RenovArte Café is the ministry of Phil and Sandy Jones. Its’ vision is to reach today’s young adults for Jesus in a relevant, organic and innovative way; making true disciples that can multiply and impact this generation.

Young people at RenovArte Café

The team at RenovArte have joyfully served hundreds of cappuccinos, lattes, frappes and teas over the last 12 months, but as Phil shares his top three highlights for the first year, it is clear that RenovArte is more than just a café.

Phil’s Top 3

1. Seeing God fill the cafe with young people on several occasions and being able to share the message of Jesus.
2. The many one on one conversations with students in need of a listening ear and a Jesus perspective. And that when we’re real and talk about Jesus, they listen.
3. The community that has formed around the cafe ministry from friends and family who help, clients who have lent a hand with the renovations and everyday visitors who can’t do without their daily interaction at RenovArte.

The new RenovArte Café

RenovArté celebrated with a week of special promotions on drinks and food, live music and invited groups. The regular Thursday night student bible study run by ‘Conexion Vertical,’ which meets in the café, had a distinctively festive theme too!

The café recently moved to a more strategic location within the plaza where they originally began. Now it has street frontage, and is directly across the road from the entrance to the university.

Phil and Sandy hope and pray that this step of faith for the Café, would lead to many more steps of faith by those who come through its doors.

Through partnership, you can be part of RenovArte Café too…

Go and join the vibrant team… Click here for Current Vacancies at RenovArté Cafe

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Give today and make a difference in Mexico in 2012… Click here to give to RenovArte Café this Christmas

Naomi Jones

Celebrating Christmas in Austria is different in many ways to celebrating Christmas in Australia. We don’t sit around the dining room table wearing t-shirts and shorts with paper hats on our heads, and there’s no beach trip after lunch or watching the kids from next door ride their new bikes down the street.

A young girl receives a baby doll toy from the Oasis Team

Ideally, Christmas in Austria happens with snow falling outside. A traditional Christmas dinner is eaten on Christmas Eve. and after dinner the children open their presents and sometimes people venture out to gather around little wooden huts serving warm punch, or to look at the amazing Christmas lights that decorate the city.

At Christmas time the Oasis team enjoys giving gifts to the men, women and children who come to our Christmas programs.

The gifts we give to the children – from Barbie dolls to soft toys to toy cars, may be their first new toys in a long time, if ever.

Milka chocolate, tea, coffee and sugar feature in the gifts given to the adults, as well as the special addition of perfume or cosmetics for women and rubber thongs, pen and notepad for the men.

A refugee from Kosova said to me one year, “this gift has almost everything that a refugee needs.”

A young boy receives a toy from the Oasis Team

Through giving gifts at Christmas, the Oasis team hopes to show refugees that God loved them so much that He gave the best present, in sending Jesus to earth as a baby.

We attach a card with a bible verse written in multiple languages to each of the adult gifts, so the refugees can read for themselves about the coming of Jesus in Bethlehem.

Just as has happened at the Oasis for the last 25 years, in 2011, the Oasis Christmas programs for children, women and men/families will be a special time for the Christian refugees to celebrate the birth of Christ, and an opportunity for refugees from other countries including Afghanistan, Syria, Kosova, Iran, Iraq and Chechnya, where Christmas is not usually celebrated, to hear the message of God’s love for them in Jesus.

David Field

Click here to find out more about how you can get involved in helping refugees

In September 2001 we were an Australian family of four stepping out of a train in the city of Donetsk, Ukraine.

John and Kathy- family and ministry over the years

How does a couple with two young sons end up in such an odd location? For that we have to go back another ten years! Yes – it took ten years from when we first felt God calling us into full time ministry until we actually set foot on the ‘mission field’!

God is not always in a hurry but He faithfully drew us, prepared us and provided for us as we moved through the process of Bible College, deciding on a mission and a location, a short term mission to Donetsk, training with International Teams (ITeams) and then raising a prayer and support team.

Our arrival at Donetsk train station was a celebration of ten years of God’s faithful preparation. John and I had arrived to begin missionary service at Donetsk Christian University.

A decade of service

Ten years on, we have served five years in Ukraine, and five years in the Netherlands with ITeams. Our decade of serving has had its’ ups and downs, but God remains faithful.

