City Gate Church, Chiang Mai

Blessings follow 20 Days of fasting

2009-10-02T01:35:00.002+07:00

October 2009

Blessings follow 20 Days of fasting

Pastor Gampon led the church members to fast and pray for 20 days in August. Some missed a meal each day; others fasted completely for many days. The change in the spiritual atmosphere we now see can only be the result of prayer.

All the church members come to church on time (a miracle in itself!) to pray in small groups, and the services have a great sense of power. Each week new people come and there have been conversions. Also recently 12 people were baptised. Please pray for the new believers and our follow up.

A visiting speaker from India (Matthew Kuruvilla) had an impact on many churches in Chiang Mai as well as ours. His speaking was entertaining and simple to understand. There were many healings, and he gave us a challenge to evangelism – to see a church of 500 by Christmas!

Visit to the daughter churches

We will hold a seminar at Bethlehem church (9-11 October), and the pastors and youth from the other daughter churches will go there. We are really excited about this, because Bethlehem is one of the weaker churches. For a while we wanted the other churches that are stronger and experiencing a revival to go there and enthuse them. It is much better for hill-tribe people to hear other hill-tribe people preaching and talking about their experience, than us.

Future events

We are starting to plan our Christmas visits to the daughter church villages. The churches find these are great times for outreach into the community, as people are interested in Christmas. We have a celebration in church, followed by a party as an outreach in to the village. We also bring practical blessings such as blankets, some clothes and a medical clinic.

We have been invited to hold another teaching seminar in January for a group of 50 pastors in a neighbouring closed country. Other people working in this country agree that good teaching is one of the greatest needs of the church at present. Please pray for us as we travel - it is a long and uncomfortable drive. Also pray for the pastors -as they gather: many walk 6 hrs to the road, followed by a 3hr bus journey.

We are able to put on the weekend seminar only because of the generosity of one family. So we do ask for your support in prayer and giving, which will enable us to press into these exciting future events that God is opening up for us. Would you join us for the Christmas outreach programme?

Video and photos

The photos show the baptism and worship at Betlehem church.
We have posted a church promotional video on YouTube.

Also here are some recent photos.

Please keep in touch

Please email Nong , if you would like to continue to receive our newlsetter.

With blessings

Pastor Gampon and Miriam Kumdee and the staff team

Lighthouse Coffee Grand Opening.

2008-07-21T19:43:00.003+07:00

Saturday July 19, 2008 was an auspicious day. Lighthouse Coffee Officially opened to the public. Approximately fifty officials, neighbours and friends joined us to celebrate the occasion. The Police Chief of Chang Puak Police Station cut the ribbon. Photos will be posted soon.

Soft Opening for Church Members

2008-06-09T11:44:00.004+07:00

On Sunday June 8, we 'unofficially' launched Lighthouse Coffee with a soft opening, treating the church members to Lattes and Mirjam's special fruit tart.

Pastor Gampon sharing coffee with visiting Pastors

Mirjam serving up her special dessert.

Smiles all round

First cups of coffee

2008-06-04T15:44:00.005+07:00

The last couple of days we've had the privilege of Joanna Johnson from Montana teaching us how to make coffee. So, this morning we enjoyed the 'first fruits' of the Lighthouse. Caramel Latte's, Cappuccino's and Flat whites. Joanna also helped create an instructional video on how to make a Latte.

Mirjam and Gampon are excited the Lighthouse will open soon.

Sean steaming the milk for our coffee.

Also, the furniture has arrived and we're putting the finishing touches on the decor. Lighthouse will be ready to open in about a month.

Relax in a beach front atmosphere... 1000kms from the beach

Gampon, Tongkham and Mirjam prepping the Internet Cafe.

Lighthouse Garden Fountain.

All photos by Joanna Johnson. Thanks Joanna for your help and allowing us to use the photos.

Coming Soon....

2008-05-28T20:47:00.008+07:00

The renovations and preparations for Lighthouse Coffee Shop are going very smoothly. The Lanscaping is almost finished; the interior is complete. We're just waiting on the furniture and the internet cafe equipment.

Lighthouse Kitchen and Interior. The Computer room is through the door on the left.

Beautiful garden atmosphere to enjoy a cup of 'joe' with friends, or work on your laptop using our wireless internet.

Light House Coffee... coming soon!

