Celebration Time in VICF!

Vantaa International Christian Fellowship celebrated her 10th Anniversary on Jan 13th 2019. Some 240 guests attended the celebration, held at Vantaan Minttukirkko which VICF rents for its regular services.

Reijo Blommendahl singing at VICF

Upbeat music and guest musicians inspired everyone in worship. Rev. Reijo Blommendahl’s strong vocals had people holding their breath during his powerful rendition of the familiar song ‘How Great Thou Art’ in several various languages.

The multinational children’s choir from VICF’s Kids Ministry also received huge applause for their performance. Greetings were brought forward by Pastor Il-soo Kim, the founder of the Finnish Korean Church, as well as by Pastor Tony Ibarra, the FEIC* coordinator based in Frankfurt.

As Prs. Arto and Orvokki Sädeaho were still contemplating about starting an international church in 2008, a vision Orvokki received one night coupled with a confirmation Arto got from the Bible encouraged them. They then found a couple that had the same vision. This joint work began from point zero (January 2009) with no knowledge of any foreigners in the area.

But the Lord has been behind this endeavour. Now, a decade later, this can be seen.  During the celebration a documentary video shared about the birth and growth of the church. Throughout this time there have been people from over 100 nationalities attending our meetings.

Ps. Arto had a hard time talking. His mind was filled with gratitude towards a gracious God. He finished by appealing for the multinational congregation to nurture unity and reminded them how Jesus said that it is the way the world will believe they are His witnesses.

Younger pastors Ndegwa and Jonathan are now taking care of the main responsibility of the church ministry. Pastor Arto is now able to focus on the core objective, VICF’s umbrella organisation GNN (Good News Networking), which is to take the gospel to the unreached people groups.

From left: Arto & Orvokki Sädeaho, Timo Virta, Wambui & Ndegwa Maina and Jonathan Lemmetti

*FEIC (above) is abbreviated from ’The Fellowship of European International Churches’.
This relational network consists of 82 churches throughout 32 European nations.

Sharing the vision in Myanmar

On Monday we flew to Myanmar’s 2nd largest city, Mandalay (1,2 million). About 300,000 monks live in this city known as a stronghold of Buddhism. However, our thoughts were anywhere but in tourism. A young pastor from the northeastern corner of Myanmar, Simon, came to meet us. He has already been involved in pioneer work by sending out three short-term pioneers to work amongst the unreached.

Early the next morning we met with 12 key church leaders, having arranged a breakfast gathering and reminding them of the church’s most important calling. After our introductions, I shared with them the vision of the unreached in Asia, emphasizing that it is primarily their churches’ calling. Next Shierley, as a fellow Asian, shared how they have been able to send people out to the unreached from Indonesia.

The presence of the Holy Spirit spoke to the attendees and we saw how the vision began to unite them, despite denominational barriers. There was an Anglican bishop, the Trinity church pastor, Baptists, Pentecostals and others.

FEIC Summit in Madrid

VICF Pastors attended the Fellowship of European International Churches (FEIC) Summit in Madrid (Oct 15-18th 2018). The theme was “Inside FEIC”.

VICF Prs. Jonathan and NdegwaThe summit workshops focused on how to develop people and build systems/ church infrastructure that will facilitate the health and growth of the church in a balanced way. The workshops helped us to see the areas we need to develop in the short-term while considering our long-term goals and vision.

We were spiritually refreshed, encouraged and got a deeper understanding of the Holy Spirit’s role in driving our vision, making concrete plans and dreaming big.  We specifically had discussions on how to develop our Children’s Ministry, and it was agreed that in the future the FEIC Kids ministry coordinator will visit our Church to help train and provide support for our children’s ministry.

– BR, Ndegwa Maina

Daughter of a sheikh turned to Christ

During our time in Tanzania we visited several villages in the Zaramo area. It was in one of these villages that we met a sheikh’s daughter, whom we will here call “Rebecca”. She became a follower of Jesus some years ago, as did later her husband too. Here Rebecca shares about her conversion:

“Rebecca” is of the Zaramo tribe

– We lived nearby a small church. Out of curiosity, I observed through a window how they prayed there. One time while watching, I sensed a large darkness surrounding me and I got terrified. After a while, the darkness started to ease off.

