300 Approx gathered for the 50th year anniversary celebration with Ptr. Bill Wilson)

With the 'Tetseos'

With Pastor Bill Wilson and Kozo (2nd son)

From left: Ai Nohara Tetseo, Naomi Kawakami, Eiji Mandai and Pastor Bill

Street Painting as our backdrop. Seen on left is Hip Hop artist and friend Tim Newell.

From left: Vee, Samuel Nakamashi and Akiko Fukumura

With Eiji Mandai, Pastor Bill and our convention's President Pastor Tomari Hikofumi

Thank you all and write you all soon.

In Christ,

Vee

Word of Thanks!

2008-05-18T16:48:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Fellow Believers,

It's been a week since I dropped in some updates. First of all, I want to appreciate all who came for GCI's opening service (Friends and well wishers). Significant among those were Ptr. Tim Smith (Pastor at Koza Baptist Church); Ptr. Shawn Shavers (Pastor at Noah Community Church); and Ptr. Hikofumi Tomari (Goya Baptist Church), all who are Pastors here in Okinawa. Friends! Thank you for your encouragement. It means much to us and we know that you guys are constantly in prayer for us.

Tightening our belts to go for outreach. Survey says that among those who are 24 years and below 19 out of 20 young people are prone to receive Christ; but, if the age goes beyond 35, it's 1 out of 500 people. Our prayer is to take every effort and opportunity to reach out.

Last week I went to Chatan to find out few possibilities of starting a seeker's service; and indeed so, I found out that I could rent a room, on hourly basis, that can accommodate 10-15 people at a rate of $15.00 per hour. I am excited about this possibility and we're praying and planning to start a service soon. We will do this bi-weekly on Friday nights.

Keep us in your prayers.

Here is a beautiful flower set presented by Noah Community Church to congratulate GCI's birth.
Thanks Shawn!

Sincerely,

Vee

The Launch!

2008-05-10T15:11:00.001-07:00

Hello friends and fellow believers,

May 10th, 2008. The Launch! What an incredible experience! We have seen the mercies of God work through the Great Commission International yesterday. Precisely, 18 believer friends came in to bring God's blessings through their presence and moral support. I know they will all be praying for the growth of the church.

Now that we have begun, we look forward to seeing new people come to Christ, join the fellowship and disciple them to carry out the mandate of Christ here in Okinawa. GCI's desire is become active locally then stretch out globally-into Asia.

Continue to pray for us.

Vee

Finally! GCI steps in!

2008-05-09T03:52:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Fellow Believers,

This afternoon David and I, with the help of our ever loving friend Victor, did some arranging with the entrance of the church.

Picture below: It looks pretty cozy now and I guess we're going to leave it like that for now.

As we begin, our prayer is to find ways to reach out to people here in our community (Okinawa City) and in Chatan. A strategy that GCI wants to explore is what I call the 'iGeneration'. We want to take advantage of the internet and use it for communication purpose, with our members and others likewise. For sure this is not the only means we will use but this would be a major thrust for us.

Here is a sample of what we have written in the postcard that we plan to distribute among people we come across.

A Bi-lingual Church for You

* Come Worship with us on Saturdays: 3:00 pm followed by Bible Studies.
* Thursday & Saturday Guitar, (Acoustic, Bass) and Voice Lessons (Fee: 1000 yen for 30 mins)
* Thursday Women’s worship at 2:00 pm (Starts on June 5^th)
* Friday Self-Development Workshops for Professionals.
(Leadership, Personal Life, Time, Finance, etc) at 7:00 pm.
* Friday W4BP (Worship for Busy People. Starts at 8:00 pm
(Come and be Refreshed!)Coffee & Snack Provided.

Church meets at the lobby of Okinawa Daiichi Baptist Church
3-14-2 Park Avenue, Okinawa City
For inquiries Call 4 Ptr. Vee Tetseo
Home: 933-0240;Cell: 090-3184-9988

http://gciokinawa.blogspot.com
email: gci.okinawa@gmail.com

While we would be actively involved in 'Street Live' and other means
of evangelism, our prayer is to take every opportunity to get to where the people are.

