Pastor Jonathan’s Farewell Words

That they would hear!

The gospel must be preached to all nations – gather a great multitude that no one could read, from all tribes and kindreds and nations and languages.

These thoughts have been imprinted on my heart over the course of 51⁄2 years where I served in GNN Finland missions and at home.

The last period has been valuable – I learned various things from Pastors Arto and Orvokki, as well as their enthusiasm in the work of unreached people groups.

Together with Pr. Arto, we did multiple mission trips to East Africa and Southeast Asia. In some evenings we held “vision-casting” seminars in Finnish local churches. Representing GNN, we delivered more than 150 “that they would hear” radio programs which are heard on Tuesdays and Saturdays on Radio Patmos’ channel in Finland.

Our time in Finland has come to an end and a new chapter is waiting for us in Australia, but “that they would hear,” vision will remain. Thank you Arto and Orvokki for being faithful to your calling.

Thank you to the GNN management team for all the support and also to all of you who have prayed and supported us in different ways.

Let’s do our part to fulfil the Great Commission given by our Lord Jesus!

He is the Lord of the harvest and will return soon.

The Lord Answers Even Before We Ask

A year ago came a Filipino couple, Pastor Edsel and Barbara Klit, to VICF church in Vantaa. I had met them a decade earlier when they came to visit their married daughter. Surprisingly in Spring 2022, they moved to Finland.

They also came to VICF church. Before coming here, they had worked for 17 years in mission work in Bangkok.

Pr. Edsel is a gifted teacher with a versatile education. In the beginning of January, he was invited to the church’s council and has then been teaching Bible studies on Wednesdays.

After prayerful consideration, we called him as VICF assistant pastor. Edsel was blessed for his mission on June 4, 2023, at the same time we held a departure party for the Lemmett family. The hall’s full audience felt a new feeling in the air.

Edsel Klit is now working as a full-time pastor alongside senior pastor Ndegwa Maina. As an experienced missionary, Pr. Edsel will join some of GNN’s missions.

A Year of Changes

Pastor Jonathan returns to Australia

Jonathan Lemmetti, from Australia, became my colleague five and a half years ago. Energetic and helpful, he joined me in GNN missions and was working part- time as an assistant pastor in Vantaa’s VICF church. He has been a well-liked person both in his home country and in the target countries.

However, there is a time for everything. Pr. Jonathan’s contract with GNN Finland reg. ended in 31.5.2023. In July, along with his family, they will migrate back to Australia. In the beginning of the year, two of the eldest children have already began studies there. We are grateful for the contribution of Pr. Jonathan’s family both here and in the mission destinations. However, it doesn’t all end here!

At first I mourned the departure of a good colleague, but then it came to mind that his loss could be turned into a blessing – what if GNN’s vision of unreached people groups expanded to Australia, where significant missionary work has been done e.g. in Papua New Guinea.

What if the new generation would take on unreached people groups as their own challenge? There are approx. 700 such people groups in Southeast Asian countries alone. We have agreed that Jonathan would try to continue coordinating GNN Africa from Australia …

That’s several prayer topics all at once!

How to Start Missions in a Church?

The theme of my seminar, ”How to start missions in a church?”, dates back to three decades in Indonesia. During that time, at the request of GPdI’s leadership of the church, I had carefully prepared a practical strategy on how to start missions from Indonesia. (Strategy means learning how to win a war. Of course, such a thing is also needed in spiritual warfare guided by the Holy Spirit.)

But the strategy I had prepared in Indonesian for months was buried under the pressures of the central management. In the end, I had completely forgotten about it.

Disappointed, I had buried the material I was working on in the depths of the archives until I called Indonesia in January 2023. During the call, the forgotten material came to my mind again. I dug out the plan I had written and translated it into English.

Now, at the course in Tanzania, for the first time I ‘tested’ that grassroots plan for the participants. I enriched the topic with field experiences and said that when oppositions and attacks come, it is vital to keep the main focus on the calling so that the forces are not wasted.

I described how an eagle spreads its wings and rises to great heights when threatened. Same way a believer with an eagle mindset omits malicious comments, instead focuses on his calling and aims towards his life purpose. In spirit you can rise high and wide with the wings of prayer to an open, vast space. From there, you can see far and can hear better what God is saying.

I invited the participants to spread their ‘wings’ and feel how God’s winds can lift each one above difficulties. The lecture hall was filled with ‘flapping wings’ and everyone had a good time.

