AUXILIARIES & ACTIVITIES
The Cinnamon Gardens Baptist Church carries out a number of activities in support of its ministry through auxiliaries representing different interest groups among its members. The main activities of these auxillaries are listed below:
The Women's Fellowship (CGWF)
The Women's Fellowship of CGBC is involved in a number of programs, among which current emphasis is on:
Visiting the sick and shut-ins of the church
Helping individual members with physical and mental problems
A monthly nutritional program for the financially disadvantaged children of the church. This involves the distribution of packets of nutritionally rich food and vitamins along with nutrition education.
Joint programs and projects outside the church, with the YWCA, Sri Lanka Bible Society and the Sri Lanka Baptist Women's League
Annual sales for fundraising for Women's Fellowship activities
Weekly Prayer Meeting and Bible Study for ladies (men
are also welcome) every Wednesday morning 
from
10.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon. Prayer requests may be handed over in advance to
the Church Secretary or written in the book maintained for this purpose in
the Chapel, or brought up at the Prayer Meeting itself.
The Men's Fellowship(CGMF)
The Men's Fellowship has been
Feeding the needy at Christmas and Easter;
Providing stationery and schoolbooks to needy children;
Arranging for technical training for unemployed youth; and
Selling Christian literature to finance its programmes.
Christian Endeavour (CE)
Running a nursery for pre-school children and toddlers to enable the parents to attend church services
The Evangelism Committee
The Kithu Mithu Maga (Childrens' Sunday School)
The Kithu Mithu Maga conducts Sunday School classes for children of all ages and prepares them for all-island exams conducted by the Sri Lanka Baptist Sangamaya Sunday School Examinations Board.
Each of these Auxillaries is represented on the Church Committee by a Committee Member who reports regularly on its activities. In addition to these auxillaries, the church established the Dev Piya Sevana a relatively autonomous Community Service arm, which has been named the Dev Piya Sevana.
Dev Piya Sevana (DPS)
This is the Community Service Arm of CGBC. The DPS serves the people in and around the church through the following activities.
A. Vocational Training Institute
The VTI helps young people to prepare themselves for careers in various fields. Presently, the VTI only trains people in Computer Studies and English as these are basic requirements for most jobs today.
Computer Studies
Certificate in Computer Studies duration - 5 months for beginners. Many school leavers are greatly helped by this preliminary course, which lays the foundation for further studies in this field.
Diploma Course – Diploma in Computer Studies, Diploma in Computer Application, Diploma in MS-Office/XP, Diploma in Computer Hardware, Engineering with Net working, Graphic Designing, Fax. Internet and E-mail, Computer Application for children. During the year 2003 34 students received Certificates. Of the 46 students registered 13 are prepared for the Diploma Course. A Workshop for practical work as required by the Vocational Education Commission has been set up. Classes are held 6 days a week from 9.30am to 5 pm. And students are carefully interviewed prior to admission.
Fast Track Courses are provided for target groups such as those who wish to go abroad, or for specific skills to obtain employment, those challenged to qualify to obtain higher promotion and those who have limited time to obtain a Computer qualification or skill.
English Course – Present syllabus includes Beginners, Intermediate and Advance students. We are in urgent need of teachers.
B.Cafeteria – Provides economical nutritious and tasty meals at nominal rates to people working in the vicinity of the Church. The Canteen also caters for Church functions at cost. Catering is also done for the students of theWilliam Carey Institute.
C. Overnight Accommodation – This facility is provided free for patients and hospital visitors for three days at a time. Patients in hospital for long periods are allowed more time. About 90 individuals have benefited from this during the past few months and they are grateful for this facility. Some of the patients join for prayer in the chapel and have been healed and we thank God for this. We need volunteers to improve this facility.
D, F & E. Although the Reception, Library and Youth Centre were set up it is not possible to continue these as we are short of funds to recruit paid workers. Our efforts to run them with volunteers was not successful.
G. Job Bank – This has been set up and around 31 students have been found jobs. Preparation of bio-data and advice to face interviews and meet others are dealt with. Special sessions are conducted in personality development and communication.
H. Ministry to Street women and children – A project to
create self-employment for the women in
the street , and sessions on health and
hygiene and communicable diseases were started but had to be given up for want
of workers. Street children; have been provided with milk during the last 3
years but they also need other nutrition. Financial support for this effort will
be greatly appreciated.
Staff Training – A series of training programmes on specific subjects were held for staff with assistance from qualified resource personnel. Pastor and Secretary also conduct some of these programmes.
Prayer Chain in the Chapel – Staff members and volunteers participate in this from 7 am. to 7 pm. on Wednesdays. We hope that all members of the Church will also remember to pray for the DPS on Wednesdays. A Prayer Calendar is also available and you may call for a copy if you so wish.
While appealing to all our members here and abroad to uphold our project in prayer we also appeal to you to consider supporting the various programmes financially. We need to appoint a Director, Librarian, Sports Leader, etc. If you feel led to contribute please send cheques, M.O.s or P.Os addressed to Devpiya Sevana, No,.6 Baptist Chapel Road, Colombo 7.
E-mail : cgbc@sltnet.lk
Fax : 4722057.
Informal Groups
Church members have also formed themselves into a number informal groups, the more important of which are:
Bible Sudy Groups. These include the:
Wednesday evening house group - Bible Studies in English - held in rotation in houses of members in different parts of the city;
Friday evening Bible Study in English held in Nugegoda;
Wednesday evening Bible study in Sinhalese and Tamil held at a location in Deans Road, Colombo
Friday evening Sinhala-Tamil Bible study group which meets at
Young Adults Group. This group consists mostly of young professionals who meet every Friday for Bible Sudies and other activities that enables them to better understand the Lord's purpose in their lives. Often guest speakers are invited to conduct their studies.
Sinhala-Tamil Youth Group.
This group meets on Sundays after the Sinhala-Tamil Service to pray, study
the Scriptures and to play. The play consists of badminton, softball
cricket, indoor games etc. They also prepare and present various items at
Church events.
Church Camps. CGBC organizes camps and retreats for various groups - youth, men, women, office bearers of the church and its auxiliaries - and, from time to time a Church camp in which nearly all members of the Church and their families participate. These camps have been found to be very useful in binding the Church together as one family and also dealing with various issues that confront the members individually and together as a Church.
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