Ethnos missionaries, Craig and Leilani Bauman, have been working with New Life Indigenous Fellowship in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan for the past seven years. They have been coming alongside the church with the vision of encouraging and equipping the Indigenous believers with culturally shaped foundational Bible teaching and disciple-making, so that the Indigenous church can be stable and maturing and empowered to plant more Indigenously lead churches!
There are many hurdles to a maturing, thriving and multiplying Indigenous church and taking the time to identify and learn about these with the Indigenous believers is a slow but necessary process. This looks different from a typical Ethnos church planting process — but it is still an intentional process using principles and resources Ethnos employs around the world.
Over the years, Craig and Leilani have been able to share Ethnos stories, teach the first few levels of foundational Bible teaching, and disciple in creative ways. The church is growing and maturing and starting to look beyond its own walls to share Jesus with family, friends and the broader community.
Last year, the Indigenous pastor of New Life Fellowship was asked by an Indigenous believer from a reserve four hours north of Prince Albert to bring some of our folks to the reserve to encourage the believers there. The believer from the north knows the church in Prince Albert has become a growing and maturing church fellowship, he has joined some of the foundational Bible teaching sessions, and he is praying that perhaps having New Life Indigenous believers come to the reserve will help spark something new for the believers there. Initially, he is not looking for a structured ‘program’, but feels there is the need to build strong relationships, spend time praying and worshipping together, and then spend time learning together. This is less formal but still intentional and heading in a direction to form and build a maturing church community on the reserve. It will likely be a long and slow process, but there is desire for this.
- Join us in praising God for what He is doing in New Life Fellowship and on the reserve.
- Pray for believers at New Life Indigenous Fellowship to continue to be strong in their faith, find deep healing, and have vision and courage to share their faith with others.
- Pray for the Indigenous believers on the reserve.
- Pray that God will work in His ways and in His timing to kindle a strong fellowship on the reserve that will shine the light of Jesus in that community.
Connect with Craig and Leilani: ethnos.ca/craig-and-leilani.
Learn what Ethnos is doing in Northern Canada: ethnos.ca/indigenous-ministries.
