Community members observe a new church preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. They question its future, as its followers have left religious cults and large denominational churches to follow Jesus Christ. The new church members believe in the forgiveness of sins and salvation through faith instead of payments required by existing religious institutions or activities to earn their way into heaven. The community wonders whether these followers can endure the persecutions and hardships ahead.
White Fields and our partners aim to strengthen new churches, making them permanent members of the community. We have various strategies to achieve a sustainable church and to have a continued impact in proclaiming the gospel. Your support and partnership help us provide groundwork from the initiation stages to achieving a permanent presence in the community.
The first step of starting a church is supporting the pastor’s family. The person giving leadership is the most important foundation to establish a solid church. We have local leadership at White Fields who provide encouragement and accountability to our faithful pastors. Monthly reports allow you to pray for our pastors, including second-generation pastors like Pastor Solomon and Pastor Lun in Myanmar (Burma). Their fathers were White Fields church planters, and these young men grew up serving with their father, starting a church. That is the best training you can receive, but additionally, both of these young men graduated from our Bible College and studied in seminary.
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In other countries, our local committee carefully and prayerfully chooses a qualified pastor to lead the new church. Once that pastor is in place, White Fields moves to other areas of support to help them successfully proclaim the gospel and disciple new believers. Those funding projects may include providing a motorbike so the pastor can travel between house visits in his village or assisting the local church in constructing a permanent building to gather for worship.
For our projects in Uganda, our team takes the initiative to engage the local church in constructing a public gathering place. Our funding provides a solid concrete beam system reinforced with sturdy iron rods to ensure the structure’s resilience against storms. The church community actively contributes to the project by providing bricks to fill the walls, resulting in a highly successful partnership between our team and the local church members.
There is a tremendous testimony to the members of the local community when these structures are built. Owning the property for local buildings is a powerful way for the church to demonstrate its care for the community. Through the joint efforts of local members and distant supporters, the building becomes a place of gathering and worship, a symbol of unity and faith. The community recognized that foreign partners love the local church in their village. They also see the local members laboring and constructing the building where they gather and worship God. So, the work is done by locals, and our partnership in providing materials shows love.
White Fields has implemented this model successfully in multiple locations. Recently, Pastor Cris Pano built a shelter for a new church to meet and overcome local authorities’ persecution, who had placed a large idol in their public room to intimidate attendees.
We have constructed several houses in Myanmar that blend with the village. We are raising funds for Pastor Lun’s family shelter and worship space called ” a Christian House” by village members. This house will only cost $5,000 to provide an adequate meeting place.
The violence of the civil war between the military and rebels has made this village a dangerous place to live, so the structure is crucial. The locals are reluctant to attend Bible studies because Pastor Lun still lives in a tent. He was making his way around to their fields as they worked in farming, but now the military has restricted everyone from traveling out of the village to do any work in the fields. You can help us provide a permanent place to gather so the new believers can worship and other villagers can come to listen to Bible Studies.
Many churches in Uganda have built permanent structures for worship through our partnership. We aim to assist the Kikarara church led by Pastor Bryan and Elizabeth, who live in an impoverished village that was starving when we first arrived, to provide the gospel and relief aid.
The kindness of White Fields partners and the dedication of church members from our churches in Rukungiri brought hope and nourishment to the community. Through their generosity, many began to listen to the gospel and attend Bible studies. With the construction of a house for Pastors Bryan and Abel, the community was inspired to believe in their message. Today, two new churches are within a two-hour walk from each other, thanks to the commitment and faith of those who helped make this possible. The story of the Garuka Roof can be found here. The members of Kikarara are now making bricks to replace their temporary wood structure before the termites cause severe damage.
Your participation can help us provide the funds to make the strong structure beams to securely place the metal roof. These church members will joyously praise God for the answer to their prayer, and they will install bricks into the walls to provide a permanent place to gather.
There are so many opportunities in the ministry. I hope you will prayerfully consider how you can be a partner in these endeavors to spread the gospel and establish permanent churches.
