Christmas is a time we pause to remember the birth of Jesus. A time to shine the light of Jesus as we spread joy and good tidings. The entire world – believers and non-believers alike – for a moment, look to Jesus. For some, Christmas is the only time they hear about Jesus, for others it’s the first time they meet Jesus. For believers it’s a celebration! We celebrate because we know the birth of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, was the fulfillment of the Great Plan of Salvation, and that means victory forever more! But, can you imagine if every day was Christmas? What would it look like if every day was the first day we met Jesus? How would our community treat each other?
Shine Church
About 200km north of Melbourne Victoria, in Australia lies a small rural farming town of Stanhope; population, 500. It’s the kind of township whose monthly newsletter publishes local residents’ birthday’s. And, every month, to the right of Stanhope’s Birthday announcements, is an eye-catching yellow square with words that read “Shine Church holds Sunday services at 10am.”
Most Sunday’s, as residents enter the Stanhope Community Hall, they’ll find Pastor Kerryn Sinapius with the band, on the drums. Ps. Kerryn and her husband Walter, obeyed the calling of God in September 2011 and hosted the first meeting in the Stanhope Hall. Now, every Sunday they minister to God’s people about the love of Jesus Christ, and the calling on Shine Church to be a discipline to each other and to their community.
Senior Pastors Walter and Kerryn, shepherd believers in Stanhope to be the catalyst for the Glory of God in Australia. Preaching and practicing Ephesians 4, maturing and unifying the Body of Christ, they lead Shine Church to serve their community, showing Jesus to their neighbours – for some, it’s the first time to meet Jesus, for others Shine Church reintroduces Jesus to those who knew Him before. With a joyful wit, and a deep love for God’s people, Ps. Kerryn encourages the members of Shine Church to be wise builders (Proverbs 24).
Jesus in Rochester
In October, after several days of rain, the river banks of the Campaspe River broke its banks and flooded the small town of Rochester. Flood waters raised to 1.2meters, as tides from the overflowing Lockington dam damaged over 200 homes, displacing hundreds of Rochester residents. Rochester was badly flooded; families were evacuated from their homes and transported to neighbouring towns, or to makeshift parks sleeping in tents or caravans outside Rochester town limits.
As Rochester was recovering from this devastation, 40km’s south east in the small town of Stanhope, Ps. Kerryn prepared Shine Church for an outreach program that would bring hope to a town who lost everything. Armed with hampers of fresh meat, fresh bread and mini books – made possible by the Partners of Kenneth Copeland Ministries – Shine Church went into the devastated community of Rochester in groups of two to show Jesus to a broken town.
Shine in Rochester
Shine Church members went into Rochester twice a week to minister and serve. On one occasion they met Calvin and Kalsey. They were a young couple in their early twenties sitting on their verandah enjoying a cold beer. Calvin was seated in a wheelchair from a motorcycle accident he was involved in just a few days after the flood. The overwhelming feeling of despair and lack was obvious as Shiners approached Calvin and Kalsey. Pastor Kerryn reminds her flock not to force anyone to follow Jesus. “We don’t put our foot in the door and say: you gotta hear about Jesus!,” says Pastor Kerryn.
Shiners offered a meat hamper to Calvin and Kelsey, and asked if it was ok to pray over them. Calvin shifted in his wheelchair a little and says “Yes. I knew Jesus when I was younger – I was a believer. Please pray for Jesus to enter my heart again.” Together, in agreement, on that verandah Calvin received Jesus into his life, and forgot his beer on the rail where he left it.
The power and presence of Jesus went with Shine Church throughout their outreach program in Rochester. After three weeks of ministry, they shared Jesus with 95 families, gifted 77 meat hampers, and prayed with 31 families. Their outreach has led five people to salvation, and brought one recommitted soul to Jesus.
Twice Sown Seed
The Apostle Paul in his Partner Letter to the Ephesians writes that Christ appointed some with grace to be prophets. Others with grace to be evangelists, and yet others with grace to be teachers. He writes “these grace ministries will function until we all attain oneness into the faith, until we all experience the fullness of what it means to know the Son of God” (Ephesians 4:13, TPT).
The work of the Lord reaches beyond just Kenneth Copeland Ministries. Our committed Partners are active participants of the Church Paul encouraged the early churches to be. Our Partners are boldly reaching the world together through the principle of the twice sown seed. Your seed sown into Kenneth Copeland Ministries is multiplied when we sow into other ministries that reach those we cannot reach alone – to equip the hands and feet of Jesus all over the world!
By ourselves we can do some good, but together, we can do much more! As a Partner, your gift is multiplied and planted again for a great and mighty harvest. The anointing on this ministry is a shared anointing on Shine Church which is an anointing that falls on all KCM Partners too. This is the heart of Partnership: The Body of Christ, all working together as one, to prepare the way of the Lord.
