Responding to the Great Commission
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…”.
“…and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth”.
The Heath Church recognizes its responsibility to be involved in our Lord’s Great Commission to bring the Gospel to all parts of the world. We have our part to play in our own city, in Wales and the rest of Britain, in Europe and the world beyond. The Lord does not expect us to be involved with every single evangelistic effort around the world, but He does expect us to be committed to those ministries that He has directed us to.
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In Cardiff, we preach the Gospel regularly every Sunday. We are also involved in children and young people’s work at the church, visits to schools, summer camps for young people, mothers with young children (Music and Movement with very young children, as well as Toddlers), door-to-door visiting, an open air ministry in the city centre, an outreach to ethnic minority communities, a service to students and particularly to international students. In addition, our Evangelism Group organizes special evangelistic events. We are closely involved with the Heath Christian Bookshop and coffee shop. English conversation classes also give us contact with many local international people.
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In Wales, we are closely involved with the Union School of Theology (formerly Wales Evangelical School of Theology (WEST) at Bryntirion, Bridgend, and have a close interest in a number of fellowships where our own members have assumed pastoral responsibilities. Steve and Chris Owens have moved to the Cardiff Bay Fellowship, where Chris was working as a church worker among local international women; Steve works with WEC as a regional representative.
We also support a small venture of visiting farms and homes in the rural areas of West Wales.
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Elsewhere in UK, we are also associated with a number of fellowships where our own members have assumed pastoral responsibilities, at Blackpool, Grove Hill, London and Chessington, Surrey. David Morrish has now officially retired from his Navigators ministry in France and is now involved with international students and academic visitors in association with Friends International in Southampton. Dr Judy Luhombo is now the Operations Manager of Friends International at their Support Centre in All Nations Christian College in Hertfordshire.
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In Europe, we have a particular interest in France: Emmanuel and Esther Durand with United for Mission (UFM), Emmanuel is one of two elders who lead the evangelical church in Cognin near Chambéry; he also teaches at the Belgian Bible Institute in Brussels. Gethin Jones was ordained for the ministry with International Presbyterian Church in 2018 and is now married and active as assistant pastor at the Chapelle de Nesle in Paris.
Rev Eddy Muskus, and his wife Helen, with their two sons, have been serving with La Parroquia Evangelica Jesus el Señor church in Valencia, Spain, for the past 17 years.
Maureen Wise works in Moldova with Casa Mea, a Christian charity that supports people with disabilities, in association with UFM. Maureen and Carwyn and Galina Shires seek to cover visiting through the year between them. Elsewhere in Eastern Europe, we have links with Romanian Ministries, and with a number of other Christian organizations through our Heath Mission to Eastern Europe.
Alice Mitchell has been working in Cyprus with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), first as a student worker and now as a full-time staffworker.
Rev Jonathan Gilmore, son of the late John and Maureen Gilmore, and his wife Annette have taken up their work in Sicily, at Palermo.
Beyond Europe, Rev Martinez and Immacula Jovin have served in Haiti for over 50 years with the Bethesda Fellowship of churches. Now a new Board, led by their son Daniel, has taken over responsibility for the leadership of the Fellowship.
Our interest in Christian work in Israel is directed mainly through the International Mission to Jewish People, formerly known as Christian Witness to Israel (CWI).
In USA, we are associated with Rev John & Mrs Misty Snyder at New Albany in Mississippi, and in Australia, with Rev Cornel and Mrs Maria Ghita who serve a Romanian church in Melbourne.
Dr Klaus and Janice Spreda have now retired from the Wycliffe Bible Translators, but we continue to prayerfully support the work of literacy now that the translation of the New Testament into Meta (Cameroon) was launched in 2014.
Klaus-Peter and Doris Kügler have also retired from their work among the Fayu people of Papua (Irian Jaya), Indonesia, but we hope to see their work continue with a modest programme of Bible translation through a young American missionary.
We also have interests in other, sensitive, parts of the world.
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March 2022