Park Avenue street where I very often play worship live, with friends. (Bands, Acoustic Jazz etc).

Keep us in your prayers. Japan needs the Jesus!

Vee

Divine Excitement!

2008-05-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Fellow Believers,

It's been an exciting week. First, David and I kind of completed that wall, backdrop and are pretty much ready. Second, in addition to the excitement of starting a new church, a pleasant surprise was to receive a call from a brother whom I have not met yet, 'Mario,' who's been on island for only few weeks; checking on the church through this blog. Indeed God works in mysterious ways.

I've been spreading out word-by-mouth, advertising 'Great Commission International' to people, friends, letting them know of the opening service. Doesn't matter how many comes. This is a beginning and everything good thing has to have a humble beginnings. A new beginning is always coupled with excitement and much as I would hope for the best, I would be consistently prayerful to lead this church to building empowered lives in Christ. Making disciples who would be the Christian Samurai's.

What a divine excitement and a privilege to be serving my savior, Lord, my King of Kings, Jesus the Lord.

(Here's a picture of me and Regin, who played live at the parking lot of Okinawa Christian Bookstore today.)

In Christ,

Vee

GCI Logo!

2008-04-28T04:10:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends/Fellow Believers,

We're on the final phase towards the completion of the sanctuary. It's been pretty busy with carpentry works and trying to put in some artistic expression of what 'Great Commission International' really means to us. Here is a picture of the backdrop that we hung this morning. While I was working on those slabs, David Turley was working on the frames where the board is hung.

Anyway, here is a simple explanation for the backdrop. The slabs surrounding the cross represents the countries around here in Asia. It means all nations will come to worship Christ the Lord, King of Kings. It also means we are praying for the countries whose names are printed on the slab. (Names of each country we do or plan to do mission work, will be printed on the slabs.)

Well, this is how it looks; and you can see Regin Rodriguez posing for my cell lens.

Fellow believers and friends, keep us in your prayers.

Thanks and in the service of my Lord!

In Jesus!

Vee

Getting GCI ready for worship!

2008-04-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends/Fellow Believers,

It's been four days since David and I started to build the wall. We were blessed to receive eight panels from Koza Baptist Church which has been just perfect; not just for the walls but the amount of work that's been cut off for us. Thanks Ptr. Bo and Ptr. Tim.

We hope to have the backstage done by this week. We'll keep you all posted.

Our launch will have to be moved to May 10th instead of May 3rd. We want to have the sanctuary ready for people to worship while also coincide with the Pentecost which is considered the birthday of the church.

Thanks and see you on May 10th, 2008 for the opening service.

In Jesus,

Vee

Putting the Pieces Together!

2008-04-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

Friends/Fellow Believers,

David and I will soon get to work as David builds a divider to allow some privacy during worship. I have been preparing our flyers, letters, web blog, writing GCI's visions, purpose of existence and checking the hooks and corners of focus so that we don't waver in our direction. As some of you may have read GCI's philosophy of ministry (Took a whole lot of time to bring this together), you will notice that GCI is going to be a purpose driven church. The model wasn't copied from Rick Warren, but soon after I had pinned down what I believed GCI would be, I went to look at some Church Planting Models. The closest was Rick Warren's purpose Driven Church Model. Regardless of what it's model might be, we are all excited and I believe a great team is coming up to start this great work to serve God.

Friends, if you are interested to help us, volunteer to go witnessing, help financially (We are starting penniless, but we are so blessed because God is already blessing us. Well, the bottom line is that God provides and we are confident He will) let us know. Your time, effort, love for God will be a huge blessing to us. Write me at gci.okinawa@gmail.com

While we plant Great Commission International, we are also busy preparing for Pastor Bill Wilson as he comes to minister to us (Okinawans) on May 25th. Ai Nohara, who is my wife my co-pastor at GCI, is the chairpserson of the Okinawa Christian Bookstore. Her prayers and vision to reach out to the churches in Okinawa is testified from the work she is doing in leading this event; which is a 50 year anniversary of the Okinawa Christian Bookstore owned by the Okinawa Baptist Convention. Pastor Bill Wilson is the Founder and Senior Pastor of Metro Ministries in New York. He gathers around 23,000 children every week for Sunday school (The largest in the world). Check his website at www.metroministries.org

We are excited to be meeting Pastor Bill Wilson, whose life has been such a tremendous blessing to us and excited to begin something new to serve God.

