This video shows the life of our church during 2016-2017
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This video shows the life of our church during 2015-2016
This video shows the life of our church during 2014-2015
This video shows the life of our church during 2013-2014
Introduction
Joyfully Serving Christ!
Photo taken December 2018
The International Christian Fellowship (ICF) is made up of Christians from around the world who worship in English each week. Our church is located in the traditional fishing port of Portimão and in walking distance from the well-known holiday resort of Praia da Rocha, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. Sunday School is offered for the children.
The church is made up of Christians from many different denominational backgrounds and countries. We are "one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3: 28) and everyone is most welcome.
Our worship service is from 11am to 12 noon each Sunday. Our services are friendly and informal with several different people taking part. We use a blend of music styles from traditional hymns to contemporary choruses to lift up the name of Jesus. Central to all our services is the Bible, God's Word, which is read and taught every week.
We hope you will come and join us, whether you are here just visiting or are moving into the area. We look forward to meeting you!
Photos taken March 2019
Children's Sunday School
Children's Sunday School operates on Sunday mornings 11 a.m. during family worship service.
Photos taken December 2018
Church Fellowship Meals
In October each year we celebrate our church anniversary at a local restaurant in Portimao. Everyone is welcome to join us.
Photos taken October 2018
Location
Church address is:
Cedipraia Shopping Centre no. 23
Rua N.S do Amparo, 8500 Portimão, Portugal
diagonally opposite the Piscina Municipal (swimming pool) , Portimão.
The Mineral Wells mission trip to Portimao in 2006 established strong relationships for David with the city authorities. The United Beach Mission (UMB) conducts over ninety beach missions each summer in the UK and other countries in Europe, but never before in Portugal. David presented the director of UB to the city cultural director and city sports director who invited them to come to the Praia da Roche beach -one of the foremost beach destinations in Europe with hundreds of thousands of visitors each summer.
United Beach Missions in UK organized the first Portuguese beach mission in June 2012.
This was so successful that it has now become an annual event each summer, usually taking place the second week of July.
Our soup kitchen ministry began in May 2010, feeding about 12 people once a week. After eleven years it has now grown considerably, due to the generous support of many local volunteers and sponsors near and far. Since October 2020 during the Covid-19 Pandemic, we are now providing take-away meals to about 100 people per week on the following days and times: Sundays from 1.00-1.30pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6.00-6.30pm
Every year we hold a Christmas dinner for about 80-100 people, in addition to a hearty meal, each person is given a Christmas present. In 2018 the gift was a bag of personal toiletries,two bars of chocolate, a Gospel and a pen which had a Bible verse on it and a torch/flashlight on the end.
Each Christmas our church prepares gifts for local Portuguese children from underprivileged families in our neighbourhood. The gifts are received with great delight at the Flor Amiga association, which is a local Portuguese charity.
Children at Pulane Children's Centre in Semonkkong where Jill Kinsey runs a children's home
Children at Pulane
John Rhodes (from ICF) in Lesotho
Bob Grimes (from ICF) setting off on sponsored bike ride from Sagres in Portugal to Nordcap in Norway, a distance of 6,000 kilometers!
Bob Grimes at Nordcap, after cycling 6,000 kilometers to raise 3,500 euros for the children of Lesotho.
The ICF has supported mission work in Portugal through the Portuguese Baptist Convention, in Europe through the International Baptist Convention (IBC), in Nepal through Missionary Debbie Zaayman, and in Lesotho, Africa helping Jill Kinsey operate two Children's Centres for AIDS orphans.
Three volunteers, John Rhodes, Adrian Dixon and Marina Hardy have taken several mission triips to Jill Kinsey's homes for orphans in Semonkong and Pulane in the mountains of Lesotho. Marina's video of her trip gives a good overview of the work in Pulane.
Marina's Mission Trip to Aids Orphans in Lesotho, Africa
To enlarge videos to full screen click the button in bottom right corner
Membership of the ICF is based on a simple statement of faith which is agreed by all the members, new converts being baptised by immersion in accordance with the traditions of the host church.
David & Joy Borgan served 17 years as career missionaries with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. David pastored the International Baptist Church in Vienna, Austria (1987-1991) and served as a general evangelist & church planter in Spain (1993-2003). David did his undergraduate at Trinity University and earned two masters' degrees in Theology and Religious Education at S.W. Baptist Theological Seminary SWBTS. Joy is from Devon, England and a Cambridge University graduate. She also completed a master's degree in theology at SWBTS with David. ...more.