• Those wonderful “ah-ha” moments for students when something we’ve been teaching suddenly sinks in and they just get it!
• Seeing former students now serving as missionaries.
• The snow, the cold, the snow… and did I mention the snow? It is so beautiful!
• The times when the clash of wealth and poverty messed with our heads – on one side of our apartment was a designer label clothes shop, while on the other, people went through our garbage looking for food.
• The people – students, colleagues, fellow missionaries, our Russian teacher.
• The way God worked in our hearts and through the voices of wise pastors and leaders to guide us into the next stage of service in the Netherlands.
• The joy of riding bicycles through the Dutch forests – a time to find healing and relief after a tough final year in Donetsk.
• From Russian to Dutch – the struggle for our 40-year-old brains of grappling with another new language.
• Witnessing the amazing way our boys adapted to attending school after 6 years of homeschooling.
• The deep disappointment each time our application for residency permits was denied and struggling with the fear of being kicked out of The Netherlands.
• Ongoing thankfulness to God for His faithfulness in supplying all our needs and for the prayers and support of an incredible team of partners who have journeyed with us over these 10 years.
• The joy of outworking our calling to equip the saints for works of service (Eph 4:11-12) both in ITeams teams and through our church, Thousand Hills International Church.

Looking forward

We will remain in the Netherlands while our sons, now 18 and 16, finish high school in June 2012 and June 2013, and then begin further study here. We have the privilege of continuing to train ITeams missionaries throughout Europe and helping them to be and to do everything that God has called them to. We also love being part of a vibrant, growing, hope-filled church.

The spiritual needs in Europe are great, so there will never be a shortage of ministry. We will continue here as long as God calls, enables and supplies.

Kathy Harris

Pray for John and Kathy for faithfulness, wisdom and discernment as they serve in Europe.

Annette Wilson serves with International Teams and Nea Zoi in Athens, Greece, reaching out to women in brothels, many of whom have been trafficked there from Eastern Europe and parts of Africa.

On the streets of Athens at Christmas

Each year, Nea Zoi gives hundreds of gifts to the girls on the streets and in the brothels.  The local churches get involved by making special Christmas cookies.  All is prepared and delivered by a large team of devoted volunteers over a period of a few weeks.  Last year, we were doing this in the middle of strikes and demonstrations.  Following are some reflections from one of our team during this period:

God you are not in the beautiful places only, but in the stinky places.  You are on the streets of Athens. That is why we are here tonight as well.”  The closing prayer of a volunteer stuck in my head as my group headed toward one of the brothel streets.

Fleeting images hit me – the smile of a Romanian gal being given special Romanian cookies, a weary mother’s sigh as she asked us to pray for her son with epilepsy, a bewildered young woman who wasn’t sure why we were there, and the delighted face of a volunteer who got to share the gospel.

Special effort was put into explaining to each girl that the gifts of jewellery were made with love by those who once had been living in bondage, but now are free. These gifts were given with the hope of sharing a vision that another life is possible.

In the midst of chaos and strikes, there were those who were being touched by peace.  What seemed most amazing to me was the dedication of the volunteers.  They were willing to come from an hour away when no transportation was available, just to give out gifts, to reach these girls.  To remind them, and maybe even themselves, that God is not only in the beautiful places but also in the ‘stinky’ ones.

This year Nea Zoi and a team of devoted volunteers will again be delivering gifts to the girls on the streets and in the brothels. Civil unrest and instability continues to impact on daily life in Athens. The team needs your prayers as they go out in December – for protection, wisdom, peace and many opportunities to share God’s love and light in the dark places.

A church in Sydney recently embarked on a Walk for Freedom to raise funds for the gifts given to these women in Athens at Christmas. Read their story here…

You can give to make a difference in Athens too.

Throughout the year, the Nea Zoi team hands out bibles and books about women who have left prostitution and found new life in Jesus.

Click here to give a gift of hope for young women trafficked and enslaved this Christmas

Reuben drove over 2000km in a week to Brisbane and back for the first ever Queensland RIDE for REFUGEES in October. He even made himself a bed in the back of the team van to pull over and sleep when necessary, whilst driving up north!

He packed the van with signs for the cycle course, start/finish banners, registration info, bike parts, RIDE t-shirts, aussie butt cream (google it!) food to nibble on, cd’s to listen to and lots of energy and motivation to see how the RIDE would be launched in the sunny northern state.

Reuben Singleton with a refugee friend, ready to ride!

At 5am on the morning of the RIDE Reuben was woken by very loud cracks of thunder, lightning and constant pouring rain – not the best weather for bike riding as you can imagine!

