Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Scotland

Our Goal in Scotland is to establish Church Planting movements in the 5 major population centers of Scotland.

Once the Church in Scotland was a city on a hill; sending missionaries throughout the world. Scotland produced such shining lights as David Livingstone and Eric Liddell who carried the message of salvation by God’s grace to the uttermost parts of the world. Today less than 3 percent of Scotland’s population is Evangelical Christian. It is heartbreaking to see the light slowly covered up by the darkness.

Scotland is a team of church-planters and resource workers working to reap a harvest among the Scottish people. It is their plan to work with various Scottish denominations to establish church-planting movements in all five major population centers in Scotland. They will be involved in churches that are strongly committed to growth through evangelism; believing that Jesus will build His Church, Matthew 16:18, by the power of the Gospel, Romans 1:16.
Our team intends to help reach Scotland through the following areas of ministry.

Church planting
The goal is to build church-planting movements, whose energy continues to grow far into the future, long after our workers are gone. In keeping with this goal, we will help plant Churches that focus on reaching Scottish communities with the life transforming message of the gospel.

Church Revitalization
We will seek to place workers in her partner Denominations in order to help facilitate revitalizing strategic congregations. These workers will be involved in a wide variety of ministries designed to rebuild the Church in Scotland and help her effectively reach her nation with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Family Support Scotland
Family Support Scotland is a charity-based counselling service that offers support to individuals, couples and families as they deal with a wide range of issues including: depression, marital problems, anxiety and child-parent problems.

Evangelism and Discipleship
Our team members will all be involved in sharing the gospel in their neighborhoods and through the various ministry fields in which they serve. Her members will actively serve in local congregations to strengthen the faith of believers in Scotland.

Youth and University
God is moving among the youth in Scotland. We will seek to educate young people about the work of Jesus Christ and its implications for their lives.

Short-term teams
Many American Churches have a great interest in the work in Scotland. This interest will find expression through one and two week mission trips. We will help to connect US and Scottish churches of similar convictions to work together in the expansion of the gospel throughout Scotland.

We need people to pray for our success, support us financially or join us in Scotland. Is God calling you to join in our effort to reclaim Scotland for Jesus Christ? Join us in praying like John Knox “God, give me Scotland or I die!”


For more information contact
Vince Wood
vrwood@live.com

February



























The Wood Family
vrwood@live.com

February 2009

Dear friends,

Recently we had the opportunity to speak at a Mission's Conference. The theme of the conference was The Gospel Under Attack. The keynote speaker gave a stirring presentation of the attack on believers in Muslim countries. It was eye-opening to consider the dangers faced by those who give their life to Jesus.

In one of the 'break-out' sessions, Vince was asked to describe how the gospel is being opposed in Scotland. This provided us the opportunity to seriously consider the warfare being waged for souls in Scotland. In addition we realized that as we seek to take the Gospel to people who are perishing, we face opposition from a demonically cruel and angelically powerful enemy. Peter describes our enemy as a roaring lion. We have seen and heard a roaring lion. We grasp the seriousness of Peter's warning.

One of the difficulties we face is that we are here in the US and our work is in Scotland. As we are in the States, the need to build trust with our Scottish partners remains. Satan tirelessly tries to drive wedges between those committed to reaching the world for Jesus. Distance is a great tool that Satan uses to breed distrust. We have seen some of this develop recently with our brothers in Scotland. We need to be on site to sit face to face and reassure our coworkers in Christ.

Our separation from the field also brings difficulty to our team. Some of our members are struggling and we cannot assist them. Others will be moving to Scotland unaided, trying to begin a ministry without the leadership they need. Recruits need to visit Scotland to get a feel for the ministry to discern God's call. Vince, as Team Leader, needs to be there to provide the necessary leadership.

In addition to these difficulties, we also face personal attacks. As Vince was away traveling recently, he experienced great waves of discouragement. While we are raising support we are limited in the amount of service we can render to our local church. We love Christ's church. We love to serve her. And yet, as we are frequently gone, our involvement is greatly limited. On a positive note, recently at our apartment complex, the three of us were able to share the gospel with two couples, one of whom admitted that Vince was the first pastor she had ever met. Please pray for these couples and for more ministry opportunities to our neighbors.

Will you please pray for us? As we face such attacks from that roaring lion, please ask God to place a hedge of protection around us keeping us strong against the temptation for discouragement. As the armies of Joshua were strengthened while Moses prayed, may God empower us to resist the devil through your intercession on our behalf.

Will you join our team? Our monthly support is currently about 25% of our total need but we draw close to 40% from our account each month to cover living expenses and travel costs. We also need to have 80% pledged by June if we are to meet our January 2010 goal to move to Scotland.

• Have you planned to support us but you haven't gotten around to it yet? Have you forgotten or lost our pledge information? We understand how that happens!

• Will you jump on board now? Will you give monthly or a one time gift?

• Please contact MTW at the address below and commit yourself to sending us to Scotland.

Let us know if you or your church would like us to visit and share more specifics about our work. We are open to speak at any gathering in which we can promote the work of Jesus around the world.

We are very confident that you pray for us regularly. We are very thankful for those who are faithfully supporting us financially as well. Thank you! We thank God for you and your participation in the gospel.

In Jesus’ love,

Vince, Robin and Michael

please send support or pledges to
MTW
PO Box 116284
Atlanta, GA 30368-6284
Account #18279

About Me

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I have been a PCA pastor since 1993, having been a pastor in Arizona, Florida, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and as the Team Leader for MTW’s work in Scotland. I am currently the Senior Pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church in York, PA. As a pastor, my desire is to help everyone I meet live out Psalm 73:25, “Whom have I in Heaven but You, and besides You I desire nothing on earth.” I love my Wife Robin, my two sons, Patrick and Michael and my daughter in law, Britney. I am firmly wrapped around the fingers of my granddaughters.

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