Welcome to this edition of the Council Newsletter.

The majority of this issue is devoted to what the Lord is doing in our Fellowship throughout Europe.

Our work began there around three decades ago with a tiny outpost in Liverpool, England. Since that time it has steadily spread across the U.K. and the Continent, built upon the hard work and faithfulness of brothers and sisters determined to carry the Good News back, usually, to family and friends.

We start off with a round up of the two European Summer Camps then an introduction of the main European assemblies and outreach centres.

Please remember our European brethren in your prayers and plans.

A visit to one of their camps is a great way to get to know a lot of brethren in a short time. Alternately, if you're heading there on holidays, why not spend some time helping with evangelising in a small assembly? They'd certainly appreciate the visit and the help.

In the final segment of this issue, we bring you up to date on happenings from around the world.

As always, we trust you enjoy sharing in the wonderful blessings of being in a Fellowship dedicated to serving the Lord Jesus Christ.

This years the European saints held two Summer Camps: the first on the Continent at Wasserkueppe in Germany organized by Holland, then two weeks later a U.K. Camp at Lymington in Hampshire.

The camp, held in a quaint, former Air Force barracks, was well supported with over 300 saints gathering from Holland, Germany, France, Czech, Hungary, Switzerland, the British Isles and elsewhere. They shared a week of great fellowship and the ministry of the Word based around the theme "the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power."

European Camp - the audience	"Holland vs the World" Soccer Match (the Dutch saints won!)

The U.K. camp, located in a picturesque, private school in the New Forest area of Hampshire, drew saints from all over the U.K. and Ireland; with a sprinkling of other overseas visitors. The ministry of the Word and the fellowship were great while the entertainment included some hilarious visits by "Laurel and Hardie" and the "Thunderbirds".

U.K. Camp	One of 6 baptisms at the camp

Some of the European assemblies

LONDON - Our work in the capital comprises two meetings: the "old" meeting in the northern suburb of Stanmore and the recently-established extension meeting in the western suburb of Richmond.

Pastor Warren Sharrock is the senior pastor for the London meetings, supported by Pastor Martin Polhill at Stanmore and relatively newly-appointed Pastor Yomi Okunola at Richmond.

London suffers from bad traffic and it was thought a new front out in the west where some of the revival was occurring was a good step forward - and this has proven to be the case.

Pastor Warren Sharrock and his wife Wendy

Stanmore meeting	Pastor Martin Polhill and his wife Lisa
Richmond Meeting	Pastor Yomi Okunola and his wife Cecile

MEDWAY - just southeast of London is the Medway area assembly in Kent. Located in the town of Gillingham, they recently acquired their own property and converted it into a hall which has ample facilities on the lower level to offer free accommodation to any saints who would like to combine some local evangelising with tourism. (Contact Pastor Steve Murphy through your local pastor.)

Medway Meeting with Pastor Steve Murphy on the left

EXETER - Pastor Ray Welch looks after a small group that ranges over a wide area in this southwest corner of England. Pastor Ray says, "Why not add beautiful Devon to your U.K. trip? We'll look after you in return for some help with the outreaching!"

Pastor Ray Welch and his wife Nicky

LIVERPOOL - located up in the central west of England, Liverpool is looked after by two pastors: Pastor Steve Gillespie (also the U.K. Council representative) and one of the U.K. Fellowship's earliest converts, Pastor Bob Jones.

Liverpool meeting	Pastor Steve Gillespie and his wife Pam

Pastor Bob Jones

MANCHESTER - about an hour inland from Liverpool is the newish outreach meeting in industrial Manchester. A small group there is evangelising the city under the leadership of brother Lee Finney.

Lee Finney and his wife Yarni

BELFAST - The assembly there continues to preach the Good News under the care of its leader, brother Steve. The region now enjoys relative peace after years of sectarian violence - so the saints are keen to get the gospel out wherever they can.

DUBLIN - a small group has recently started up in the Irish capital. Brother Mark Hardy and John Green are caring for the group and regularly head downtown to evangelise to all who will listen in this deeply Roman Catholic city.

