Australia Coordinating Center includes five churches, one house of prayer, and one worship place. It also takes care of the pioneering work in Fiji. Aside from the routine pastoral, evangelical, and training work last year, this update will briefly introduce the status of each church,
prayer house, and pioneering areas.

First is the Adelaide prayer house, which had its dedication in May 2016. They began to diligently establish the church holy work, including Religious Education, Children Bible Camp, Spiritual Convocation, Gospel Tea Fellowship, and all types of seminars. There is also regularpastoral visits to Roxby Downs (5 hours away from Adelaide) to care for a family that emigrated from the Philippines.

Golden Coast worship place, which belongs to Brisbane church, started having regular Sabbath services from December 2015 until now. It currently has consistent truth seekers attending services. Brisbane church also established construction funds for Gold Coast in 2018, hoping that a stable worship location will be established in the near future so that the growth of all the holy work will be more complete.

Photo of Brisbane members

There are ten members in the Darwin worship place that used to worship at a location provided by a member for the past ten years. Since 2018, the member returned to use the place for himself, so Darwin members will take turns to worship at different members’ houses. The
Darwin working team is seeking a solution for this. For example, having video Sabbath services face to face with the assigned workers every two weeks. As well as regular video conference for Religious Education Service every Sunday. They are hoping to find a suitable location to hold regular services so that the Gospel may be spread out.

About twenty years ago, Fiji pioneering region was entrusted to Australia by East Region Evangelical Department. Australia coordination center established Fiji Evangelical team to be in charge of the pastoral and evangelical work in Fiji. Thank the Lord, through God’s great
guidance, it has been nineteen years since the start of the work in Fiji. It started with only one family that emigrated from Taiwan, to having local residents that studied the truth and believed. In addition, nine years ago, a few brothers from Fuching, China started their sand mining business from Fiji Navua. Until now, more and more members immigrated from China to Fiji. Currently there are 35 members and 7 regular truth seekers at five service regions. Thank the Lord, these members also brought their children to study here; therefore, the Religious Education work will be one of the important works in the future.

Melbourne church has been growing in the area of evangelical work. Many members also moved from other areas to reside in Melbourne. Therefore, Croydon church that was dedicated in 2012 is starting to get full. The church council has been diligently looking for another service location in North Melbourne, hoping that there will be an additional service location in the Melbourne region through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Perth currently has two churches, Dianella church and Cannington church. Although Dianella church has fewer members, the church is proactively establishing the training work, especially for evangelical work. Cannington church was dedicated in 2017. Thank the Lord! The church purchased an additional three-bedroom house in the back of the chapel to solve the lack of RE classroom location issue. There are also quite a few truth seekers who would attend service consistently. Of that, three truth seekers are non-Asian, may the Lord continue to guide them.

Photos of Perth members

Bexley church that was branched out from Sydney church has recently completed the renovation of the chapel in September 2018. It will start having Friday night Sabbath service in November and plan to officially start Sabbath and RE services on January 26, 2019. Thank the
guidance of the Lord, the work of branching out was clearly guided by God. For example, there were 83 members that attended service the first time Bexley held service. After that, there would consistently have 70-75 members. If adding the members from Parramatha church that used to have about 75 members attending service, it would be more than the 100 member attendance in the old Parramatha church. The council members intend to re-organize the workflow between the two churches in the future. If all the planning work becomes stable, Bexley church will be dedicating its chapel in 2020. May God work greatly in Sydney and branch out a third church in the near future.

There are members from three families that moved from China in Waga Waga, which is in New South Wale State, five-hour drive from Sydney. In order to provide pastoral care, Sydney church holds weekly video conference religious education as well as sending volunteer workers to their location for service. The three families also hold group audio prayer sessions every night. May the Lord greatly care, guide, and bless the work in Waga Waga.

Thank the Lord! Australia has a great land with abundant resources. It is a country with a high level of financial growth. We believe that God will be willing to flourish the work in Australia. Not only to allow immigrated members to enjoy a stable life, but also to use the abundant blessings from God to carry out their entrusted mission. We hope that churches from all over the world will pray for the work in Australia so that it will become a place that will carry out the promised mission entrusted to the True church of end times.

Thanks to God’s abundant grace and guidance, Ontario Church was able to acquire our chapel in May 2018. We cannot thank enough the prayers and contributions of all loving brothers and sisters. With much joy and gratitude , we would like to extend our warmest welcome and sincere invitation to our brothers and sisters to the Dedication Ceremony of Ontario Church. 

Dedication Ceremony will be held at 10:30 AM on Sunday, February 2nd, 2020. To help prepare for the holy event, please kindly inform your attendance to your local church council by January 11, 2020. 

The closest airport to Ontario Church is Ontario International Airport (ONT). If further information is needed, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Please keep the holy work and growth in ministry of the Ontario Church in your prayers. We look forward to sharing the joy together for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

May all the glory be unto His Name! 