This Friday April 18, will be the concert for 'Rising Sun' worship CD that I and my wife has been part of. 'Rising Sun' is considered one of the first English Worship CD translated from Japanese to English in the Worship Music scene here in Japan. There are quite a number of bi-lingual worship CD but a complete English Worship CD is the first of its kind.

Well friends, 2008 has so much in store for us at GCI but we are looking forward expectantly and seeking the Lord to bless us immensely.

If you live by Okinawa, make sure you get to come on May 3rd for the launching of Great Commission International, Okinawa and of course April 18, the concert at Central Baptist Church, Urasoe. The concert starts at 7:00 pm.

Vee

Great Commission International, Okinawa

2008-04-08T02:13:00.001-07:00

Hello Friends and fellow believers worldwide,

It has been some years that I and my wife had been praying for a leading of God to start a church here in Okinawa. It's been a while since the Lord gave a "Go Ahead" signal and so we are finally getting ready to begin our first service.

It's an uphill task, nonetheless, the Lord has promised us with confidence that He will take care of this church. A simple reminder of what He is doing now, as we pray and prepare to launch the church is that Okinawa Daiichi Baptist Church, (Parent Church) has allowed us to use their lobby for worship, 30 worship seat chairs and 20 folding chairs donated to us by Koza Baptist Church, two stereo sound speakers donated by David, whom I have not met yet; an 800 watts amp and a surround amp/receiver for church use. I pray the Lord will bless him and allow me an opportunity to meet David and share Christ should he be a non-believer. Indeed God has started pouring his blessings upon the church.

Well, friends in Christ, soon we will buy a domain, link this blog and provide you with regular updates. Meanwhile, do keep us up in your prayers. Pray the Lord will add harvest.

As of this time, Rev. David Turley and Leslie Turley from the American Baptist Churches, West Virginia has paired with us to start this work. David and I also team up with our Acappella group called 'Bokushillas' (Bokshi means Pastor in Japanese and llas is our slang for Acappellas) besides serving as Pastors with Okinawa Baptist Convention.

Below is a brief vision and strategy that is being considered as we move to begin this church.

The Lord has led us to call our church 'Great Commission International’ (GCI in short). Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15.

Great Commission International
3-14-2 Chuo Park Avenue
Okinawa City, Japan

Our services will be held bi-lingual (English-Japanese.)

Our vision is to reach the generation called 'The Millenials’ or ‘iGeneration’

Gen X, Gen Y and Gen Z
(Born between 1964-2005)

Our mission is "To know Christ and Christ made Known"

Ministry Information

Worship Sanctuary

GCI meets for worship at the lobby of Okinawa Daiichi Baptist Church

Corporate Worship Day and Time

GCI meets on Saturdays at 3:00 pm

PASTORS

Vee Tetseo, Ai Nohara, and David Turley

(All GCI members are ministers in the Lord’s service)
(Ephesians. 4:11-12)

Demographical survey of GCI members

99% own a cell phone, 70 % own a computer, 99% use Instant Messaging, 34% use websites as their primary source of news, 28% own a blog and 44% read blogs, 49% download music, 75% of college students have web account, 60% own some type of portable music and/or video device such as an ipod.
(Courtesy: Wikipedia)

Strategic Communications

Phones, Emails, SMS, Blog, Websites, Home Visitations on Family/Individual Basis, Cell Net Work

Evangelism and Discipleship's 2008 Target Goals

GCI Evangelism Catch Phrase
"Enlarge the Fishing Club-Each One Reach One"