Dublin meeting

HOLLAND - as reported in the last edition the main assembly in Dordrecht has recently inaugurated an extension meeting 20 minutes away in this compact country at Rotterdam. Revival continues briskly with baptisms every week. Pastor Pieter Visser, the Council representative for the Continent, supervises his two local anchor pastors, Pastor Bert Schenk in Dordrecht, and recently-appointed Pastor Ben Visser in Rotterdam. Things are going well enough that they are now looking to buy their second hall to cater for the Rotterdam meeting.

Pastor Pieter Visser and his wife Netty

Pastor Bert Schenk and his wife Klaasje	Dordrecht meeting
The new Rotterdam meeting	Pastor Ben Visser and his wife Louisa

GERMANY - saints conduct outreach meetings in two cities: near Nuremberg and Stuttgart in the south. They work together to conduct outreaches as well as helping with evangelism across the border in Switzerland.

The German saints

SWITZERLAND - a group of saints meet faithfully at Bern in the beautiful Swiss highlands for fellowship and evangelizing led by brother Stephan Regli.

Meeting in Switzerland

HUNGARY - Pastor Chris Kaye cares for this enthusiastic church which is centred at Budapest, the capital. A group has also sprung up among the gypsy community at Hodász located some 300km east of Budapest.

Pastor Chris Kaye and his wife Monika	Hungarian brethren

CZECH - after escaping to Australia during the Communist era, the last thing Pastor Jara Prouza and his wife visualised was returning to their homeland. But this is exactly what God had planned for them when a small group grew up around his preaching in Trutnov, a beautiful city near the Polish border. There are now over 30 dedicated Spirit filled people. They are building their own hall to seat 70 by restoring the upstairs section of a barn.

Pastor Jara Prouza and his wife Liana

OTHER - there have recently been baptisms and outreaches in a variety of spots dotted throughout Europe - from France to Finland. We pray God blesses these with revival, and leaders, as time goes on.

In mid August Pastors Brian Allen of Mt Gambier and Ron Carslake of South Africa visited Kitue as a result of a contact received in Australia. This visit resulted in baptising 54 folk. Most received the Holy Spirit (evidenced by speaking in tongues) by the time they left two days later.

"They just didn't want us to leave", reports pastor Brian.

As a follow up, Pastors Sammy and Dennis from Kenya have just spent a week or so there in September. Another 16 were baptized (as at the time of going to print).

Pastor Ron plans to go back mid October to reinforce the work begun there.

Pastor Ron Carslake baptizing a candidate in Zambia	Some folk watch the next baptism while others are praying for the spirit

To help in a practical way the Fellowship's Mission Fund has donated over $25000 to establish a banana plantation. It is difficult for saints in developed, western countries to grasp the depth of poverty in places like Brazil where people are happy to work, but finding employment can be difficult - and even if they can find employment, wages are often abysmal.

After all the hard work, the first crop of bananas is expected next month.

.

The brethren pitching in to get the plantation irrigation up and going	and a Brazilian brother looking on a bunch of bananas not far from ripening

Young Peoples' Camp "Survivor II"
OCT 2, 3, 4
Don't miss it!
(Enquiries: pk_n@iprimus.com.au)

The big annual outreach in Fiji takes place 7-11th October 2004. A contingent of 25 is heading over from Australia and New Zealand, keen to help the locals with evangelism.

Last year's outreach in Fiji

The "other" big annual evangelical event is the PNG National Rally just held 17th-28th September, 2004 at Rabaul. The 23 overseas visitors joined many local saints to bring the Good News to a country labouring under the social strains of despair, substance abuse, sickness, and crime.

An Australian film crew of four also joined the trip with a view to producing another documentary.

24 baptisms at Port Moresby Sunday 19th September	A Prayer Line at the Rabaul Rally

The visit began well in Pt Moresby with 24 baptisms on the Sunday followed by outreaching over in Rabaul. The rainy weather on the Saturday and the loss of power late on the Sunday didn't stop some 92 locals from being baptized in Rabaul. Praise the Lord.

"It was awesome! I'd just love to go again", reported one of the young people from Perth, Australia.