International Christian Fellowship - Portimão
Last updated 2006 March 09
Introduction - Sunday Worship - Bible Study - Social Ministry - History - Membership
Headlines - Special Event - Texas Choir visit - March 17
The International Christian Fellowship (ICF) is hosting a charity concert in Portimão on 2006 March 17 in the Municipal Auditorium. The concert features the 30-strong Texas Choir of the First Baptist Church, Mineral Wells, Texas - the home church of Pastor David Borgan. Beneficiaries of the concert include the Bombeiros Voluntários de Portimão (Portimão Volunteer Firemen) and the Lar de Crianças "Bom Samaritano" (Good Samaritan Childrens Home).
The concert starts at 21:30 and tickets are available from the booking office.
The International Christian Fellowship (ICF) is based between the fishing port of Portimão and the well-known holiday resort of Praia da Rocha, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal.
The ICF includes people from a number of different countries and various church backgrounds. Worship and other activities are generally conducted in English although not all of the members have English as their first language. A significant proportion of those attending worship are holidaymakers or longer-stay visitors. We share the use of a shop-front church building located in Rua 25 de Abril, 17-D, Portimão. The church building belongs to our sister church, the Portimão Evangelical Baptist Church which draws its membership from the Portuguese community and conducts services in Portuguese. The ICF is a member of the International Baptist Convention and of the Convenção Baptista Portuguesa. An elected management committee deals with day-to-day matters. To comply with Portuguese practice, general meetings of the church are chaired by a specially-elected sub-committee whose members are not on the management committee. Financial scrutiny is conducted by a similar specially-elected sub-committee that reports to the general meeting.
We meet for worship at 11:00 each Sunday morning at Rua 25 de Abril, 17-D, Portimão. We are always pleased to welcome residents and visitors alike whatever their background or church affiliation.
The service usually includes choruses, a talk for the children, prayers, bible readings, hymns and an address for the adults. A Sunday School for the children operates during part of the service and coffee is provided after the service for a time of fellowship.
We meet together for prayer and Bible Study at 11:00 each Tuesday morning in Mariner's Restaurant, Rua Santa Isabel, Portimão. The bible study usually begins with choruses and prayers and the study itself is usually led by a lay member of the congregation. The ladies of the church have an additional bible study at 13:30 each Wednesday in A Ponte.
Thanks to a grant from the European Baptist Convention, the ICF has the use of a pair of shops in a nearby shopping centre, Centro Comercial Cedipraia. They are fitted out for meetings and are used as a social outreach centre which we call A Ponte (The Bridge). The children's Sunday School operates in A Ponte on Sunday mornings and various activities take place here during the week in collaboration with our sister-church. These have included a drop-in centre for lonely people, a ministry to families affected by alcohol abuse, a get-together for parents with young children, craft groups, language courses and other acivities.
The ICF was founded in 1991, at the suggestion of the Portuguese church, to meet the needs of visitors and residents who might be more comfortable using English as the medium of worship. The then pastor of the Portuguese church, Norman Harrell, an American missionary, agreed to begin services in English and took on pastoral responsibility for the ICF. More recently, the Portuguese church has spawned three other congregations, one German and two meeting the needs of migrant workers from eastern Europe who worship in Russian or Romanian.
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. The legally adopted statutes of the church do not distinguish denominational divisions.
Norman Harrell, a missionary with the International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention, led the ICF since its foundation in 1991 but retired in the autumn of 2002.
In faith, the church called David and Joy Borgan to the pastorate of the ICF and they took up the position in October 2004. Thanks to the generosity of the IMB, the ICF has not previously had to provide financial support for a pastor. It is likely that the relatively small core of residents in the church will not initially be able to provide full funding for the incoming pastor and his family without some outside financial help. If you feel led to help support the Borgan's ministry in Portimão, please use the contact details below.
Contact
For more information about the ICF, call the pastor on +351 282461985, or email us at info@icf-portimao.org or fax +351 282 471516 or write to:
Directions
The ICF meets for worship in the premises of Igreja Evangélica Baptista de Portimão which is a shop front at number 17 r/c D in Rua 25 de Abril between Portimão city centre and the resort of Praia da Rocha. The map (right) shows how to get to the church from the A22 motorway and from Praia da Rocha.Introduction - Sunday Worship - Bible Study - Social Ministry - History - Membership
