June, 2017
As I sit in a local coffee shop and write this letter, Caryn is at this very moment a few blocks away at her job giving her notice of resignation!
The opportunity to train missional leaders has grown well beyond our capacity to meet! Dozens of churches have requested Caryn’s help with training women leaders and helping with healing from abuse. Many immigrant pastors have been waiting for us to come and coach and encourage them. At the same time tens of thousands of new immigrants arrive in New York every year, increasing the need for training faster than we can ever keep up with it! Furthermore, the workload of church planting in a post Christian area has grown to more than what can be accomplished part-time. We both need to be full-time missionaries to meet these needs!
Therefore, we have decided that it is now time for Caryn to leave her job as the manager of a jewelry boutique to give herself full-time to our ministry with Global Training Network and to our vision to see thousands of healthy and effective missional leaders and churches developed in the neediest places in the US and the world! Although it is a step of faith to leave her job, we both are confident because we are convinced that God has called us!
The Need: New York is by far the largest receiver of immigrants in the nation. Queens, for example, is more than 60% foreign born and has over 160 different languages spoken within its borders. We can literally reach the nations of the world by training immigrant leaders in New York! Many immigrant churches, however, are struggling to reach beyond their culture to the surrounding community. Many others are burning out and harming their people because they have not developed functional leadership structures. There is also a lack of training which leads to a tolerance of abuse, and it is not at all an exaggeration to say that a majority of the women who we have encountered in these churches have experienced some form of abuse. Therefore, in addition to our work training these pastors, Caryn will expand her work as a ministry coach to equip women leaders in these immigrant churches. She will also work to help heal thousands from the effects of abuse by training leaders to expand our network of Mending the Soul groups.
The New York metro area is considered “post-Christian,” meaning that the prevailing cultural norms and assumptions here are no longer based on the Judeo-Christian tradition. For example, Long Island is less than 3% Evangelical Christian and is the only place in the nation that doesn’t allow churches to rent schools—two very significant obstacles to traditional church planting. Therefore, as church planting missionaries, we are developing new models of innovative, missional churches that grow by reaching people rather than attracting existing Christians. This is necessary, as the rest of America becomes increasingly post-Christian. Caryn will bring her leadership expertise gained by running a successful business, as well as her experience of interacting with wealthy post-Christian New Yorkers in the marketplace, into our expanding work to equip church plants to contextualize the gospel in this culture.
Timeline: Caryn’s last day at her current job will be early July, then we will begin our work to expand our team of ministry partners, which is necessary for this transition. In August and September, we will be in Arizona. Then, we will return to New York and dive into our work training leaders and planting missional churches!
Prayer Requests: Please pray that Caryn will finish well at her job, for deep and meaningful rest, for the expansion of our team of ministry partners, and for wisdom in meeting the many needs here for training leaders.
Thank you for your partnership with us in our ministry with Global Training Network. Now, more than ever, your partnership results in raising up healthy and effective missional leaders and churches in the neediest places!
Love in Christ,
John and Caryn
249 Wilson Ave. • Westbury, NY 11590 • (516) 424-7506
www.globaltrainingnetwork.org/who/john-and-caryn-amandola
June, 2017
As I sit in a local coffee shop and write this letter, Caryn is at this very moment a few blocks away at her job giving her notice of resignation!
The opportunity to train missional leaders has grown well beyond our capacity to meet! Dozens of churches have requested Caryn’s help with training women leaders and helping with healing from abuse. Many immigrant pastors have been waiting for us to come and coach and encourage them. At the same time tens of thousands of new immigrants arrive in New York every year, increasing the need for training faster than we can ever keep up with it! Furthermore, the workload of church planting in a post Christian area has grown to more than what can be accomplished part-time. We both need to be full-time missionaries to meet these needs!
Therefore, we have decided that it is now time for Caryn to leave her job as the manager of a jewelry boutique to give herself full-time to our ministry with Global Training Network and to our vision to see thousands of healthy and effective missional leaders and churches developed in the neediest places in the US and the world! Although it is a step of faith to leave her job, we both are confident because we are convinced that God has called us!
The Need: New York is by far the largest receiver of immigrants in the nation. Queens, for example, is more than 60% foreign born and has over 160 different languages spoken within its borders. We can literally reach the nations of the world by training immigrant leaders in New York! Many immigrant churches, however, are struggling to reach beyond their culture to the surrounding community. Many others are burning out and harming their people because they have not developed functional leadership structures. There is also a lack of training which leads to a tolerance of abuse, and it is not at all an exaggeration to say that a majority of the women who we have encountered in these churches have experienced some form of abuse. Therefore, in addition to our work training these pastors, Caryn will expand her work as a ministry coach to equip women leaders in these immigrant churches. She will also work to help heal thousands from the effects of abuse by training leaders to expand our network of Mending the Soul groups.