– Then some church people came to visit my home and told me about their faith. My heart opened up and I asked Jesus into my life as my Lord.

 – I began attending Bible studies and slowly began to understand God’s way of speaking to me.

– At that point our landlady, who was a witch, cursed me and I began to have nightmares. I was persecuted for my faith, as the news spread of me becoming a Jesus follower. We had to leave our house at a day’s notice. Thankfully, I had a Christian friend who taught me how to pray.

 – Despite being destitute, a devoted Muslim gave us a house rent-free. What happened was that, after a while from moving in, the landlord visited and told us that ever since we came, he had been able to sleep like a baby through the night until the morning.

– Until then he had been tormented by the powers of evil, so that he could not sleep. The landlord inquired of us which witch do we visit that has such a power to affect him so favorably too? We told him our Lord is Jesus Christ.

– For this reason, the Muslim landlord decided to let us stay in his house for free. As we later were about to move elsewhere, he began to grieve for losing his protection. As we prayed with him, he also wanted to become a Christian.

– Now our former landlord is also a grateful follower of Jesus.

Mission trip to East Africa

Pastor Aki at 5 AM program

We went on a 2,5 week mission trip to Uganda and Tanzania mid-way through May. Our team consisted of Aki Miettinen (Uganda only), myself and joining us for the first time, Jonathan Lemmetti who began with the GNN team in February.

Our main purpose of visiting Uganda was a vision casting conference for 600 pastors and ministry workers in Kyengeza, as well as visiting our GNN-supported ‘Night-radio’ program in Mubende. At the same time we were able to see our long time friend, Pas. Wilson.

Together with Jonathan we continued to Tanzania. GNN Finland is supporting the ministry which Francis started four years ago amongst the Zaramo tribe. Francis is our Ugandan pioneer missionary who finances his ministry partially with a small ‘missions henhouse’ based in Uganda.

Pas. Jonathan Lemmetti is getting familiar with GNN missions one step at a time and can in this way be acquainted with the work in its full scale over time.

– Arto Sädeaho

Jonathan’s report

I had the privilege to go on my first overseas mission with GNN Finland ry. It was two+ weeks of intense ministry, but well worth it! While it was not my first time in Africa, it was my first visit to both Uganda and Tanzania.

Uganda

Children curiously observing what happens during the conference

In Uganda, our time was spent in the Mubende area, three hours west from Kampala. There were a couple of early mornings as we shared the Gospel (between 5-6am) on the local radio station we support and over the airwaves the message was broadcast to a potential one million listeners in a region covering four nations.

Jonathan preaching at the conference

We had the opportunity to speak at a conference where 500-600 local pastors, ministry workers and others gathered together to worship God, pray together and be taught the Word of God. This was a memorable experience for me personally as I felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit in the worship time leading into my speaking session to change the message I had prepared. One of those “stepping out of the boat” experiences like Peter had!

We also visited some of the various ministries run by the local pastors. On Sunday, the three of us separated to preach in different churches. I was so humbled to receive a love offering (including a bag of mangoes) after my sermon from a group of village people whose church meeting was held in a dirt-floor old school classroom. This was a good way to finish our time in Uganda.

Tanzania

We then travelled to Tanzania to see what our contact, Francis Tusiime, was doing. We were both pleasantly surprised to see what this young man of God has accomplished in the 4 years he has been here as a missionary from Uganda! He has learnt the language, made a lot of contacts, and even knows the short-cuts better than some locals!

Young school kids from Zaramo-tribe

We were able to make a visit to the Zaramo-tribe area where some believers have a school and a church plant, as well as sharing the Gospel to some Muslim kids in the backyard of a former Muslim. It was special to see two young boys give their lives to the Lord!

