Dear praying friends,
April has been an exciting month for our church plant! We started the month with a group from a supporting church in Maryland, who helped distribute 800 Book of Romans and Easter Invites out in our neighborhood. Praise the Lord for the Gospel going forth, and we know His Word never returns void.
We held two morning services for Easter this year. Our first
service was sweet, with just two handfuls of our faithful
crowd. Our second service had a few first-time visitors and several returning guests. We had nine little kids under the age of six. We love seeing God’s little house in Pelham Bay packed out for the Lord’s Day. Amber had her first ladies singing group that sang three specials for the congregation this year. Our girls love having friends their age at church, and we are so thankful for the young
families God has brought us. We look forward to the day, Lord willing soon, when we can have a children’s class and teach these precious little kids songs and scriptures each week about their Creator!
We also had two people get baptized this month; praise the Lord! One was a young man who accepted Christ during discipleship. The other was his grandmother, who has been faithfully coming to church for over a year and started coming because Elly befriended
her and her dogs when they walked by the church each week. You probably
remember us sharing that story last year in one of our prayer letters. Seeing God work in families within the community where He has planted this church is so neat! But our hearts still think of the many other neighborhoods in the Bronx and the rest of NYC that need a Gospel-preaching church and are just waiting for someone to bring them the truth.
Last week I was witnessing near a high school, and I had the chance to witness to a couple handfuls of teenagers who never had someone explain the Gospel to them before. Please pray for these young people who heard the truth and took the book of Romans from me, that they would come to accept Christ. It is always neat when people you think wouldn’t want to hear the Gospel actually listen intently as you explain it to them. May we continue to be faithful in the work God has called us all to. Thank you for your faithful investment in our family and ministry.
His for New York City,
Jon, Amber, Ellyanna & Makayela Canavan