ABOUT US
ABOUT US
Welcome to International City Church (ICC Brisbane)
We are a growing dynamic multicultural connect church in Brisbane’s inner north affiliated with the Australian Christian Churches. Currently for our Sunday services (see here for our times) we have a Combined Service in the morning in which all congregations gather together to praise and worship God (Mandarin, Spanish & Korean translation available), and our evening service which is a Healing, Miracles, Signs & Wonders service where our prayer team will pray for anybody who is sick and needs healing in the name of Jesus.
As a House of Prayer for people of all nations and a Place of Commanded Blessing (Psalm 133), we have mid-week prayer meetings where you will experience the supernatural presence, power and love of God. We want you to make ICC your home – where you will Rest in the presence of God, Relate to one another and Rejoice together.
As a CONNECT church we value Christ-centered relationships and encourage everyone to participate in a connect group where members will grow and mature as followers of Jesus Christ. Faith requires action and as such our connect groups focus on fellowship and evangelism which means we serve one another and those outside the church. We will often have a time of discussion related to our Sunday sermon topics followed by a time of prayer and fellowship.
We also established the Multicultural Community Centre, which serves the people from culturally diverse backgrounds, including migrants and refugees, as well as the International Christian College(formerly known as the Asian Pacific Institute), which is our very own bible college accredited with the Government and offers the only Diploma and Certificate in Multicultural Ministry in Australia.
JONATHAN & DEBORAH MOK
SENIOR MINISTER
Jonathan Mok is a founding member of ICC and has been the Senior Minister since October 2013. Jonathan was the overseer of the ICC Creative Arts Ministry since 1995 and has been involved in the worship ministry since its inception in 1988. He was also part of the church planting team which launched the Harvest International Campus Church at the University of Queensland and was the president of Club Campus Christian Assembly at UQ and QUT between 1993-1997 ministering to local and international students. He currently lectures at the International Christian College (Asian Pacific Institute) and is a co-producer of several of ICC’s praise and worship albums. In 2004, Jonathan started a 40 day fast and a midnight prayer watch in ICC which now meets two nights in church. He is passionate about empowering leaders, discipleship and raising up loyal and powerful prayer armour bearers in local churches worldwide. Ps Jonathan is married to Deborah and they have two children Zara and Ethan.
OUR HISTORY
OUR BEGINNINGS
In 1988 after one year of intensive prayer our Founding Minister, felt he was ready to begin working in an area notorious for its drug dealing, gambling and triad activities. He knew that his new church would be radically different. This church had to be a life changing, significant force; and influence that would strike deep in the heart of the community.
Since Brisbane had many churches catering to predominantly middle-class Caucasian congregations, we were resolved that as in Luke 14:15, we would go to the highways and by-ways to reach out and minister to the poor, the blind, the lame,’ bringing them into a caring community that would meet their needs and help them integrate into mainstream society. We had already been operating a restaurant in the Chinatown Mall called ‘Restoran Malaysia,’ so we began the first restaurant church in Australia. Every Friday night, Cornerstone Cafe was opened to bikies, street kids and anyone wanting friendship and coffee.
Today, the International City Church family is made up of over fifty nationalities. It also runs the Multicultural Community Centre and the Asian Pacific Institute, which comprises the International Christian College and a cross-cultural training centre.
The church regularly holds conferences and seminars that equip people to handle the challenges that are inevitable in the Christian life and help them to live the life God intended them to such as the W.I.S.H. (Wholeness In Self & Home) Relationships programs and the annual Synergy Multicultural Church conference.
Every Sunday over 500 people come to worship at our multicultural services, where we worship in English, Spanish and Chinese (mandarin), translations in Korean are also available. We also have a HMS Service@5pm where Healing – Miracles – Signs and wonders are often experienced.
In October 2013, Reverend Jonathan Mok became the new senior minister when we moved into our new premises at 23 Foster St, Newmarket. We thank God for His great grace and favour during this time as we have grown to become a strong multicultural, soul-winning church with a vibrant and ever increasing kids ministry.
