Celebrating Generosity: Family Mission Brazil
It is our great desire to celebrate the generosity of the Lord here at RBC. Over this past Spring Break, Family Life Pastor Mike Meyers led a team of eighteen RBCers – parents and children – to serve in an indigenous region of Brazil. Our U.S. team partnered with a team of Brazilians that included several RBC-supported missionaries working with Open Arms Worldwide. The teams partnered with a tribal church in the village of Limão Verde in order to serve families and reach children with the gospel of Jesus. Many of you gave and prayed in support of their efforts, and we just want you to know how thankful we are for your generosity. Here’s a quick look at their trip.
Celebrating Generosity: Deacons Ministry
Scripture tells us to “bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). With this in mind, the RBC elders have appointed a specific group of men and women in our church to help bear the burdens of those in need. The specific purpose of the Deacon Ministry of Reston Bible Church is to care for the material and financial needs of those who regularly attend our church and consider RBC their church home. Your generosity enables us to serve many people within our congregation who are dealing with a variety of difficult life circumstances. Thank you for being a generous church and helping bear each other’s burdens as an expression of Jesus’ love.
You can learn more about the Deacon Ministry at RBC at www.restonbible.org/deacons.
Celebrating Generosity: Nicaragua Bike Project
RBCers have donated over 500 bikes in support of an orphanage in Managua, Nicaragua. The orphanage has developed a thriving bike shop where orphans are discipled in Christ as they learn vocational skills like bike repair, sales and customer service. Through your generosity, here is how the Lord is impacting lives in Nicaragua.
Celebrating Generosity: Global Missions
The RBC Missions program officially began in 1978 supporting 3 missionaries with a total annual budget of $5000 per year. Since those early years, our involvement in what God is doing around the world has exploded. Each year we are blessed to send multiple teams of RBC adults and youth on short term missions trips to support evangelistic efforts, construction projects, camps for children and more. Additionally, 19 of our RBC families and singles are currently serving the LORD oversees long-term and it is our great privilege to be their home sending church.
Because of decades of your continual generosity, today your giving extends to 59 countries supporting 191 missionaries including many nationals serving in their country of origin. Through your prayers and giving, and our missionary family, God is planting churches in areas where none exist, caring for refugees and bringing them to salvation in Jesus, training pastors in oversees bible colleges and seminaries, translating Scripture into other languages, supporting urban & rural churches, ministering to orphans and children and much more.
Through you and your generosity, God is reaching the nations with the love of Christ.
From our humble beginning of allocating $5000 to overseas missions, your faithful giving to the general fund has expanded the annual budget for these global mission efforts to over $1.5 million per year. The results since 1978? Over $36.8 million given towards world missions. Even more importantly, God has used you to bring tens of thousands of lives to a saving knowledge of Himself, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So again, I thank each of you for your generosity. I encourage you to keep keeping on, for our Lord is worthy of it!
Celebrating Generosity: Youth Winter Retreat
Here’s a quick update from Pastor Aaron Osborne on this year’s Youth Winter Retreat and how your generosity is impacting the lives of students for the glory of God. Thank you for being a generous church.
Celebrating Generosity: Guilford Thanksgiving
Over Thanksgiving, RBC partnered with the staff of Guilford Elementary School to host a Thanksgiving dinner for the students and their families. Over 700 people enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving meal, many for the first time. Every person left full, happy, and grateful. We are so thankful for your generosity and your faithfulness. The staff at Guilford sends their thanks for your continued amazing support! Thank you for being a generous church.
Celebrating Generosity: First Fruits
Because of the generosity of over 800 volunteers who did 150 jobs, our First Fruits project raised over $41,000! Food and gift cards were personally delivered to 35 families and another 35 will receive food cards in the next few days. Excess funds will be used to provide several scholarships to local high school students and bless the staff of several area high schools. Thanks to all who donated directly, provided jobs and participated that day to bring joy (and food) to many hurting families in our community. Thank you for being a generous church!
Celebrating Generosity: Solid Ground
Because of your generosity, Reston Bible Church can host classes like Solid Ground, where many can explore the firm foundations of the Christian faith. Thank you for being a generous church.
VIDEO: Post-Election Considerations
Here are some post-election considerations from Pastor Mike as we interact on social media. As you interact with those around you – even (or especially) those with whom you disagree – consider how you might live out these these words from Colossians 3.
Colossians 3:1-17
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
(From the English Standard Version, emphasis added)
From the Field: Open Arms in Brazil
Open Arms Worldwide (OAW) is a Christian organization dedicated to the spiritual, moral, emotional, physical and social enrichment of children and youth who live in under-served or forgotten communities around the world – communities where families and children are at higher risk of becoming victims of poverty, crime, violence, addiction, abuse, and social marginalization. Christian hope is the distinctive of Open Arms and the catalyst that sets life transformation into motion. The Christian faith instills a hope that is not dependent on physical circumstances. This hope results in resiliency, perseverance, healthy socialization, a sense of history, community and belonging, and strong moral and civic character. These are exactly the attributes that these children require if they are to overcome the obstacles before them and fulfill their God-given potential. RBC currently provides support to two OAW missionary families, including Eduardo & Claudia Ribeiro, who shared at our worship services last weekend.
This year, OAW celebrates its tenth year as a ministry organization. For a decade, Open Arms has been bringing hope to children who live in under-served and forgotten communities in Brazil and here in the U.S. What began in one small community in the interior of Brazil has been replicated in 12 communities across 3 states in Brazil, and serves more than 1,000 children weekly. Since 2013, OAW has also worked with local stateside churches and schools from their U.S. headquarters in Sterling, Virginia.
Please pray for OAW, their “agents of hope” and the children they reach with the hope of the gospel. Here are some stories from the field of how lives have been changed as OAW seeks to know Christ and to make Him known in Brazil and beyond.