Bli Kjent Med: Per Arild & Berit

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Berit har vært en del av Betania i hele sitt liv, hele 77 år! For henne er Jesus selve livet; uten Ham, ser hun ingen fremtid eller håp. Per Arild kom til menigheten i 1966, for 58 år siden, og han deler Berits syn på Jesus. Uten Jesus, mener han, er livet uten verdi, og det er Jesus som gir mening til tilværelsen.
For Berit er felleskap når mennesker kommer sammen for å dele både gleder og sorger. Hun er takknemlig for et langt liv og for at Jesus har vært trofast gjennom alt.
Per Arild ser fellesskapet som et sted hvor troen deles og hvor man oppmuntrer hverandre. Han ser på menigheten som et åndelig hjem. Han er takknemlig for å ha blitt frelst i ung alder, for sin gode kone, Berit, og for sin fine familie. Til tross for alderen ønsker han fortsatt å bli brukt av Gud.

Vi inviterer deg til å bli en del av dette prosjektet og bidra med din unike historie og din tro. Sammen utgjør vi Betania, og gjennom å dele våre liv og vår tro, kan vi styrke og oppmuntre hverandre på veien!

Bli Kjent Proskjektet: Bli Kjent Med Sune & Sarah

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 «Bli Kjent» proskjektet er en initiativ som tar sikte på å dykke inn i troslivet, erfaringene og bakgrunnen til menighetsmedlemmene i Betania. 

En sentral tanke i prosjektet er at menigheten ikke bare er et fysisk bygg, men at det er menneskene som utgjør kirken. Gjennom å fokusere på individuelle historier og erfaringer, understrekes betydningen av hver enkelt person i menigheten og deres unike bidrag til fellesskapet.

Samtidig åpner prosjektet dørene for dem som står utenfor menigheten, slik at de kan bli kjent med identiteten til Betania. Dette skjer ved å presentere Jesus til folket, ikke bare gjennom prekener, men gjennom ekte historier og opplevelser fra mennesker som allerede er en del av menigheten. På denne måten blir «Bli Kjent» et verktøy for å bygge broer mellom menigheten og lokalsamfunnet, og for å spre budskapet om kjærlighet, fellesskap og tro.

Vi vil innlede prosjektet med å bli kjent med: Sune & Sarah!

Sune ble frelst for over 39 år siden og har siden vært en del av Betania. Han ble også sendt ut fra Betania for å være leder i Søgne i 25 år. Tidligere en fotballspiller, ble han frelst som 28-åring, og siden den gang har han hatt en sterk lengsel etter Guds ord. Han opplever at den nye fødselen har løftet tankene hans opp til det himmelske, og Guds ord er for ham et speil av dette himmelske. Han verdsetter fellesskapet med andre troende og mener at det er avgjørende for vekst og å høre Guds ord. Sune setter pris på alle i Guds familie og mener at kjærlighet til hverandre er sentralt i dette fellesskapet.

Sarah har vært en del av Betania siden barndommen, hvor hun ble barnevelsignet og har vært med siden hun var bare seks måneder gammel. Nå, som 18-åring, er hun fortsatt aktiv i menigheten. For Sarah er Jesus selve grunnlaget og sannheten i livet hennes. Hun bygger livet sitt på denne sannheten om Gud og ønsker å følge i troen og Hans planer for resten av livet. Hun er svært takknemlig for alle velsignelsene i livet sitt, inkludert venner, familie og menigheten. Hun gleder seg over hverdagen og er takknemlig for at Jesus har en plan for hver ny dag. Når hun tenker på ordet «felleskap», ser hun for seg de ulike fellesskapene rundt seg hvor mennesker kan utfordre hverandre, bygge hverandre opp og utvikle dype og varige relasjoner.

Vi inviterer deg til å bli en del av dette prosjektet og bidra med din unike historie og din tro. Sammen utgjør vi Betania, og gjennom å dele våre liv og vår tro, kan vi styrke og oppmuntre hverandre på veien!

Sparebanken Sør sponser musikkanlegg i Betania!

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For noen uker siden sendte Betania Singers en søknad til Sparebanken Sør om støtte til mikser og mikrofoner.

Nå har vi fått et JA fra banken. Sparebanken Sør har dermed vært med å sponse Betanias Keyboard, Betanias Piano og nå også lydanlegg til Betania Singers (og Kafé).

Sparebanken Sør har ønske om å bidra til vekst og utvikling i landsdelen. Det betyr at de er en betydelig bidragsyter til mangfoldet av idrett, kompetanse og kulturaktiviteter i de lokalsamfunn der de har kontorer.