The 2-day leadership conference was a great time of teaching relevant issues as well as challenging the audience about the huge need regarding more workers into the harvest of the unreached people groups! Our final weekend was busily spent connecting with business professionals, challenging them and speaking at Francis’ church plus some other visits.

Francis (next to Arto) with his team in Dar es Salaam. This new church gathers in a tent in the backyard of a recently converted former Muslim. GNN supports Francis’s ministry in Tanzania.

All in all, this mission trip has been eye-opening as well as ground-breaking in the sense that God has much in store for the future networking between GNN and the ministry of unreached people’s in Africa.

Thank you for remembering to pray for the unreached people groups, for our mission trips and for continually sharing in the vision through your giving.
– We are in this together!

– Jonathan Lemmetti

Joyce’s survival story

During the past three decades, the Bible school in Sumatra has sent out lots of pioneer evangelists – 500 of them – to Indonesian Kalimantan/Borneo. (The size of this huge island is even wider than Texas, USA).

Pioneers at the school graduation

In 1997 five young people were sent to the jungles of central Kalimantan. As they crossed over a flooding, fast-flowing river hand in hand, one of them lost their grip and was never found again.

One of the survivors is Joyce. Later she looked for her intended tribe for hours in the unknown, roadless jungle. She finally heard voices of people, which led her to a village of displaced peoples in the Dayak area. The majority had been brought from the island of Java and were working in the nearby plantations.

Nowadays Kalimantan has “roads”

In her first year there, Joyce met daily with a poor family next door, giving them food, clothes, etc. This transmigrate family wondered why this Christian girl would help them, when even their “own people” didn’t. After a year, the parents returned to their home island while the children remained in the village.

These left-behind children came to Joyce, soon after wanting to become Christians. As a result, the village rejected the kids. Joyce however continued her work prayerfully. She began teaching the village children and it wasn’t long before a large group of kids gathered at her place. Eventually the parents also came to observe her teaching. Gradually Joyce was accepted into their society.

The latest church extension finished on 2017

Since the villagers were transmigrants from other islands, the government built a school for Joyce to teach in. People started becoming Christians and the government donated her a block of land, building a small church on it (6x6m).

Joyce increased her ministry to include the three nearby villages (within 10-20km), helping their inhabitants. Regardless of the heat, rain or darkness, Joyce persistently walked through the jungle to these villages. At times the trip took 8 hours by foot, and she would usually return home after midnight. Nevertheless, the joy of the gospel motivated her to continue.

More people became Christians and the church needed to be extended. As the congregation continued to grow, the church had to be enlarged yet again in 2014 and this third building phase took three years. When finished, the church measured 14x40m and now fits all its more than 200 members.

• Want to support Sumatran pioneers? You can do this at our ’Donate’ page with the reference ’3117 Pioneer support’.

Radio conference in Mubende, Uganda

Before the radio conference started on Friday, we already preached the Gospel on the radio at 5 am. What an amazing feeling it was to have the studio phone lines flooded with calls from all over Uganda and the neighboring countries! Some callers wanted to give their lives to Jesus, others wanted prayer for healing and for other needs in their lives.

At noon, the GNN supported Radio Conference began in Mubende. Approximately 300 listeners attended.  Part of the program was also broadcast to four neighboring countries in East Africa.

It was particularly exciting to interview a group of people, including some former ‘cousins’ who had given their lives to Christ after listening to these radio shows!

Do you want to support these radio programs that reach people with the Gospel? You can do this by going to our ‘Donate‘ page and using the reference ‘3023 Uganda Night radio’.

Uganda’s Night Radio must go on – sadly without brother Innocent!

For years, GNN has supported Uganda’s Christian Night Radio programs on the RadioHeart broadcasting station. During the early morning hours of every Wednesday, word is spread over the radio to four countries in East Africa. Based on the large number of calls flooding the studio’s phone lines, I have concluded that the given estimation of 1 million active listeners can’t be far off. After all, there are at least 25 million people living within the RadioHeart’s broadcast range!