By the grace and guidance of the Lord, the Holy Works of Vancouver church has progressed continually. The membership has now reached 402 and the Lord continues to increase it. The church had a plan to branch out for more than 10 years ago and for this purpose there are regular Sabbath services in Surrey area established for several years now. 

They have found a church building in the Burnaby area with a sitting capacity of 240, which the location and size are ideal for their use. If acquired, this new church can accommodate members from Burnaby and Eastside, which account for half of the membership of Vancouver church. The purchasing cost of this church building plus renovation is about $4,075,000 (Canadian dollars). They will need $1,225,000 (Canadian dollars) by December 15, 2019 in preparation to close the deal. 

The Vancouver church humbly seeks your generous financial support for this church purchase. If you’d like to contribute financially, please issue your check payable to International Assembly of the True Jesus Church (note that it is for the Vancouver area church purchase fund in the memo section) and mail the check to the IA office at 21217 Bloomfield Ave., Lakewood, California 90715. After all the offering checks have been collected, the IA will wire the total offering amount to Vancouver church.

Your support in prayer for this church purchase is as importance in seeking God’s guidance. May the Lord bless you for your kindness, care and love for the extension of His Kingdom.

Philippines Church News

Mindanao Island is the second largest island in the Philippines. Because of the abundant resources and land, Filipinos call this place the promised land. Due to political instability, however, sixty percent of the residents live in poverty. In this beautiful land, kidnapping and battles against the government are constant occurrences. Yet God has especially loved the residents of Mindanao Island. In 1983, a Pentecostal pastor came to seek the truth in Bacolod and became our member. He then brought the gospel back to Pagadian within the island. There are 8 churches established in Mindanao Island and six houses of prayer, nine places of worship, three pastors, and two theological students. In terms of holy work, this is the most prosperous region in the Philippines.

Status of the Cagayan De Oro House of Prayer

In 2010, sister Jenny Lin who came from Imelda, Zamboanga Sibugay House of Prayer married and moved to Cagayan De Oro, which is in the northern part of Mindanao Island. There was no True Jesus Church at that time, so Jenny Lin and her cousin Melanie Padilla observed Sabbath at their own home. In 2014, Pastor Ezekiel visited them and Pastor Zacahi Yang and other holy workers also assisted in pastoring.

In 2016, Sister Jenny Lin’s father, Jaime Pasad Opmia was inflicted with headache. The local doctor diagnosed it as high blood pressure. However, the illness got worse and he would often vomit, was not able to function normally, and was bedridden. Sister Jenny Lin took care of her father at her home in Cagayan De Oro. Through the diagnosis of the doctors there, they confirmed he had a brain tumor and hospitalized him. They informed the family that her father needed a high-risk brain surgery. The family was greatly worried at this news and saddened by the thought that their father had labored his whole life but had not had a chance to enjoy life. Jenny and her family prayed to prolong their father’s life. The entire family relied on God with one heart and requested intercession from churches from various areas. After one month of prayer, her father’s illness was obviously getting better. They took their father in for another scan and the doctor confirmed that the brain tumor disappeared! Sister Jenny’s father was then discharged from the hospital. This miracle has strengthened the faith of members in Cagayan De Oro.

In 2016, Jenny Lin’s house was not big enough, so they built a simple hut with three white cloths on land nearby and used it as a place of worship for a year. In 2017, the members increased to fifteen, so they bought a land together and built a small twelve by sixteen-foot chapel. They put on the True Jesus Church sign and lifted up the name of the Lord.

The Hut for Service in 2016

Current Chapel

Second Wave of the Work of the Holy Spirit

In 2018, a spiritual wind arose again. On October 25, the Philippines Evangelical team received a letter from an International Assembly worker informing them that a pastor named Rebecca Regino from Cagayan De Oro started studying our doctrines after receiving our church’s Manna magazine. The pastor would use the information from Manna to teach his members during service. This pastor wrote a letter on October 3 to our International Assembly office and got in contact. In November, the Philippines Evangelical team sent Pastor Ezekiel, Pastor John, and Deacon Joseph to Cagayan De Oro to meet with pastor Rebecca Regino and six other pastors. They held two days of seminars where the attendees were very diligent in learning, especially pastor Rebecca Regino. There were no debates; the attendees raised questions on the topic of God and were able to humble themselves to kneel and pray for the Holy Spirit. They then agreed to hold monthly seminars after this trip. The next day, another pastor came and inquired on the topic of Sabbath and infant baptism. Several days later, pastor Rebecca Regino texted and expressed his willingness to baptize his entire family in the True Jesus Church.

Doctrine Seminar

Two pastors with our workers

Mindanao Island residents have lived with a lack of material abundance for a prolonged period of time, but their hearts have longed and thirsted for the hope of heaven. Like most Filipinos, they love to sing, so they sing mostly about the heavenly kingdom. From this we can see that their hearts desire for the promised beautiful land of heaven. Let us raise our hands in prayer and remember the brethren in the Philippine churches. May the name of the Lord Jesus be even more glorified in the Philippines.