During the Christmas season we were
privileged to have with us many of our Church family residing and studying
overseas.Among them were Kuvera
Premawardhana, Jayalath Ameresekere, Shenika Munasinghe, Radeeni Algama,
Shantha Yahampath and family, Kithum & Lorraine Weerasinghe,
Chandima
Weerasinghe, Amila Weerasinghe and famiy, Ananda Ratnayake and
Laksith
Ratnayake, Ruwan & Tamara Rupesinghe (Sunil & Rebecca’s son) and family
Some of our members went overseas
for the Christmas holidays to be with their family and friends and we thank God
for their safe return – Lydia Giyasi-Denteh and the children, Kumudu, Lyle and
Kaushalya De Silva, Frank & Beatrice Wickramasinghe.
We warmly welcome
Frank Giyasi-Denteh from Tunisia
who is here on a short break.
Goodbye
We bade goodbye to
Dr. Heshan and
Lakprabha Wickramasuriya who moved back to Kandy in December.We wish them God’s rich blessings in all
their work in the New Year.
Prayers for Young 'uns
Our young ones studying overseas need your prayers for God’s continued
guidance and protection. They are:
Radeeni Algama, Shenika
Munasinghe, Anarkalee Perera, Sajinda Jayasuriya, Laksith Ratnayake and
Lalindra de Silva
Please also pray for their families back home.
Sick
Please continue to pray for Mr. Nihal Silva who is slowly but
surely getting back on his feet after surgery on his hip.
Mr. Vernon Weerasinghe has been in and out of hospital these past
couple of months with his blood count fluctuating. Please pray that he
will not have to spend too much time in hospital.
Pray for our elders
Please continue to pray for our
dear elders, some of whom are confined to their homes due to ill health or lack
of transport.Please take time off your
busy schedules to visit or call them.
Tiddy Senapathiratne, Jackson Fernando,
Lakshmi Ameresekere, Doris Vannitamby, Edward Boteju, Joyce Perera,
Lorenzo Kariapperuma, Vernon & Ruby Weerasinghe, Nihal & Sunil Perera,Ranjani
& Kingsley de Alwis, Leslie & Swineetha Balasuriya.
Deaths
We are sad to announce the sudden
passing away of Mrs. Irenee Jayatunge mother of Priyadarshani Algama
on 24th
December.Our sympathies go out to Ravi, Priyadarshani, Praveeni, Radeeni and the rest of
the family and pray that the comforting presence of our Saviour Jesus Christ
will be with them during this time of sadness.
Mrs.Rita de Silva, Sister of Frank Wickramasinghe also
passed away on the 9th December and we extend Frank and Beatrice and
the rest of the family our deepest sympathies.
vvvvvvvv
CHURCH
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Don't let worry kill you - let the church help.
Thursday night - potluck
supper. Prayer and medication to follow.
Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church
and community.
For those of you who have children and don't know it, we
have a nursery downstairs.
This afternoon there will be a meeting in the South and
North ends of the Church. Children will be baptized at both ends.
On Thursday, at 5 p.m.,
there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers Club. All ladies wishing
to be "Little Mothers" will meet with the Pastor in his study.
This being Easter Sunday,
we will ask Mrs. Lewis to come forward and lay an egg on the altar.
A bean supper will be held on
Tuesday evening in the Church Hall.
Music will follow.
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be
"What is hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.
Eight new choir robes are
currently needed, due to the addition of several new members and to the
deterioration of some older ones.
The senior choir invites any member of the congregation
who enjoys sinning to join the choir.
Please place your donation in the envelope along with the
deceased person you want remembered.
Message from the Pastor
CHRISTMAS
Dear Church Family,
It is important
as we move through the month of December that we not forget the real
reason for celebrating Christmas.
It is unfortunate that the commercial
world has hijacked this Christian Holiday for commercial gain.
