My name is Georgina Batucan and I am an Elim Missionary working alongside my husband Joseph in the Philippines. Joseph and I have been married since December 2019 and have been parents to Elijah since February 2021.
I (Georgina) grew up in and attended Ealing Christian Centre (ECC) from a young age. I grew up with missionary parents (Mark and Cora King), so missions were always in my life in a way. In 2004, my family and I moved to Cebu, Philippines as full-time missionaries. I spent 3 years in the Philippines and was mainly involved in worship and children’s ministries.
I (Joseph), a Filipino living in the mountain region of Cebu, started attending Portland Christian Centre (PCC-a church planted by Mark, Cora and their family) in 2007, where I went on to be trained by Mark and Cora, mainly involved in worship, youth and children’s ministries.
Georgina and I met when she came out again on a short-term mission in 2016, and let’s just say the Holy Spirit did the rest!
Our Journey
Our leadership roles include overseeing the teaching and training of children’s ministry teachers, worship training and preaching. Joseph spent 2-3 years helping Pastor a ‘sister’ church in Daan Bantayan (Northern Cebu), then in early 2019 we both began Pastoring/Leading another ‘sister’ church in Danao City, Cebu.
When the pandemic hit, a new movement arose within the organisation out here Global Ekklesia Ministries International (GEMI), sending us and GEMI leaders further out into Cebu, spreading the Gospel through Gospel Communities (GCs).
The aftermath of Typhoon Rai (December 2021), led Joesph and I along with the rest of th GEMI leaders reach out to many unreached places and with the help and support of our Elim family back in the U.K, we were able to give out emergency food packs and, in some cases, help rebuild homes.
Since the Typhoon, Joseph and I have moved to Mactan Island to be closer to the GC’s where we spend time praying, teaching and building up a house church/GC. We are currently overseeing a GC on Mactan Island and a second on Cebu main island in the mountain, where they had also been affected by the typhoon.
We believe that GC planting is such an amazing way of sharing the Gospel. We are able to establish strong relationships with people and connect in more intimate settings. Whether it’s through free haircuts that Joseph gives the children or feeding programs or simply spending time together in prayer and of course eating!
Our Vision
Our prayer and vision for Mactan Island and Cebu is to train and disciple strong GC leaders and planters and to plant GCs at an exponential rate, through sharing our life experiences and values and establishing relationships. We believe that raising up leaders within households and amongst the children, we will see generational growth within the GCs.
Please pray with us as we continue to go out further into the field where we can establish relationships, find people of peace and grow the Kingdom of God. Thank you