Church Plant Spotlight: Maaqtusiis Community Church
As we embrace being BOLDLY FORWARD, NEVER ALONE as Fellowship Pacific, one of the key ways we live this out is through church planting and we are excited to share more stories from our church plants this year! This month we want to introduce you to Maaqtusiis Community Church in Ahousaht, BC!
Ever since they first married in 2007, Jacob and Rachel Hwang have devoted themselves to serving the Lord together, embracing their role as disciples who make disciples. In 2016, the couple was praying for the First Nations in Canada, specifically the people of Ahousaht, and God directed them to Luke 10:33-34:
“But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.”
These verses confirmed in their hearts His calling on their lives and deepened their compassion and love for these First Nations people. They knew that God was calling them to be neighbours to the Ahousaht people.
In response to the Lord’s leading, Jacob and Rachel embarked on their journey as full-time missionaries in Ahousaht First Nation, BC. They were amazed as they saw God’s hand at work. Over the next year, they visited the community every weekend, travelling for four hours by vehicle and water taxi to serve the children and youth there. Eventually, the Ahousaht people provided a house for their family to live in while there and they realized that God had prepared everything they needed ahead of their mission journey. They had gone there to become neighbours, but the Ahousaht people made them family.
The Hwang’s ministry in Ahousaht has focused primarily on the children and youth. In the beginning, the Lord sent them one youth to start a worship service in 2017. Through her siblings and relatives, however, the Lord brought over twenty teenagers to gather regularly, and they have since confessed that they are children of God and have been baptized! The Lord has also allowed them to attend the Aboriginal youth camp for the past five years and they have had a great experience of loving one another and healing with the power of the Holy Spirit. This past spring, 30 youths applied to attend the Aborginal youth camp that lasts from March 30th to April 2nd.
Throughout the year, the Hwangs have also been leading a Sunday school with about fifteen children coming regularly, and they are planning an “Ahousaht Youth March” to march from their village to Vancouver this winter. The purpose of this trip is to have Ahousaht youth preach the gospel to other First Nations.
As the Hwangs see God’s amazing works for them, they are also very aware that they desperately need support and prayers. For example, during the “Ahousaht Youth March” they will need cars and places to stay. In addition, they have been praying that an Ahousaht church can be established, built by the First Nations. For this, five families have already signed up to be church board members and their planned launch date for the Maaqtusiis Community Church is for September 1, 2023.
They write,
[Our] true desire is to see God plant Ahousaht First Nation church by raising the holy Generation among young people who are less impacted by the past history. The major role is becoming spiritual parents until the young generation grows true disciples of Christ. God is also calling us to become their true neighbours and no longer have them be abandoned. God wants us to go, bandage, and take care of them likewise. Jesus said to us, ‘You go, and do likewise’ (Luke 10:37).
Please be in prayer for the Hwang family, this ministry, and for the establishment of this church in Ahousaht First Nation!
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