Tilsagn om støtte fra Sparebanken Sør gavefond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.sor.no.

 

En stor takk til Sparebanken Sør for deres velvillighet!

 

JESUSFESTIVALEN 2023

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Hjertelig velkommen til Jesusfestivalen 2023!

Den skal være i Betania Kristiansand, Elvegata 10.

Mer informasjon kan du finne på  https://jesusfest.no

 

 

Update from the Andersen’s

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And suddenly we are in December! 
Hello friends!
How these past few months have flown by! We are now nearing the end of Lecture Phase, this is the last week of teaching the students have before Christmas break and then Outreach!! We want to take some time to share some highlights from the last few weeks about what God has been doing and also share about what’s to come!

GOD HAS REALLY BEEN MOVING!

Healings

Lots of healings have taken place in peoples bodies, like different injuries and pains, sleeplessness, anxieties, acid reflux, and other inner healings!

Inner healing through Papa God’s Love

Healing of the Orphan Spirit:
So many of the students have really experienced Papa God for the first time in their life, and today they are living as His children, enjoying the new relationship they have with Papa God, where they get to hear His voice and receive the incredible love He is pouring out on them. This has resulted in a lot of healing and forgiveness from past hurts, traumas and abuse.

God pours out His gifts

I really enjoy the testimonies of where God just suddenly pours out His gifts on people. Most of the students has received the gift of tongues, and many of them received it while being prayed for to be baptized by the Holy Spirit during Holy Spirit week. But 3 or more just suddenly got it randomly in the middle of other prayer times, or personal prayer times with Papa God. One girl told me that during a time of intercession, I was sharing that I felt we should all pray in tongues, and right then she got the gift of tongues and started speaking it out! Many of them are prophesying now and moving quite powerfully in the prophetic and several of the students have been able to pray for healing and seen healing take place while ministering in some local churches.

Deliverance

Early in the school one of our students who had been struggling shared she had felt a little breakthrough, and I felt God wanted me to partner with Him in what He was doing in her life as she was on the verge of throwing in the towel and going back to her home country. I went over to pray for her and I felt lead to pray for freedom and deliverance, then God’s presence came over her and she suddenly fell forward into my arms and she said afterwards that she felt this huge heavy load that she had been carrying lift off her and she felt so free!

Callings and missions

So many of the students have gotten a calling for going into the mission field through this lecture phase and all of the students hearts has been broken for the lost and unreached people groups in this world. Others have gotten confirmations through prophetic words about their dreams and desires that they’ve had from before!

FAITH

Several students came to DTS not fully sure if God existed and this was them giving their relationship with God one last chance. Today they are full of faith and because of that they are experiencing God so much! Most of the students have made Jesus Lord of their lives for the first time, which in practical terms means that they have surrendered their future to God, their wants and desires, their rights for comfort, family, where to live, what to do and chosen to fully follow Jesus wherever He is leading them! It’s incredibly beautiful to see!

YOU HAVE A VOICE

Most of us grow up with the message «Our voice isn’t important», whether it’s from other people in our lives, or the culture we’re living in. Many students come to our schools with a sense of unworthiness, low self esteem, withdrawn and shy. In Norway we have something called «Jantelov» or «the law of Jante» and this is a cultural stigma that says «Don’t think you are anything special, don’t think you know something, dont think you are worth anything, dont think you are a good at something». These are lies that hold us back from speaking up and daring to be different. The students have received an incredible sense of worth, healthy self esteem and been built up to understand their significance in God. This has resulted in many of them believing they have a voice and that they dare to speak up in front of other people and share what’s on their hearts and minds. They dare to dream big again and believe they can go into all the spheres of society and make a change!

What’s to come?

– Between 4-6th Jan we will be sending out all the teams to their outreach locations! They will be travelling to Tanzania, Indonesia, Thailand and India/Nepal!!!

– Towards the end of January Gøran and I will travel to the team in Thailand for a Pastoral visit. It’s basically just a check in with the leaders to support and love on them and to help the team in any way we can! We will be there for around 2 weeks and then Gøran will travel to Tanzania and join the team there for another 2 weeks and I will travel home. We are SUPER excited to get into the nations again!

It is a very expensive trip due to flight tickets increasing in price so if you would like to help us get there and support our trip then I’ll add some giving information below! 

But for now enjoy some pictures of our last few weeks!