Accident

On February 25th, 2016 the Night Radio’s right-hand man, Innocent, was preaching at a church on the outskirts of Mubende. On his way home, Innocent’s motorcycle was hit by another motorcycle in a busy roundabout.  He flew off the motorcycle and head first onto the pavement. Blood poured out from his mouth, nose and ears…

He was rushed to a health centre and then transferred to a hospital in Kampala, but there was nothing to be done anymore. The faithful evangelist succumbed to his injuries at 6 am the next morning. His wife was left without a husband and their five children without a father. The following Saturday a large group of friends and coworkers accompanied Innocent on his last journey. I will remember Innocent as a cheerful and helpful partner during our missions in Uganda.

  • GNN has sent support to help Innocent’s family.

Interestingly, Pastor John Magaba, the founder of these night programs, was also in a serious car accident himself a while ago. There’s no doubt that the enemy is unhappy with this fruitful ministry bringing people to Jesus.

  • Uganda’s Night Radio programs and workers need our prayers!

Radio Conference

In Radio Conference 2015 we heard testimonies from those who came to faith through the radio programs.

Pastor Aki Miettinen and I will be joining RadioHeart Prayer Conference for the second time on Friday May 20th, starting at 9 o’clock in the evening. The last conference had 500 participants; many of whom were saved through the radio programs. Fervent prayers continued overnight until Saturday morning, and the programs were broadcast live on the air across 4 countries in East Africa.

  • Please remember this mission in your prayers!
  • Do you wish to support Uganda’s Night Radio and Innocent’s family? Click here to go to our ‘Donate‘ page.

– Arto Sädeaho

Just one soul…

A young couple in South East Asia, let’s call them Otto and Anita, set out to reach an unreached tribe a couple of years ago. With great excitement, the couple made a plan on how to convey the loving presence of God to this tribe.

Contacts from the marketplace

Each morning Anita would make portioned meals and together with Otto they would sell the food at the local marketplace. This is how they were able to introduce themselves to the people of that tribe. The food sold well, but the people ended up having prejudices toward them because they were foreign – and especially because they were Christians.

Hindering prejudices

The shunning attitude from the locals made living the everyday life a heavy burden. Then slowly the opportunity opened up to share their faith with the locals. They were able to tell them that Isa Almasih (Jesus) is not only a prophet, but that He died on the cross for all of our sins, providing a way for us to receive forgiveness. During our discussion with Otto, he said faintly: “We have done everything in our power, but we’ve won just one soul to the Lord…”

Just one soul?

My heart ached to hear their sad words. Otto and Anita had such high hopes, when they left, to touch the hearts of these tribes and to win souls with the Gospel.

‘Our calling was being put to the test. Will we succeed? Do we stay in the place we were called to, no matter the cost?’

I tried to find the words to encourage this couple in despair.

Heroes in dark places

Then it occurred to me to tell them how important this work really is! In truth, they were hastening the coming of the moment described in Revelations (7: 9), the part in the Bible which declares: “I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from ‘every nation, tribe, people and language’, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”
Others may not appreciate what Otto and Anita have done, but they are still pioneers of God, real heroes! They can be sure that they were true in their efforts and tried their best. Also, one day they will get to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Come and share your master’s happiness!”

Hope gives motivation

I could sense sorrow diminishing and hope beginning to rise. This understanding gave them hope which turned into motivation. Before leaving, I blessed Otto and Anita, promising them that we would always remember them in our prayers when returning to Finland.

Amongst all of the mass events and large congregations, we may have lost sight of saving that one soul. That one soul’s value is actually immeasurable, because that one soul is of great importance to God. Also, that soul will eventually transition from here to eternity.

Once we reach heaven, there will be an even greater measure of value for the effort we make to win souls.

Welcome to our new website!

GNN Finland has renewed its website. On these pages you will find information about the association and how we operate, as well as current information about international missions work.

You can also discover a variety of ways to take part in our ministry, and you can support our ministry financially with a simple online donation.

Be sure to follow us on Facebook!