We need to stand back in awe and wonder
- remembering that God Loves us so very much that He sent His one and
only son (Jesus Christ) into this world to forgive us our sin and give
us the gift of eternal life, if only we will put our trust completely in
Him.
We may well see many nativity scenes
this Christmas season, along with the three wise men and shepherds.
But we must not forget that we do not
worship a baby in a manager but the risen Lord, the one called:
“Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”. New Living Translation ®
Let’s make it our practice this
Christmas to Celebrate Jesus Christ.
Blessings,
Pastor Gary & Sue
NEWS
The Sri Lanka Baptist Sangamaya will complete 200 years of
ministry in Sri Lanka in April 2013. Many events have been
planned for this historic occasion and we request your prayers
for all preparations being made.
WOMEN'S
FELLOWSHIP
Dear Sisters in Christ,
We thank all of you who are
supporting the work of the WF in prayer, cash and kind
at all times. If not for your generous support and
contributions we wouldn't have been able to carry out
what the Lord wants us to do. We really appreciate your
encouraging words and your constructive criticism. You
have always been an encouragement and strength to us.
We have planned to conduct the
following programs for the Christmas season and would
appreciate very much your prayer support.
14th
December 10.00 a.m. Carol singing and Christmas program
at Welikada Women’s Prisons.
There
are 600 inmates. We have been requested to gift them a
pack of underwear. The cost of same is Rs.200/-. If
you are prompted by God to contribute towards this,
please contact Saumya or Enakshi before the end of
November.
1.17th
December. After the Sinhala/Tamil
carol service - Distribution of Christmas hampers
for recipients of the nutrition packs.
19th December 5.30
p.m. Ladies Christmas
Party. - All Ladies please keep the evening free.
30th Decmber
10.00am Outreach program for lost women –details
will be notified later
Saumya
Perera
President – Women’s
Fellowship CGBC
LETTER FROM OSANDA
Dear all,
First of all let me thank every one of you for your prayers
which kept me safe and in His will on the time I spent in India. God very soon reveled that
it was His will for us to be in India.
My friend and I reached Chennai on the 19th November and took a two day train
ride to Patna in the state known as Bihar. When arrived in Patna
the capital of Bihar Sathyan and I parted to
go to different places. I went to a place called Sikaria where the mission
organization GEMS is located. GEMS is a mission organization which mainly concentrates
on the state of Bihar.Most of the missionaries are south
Indians,but they also have many locals serving. I was sent to different places
to spend time with people and to look into their ministries.
I would like to share with you one particular ministry which
touched my heart deeply. In Bihar there are
some people who belong to a caste called Nutua. These people provided dancers
to the King's court when kings ruled India and this has been their
profession for thousands of years. Now they still engage in dancing and
prostitution. In these villages you get many child prostitutes as young as 10
years old mainly forced by their parents and relatives.
God sent His workers from GEMS to one such
village and after many years they have won the hearts of the people. Though
these people still practice prostitution many have agreed that it's wrong and
now are sending their children to a daycare center which is run by GEMS. God
has touched many lives through this ministry to the extent that some children
have refused to go into prostitution and now are studying at a school far from
the village to change their life style. Work has been started in two more
villages such as this. The Evil One has not given up though. One worker had to
leave because of his wife’s health. The other pastor’s wife has breast cancer
and is now in the hospital.
Prayer
requests:
1.
Please pray for the pastor who serves in that village, Austin Amous, andhis wife Monobai who has
cancer and also for their daughter Javia who is small.
2.
Pray for the villages,Amaritola, Bisramipurtola and Karma Kaderi where they are
working.
3.
Pray also for more workers and land for a building.
4. I still do not have my
visa yet to return to Bangladesh.Please pray that they will come soon with a
final decision. Please pray also for God's guidance for us so that we will know
what He wants us to do.
Blessings,
Osanda
News
from Lasantha and Indunil
Dear
Bro & Sister,
Hope you are doing well in the presence of God. How
wonderful to have you in touch with us. We thank God
for you everyday as you are very significant to us in
this Ministry. You have been a great blessing to us
through out the year by your prayers and support in
different ways. We take this opportunity to thank you
for being united with us specially reaching out to the
students who are going to be leaders of tomorrow.