Not being the kind of guy who gives up easily, Reuben got out of bed, headed to the course and together with some faithful volunteers from local churches set up everything ready for the RIDE, and all the while, the rain continued.

The rain continued heavily until 7.30am and the question was then, ‘would the riders still turn up?’

Well yes, most did!

Some very AWESOME people got on their bikes and helped make a difference in lives of refugees and created such a supportive, friendly atmosphere too.

Amazingly, the rain stopped for the RIDE to begin and the day turned out dry, hot and sunny, until Reuben had collected the last sign off the course and threw his bike in the van.

Then the angry, black thunder clouds  produced the mother of all storms – bringing down trees, power cables and well let’s just say the heavens absolutely opened again.  God’s hand had been with us through the day.  It was unmistakably obvious!  He is amazing.

So far, almost $35,000 has been raised for work with refugees – both in Australia and around the world – from Malawi to Austria.

Click here to give to work with refugees

Thanks for riding and getting involved to make a difference in the lives of refugees.

Inspired by a project of the Hillsong Colour Sisterhood, the “Walk for Freedom” team will follow the ‘Summit Walk’ from Charlotte’s Pass to the peak of Mt Kosciuszko, camp overnight and then return to Charlotte’s Pass the following day.

All of the money raised will be donated to Nea Zoi, which is a Greek national organisation that works in partnership with International Teams. It is dedicated to the support and restoration of women, men, and children in prostitution, many of whom are also victims of human trafficking.

Some of the members of the Nea Zoi Team in Athens have sent messages to the walkers – sharing stories and offering thanks and encouragement. Following is an excerpt from Annette Wilson’s letter, including a story about one of the women with whom the team is working…

Thank you so much for your commitment to supporting the work that is being done on the other side of the world, in Athens, Greece.  I am actually from Newcastle, just up the road from you and I love hearing of people from my side catching the heart for this heartbreaking issue and taking action.

‘Grace’ – Nigerian. Only been here for a few months but has spent 6 months in various detention centres.  Misses her family terribly. We praise God for a very quiet night on the streets last week which allowed her the freedom to come back to the office with us and spend an hour sitting in a comfortable warm place, sharing with us instead of on the cold dark & dangerous streets! She would love alternate work.

Thank you again! We’re praying for endurance, strength and energy for you on this day and showers of blessing in return!

Another Nea Zoi worker wrote…

We are encouraged by your passion for these women and men. Please be covering in prayer those that we minister to on the streets. There are many women that end up turning to drugs to cope with the life of prostitution. They need these chains to be broken and reminded of how much God loves them and that they are a beautiful creation made in God’s image.

Please be specifically praying for one Bulgarian girl that never expresses emotion, but who responded one night to prayer that she was happy to be there to receive it. Pray that she will realize she is a beautiful creation of God and He looks on her with such deep love as His daughter.  Pray that these little seeds of Christ’s hope will transform these women’s lives into  trees of righteousness – a display of His splendour.

International Teams Australia is so encouraged by the commitment and compassion of the Walk for Freedom team from Riverstone and by the faithful ministry of those who serve with Nea Zoi. We thank God for you and we will be praying for energy, strength and safety as the team walks this weekend and as Nea Zoi continues to reach out in troubled Athens.

Let’s End Slavery. Together. Pray. Go. Give. Click here to find out more about how you can make a difference too.

To give to the ministry of Nea Zoi in Athens, click here

Earlier this year I got a phone call from Janice at International Teams who invited us along to a Justice and Transformation workshop.

In one of those (what I like to call) ‘coincidentally God moments’ it just so happened that we were part way through a preaching series on ‘Acting Justly, Loving Mercy and Walking Humbly with God’ based on Micah 6:8. Our young adult small group was following along studies on the same topics and so we decided to get along as a small group to the workshop so as to put an exclamation point on our series.

Exploring justice from a biblical perspective

We got so much more than that!

The work of IT’s Sydney Refugee Team struck an immediate chord with us as our church is in the suburb next to the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre where we have had a sustained involvement in recent years.

We’ve also made links to partner with IT’s End Slavery Team in a bid to have an impact for Christ in local brothels and strip clubs. This work and our partnership with IT is in its infancy but I see great benefit in such links as we seek as a church to ‘Declare Jesus’ and ‘Develop Disciples’ in our local community.