In 1991, the ICF was started and led by Norman Harrell, a missionary with the International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention, until he retired in the autumn of 2002. Thanks to the generosity of the IMB, the ICF had not previously had to provide financial support for a pastor.
With the relatively small core of resident members, the church will not able to provide full funding for a pastor without outside financial help.
Iberian Christian Ministries Trust is a registered charity in the U.K. and eligible for Gift Aid.
For more information contact:
Ruth Edwards-Mlangwa, 89 College Road, Fishponds, Bristol. BS 16 2HP
Drive STRAIGHT through 4 roundabouts passing under the N125 overpass and beside the hospital
Drive STRAIGHT through hospital roundabout.
Drive STRAIGHT through the tunnel
Drive STRAIGHT through two traffic lights
Drive under the overpass bridge
The road curves to the left and merges with a four lane street heading south toward the beach
Drive STRAIGHT through the first roundabout stay on the dual carriageway
Turn LEFT at the second roundabout by Continente shopping center on your left and passing McDonalds on your right.
Drive STRAIGHT through the first roundabout
Turn RIGHT at the first traffic light (past the Auditorio and across the street from the Policia station on your left)
Drive STRAIGHT along Ave. 25 de Abril for three or four streets.
Turn RIGHT where you see the bank Caixa Geral de Depositos on the corner.
When you turn right onto Rua N.S.do Amparo, you will see our building on the left. It is a tall blue and white apartment building with an old shopping centre below.
The entrance is a glass doorway on the north side of the Cedipraia Shopping Centre between the two cafes . (See Photo below)
The entrance door is easy to spot to the right of a staircase and behind several modern stainless steel recycle collection bins on the street.
There is plenty of free parking on the street and in the open car park to the right of the cafe.
If you get lost, ask directions to the Piscina Municipal. Local people know where this indoor swimming pool is located. Because the pool is indoors you don't actually see a swimming pool. Directly across the street from the indoor pool is the bank Caixa Geral de Depositos and our church is in the shopping centre across the intersection from the Piscina Municipal..
Entrance: Our church is through this door and is the first door on your left .
By foot from hotels in Praia da Rocha
Walk north away from the beach to the dual carriageway at the bottom of the hill behind Praia da Rocha hotels -see map above.
Walk to the overpass which crosses over the dual carriageway-see map above.
Cross the four- lane street using the pedestrian crossing on ground level underneath the overpass bridge.
Walk uphill past the Patio da Rocha hotel on your right. Keep walking straight uphill untill you come to the first roundabout (turning circle)
Turn RIGHT at the first roundabout. Walk straight up the hill and then downhill to the second roundabout.
Turn LEFT at the second roundabout. Notice the broken chain'statue in the second roundabout in memory of the Portuguese Independance day which is 25 April. You're now on Avenida 25 de Abril where our church is located.
Walk north past a school and continue straight along Av. 25 de Abril on left side of the street until you see the bank Caixa Geral de Depositos across a side street on the corner in front of you.
Do not cross the side street to the bank. You are already standing on the block where our church is in the shopping centre.
Look at the shopping complex. Notice the flight of outdoor steps, Then looking further right, underneath the steps on the ground level is the door to our church (see photo of entrance)
The church is inside the North entrance under the steps (see photo below) and is the first building down the corridor on your left
If you get lost, ask directions to the Piscina Municipal. Local people know where this indoor swimming pool is located. Because the pool is indoors you don't actually see a swimming pool. Directly across the street from the indoor pool is the bank Caixa Geral de Depositos and our church is in the shopping centre across the street from the bank.
By bus or taxi from Praia da Rocha hotels
Inquire at your hotel for the GREEN LINE BUS schedule, fares, and the location of the nearest bus stop in the direction of the Portimão city centre. Or have your hotel call for a taxi (average fare is only € 4).
Explain to the driver you would like to exit at Piscina Municipal (indoor city swimming pool). Our church is directly across the intersection from the Piscina Municipal and across the street from the bank Caixa Geral de Depositos on the corner.
The bus will let you off across the street from our church by the Kiosco Kalunga newstand.
Look for the bank Caixa Geral de Depositos across the street on the corner.
The church is across the side street from the bank Caixa Geral de Depositos inside the shopping centre.
Look at the shopping complex. Notice the flight of outdoor steps, Then looking further right, underneath the steps on the ground level is the door to our church (see photo of entrance)
The church is a inside the North entrance under the shopping (see photo below) and is the first store down the corredor on your left