The material, which I thought was useless work, was enthusiastically received in the course. Often God’s timing completely differs from our own . . .

Arto Sädeaho

Little Elsa was also present at the courses

Tanzania Trip

Labour Day Monday, Pastor Aki and I went to Dar-es- Salaam where the start of the mission seminar awaited. The participants were 32 Tanzanian pastors who got a spark from the previous courses. They wanted to hear how the work is started in practice.

Pastor Jonathan from Finland and Pastor Shierley from Indonesia had already arrived there over the weekend. In addition to the seminar preparations, they were assigned a mission to a village of the Zaramo tribe.

Zaramo Mission

The rain is a blessing in Africa, but not warmly welcomed for outdoor events. Thankfully, during the afternoon we were able to spread the Good News in Dar-es-Salaam’s outskirts in Chanika. The rain was always put to a halt right before the event started.

The crowd, including Zaramo people, gathered in front of the opening of Pastor Mtenga’s church on three afternoons. We shared about Jesus through songs, prayers and preaching. We also taught two acts to the young adults of the church through which the Word and Jesus’ love and forgiveness was portrayed to the listeners.

The altar call was firstly received by the children who wanted to give their life to Jesus. Secondly, many women who were in bondage felt a deliverance, but sadly there were only a few number of men.

Zaramo tribe is one of the hardest people groups in Tanzania to evangelize to. Among 1.3 million of them, about 95% are muslims. We need a lot of prayers that they too will be touched by the Word.

Pastor Mtenga was one of them who participated in GNN’s mission training in 2019 and 2022. Since then, he has focused great efforts on his own area in reaching the Zaramo people. He rejoiced about this three-day campaign. The church got new members and even after our series of meetings, people approached him to stay connected. Pastors from surrounding areas also become interested in missions in the future, all glory to God!

Seminar about starting missions

In Dar-es-Salam’s Sending Seminar, we focused on equipping church leaders to start their own mission work. GNN’s culturally diverse team this time included Pastors Arto Sädeaho, Aki Miettinen and Jonathan Lemmetti as well as Pastor Shierley. This way we were able to shed light on different perspectives.

Pastors from previous courses already had basic knowledge about the work of unreached people groups. This continued seminar gave them a practical approach and tools to use for starting mission work in their home churches.

The Holy Spirit’s presence had made a big impact during the course especially during prayer. Frederick, former member of the parliament, expressed how he felt a great way of joy and peace as if something had uplifted him.

Pastor Demetrio already works with the Zaramo people. He came to the seminar with a handful of questions and had received answers during the week of the seminar!

Many felt greatly inspired hearing Pastor Shierley’s latest stories about the work with the Indo-pioneers amongst the unreached people groups.

This was the first seminar of its kind that GNN has organized. If the Lord permits, it will not be the last!

Pastor Shierley’s Impressions

The seminar week was a great learning opportunity for all of us! We had an enthusiastic and open-minded team. Inspiring lectures imparted practical knowledge from life experiences.

GNN – Good News Networking has great hope that the Gospel can be shared even to the most difficult people groups.

 

Uganda Trip

 

Along with Aki Miettinen, we represented the team in Uganda’s mission work. Pastor Aki reports below aboutthe nearly three- week long work in Uganda.We arrived in Entebbe around midnight of 12.4 where we had meetings that same morning. On Saturday, the police chief, Brian, picked us up from Kampala’s surrounding area in Nansala province. There we held a six- day vision casting and leadership seminar in the World Mission International center. The long period of blackout disrupted the program, although my speech continued even without the microphone.

On Tuesday, we visited Major General Akawalo’s area in a center called ‘Operation Creating Wealth’ which situated in Kampala. He also leads in the ‘Joint Forces for Christ’ organisation (military, police and prisons). During our time together, Major General Akawalo expressed his interest in continuing with the GNN trainings in the future. We heard about an area called Karamojong that is rich in natural resources, but the tribe living there are belligerent.

On Thursday we distributed certificates to 25 participants at the Nansana seminar and the following day to the police barracks in Entebbe airport. There we had an interesting session where we heard how “men and women in uniforms” take the Gospel to Somaliaa among others.

Sunday morning in Kampala, Pastor Arto spoke nearby Luzira prison in Gospel Mission Church’s service while I spoke in Uganda’s largest slum area (100,000 inhabitants) in GMC’s Kasongola slum church.