Everyday Miracles

2008-05-05T21:16:00.003+07:00

Recently we had Baptisms at a swimming pool - 9 new believers were Baptized. The next day one of the new believers had an accident and cracked his back bone. The doctor ordered bed rest for one month. We were really concerned about the affect this would make on his new faith and prayed a lot. One day Gampon woke up very early and felt strongly to pray for this man. Then he had a picture of the man and a tiger on his back. God revealed that this was a major bondage in the life of the new believer. That day Gampon went to visit the guy and talked to him about what God had shown him. The man showed Gampon a big tattoo of a Tiger on his back and explained the circumstances why he got it. The man repented on some issues and then Gampon prayed over him and he immediately stood up and had no more pain. Praise God! He is the God of miracles and reveals the darkness and has the victory over it!

Youth Training Week and Church Camp

2008-05-05T20:47:00.006+07:00

Youth Training Week was held from March 31 till April 5. We had 60 young people, teaching them on the Father heart of God, Sin and forgiveness,Inner Healing, Relationships, Walk through the bible, Evangelism, Holy Spirit...The week was a tremendous success and made a powerful impact into these young peoples life. Our team did a marvelous job and we are so blessed to have each one of them. Tik, one of our staff, also just fit right back in. He had spend the last year in the Philippines, just came back and wants to serve God full time alongside with us.

A week later we headed for our annual church camp (April 12-16). Together with our daughter churches we counted over 150 participants. It was boiling hot!!! Again we saw God touching and changing lifes. Despite cultural differences (Thai, Akkha, Lahu, Karen, American, British and German ) there was a great sense of unity and teamwork.

Simon Teaching the Youth at Youth Training Week

Youth in Prayer and Worship

The Lighthouse

2008-05-05T20:46:00.002+07:00

With the help of a team from the Salvation Armee from Australia we got it all painted. They did such an excellent job! We also changed the doors and lights and are praying for some final funds to come in to buy furniture and refrigerator etc.Yesterday we orderd some cabinetts. Today some of us are working on the landscape outside. The plan is to open the middle or end of May.

A Team helps out at The Lighthouse

2008-04-03T09:32:00.005+07:00

We recently had the pleasure of hosting a team from Australia. They were the Noarlunga Salvation Army team. Captains Robert and Vanessa Evans lead the team from their church in Adelaide. They are close friends of Sean and Anne Sanborn, who have worked with us at City Gate for the past 8 years.

The team came to help us paint The Lighthouse Coffee Shop and begin the landscaping for the garden. They did an awesome job. Robert has lots of experience renovating and painting, so he made sure that a quality job was done. We are very pleased with the results. Here's a few photos of The Lighthouse Coffee Shop space and garden ideas. We'll be adding more photos very soon.

The kitchen sink...

Lots of space to create a fun atmosphere.

One of the ponds in the garden.

Meet Daeng

2008-03-19T12:46:00.007+07:00

Daeng has been a member of City Gate Church for 7 years. After 2 years of serving and worshiping at CGC, it became clear that Daeng had a heart to serve God full time. She prayerfully considered what to do, and approached Pastor Gampon and Mirjam Kumdee about Bible school. She was sent out with Prayers and some financial support. In 2006 Daeng completed 4 years of Training at Bangkok Bible School and then returned to Chiang Mai City Gate Church, where she has now been on Staff for 1 year.

Daeng's giftings are in Children's Ministry, Worship, and Song Writing. Every Friday she volunteers with our church's Children's Hospital visitation team, and on Sunday mornings she assists with teaching Sunday School. She is a gifted Musician and Worship Leader. Many of Daeng's songs are well known in churches all over Thailand. She is hoping to be involved in the production of Worship VideoCDs for Thai children.

We believe in Daeng's calling to Full Time Service, and would like to see her released fully into the destiny that God has for her. Daeng has made great sacrifices in order to work with us, and is in need of financial support to continue her work. Currently, CGC is not even able to provide her with 'minimum wage'. If you are interested in supporting Daeng either financially or in prayer, the please contact us by email and view our website for further details.

Welcome!

2008-03-13T13:07:00.000+07:00

Welcome to City Gate Church, Chiang Mai, Thailand! We're so glad you dropped by to catch up on some news. We'll have a new update about our ministries real soon.

Coming soon....
The Lighthouse Coffee Shop.
City Gate Church is opening a coffee shop in May. It's purpose is two-fold. We want to to be a light in our community, serve good coffee and provide fast internet to our neighbours and students of a nearby college. We also desire to find a way to support our church staff at City Gate and our daughter churches in Northern Thailand. We have lots of start up costs, including 2 fridges (display case for cakes and a standard fridge for other perishables), furniture, lighting, and other renovations.
More details coming soon....