THE INTERNATIONAL Christian Church and School of Cascais (ICCSC) celebrated their 25th year of existence recently with a birthday banquet at the Estoril Eden Hotel.
The founder of the church and school, Dr. Joe Henriques, and wife Bonnie were present for the celebrations. Joe told guests that he was born to a Puerto Rican mother and a Portuguese father, who was a stowaway on a ship from Portugal. His parents met in New York and married. In his early years, Joe had a three-month team missionary venture to South America, which proved to have a long-lasting effect on him.
Whenever Joe looked at a world map, his eyes always went to Portugal. And his love of the country paid dividends when, in June 1978, his dream of many years came true. He arrived in Lisbon to establish an international church there. He taught religious education and it was from there that the idea to begin a church, proclaiming the gospel to tourists and the international community, was born. The Evangelical Christian Church of Cascais was opened in 1980. At the time, Bonnie was educating their three children at home and thus the school started. Since then, the school has been established to help the ministry in their goal of making disciples of all nations. Presently, the church has an average attendance of 100 people from 14 nationalities and the school has 35 pupils representing seven nationalities, but can cater for 70.
During the banquet, a Powerpoint presentation proved that the ICCSC’s dream of enlargement is now going to become a reality. A committee, already set up, will ensure that the school and church will go from strength to strength and cater for the needs of more learners of the words of the Gospel, and educate more children of all nationalities as future leaders of the community. The evening ended with the traditional cake cutting by Joe and Bonnie. Bob Hughes