Credit: “Enlarging the Fishing Club” by Royal Speidel

Church Planting Goal and Prayer Requests

A year reach out plan

Gen X: Reach out and Disciple 50/15

Gen Y: Reach out and Disciple 100/25

Gen Z: Reach out and Disciple 150/50

Membership Goal: 2-4 believers in 3 months

Yearly Membership Goal: 24 baptized believers (Double Digit)

Church Plant Goal

Plant the first GCI satellite church by 2011

Weekly/Monthly Ministry Schedules

1. Tuesday Morning-Evening Home Bible Study

2. Wednesday Afternoon Target Group Outreach

3. Thursday Growth/Interest Group Meet

4. Friday Evening Worship for Busy People

5. Saturday Afternoon Worship-GCI

6. Sunday Worship-Okinawa Daiichi Baptist Church

GCI Auxiliary Ministry Short Range Goal

1. Establish a ‘Worship Institute, Okinawa’ affiliated with Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary, Baguio, Philippines. The school will offer Associate Degree in Worship Studies, an equivalent of a year study. Classes will be offered annually for local churches. Twice a year a special two-week intense course will be offered. Diploma will be provided once all units are accomplished.

2. Establish ‘Mission Institute’ alongside the Worship Institute to train, enhance local church mission work, support local churches strategically to sent short-term mission team to Asia.

3. Open a free English school for local students. Alongside, establish a Summer School Program for International students to make GCI their Intern center. Students from Hong Kong, Korea, Japan will join the summer school for a 2-3-week.

Long Range Vision

Build a GCI ministry center for Asia.

Church Prayer Requests

1. GCI prayers to raise funds to build a divider for worship sanctuary.

2. Collect offerings from friends and well wishers for immediate church stationary needs.

3. A new/used LCD projector or a life size T.V for power point presentations.

4. A new/used16 channel mixer.

5. Potential members to join GCI.

GCI begins worship service on May 10th, 2008

3:00 pm

At the lobby of

Okinawa Daiichi Baptist Church

You are Invited!

Great Commission International, Okinawa

2008-04-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

Philosophy of Ministry

'Great Commission International’

Great Commission International, GCI (In short), is founded from the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15.

GCI believes the church consists of redeemed people, who are called and gathered to represent His visible manifestation. GCI believes the church is an important institution of God’s vision for mankind. He calls us and intends to accomplish His will through the local church.

GCI’s vision is to reach the generation called ‘The Millenials,’ also known as 'iGeneration' with the gospel of Jesus Christ here in Okinawa and to the end corners of Asia.

With the Lord’s blessing GCI strives to be a church whose faith, practice is grounded on these Eight pillars:

1. Worship-Filled

2. Musically-Inclined

3. Evangelism-Driven

4. Mission-Oriented

5. Biblically-Knowledgeable

6. Culturally-Sensitive

7. Lovingly-Accommodative

8. Authentically-Christ-Like

Worship-Filled: The goal of worship is to glorify God. Worship makes us what we are and who we are becoming; saved and redeemed through the sacrifice of Christ’s Jesus on the cross. The presence of God is awe-inspiring therefore in every believers worship service worship must be authentic and genuinely expressive. When God’s presence is felt believers not only enjoy His presence but the worship of believers is itself a powerful witness to unbelievers. Therefore, GCI's prayer and earnest desire is as Jack Hayford would say, “...amid our worship, seekers discover the manifest presence of the One True and Living God-Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Through our worship of God, as we invite non-believers to our worship services, they will experience the awesome power of God and be changed forever (Acts 2:46-47).

Musically-Inclined: Music plays a vital role in the worship of God. Christianity is a singing faith and our song’s tells of who we are. Bruce Leaflad says, “A musical church is a growing church, a growing church is a musical church.” GCI visions a church filled with lively music that express our faith contemporarily, songs that are either composed or taken from our richest traditions; yet sung with passion for God’s glory. Our earnest desire is to see members use their musical talents in ways that fulfills the very purpose of our worship of God, as well as develop talents for such opportunities as reaching out to non-believers through music.