OUR VISION
OUR VISION & VALUES
Our vision is to be a dynamic multicultural connect church impacting this nation and beyond.
We have four key values known as the “4M” values which describe the heart of our church. Although we haven’t arrived yet, we will still continue to pursue and grow in our understanding.
MULTICULTURAL – MISSIONS – MINISTRY EQUIPPING – MIRACLES
MULTICULTURAL:
- Multiculturalism where conscious effort is made to breaking down dividing walls relationally, bridging the gap, with genuine acceptance and love for people from all nations, cultures, languages, generations, education and financial status.
- Worship that is vibrant, dynamic, free, diversified, culturally sensitive and inclusive of all people groups, spirit led and God centered. Our heart is to see diversity in unity, to see all nations, tongues and tribes worshipping together and serving God with one purpose.
- Passion for Jesus Christ. We acknowledge Him as the head of our church and the reason for our existence. He is central to all we do and it is only through Him that we have a living relationship with God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
MINISTRY EQUIPPING
- The Bible to be the word of God and our final authority for rule and practice. We are a Bible believing and practising church, and we regard the Bible as a higher authority than the church.
- Team Ministry, incorporating the diverse races, personalities, talents and spiritual gifts, the five fold ministry, where a servant’s attitude is exemplified.
- Mutual affirmation, accountability, transparency, integrity and loyalty to one another
- Excellence in all aspects of our church – which does not mean perfection, but a commitment to improving and getting better at what we do.
MIRACLES:
- Prayer and the prophetic to under gird the direction, decision making and activities of our church. We value the supernatural power of God through signs, wonders and miracles. We encourage personal prayer, prayer in connect groups and in our corporate gatherings
- The Person of the Holy Spirit and we welcome his presence and power in our midst. We value the ministry (gifts) and the fruit (character) of the Spirit equally and we encourage each person to develop the fruit of the Spirit and to use the gifts for the building up of the church and reaching the lost children of God.
- Supernatural Healings, Miracles, Signs & Wonders through the power of the Holy Spirit. We have declared that ICC is to be a sick free zone based on Exodus 23:25 – where God promised to keep his people healthy, where there will be no miscarriages or infertility among our people. We believe that our services must be presence driven services that are led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
MISSIONS
- Continuous spiritual, emotional, numerical and financial growth to win the Lost – our goal is to reach lost people both near and far and influence our community for righteousness through evangelism, community work, missions and church planting.
- Commitment to the Community by serving, giving hope, encouragement and care to the underprivileged and disadvantaged , especially people from cultural diverse backgrounds including migrants and refugess, as we believe the church should be involved in the community, government and political arena as a vehicle and voice of righteousness and justice.
- iLink – we want to IMPACT Leaders to IMPACT Nations for the Kingdom of God. We aim to do this by developing and ministering to leaders both locally and internationally.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
OUR BELIEFS
WE BELIEVE:
- That the Bible is God’s Word. It is accurate, authoritative and applicable to our every day lives.
- In one eternal God who is the Creator of all things. He exists in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. He is totally loving and completely holy.
- That sin has separated each of us from God and His purpose for our lives.
- That the Lord Jesus Christ as both God and man is the only One who can reconcile us to God. He lived a sinless and exemplary life, died on the cross in our place, and rose again to prove His victory and empower us for life.
- That in order to receive forgiveness and the “new birth” we must repent of our sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and submit to His will for our lives.
- That in order to live the holy and fruitful lives that God intends for us, we need to be baptised in water and be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables us to use spiritual gifts, including speaking in tongues which is the initial evidence of baptism in the Holy Spirit.
- That God has individually equipped us so that we can successfully achieve His purpose for our lives which is to worship God, fulfill our role in the Church and serve the community in which we live.
- That God wants to heal and transform us so that we can live healthy and prosperous lives in order to help others more effectively.
- That our eternal destination of either Heaven or Hell is determined by our response to the Lord Jesus Christ.
- That the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back again as He promised.
International City Church currently belongs to the denomination of ACC (Australian Christian Churches).