TESTIMONY
100% healing on the streets
I (Goran) went out with my track (Jesus lifestyle) for evangelism. We went into a restaurant in Kristiansand to see a friend of mine. Me and this other girl staff ended up talking to a waiter as we were waiting for my friend to start his shift. And we got to love on this 21 year old Hungarian guy who came to Norway a year ago. I really felt God’s love for him, so I told him that God really loves him. He looked a bit suprised and interested, and I asked him if he has ever heard that before, and he said no. So I got shocked and asked him if he knows why God loves. He had no idea. So I asked if I could share why, and he said «go for it». So I got to share the gospel with him and he teared up a little! After that we needed to go, but I wanted to just pray for him. So I asked if I could pray for him and if there was anything God could do for him like healing or something. He said that he has had back pain for a long time and that it was constantly quite painful. So I got to put my hand on his back and pray for him. After that we asked him to check, and he was moving around wondering what was going on in his back, and suddenly the back popped! He goes «Wow my back popped and I’ve never been able to do that before, and then he said that all the pain was gone» Praise God!
Just then my christan friend came out as we were rejoicing, and we said to the Hungarian guy to listen to my friend because he’s got all the answers! 🙂

Konsert med Arvid Pettersen

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På fredag 2. desember kommer Arvid og Ragnhild Pettersen med band og holder førjulskonsert i Betania.
Konserten kalles himmeltonen 2022, og du kan kjøpe biletter på Vipps #776654

Støtte til nytt EL-piano i Betania

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Betania har i lengere til har hatt behov for et EL-piano og i sommer kom vi over det ønskede pianoet som Daniel Pettersen hentet for oss.
I den forbindelse, søkte vi støtte i Sparebanken-Sør, og vi fikk en positiv tilbakemelding fra Sparebanken-Sør.
Vi har dermed fått dekket alle våre kostnader til innkjøp av vårt nye EL-piano.

Tusen takk til Sparebanken-Sør som har støtte oss.

Update from the Andersen’s

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Hello again friends!

Well DTS has officially started and we are about to round up week 2 of teaching!
We had an incredible start up with lots of ice breakers, worshiping in the rain, bonfires and good conversations! It’s been so beautiful to see how quickly the students have engaged in worship, prayer and the teachings, they are a hungry bunch and it’s only week 2!!
So far we’ve had teaching on The Gospel by Geir Fagerbakke and this week we have Paul Yadao sharing on The Father Heart of God.
It’s beautiful to be reminded for a whole week the importance of living our lives out of sonship and in knowing who we are because of Him!We actually wanted to use this newsletter to share some testimonies of what God has been doing lately! We believe it’s encouraging and faith building to share stories of what God is doing in and through our lives and we hope it leaves you feeling encouraged as well!

WAFFLES AND COFFEE 

One Saturday we joined evangelism with some people from local churches to make waffles and coffee for people on the street and as you see here, Goran was able to share the gospel and give some Farsi bibles to two Iranian woman that came by.
I (Laura) saw a lady and her daughter standing a little distance away from our stand who looked very interested in what we were doing. I walked up to her and asked if her daughter wanted a waffle (which she did) and so while we waited for one I got to talk to her and ask a few questions about life and if she knew Jesus. She said she had gone to church before but since moving to our city she hadn’t found a church and that it was difficult with her husband, that he wouldn’t go. I could tell there was something there so I just spoke some words of love and value over her.. telling her that «Jesus sees her, knows her, has not left her and that she is worthy of love». She started crying and I hugged her and prayed for her. She said «I really needed this today, I really did». We got to give her daughter a bible and I encouraged her to find a church and a good community.
If you like, please pray that she is able to find a church and that her husband would come to know the love of Jesus!

TREASURE HUNTING

My (Gøran) heart is to equip people in sharing their faith, that is why I am leading a track called «Jesus Lifestyle» in the school. So last Saturday we did evangelism in the form of treasure hunting, which means to pray to get specific words and pictures from God before we go out.
One of the students that I was with had seen a vision of a girl with blonde hair, a blue sweater, black pants and white shoes, and that she had pain in the very low parts of the back, he also got a certain place. So we went to that place, and funnily enough my sister and brother in law with our little cute niece were there. As we talked with them my student pointed out that my sister was the exact girl he had seen in prayer, and I went like «ooh yea!! thats right!»  And she needed healing in her tail bone, so we got to pray for her!

I got some norwegian words like (markering, torvet, scene, preach the gospel) which roughly translated to english means (public awereness event, the square, stage and preach the gospel)
So we went to this particular square in town and we saw that they were putting up an event and it turned out to be an event protesting for freedom for women in Iran. We got to talk to some people there and share the gospel with some. Then as the event was going on, I got the thought, «what if God wants me to share from the stage?» but they had a program and so on. Then my friend Kristian came by who is from Iran, and I share my heart and he said «YES, good idea, I’m going to talk to them» so he came back and said «It’s all good you can share, you have 1 minute»
So after a while I got called up and I got to share how both women and men are created in Gods image and likeness and that we shared equal value, and that God loves them all etc. How good is God!!!

