17 May 23. Yesterday I had the joy of informing Phil that the gift day had raised £5312.00! He was delighted and when he had taken in the wonderful news he praised God and expressed his deep gratitude to all who contributed to the gift. Please read on below to learn more about the purpose of it:
Phil and Maria, and their family, have a long standing connection with Freshbrook Church. We have partnered prayerfully and financially with them and the work of Sepal Colombia for nearly 30 years. In recent times the mission work has undergone some changes as God has led them to a new site for their work, a beautiful mountainside site spread over 30 acres in Melgar, Tolima. The site has huge potential,
not only as a base for their work, but also as a retreat and training centre for the wider mission and ministry in and from Colombia. It has the potential to be a retreat centre for the local and wider church of Colombia, a place for pastors and congregations to get away and listen to God through His word and be encouraged and gifted in their own mission and ministry.
By God’s grace an opportunity has come up for Phil and Maria to secure the ownership of the land and property so that the future of the mission might be more permanent. In speaking with Phil we learned that he needed to raise just £9000.00 to secure the ownership and the present owner sign over the deeds. Confident that we could help facilitate this we agreed to have Phil speak at our church and we’d have a gift day for this purpose. Even before Phil had arrived he received an anonymous donation of £5000.00 from a church member leaving us only the balance of £4000.00 to raise. We held the gift day on Sunday 14th May and will confirm the balance received when we have counted all the gifts received in person and via BACs transfer.
In the meantime you can watch the video here that we showed of the site and imagine for yourself the potential for God’s purposes through it. If you would like to contribute to this fund please contact the church office by phone or email.
Phil and Maria serve with Sepal Colombia, you can read about the organisation here: Sepal Colombia.
Sepal Colombia are part of One Challenge Global Alliance, you can learn more about them here: One Challenge Global Alliance
