REACHING PEOPLE. MEETING NEEDS.
REACH BEYOND – this is our annual fundraising campaign. It enables us to reach more people for Jesus, meet needs, expand our church locally and plant new ones globally.
HEARTBEAT
But let us do good and not grow weary, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not cease. Therefore, while we still have time, let us do good to everyone, but especially to those who are fellow believers. – Galatians 6:9-10
REACH BEYOND – ICF Zurich’s annual fundraising campaign that knows no boundaries and goes beyond our tithes. Reach Beyond enables us to win more people for Jesus, address needs, expand our local church and plant new churches worldwide.
Our church is using digitalization as a powerful tool to reach people. This year the Reach Beyond Offering will be used for our online presence, including YouTube, the Church App, and exciting projects such as the Digital Prayer House. We plan to radically remodel and expand our space to accommodate the unceasing influx of people of all ages. Our aim is to be a church that invests in the future and creates diverse opportunities to proclaim the gospel in authentic and revolutionary ways.
REACH BEYOND is about connecting with the heart of God and making great things happen with bold commitment. With our generosity, we can move mountains together. Regardless of the resources available, each of us can contribute with bold commitment. We invite you to be a part of what God has placed on our hearts for Reach Beyond 2024. Together we can change the world and proclaim the gospel with revolutionary fire!
Leo & Susanna Bigger,
Senior Pastors – ICF Church
PROJECTS
Digital Innovation
Church at any time, in any place, for any person.
ICF is constantly evolving and reaching people far beyond local congregations. In this digital era, we can effortlessly overcome geographical boundaries and organize church from smartphone to smartphone.
Our heart: church anytime, anywhere, for anyone. With new opportunities such as online courses, micro churches, and online conferences, we are reaching people for Jesus and offering them training – far beyond the borders of Zurich.
A key project in this context is the new Digital House of Prayer, which is being realized via the ICF app. This innovation enables people to experience church regardless of their location – to pray together and to stand up for the needs of the world beyond their location. Prayer connects and moves the arm of God. Through the Digital House of Prayer, we are creating a new digital place to experience church.
“The Online House of Prayer is a place where people come together, pray for each other, strengthen their faith and honour God. This place creates a network that will far exceed our expectations. As a church, we utilise the God-given power of prayer and combine it with creative and innovative ideas to build church through digital means, beyond the visible boundaries.”
Micha Sager
ICF Zürich / Digital Transformation Specialist
Remodeling of the ICF Center
Multifunctional spaces for the growing generation.
We are on the threshold of an inspiring new chapter in the history of ICF Zurich: the renovation of our ICF Centre. This project includes not only the expansion and remodeling of our Kids Rooms, but also the creation of a special prayer space that will encourage spiritual growth for all ages.
This remodeling reflects our vision to provide more space for a dynamic Kids Ministry. At the same time, we are creating more space for our growing programs such as the ICF College, pastoral care, workshops, and much more. We want to use these rooms in a multifunctional way so that all age groups can benefit from them.
Every new design, every extended space is an expression of our dedication to building the church. With enthusiasm and confidence, we look forward to what lies ahead and look forward to how this space will enrich the lives of many people.
“For me, the redesign of our kids’ rooms is a decisive step towards not only preserving what God has entrusted to us, but also making it lively and relevant for the future. In doing so, we want to open new doors for children to experience God. It is about equipping a young generation to change the world positively with hope and light.”
Simon Bigger
ICF Zürich / Kids Pastor
Church Online
A new experience of the church worldwide.
In a world where geographical boundaries are becoming less and less important in the digital space, it stands out that many people experience their first encounter with ICF Zurich online, especially via our YouTube channel. The distribution of our Celebrations on YouTube has significantly increased our reach. In addition, the demand for our online offerings, which go beyond the Sunday church services, is continuously increasing.
Through innovations such as online courses, micro churches, an online prayer house and online conferences, which we share on YouTube, we reach people far beyond the ICF Zurich region and inspire them for Jesus. We give them the opportunity to experience faith from home – not just in Europe, but worldwide.
In order to continue to strengthen and expand all of these projects, we at ICF Zurich are making a targeted investment in our online presence, particularly on YouTube. We are using the power of digitalisation and this dynamic platform to share our faith in Jesus Christ and support people on their journey of faith.
“I am always fascinated by the way we can build church from Zurich with people around the world via YouTube. Whether it’s the micro-churches in countries like Egypt, Germany, Bali or the Hour of Prayer, through which we reach people all over the world via YouTube – God knows no borders. Our online community is constantly growing through YouTube, and so is what God is moving through ICF Zurich worldwide.”
Patrick Kliever
ICF Zürich / Online Community Pastor
Starter Bible
Equipping people with God’s word.
It fills us with great joy and excitement to see how people encounter Jesus during ICF Celebrations and events and accept Him as their Lord and Savior. To accompany them on their journey into a new life with Jesus, we give these people a Starter Bible as a welcome gift. Thanks to REACH BEYOND, we are able to give away several thousand of these Bibles each year, touching many lives in a positive way.
ICF TEL AVIV
Together in Israel.
Whoever blesses Israel will be blessed.” It is a privilege to build a church in Israel and to support our lead pastors, Sergey and Natasha Mazhuga, in their great adventure. We have launched the Generous Baskets project with the vision of giving clothes and food to people in need. We are at the beginning of this exciting opportunity to be more generous to the communities we serve.