Evangelism-Driven: Our call is to evangelize and make disciples of all nations. Our faith must not be kept between our comfort zones but it must be shared and therefore we must be aggressive to take every opportunity to reach out to those who haven’t heard the gospel (Matt. 28:19-20, Acts 4:1-4). GCI is a church that is outwardly-focused. Without constantly having to push evangelism on the congregation, believers will be encouraged to become vessels of blessings among non-believers. Sharing our faith is to win souls for Christ therefore sharing Christ must become a lifestyle for all Christians. A culturally authentic expression of GCI church is-GCI goes to the people where they are. A church whose mindset is not, “You come to us.” But, “We will come to you.” Each GCI members must learn how to pass their faith to a non-believer; explain Christianity in a manner that is interesting, and, understandable.

Mission-Oriented: Our mission is the world. (From local to global) While our ministry is local, our vision is global. God came for the world and so must we to this end be mission oriented (John 3:16; Acts 1:8). GCI is a church whose message runs across just ordinary life of living, but a message that constantly reverberate the heart of Christ. Through the power of His Word and the message of hope lives are changed forever. It is also our desire that every congregation's leadership should dream of and pray for the day GCI will reproduce itself in a new congregation. GCI is a church whose heart is the mission.It is not the formula but the heartbeat of Jesus that we have to follow to reach out to people (s), to the nations.

Biblically-Knowledgeable: Our instruction to live like Christ always comes from the Bible. As Christians we must be guided, at all times, by the teachings of the Bible, led by the Holy Spirit accordingly through His word (II Tim. 3:15, I Tim. 4:13). Strong consistent Bible studies will be the foundation of every GCI member. To be a member at GCI, every member must commit and be accountable to a small group for personal spiritual growth and support.

Culturally-Sensitive: We are people from different nations/races, each with its own distinctive behaviors. As Christians we are called to love our neighbor. GCI therefore must endeavor respect, love and commit to be humble to learn to live together as God’s family; “God’s Global Family” (Romans 1:14-15). We therefore encourage everyone, anyone irrespective of who they are or where they are from to join GCI and become ‘God’s Global Family’ members.

Lovingly-Accommodative: Fellowship strengthens the body of believers and opens spaces for unity. Fellowship is not only meant to enjoy food but also a means to care for each other (Gal. 6:2). Echoing Rick Warren, “Real fellowship is so much more than just showing up at services. It is experiencing life together. It includes unselfish loving, honest sharing, practical serving, sacrificial giving, comforting, and all other “one another” comands found in the Bible.” (Psalm 133:1, Romans 14:19). GCI sees a church whose compassion draws people to God from impossible situations and where acceptance and hope is found in Jesus Christ.

Authentic-Christ-like Lifestyle: To be a disciple means to be a committed follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. It means to voluntarily be a learner under discipline. To do those things that Jesus did in order to maintain His constant fellowship with the Father. It is not about religion but it is about relationship. Spiritual maturity is developed in our lives as we take responsibility for own words, thoughts, actions and attitudes. Spiritual growth takes place in our lives as, by faith, we apply what we have been learning. GCI is a church where victories are won through the exercising of our simple faith under any difficult circumstances or situations.

GCI believes that an authentic lifestyle begins when believers through the help of the Holy Spirit continually encounter God in a regular worship life. This lifestyle is exemplified because believers are able to rededicate their life to Christ; constantly filled by the Holy Spirit to live life according to His will and passionately exercising the call to reach out to the unsaved.

GCI is a church where all believers are ministers. Christ calls each Christian to a life of service. Therefore, we affirm the biblical teaching that all Christians are in fact "ministers" called to do the work of ministry. All those who have received the saving grace of Christ are ministers. (Eph. 4:11-12)

GCI, under the grace of God will be a Church whose head is Jesus, whose help is the Holy Spirit and whose focus is the Great Commission.

To God be the Glory!

AMEN!