The New York metro area is considered “post-Christian,” meaning that the prevailing cultural norms and assumptions here are no longer based on the Judeo-Christian tradition. For example, Long Island is less than 3% Evangelical Christian and is the only place in the nation that doesn’t allow churches to rent schools—two very significant obstacles to traditional church planting. Therefore, as church planting missionaries, we are developing new models of innovative, missional churches that grow by reaching people rather than attracting existing Christians. This is necessary, as the rest of America becomes increasingly post-Christian. Caryn will bring her leadership expertise gained by running a successful business, as well as her experience of interacting with wealthy post-Christian New Yorkers in the marketplace, into our expanding work to equip church plants to contextualize the gospel in this culture.
Timeline: Caryn’s last day at her current job will be early July, then we will begin our work to expand our team of ministry partners, which is necessary for this transition. In August and September, we will be in Arizona. Then, we will return to New York and dive into our work training leaders and planting missional churches!
Prayer Requests: Please pray that Caryn will finish well at her job, for deep and meaningful rest, for the expansion of our team of ministry partners, and for wisdom in meeting the many needs here for training leaders.
Thank you for your partnership with us in our ministry with Global Training Network. Now, more than ever, your partnership results in raising up healthy and effective missional leaders and churches in the neediest places!
Love in Christ,
John and Caryn
249 Wilson Ave. • Westbury, NY 11590 • (516) 424-7506
www.globaltrainingnetwork.org/who/john-and-caryn-amandola
ABOUT JOHN AND CARYN AMANDOLA
Married since 1986, and having three great boys, John and Caryn have a long history with GTN’s founders, Paul and Lisa! Caryn and Lisa have been friends since Junior High school, and Lisa and her family played a great role in Caryn coming to faith in Christ as a high school student.
"As a newly married couple, we were challenged by Paul, who was the youth pastor at Northwest Community Church, to take on greater ministry responsibilities while youth leaders there. John later succeeded Paul in that same role, where he learned how to multiply spiritual leaders. John also succeeded Paul as a church planter, Paul planting NCC’s first church plant, John the second. It now seems so natural for us to join with Paul and Lisa on staff with GTN, having the same passion to raise up leaders!"
John is a native New Yorker and Caryn grew up in Arizona. John is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo, holds an M.Div. from Phoenix Seminary, and is ordained in the Missionary Church. Caryn is a graduate of Texas Christian University and is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Professional Counseling. They have much experience in overseas ministry, church planting, mentoring leaders and pastoral ministry.
Consistent with the mission of GTN, Caryn and John have a great passion to raise up Christian leaders all over the world, especially in an area of very great need which is very close to their hearts: The New York Metro area. Their ministry involves several facets:
Married since 1986, and having three great boys, John and Caryn have a long history with GTN’s founders, Paul and Lisa! Caryn and Lisa have been friends since Junior High school, and Lisa and her family played a great role in Caryn coming to faith in Christ as a high school student.
"As a newly married couple, we were challenged by Paul, who was the youth pastor at Northwest Community Church, to take on greater ministry responsibilities while youth leaders there. John later succeeded Paul in that same role, where he learned how to multiply spiritual leaders. John also succeeded Paul as a church planter, Paul planting NCC’s first church plant, John the second. It now seems so natural for us to join with Paul and Lisa on staff with GTN, having the same passion to raise up leaders!"
John is a native New Yorker and Caryn grew up in Arizona. John is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo, holds an M.Div. from Phoenix Seminary, and is ordained in the Missionary Church. Caryn is a graduate of Texas Christian University and is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Professional Counseling. They have much experience in overseas ministry, church planting, mentoring leaders and pastoral ministry.
Consistent with the mission of GTN, Caryn and John have a great passion to raise up Christian leaders all over the world, especially in an area of very great need which is very close to their hearts: The New York Metro area. Their ministry involves several facets:
- Planting innovative, missional churches in the least churched, least reached counties in the USA.
- Training Christian leaders who work and study in the world’s most influential city to be spiritual leaders who multiply.
- Reach international students to eventually return to their countries as missionaries.
- Travel overseas to train Christian Leaders who otherwise have few resources available to them.