VICTORIES

– I (Laura) managed to go to the gym for the first time in 3 years!! It was a huge victory and I’ve been able to go back a few more times since then!

– I have also been able to be at the base more often and have joined in on worship and teachings!

Everything I’m doing at the moment really is trial and error. Sometimes I manage more some days than other days and I’m in a «testing» life out stage. But I am so grateful for all I can do and would appreciate prayers for healing and wisdom as I keep moving forward!

Konsert: Øyvind «Elg» Elgenes

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Blå Kors Kristiansand inviterer til konsert med Øyvind Elgenes i Betania Kristiansand, hvor overskuddet i sin helhet er øremerket hjelpeaktivitet for barn og unge i byen som lever i fattigdom.
Øyvind Elgenes, bedre kjent som ELG i Dance With a Stranger, fikk en mektig oppsving etter deltakelse i TV2 suksessen «Hver Gang Vi Møtes». ELG har gjennom flere ti-år bergtatt sitt publikum med sin fantastiske stemme og sterke formidlingsevne.
Vi lover flott musikk fra Øyvind Elg, der vi samtidig fokuserer på mulighetene, håpet og kraften som får mennesker med håpløse erfaringer til å endre kurs og en ny retning i livet. Visjonen «Med hjerte, kunnskap og kraft skaper Blå Kors mulighet for mestring og mening» vil være rammen for det som formidles denne kvelden.
Dessverre viser statistikken at 1 av 10 i regionen vår sliter med rus, noe som tilsvarer at to til tre barn i hver skoleklasse går hjem til rus daglig. I tillegg vet vi at omlag halvparten av rusavhengige pasienter faller tilbake til et liv i aktiv rus etter endt behandling.
Denne kvelden vil vi i Blå Kors fokusere på det positive – varmen, omsorgen og tryggheten – som skaper muligheter for mestring og mening for den enkelte. Mange trenger hjelp, og ved å kjøpe billett er du med på å støtte arbeidet.
Tusen takk til alle dere som er med oss, og hjertelig velkommen til en musikalsk og meningsfull konsertaften i Betania.

Update from the Andersen’s

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Hello friends
It’s start up time!! Summer holidays are over and we are back into it!We are currently in the middle of staff training, a crucial part of our Discipleship Training Schools. The school itself doesn’t start until the 23rd September but we have 6 weeks of training for our staff prior to that. The staff are the ones who are going to be working closest with the students so it’s incredibly important we establish a culture of honour, family, learn to live out our values and get our hearts/spirits unified before the school starts! It’s a really fun time of getting to know each other more and to build relationships and trust between our staff.
And we currently have 37 students enrolled for this next school and some in process! Exciting!This is the 3rd DTS that we’re going lead and we’ve started to get more and more vision and understanding of what God is doing in our time. More than ever I (Gøran) really believe in the work we’re apart of as I am seeing something that I rarely see other places – young and old coming together as family under the common goal of getting to know God and making him known in the world. The decrease of Christianity in the west is not much more than lack of discipleship, and we as a DTS are coming together for 6 months to just go after God like never before, to believe for His presence to show up more and more with healings, signs and wonders and for His goodness to be more evident in our midst.
We have heard many prophetic words about a new wave of missionaries being sent out to the unreached people groups of the world (which is 42% of the worlds population) and they are people who have never heard the Gospel before!
This is something we want to be apart of through our schools, sending teams out to the nations and maybe even some people being called to stay long-term!
It’s so fun to partner with God in this way to help see the nations discipled and reached!We also traveled to Ålesund for 1 week for the Northern Europe staff training (every 2nd year most of the bases in Northern Europe have teaching and training together in preparation for our DTS’s).
It was a special to connect with the other bases, encourage one another and to get our hearts ready for all that God is going to do in this next season! We’ll add some pics down below!

As I have written before, I (Laura) have been doing better in terms of health so I’m hoping to start going to the base a few days a week and to join in on teaching/worship. It’s really a time of trial and error for me right now as I try to learn what my capacity is at the moment.
But I am EXTREMELY grateful for the extra energy I do have and for the ability to join in on more things and to see friends/family more often! That is a huge blessing and I try to remind myself of that when the days are a little rough! God is always so so good and I have SO much hope for the days ahead!