Missions & Church Planting Update (Partnerships, Prayer Points, and More)

Missions | by Pastor Marco Ribeiro

Downtown Cornerstone,

In light of Pastor Adam preaching on God’s unfolding mission the other week, we thought it’d be fitting to send out a church planting update so you can be encouraged at what Jesus is doing in and through your faithful giving and prayers.

For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”

– Romans 15:18–21

Isn't it interesting that the apostle Paul can use the short phrase ‘bringing the Gentiles to obedience’ as a summary of the fulfillment of the ministry of the gospel of Christ? Of course, ‘bringing people to obedience’ is a summary of Jesus’ commission to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt. 18:20). One way to phrase our mission as a church is to bring others to obedience to Jesus Christ, which simultaneously displays our love to God (as we desire to see him worshiped and obeyed) and our love for people, who can only truly flourish if they turn to Jesus Christ in the obedience of faith.

It is instructive to observe how Paul went about fulfilling this ministry – we get a glimpse in Acts 19-21, where Paul starts with a small group of twelve men (19:7), plants a local church, and teaches them the whole counsel of God in public and from house to house (19:9; 20:20,27), even as he works with his own hands to support both himself and others (20:34-35). Paul spent three years in Ephesus (20:31), and as a result, “all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks (19:10)”, after which Paul proceeded to strengthen previous churches (21:1-16) before making it his ambition to preach the gospel and plant more churches amongst those who had not yet heard the gospel.

In addition to our local evangelism and discipleship, we want to follow Paul’s pattern, by partnering with other churches or church planters. We also train and send some of our own members called by God to proclaim the gospel somewhere else, prioritizing peoples among whom Christ is yet to be named. It is for this reason that we set aside at least 10% of our budget towards ministry outside our walls.

What follows below are some updates on these various efforts, ways you can be praying, and resources on how to get involved. (You'll also find more information about our next Global Missions Meetup taking place this Sunday, February 13th.)

Let's continue to pray for these missionaries, churches and ministries. Pray that the gospel would go forth, pray for that more souls would be saved, and that the Lord would make us a people who live both as those who were sent and those who are sending others, for his glory and our joy.

In Christ,
Pastor Marco

Local, National and International Partnerships

Acts 29
Our church is part of the Acts 29 church planting network, which provides a great structure and vetting to help us support a variety of church planting and pastoral training efforts around the world. We also ‘personally’ support the following individual churches / planters:

Radiant Church Matsu Valley | Palmer, AK
(Caleb Richardson)
Radiant is encouraged by how the Lord is continuing to grow them as a church. Although they’ve experienced quite a bit of churn from Covid, they are trusting in how the Lord is growing them in maturity. Be praying that the Lord would raise up more elders and leaders within the church and that God would use their upcoming church conference to encourage their hearts and be a catalyst for more church planting in Alaska.

Sufficient Grace Church | Puyallup, WA
(Noah Winningham)
Sufficient Grace Church is a church plant we’ve been supporting since its conception, around 1 year ago. As you can imagine, finding a meeting space during COVID was a big challenge, but God providentially blessed them with fellow believers at a local school who were eager to help them rent a space. It is a blessing for us to watch a nearby church grow in maturity, as they grow in prayer, teaching, and gospel proclamation. The Lord continues to go before them through growing and multiplying communities. They are thankful for his provision as they work towards being less reliant on external giving, and as the church grows in size and generosity. Continue to pray that the Lord would use SGC in Puyallup and the South Hill area to declare the gospel and make disciples.

Soma Fuchu | Tokyo, Japan
(Yoshito Noguchi)
Our brothers and sisters at Soma Fuchu are rejoicing at finally being able to meet face to face. They recently held a joyful ordination ceremony for Jon Cole, who was appointed as pastor and are celebrating God’s grace to them in many other ways this past year. They ask for prayer so that many friends and acquaintances of members would hear the gospel, that they would be able to develop a local (Japanese) intern for ministry and leadership, and for partner churches in Japan. Finally, “many spiritual forces are strong at work throughout Japan. Please pray that the gospel will be deeply rooted and that the gospel will be boldly proclaimed.”

Antalya Protestant Church / Reach Turkey | Antalya, Turkey
(Kerem Koç)
In addition to Antalya Church, we are supporting efforts to train church planters in Turkey and translate gospel-saturated resources (e.g. books) into the Turkish language. Ministry in Turkey presents a variety of challenges, but the Lord has been faithful.

Restore Brazil
(Jay Bauman)
Our support to Restore Brazil is disbursed to a variety of small churches and church planters participating in their church residency program. They also have an initiative specifically focused on training pastors who minister in Brazil’s slums, and have recently started developing work in Mozambique, Africa – sending Brazilian missionaries (the language is the same), and developing a local institute for theological training.

DCC Global Missionaries

We also equip and support our own members as our Global Partners in taking the gospel to the nations. Due to security reasons, we are unable to publicly list them here. However, if you are interested in learning more about our current Global Partners serving in Chad, Africa and Southeast Asia, email us at

Learn More and Get Involved

Friends, we are all called to the mission of ‘bringing the Gentiles to obedience’, for their good and God’s glory. Here are a few ways to get involved:

• Pray: Start here. We cannot fulfill Jesus’ mission for us in our own strength. Just as Paul appeals to the Romans to strive together with him in his prayers to God (Rom. 15:30), we appeal to you “by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit” to pray to the Father for all of our partners above, and for guidance on how you can join this work as a sender or a goer.
• Join our regular Global Missions Meetups: This month we will hear from The Al-Ma'idah Initiative on how we can be better equipped at reaching Muslims with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Register here.
• Consider taking a more intentional role: We’ve developed a Global Missions Development Pipeline to help provide practical pathways and training for engagement in missions. This is both aimed at people who think they may be called to be missionaries, and those who want to grow in becoming better senders. In order to successfully send a church planting team, all kinds of needs must be provided for: accountability, prayer, sending leadership, finances, business mentorship, and other types of practical support. Thus, there are many ways to be involved. You can read more about our Global Missions Development Pipeline and how you can begin taking next steps here.