We hosted IT’s most recent Justice and Transformation Workshop with about 40 people in attendance from throughout Sydney. The effect of it was that it gave participants a greater awareness of the ‘hot’ public issues of refugees and illegal slavery, opened our eyes to the injustices and complexities around these issues in Australia and abroad, and encouraged us to consider a Christian response as to what justice and transformation might look like for people caught in such situations and our role in enabling that.

The Scriptures are replete with the fact that God cares about Justice and Transformation. Evangelism and social justice always went hand-in-hand for Jesus (Luke 4:18-19).You can’t truly follow Jesus without doing both!

I commend IT’s workshops for bringing this truth to the fore.

~ Josh Carmichael, Lead Pastor, Chester Hill Baptist Church

International Teams is thankful for the support of Chester Hill Baptist Church in hosting our second Justice and Transformation Workshop.

Would your church be interested in hosting a workshop to explore issues of justice and transformation? Contact us to find out more!

In late September, Phil shared with me in one of our regular skype calls that it had been a quiet month for the café, mostly because there was a big long weekend celebration in Mexico and no-one had money afterwards. Phil was hopeful that business would improve in October and the regular customers would be back.

On the move: the new look RenovArte Cafe

Less than a week later, Phil called to tell us about a possibility of moving the café to a larger space within the plaza, on street level, directly opposite the University entrance.

The situation was complicated. Phil kept us updated daily on how things were moving with the different people involved and we kept Phil and Sandy in our prayers, praying for wisdom, guidance and integrity in all the decisions to be made.

As Champion, it was an honour for me to walk with Phil and Sandy through the decision making process for whether this move was the right thing. To hear their concerns and challenges, such as how to pay double the monthly rent, and their hopes for what this could mean for the future of the ministry.

We rejoiced with Phil when he confirmed that the move was going ahead. This move to a larger, more strategic location is more than an opportunity to grow the business. For Phil and Sandy, the new location represents God’s answer to their prayers ever since God gave them the vision for RenovArte. Now God opened the door, perhaps quicker than they expected and they in faith have stepped into it.

Phil and Sandy and a great team of volunteers, including friends, ministry partners, family and even regular café customers helped clean and paint the new shop and relocate the whole café from an upstairs shop in ‘Plaza Universidad’ to the new one.

On one of the final evenings in the old café location, God brought three new lives into His kingdom during a meeting of Conexion Vertical, ministry partners with RenovArte. In the midst of all the logistics and discussions about money, our faithful God was changing lives and in doing so, confirming for Phil and Sandy that their step of faith and continued partnership with Conexion Vertical may expand the kingdom even further!

Students enjoying an evening in RenovArte Cafe

I was excited again just last week because on Monday the café opened unusually late at 6pm, after they had spent a long day cleaning and the café was filled almost immediately with students!

The Kingdom of God is growing and business is improving as an added bonus.

Praise God for new believers and the new connections Phil and Sandy are making with students through RenovArte Café.

Please pray for the team to grow!  Pray for God to grow the team with others who are passionate about making disciples, and for energy and health for Phil and Sandy to sustain their needs!

The Spies Family

Nathan and Kate Spies have just completed their second home service leave in Australia. They arrived in Australia in February with three daughters and welcomed son Patterson into the family in June.

After a short holiday in the USA, the family of six will return to Cochabamba Bolivia next week. Nathan and Kate have helped establish ROOTS Association, which provides essential training, resources and funding to national Bolivian ministries.

Through generous donations from churches and individuals in Australia, ROOTS has helped a number of theological students with scholarships, resources, training and mentoring, so that they are well equipped for local ministry.

To give to ROOTS Association, click here

I was recently in RenovArte Cafe, in Queretaro, Mexico where International Teams Australia Missionary Phil Jones and his Mexican wife Sandy serve coffee and talk about Jesus.  It is a place of peace, where God’s spirit dwells. Every day Phil and Sandy seek to share with coffee drinkers the hope they have in Jesus.

Phil Jones and friends at RenovArte Cafe

I watched as one young man animatedly declared he was looking for a church with perfect doctrine.  Phil listened attentively, then asked…

“And how are you with Jesus?”

The young man replied, “I am bad with Jesus.”

Will you join with me in praying for Eduardo? That he will move to a place where he can say “I am good with Jesus,” because he understands that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

Daily our missionaries across the globe seek to declare the name and hope there is in Jesus.

Right now the Café needs more people who will pray for lives to be changed through the ministry, give to the ministry (there is currently a negative balance in their account) and go to serve alongside Phil and Sandy.

Is God calling you to play a part in meeting these needs?

Janice Collins, National Director

7 September 2011

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