MIA’s Handbook for Church Growth Available Online

Ministries In Action’s strategy for church growth is a carefully designed and comprehensive program for the development and strengthening of the local church, particularly in the areas of fellowship, discipleship, and witness. Hundreds of churches in the Caribbean and elsewhere have used and benefited from this strategy. In 1983 Ministries In Action published the Ministries In Action Handbook for Church Growth.  The book is authored by MIA co-founder Terry L. Gyger, Dave B. Calhoun of Covenant Seminary and E. Walford Thompson, the current president of MIA.  It contains a detailed explanation of the MIA Strategy For Church Growth which is an intensive program of church growth and development which is both church-based and church-oriented.

News from the Cookes in Jamaica

Saturday October 27th, 2007,

Faithful Praying Friends,

Another month is near its end, and so is another week. Both have been filled with activities for the Lord by myself and Elaine. Many others loom in the near future that we want to share with you for your prayers.

I returned late last night from Montego Bay where I attend one day of a conference on Missions put on by the Jamaica Baptist Union. Its theme was “Seize the moment…Advance the Mission.”

Report from Grenada – Homes for the Homeless

Two weeks ago, Dhan Lalsee, Executive Director of Ministries In Action (MIA), waded uphill through a mudslide in Grenada carrying heavy tools.  He was accompanied by Keith and Bennett, two hard working young men from the nearby Island of St. Vincent in the Southeastern Caribbean.  They were on their way to replace the leaking windows on House #5 in MIA’s Homes for the Homeless Progam in Grenada.  Today Dhan is back home in Miami sharing this experience and others with the MIA staff.  He is overwhelmed with how much God has accomplished using willing hearts and hands over the last two and a half years.  Next month there will be ten completed homes.

The De Arrudas Report in from Brazil

Dear loved Ones,

Greetings, we pray all goes well with you.

We finally received a good portion of rain and that sure helped to cool off a lot and take away the dust.

Gordon and Marilyn Woolard Return Safely from Africa

Dear Family in Christ’s Spirit,

After the first two weeks of my preaching seminars trip to Africa I started to have some neat ways to introduce my report. Then Marilyn came to meet me for the third week in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. It was meant to be a more relaxing week for me to get ready for a heavy fourth week in Burkina Faso. Poor Marilyn came down with typhoid fever after three days followed by the beginning of malaria, as well. She’d had hundreds of dollars worth of vaccinations for the trip. Long ago she’d had a typhoid shot, as well. So from our point of view everything seemed taken care of.

Update from the De Arrudas in Brazil

Dear Friends,

Wow!! September has gone and here we are in October.  We praise the Lord for His faithfulness, and all that was accomplished during this month.

Because of the draught, classes have been suspended many times, even at the Bible Institute. So our teaching schedule has been irregular.