Venue changed due to heavy rain

Due to the heavy rains, the soft pavement on the way to a two-hour journey to Nagasongola’s military barracks turned into a five-hour drive to Mubende in west Uganda where we stayed in our familiar accommodation place.

The week in Mubende covered 5 radio programs and daily coaching for the director of the shelter from Kenya and a village meeting at a coffee plantation.

Mission seminar was held on Saturday for 47 pastors. After the Sunday service, we had lunch and left to Entebbe for the night.

Despite the challenges and changes in the program, the core purpose of the trip was fulfilled.

 

Summer News 2023

The first half of 2023 was surprising and multifaceted. Towards the end, changes turned into blessings. In this newsletter, we share about the four week mission trip in Africa, Pastor Jonathan and his family’s migration back to Australia and how God has lead new workers into GNN to continue the work. It appears that God has answered before we even asked, we thank Him for that.

We are also grateful to you, who support our work in one way or another and who pray for its work to be fruitful.

Arto Sädeaho

Vantaa International Christian Fellowship – VICF

On Saturday 11.2, we had invited around thirty active church volunteers from our ministry teams for a private buffet lunch. We wanted to appreciate them for their efforts made during the past year in order to make things in VICF flow smoothly. Our volunteers have come from a dozen nationalities. Therefore, the main language for communication was English. Joy and unity in the spirit could be sensed in the atmosphere.

How will it be when we gather for the King’s wedding, people from all tribes with joy inexpressible?

It’s something worth waiting for . . . 

Francis Coming to Finland 22.3. -9.4.2023

Our partner, Ps. Francis Tusiime, is a warm-hearted person whose preaching touches the heart and whose prayers are powerful. His itinerary for his upcoming three-week trip is almost fully booked.

Before his return back to Tanzania, he will be the main speaker in our Easter Encounter-program held in VICF, Tikkurila.

Faith Can Even Move Mountains!

Jesus said, “Have faith in God.” (Mk 11:22)
Then He clarified to His disciples that faith which does not doubt can even move mountains!

This is the kind of faith Ps. Francis (left photo) from Uganda had, to move the mountains of challenges he faced a decade ago when arriving to Dar es Salaam at midnight with only 5,000 Tanzanian shillings (2 euros) in his pocket along with a blessing from his sending church. Under the mentorship of his spiritual father in Uganda, Bp. Wilson Ssentongo, he had planted over 10 churches in that nation before heading to the unknown in Tanzania in obedience to his calling.

I knew him as an excellent interpreter in our Ugandan seminars, until he disappeared somewhere. I later heard that he had gone to Tanzania. We met again years later as he was visiting his mother’s home. After repeated requests from him, I decided to visit Dar es Salaam for a week, following a trip to Uganda (2018). We held a ‘vision seminar’ which opened the door to Tanzania and Francis became ‘our man’ there.

The following year, as we held our mission training course in ‘Dar’, many pastors who participated, formed their local GNN Tanzania team. Its focus has been to take the Gospel to unreached people groups (UPG).

 

Inspired in prayer, from the beginning of 2021, we added children’s ministry seminars to these mission trips the team was making to different regions. Local church workers are always invited to join these seminars.

This addition has been necessary because there are 27.5 million children under the age of 15 in Tanzania. Children are the largest unreached people group in the world. For some reason, the churches there have adapted an idea that children cannot be saved as they are too young.

And so, yet again, in February 2023, the GNN team went on a two-week mission to the north, this time to the regions of Mara and Mwanza.

My co-worker Ps. Jonathan had arranged zoom connections during these team missions to allow us to be present in these seminars online. These seminars have GNN has already become more known around Tanzania.

Jonathan reports:

The GNN Tanzanian team is coordinated by Ps. Francis along with Ps. Jane Wambi, a Tanzanian. Over the past couple of years, this team has visited 14 regions throughout Tanzania holding Gospel crusades amongst the unreached along with children’s ministry seminars.

In total, there have been 22 children’s ministry seminars with 1,500 participants, including pastors, Sunday school teachers and bishops across various denominations.

The teaching series is shown in Swahili. The idea for this series became a reality through the video recording of missionary veterans, Mamas Mirjami and Raili, teaching in their homes. These ladies still speak the language they learned from their years in Kenya. They were present via Zoom for the ‘Q&A’ hour at the end of each seminar.

Certificates given at the end of the seminar