Thank you once again for being a Ministry partner. We
pray that God may grant your heart’s desires in this New
Year as you are determined to be delighted in the Lord.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Lasantha
& Indunil
Campus Crusade for Christ
Southern
If you
wish to send the Newsletter by e-mail to your friends and
families Overseas,
please send the relevant e-mail addresses to cgbc@sltnet.lk
If you wish to join the SMS Prayer Chain, please contact one
of the Pastors or Devika.
If you have a prayer request
please contact –
Rev.John Gunarathne - 0779420425
Rev. Gary Dean - 0773020546
Devika Ukwatte - 0777154007
CHURCH OFFICE BEARERS -
NEW APPIONTMENTS FOR 2011/2012
Church Representatives : Malik Perera,
Jayashantha Perera and Stephen Stanley
Appointed Representatives to Church Committee
Kithu Mithu Maga :
Nirusha Samarasekera
Women’s Fellowship :
Saumya Perera
Youth Fellowship :
Dinuk Senapathiratne
Other Appointments
Church Newsletter : Champika
Weerasinghe, Nirusha Samarasekera, Priya Abraham, Regina Rabuni,
Arun Sebastian and Church Office
Superintendent Kithu
Mithu Maga
: Sumudu Senapathiratne
Flower
Secretary :
Ranjani de Alwis
Organists :
Kumudu de Silva, Ranjani de Alwis, Nimasha Peiris,
Shilanthi Wijesinghe,
Nelathie de Soyza, Amenthi Weerasinghe, Roshan Kongahapitiya
Communion Table
Arrangements
: Alohoma Moses and Kamala John
Bible Society
Rep. :
Manel Nanayakkara
Cradle Roll
Secretary :
Priyanga Ukwatte
Master of
Works
: Roshan Sivan
Electrical &
Audio Visual : Dinuk
Senapathiratne and Roshan Sivan
Church
Steward :
Lorenzo Kariapperuma
Auditors
: M/s Weerasinghe & Co.
The
Ministry Team discussed the matter of those
using the overnight accommodation facility and gathered that they were
appealing to individual members for assistance whilst they use the
Ferguson Hall. They felt that this was not a satisfactory procedure.
After much deliberation, the Ministry
Team decided to request Church members to route their contributions
through the Church. You can make your contribution indicating to whom
it should be given and put the envelope in the offertory bag. The
Ministry Team can distribute it according to their needs.
Ministry Team.
The National Association
of Church Women Sri Lanka is an organisation comprising women
from all mainline Churches in Sri Lanka, i.e. Anglican, Baptist,
Methodist, Presbyterian, CRC, JDCSI and Salvation Army
In 2005, Mrs. Devika
Ukwatte was appointed on behalf of the Baptist Women’s League as
the Baptist representative on the NACW Committee. The NACW is
affiliated to the Asian Church Women's Conference and each
country has a National Representative who will represent them at
the General Committee of the ACWC.
The National
Representative for Sri Lanka is selected on a rotation basis
from each denomination for a period of 4 years.
Mrs. Devika Ukwatte
(Secretary of CGBC) was appointed as the National Representative
for Sri Lanka of the Asian Church Women's Conference from 2006
to 2010.
At the Quadrennial
Assembly held in Indonesia in October 2010, she was elected Vice
President of the Asian Church Women's Conference.
All honour and glory to
God through whom all things are possible.
From the Church Office
1.If you have any Church Hymn Books you have taken and
not returned, kindly return them as about 25 copies are
missing.
2.Please return the Evaluation Sheet duly completed by
next Sunday.
3.Please also
return the BWL One Day’s Income Covers, if you have not done
so already.
We bade goodbye to
Dr. Heshan and
Lakprabha Wickramasuriya who moved back to 
Blessings,
Next