Our Celebrations are translated into three languages. We offer age-appropriate children’s programmes and have begun streaming our Celebrations online.
We hope to see more churches spring up in the country and believe that we are only at the beginning of an exciting journey with God. God is at work in Israel, and we are honored to be a part of it as ICF Tel Aviv.
Beyond Gold
God and sport united.
The organization Beyond Gold (International Sports Chaplaincy), based in Switzerland, accompanies and supports top athletes before, during and after their careers competently and discreetly through sports chaplaincy. Their vision is for the person behind the public persona to be able to lead a fulfilled, healthy & valuable life in all areas of their life beyond visible success and inspire our youth & society as a positive role model. The founders Jörg Walcher (Snowboard Pro ISF World Tour) & Jacqueline Walcher-Schneider (Olympic and World Championship finalist in water diving) have been supporting athletes and coaches from all over the world as international sports counselors in trusting relationships since 2003. Topics such as depression, burn-out, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders, doping, problems within the team, strokes of fate, emotional problems after defeats, injuries, abuse, and the search for peace or simply a conversation with a person of trust in private are just some of the topics they encounter.
AVC
Clear words.Strong Actions.
Our slogan says it all: AVC is an international aid organization that supports persecuted Christians and people in need worldwide. Hand in hand with local partners, we work in over sixty countries on four continents with a big heart for the needy and forgotten of this world. We work in the focal point – where Christians are persecuted, and spiritual and material needs come together.
Albania
Giving children hope.
Trisomy 21 or Down syndrome is a chromosomal abnormality that manifests itself in a combination of mental impairment and physical malformations of varying severity and intensity. Children with this impairment need support from a very early age. In Albania, children with Down syndrome do not receive any development aid from government sources. Culturally, children with special needs are a source of shame to their parents and they often feel the need to hide their children from the public eye. The Jonathan Centre fills this gap. The charity provides ongoing training and programs for these children and their parents. They also organize holiday camps for these children. The Jonathan Centre and the ICF Tirana holistically combine faith with social help.
Cambodia
Creating a future.
Our lead pastors, ND and Sophal Strupler, founded ICF Cambodia to bring the light of the gospel to Cambodia – a country scarred by a tragic past. In the midst of the Buddhist kingdom in Southeast Asia, one of the poorest countries in the world, the church is flourishing. The church has experienced an impressive growth. With an extensive social commitment, it supports numerous families in the villages around Siem Reap by fulfilling vital needs such as food, medicine, and education. The social team also enriches the community with a wide range of activities and courses at the Community Campus.
Dream Center LA
Being light in times of darkness.
The Dream Center is a volunteer-based organization in Los Angeles that provides a wide variety of services to over 40,000 families and individuals in approximately 70,000 encounters each month. This extensive range of services includes mobile food distribution, medical care, adult rehabilitation programs, shelters for trafficking victims, transitional homes for homeless families, intervention services, work skills training, life skills development classes, counseling services, basic education classes, Bible studies, and much more.
Christmas party at ICF
Celebrating Christmas together.
On the evening of 24 December, we open our doors and celebrate Christmas with people who are looking for a place in a warm family atmosphere on Christmas Eve.
MOVEMENT PROJECTS
We support the following REACH BEYOND projects together as the ICF Movement
Church Planting
Enlarging God’s kingdom.
Our desire is to plant dynamic churches throughout Europe and beyond. Churches where people find a personal relationship with Jesus, experience love and community, discover their gifts, and are encouraged to grow. We dream of passionate and vibrant churches that have a positive impact on society.
Last year, we were able to invest in eight new church planting projects. In our young history, we have already established more than 60 ICF churches in Europe and beyond. In many places, there are existing groups that could potentially grow into strong churches in the near future. With specific investments, we can significantly support this process: For example, by training leaders and financially setting them free, providing resources for current projects, and being able to make necessary purchases. We therefore want to continue investing in selected initiatives and help them move forward.
“For over two years, we have had the privilege of helping to establish ICF Startup Friedrichshafen. During this time, God has blessed us with various locations and now also an office. Thanks to the financial support, we were able to hire a leader for our Celebration and Small Groups department, who complements us in many ways. Thank you for your support in building an ICF church at Lake Constance. We are excited to see what else God has in store for ICF Startup Friedrichshafen and look forward to people getting to know Jesus and becoming more like Him.”
Michelle & Simon Aichele
Location Pastors, ICF Startup Friedrichshafen
Pastors & Key Leaders training
Equipping Leaders for the future.
The training of new leaders and pastors is crucial for the successful planting of new churches. Good leadership and holistic discipleship are key factors in the extent of our impact. They ultimately influence how effectively we can reach people for Jesus and help them become more like Him. That is why we are excited that last year we were able to experience both a great Pastors & Key Leaders Training with 40 participants from 10 different ICFs and the biggest ICF Experience so far with 240 participants from 30 ICFs and 7 nations.
We want to continue to invest consistently and purposefully in the empowerment and training of potential pastors and leaders, which is why we will further develop and multiply our Pastors & Key Leaders Training, make the ICF Experience accessible to even more leaders and continue to invest in the translation of our training materials.
“The Pastors & Key Leaders Training equips and empowers you to lead holistically! From management and theology to spiritual leadership and transformation – every session is super relevant for everyday life as a leader. Through this we have become fully equipped and can take off with the ICF Startup!”
Christina & Christopher Köhler
Location Pastors, ICF Startup Lübeck
