To our supporters and those thinking of joining
Dear financial and prayer supporters,
First off I wanted to thank you so much for your support, for the time spent in prayer for us and with us for Iceland, and for those of you who have given off your hard-earned money this year, especially considering that many have faced difficult financial circumstances this year, which can easily translate to less giving, and more time spent working, and yet you've given to us and prayed for us, I never want to take it for granted to have such an amazing family of faith that stands with us, gives to us, and prays for us so that we can continue the gospel work on the ground in Iceland.
It is a privilege to serve God as a pastor of His church, let alone to get to do it full time, I want you to know how grateful to God I am for your support of this work, and to tell you that I do not take it as a given that I get to focus my days on the goal of reaching the lost, teaching the Bible and making much of Jesus, especially when I think of the days when we started out, the first 3 years or so, when we started the work without such an amazing network of generous people and churches supporting us financially and joining us in prayer.
When I think of you I think of a story about William Carey in 1793, later dubbed “the father of the modern missionary movement”, as he had his farewell service in Leicester, England before going to India he spoke with his supporters, Andrew Fuller, one of the men who vowed to stand by him in support later described the occasion with an analogy:
He said that the mission to India seemed like a few men who considered going into a deep, unexplored mine. It was as if Carey said, “Well, I will go down, if you will hold the rope.” The meeting, in Fuller’s mind, was as if he and the other brothers gave their word that “whilst we lived, we should never let go the rope.”
Well, the year is definitely not 1793, and most people will be hesitant of making a commitment for a lifetime to hold the rope, either in giving or prayer, but over the years we’ve had some faithful churches and individuals hold the rope as we dive into the all too vacant mine that is gospel ministry in Iceland, seeking by God’s sustaining grace to serve his kingdom, and by God’s grace some have held the rope for a while, and when they had to let go to turn their focus to other places, we’ve always had others willing to take their place.
You, our dear supporter, with your prayers and generosity have held the ropes this year, and for that, we are so very grateful.
Because of your support we’ve been able to celebrate 8 confessions of faith this year, 12 people taking steps of faith to be baptized by God's grace, and with more on the way to become baptized, we’ve seen the church grow in attendance, been able to meet an overwhelming meet with a flood of refugees coming to the country in some ways, and seen yet others grow in faith and in serving God and the church.
By God’s grace, in our partnership, we have been able to reach souls that have been transformed by the grace of Jesus, and by God’s grace, these very souls will be worshipping our God in heaven for all eternity.
It has always been my prayer that God would allow us to become a church that does not need financial support eventually, but rather is self-sustainable, and more than that, able to eagerly take after the example that you’ve set for us and support others in their mission to reach the lost here in Iceland and beyond for the glory of God, we are inching our way towards that goal, but are yet ways out.
This is the time of year when people and churches start thinking about their budgets for the coming year, and the time of year when I start figuring out if I need to do some fundraising or not.
So I am sending this letter to thank you for your generosity and your prayers, and to ask if you are both willing and able to continue giving towards the ministry here on the ground and praying that Jesus would work in mighty ways to increase the fame of His name here in Iceland in 2023?
Right now it looks like we need to fundraise for the coming year which has been made difficult with some travel restrictions which makes it difficult to catch up with old partners and meet potential new financial supporters, so I wanted to ask:
Would you be praying for us as we seek to fundraise for the coming year.
For those who have an interest in supporting the work financially to prayerfully consider if that's something that you are called to do.
Keep us in mind if you know of other churches or individuals that you think would like to support our work here, either with their prayers or giving.
Thank you for prayerfully considering supporting us in the mission to elevate the fame of Jesus name in Iceland our dear family of faith, may God be glorified in our gospel partnership.
If you do want to become a supporter here's a form you can fill out that contains information on how to give online or via check in the US at the bottom of it.
If you want to read more about what's been happening on the ground or sign up for our monthly(ish) newsletter you can look and sign up here.
If you have any further questions you can send me an at gunnar@loftstofan.is
Your brother in Christ,
Gunnar Ingi Gunnarsson