INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES MAY 2015
On the Ground MYANMAR Fellowship Bible Church The Thingyan Water Festival is the biggest Buddhist holiday of the year. They believe that water washes away the bad luck and sin of the previous year. FBC held a children s camp during the festival to share the true Living Water found in Christ. We pray that the seeds of salvation will yield tremendous fruit! INDIA Good Samaritan Sewa Kendra Dr. Jacob and Dr. Rosie previously held daily village roadside medical clinics, bringing much needed medical care to villagers that don t have the means to travel to town for medical care. Their own health issues brought an end to these clinics. We are grateful that their health has now improved and they are back to holding clinics several times a week! CHINA China Sees The first semester of Disciples College launched in April with six students, three of whom have decided that they want their spouses to attend. They joyfully call it buy one get one free! It s a testimony to Chinese people s love for education. This group meets weekly for three hours and every 5th week for six hours. It is intense and a great deal of fun to teach. Cover and page 3 photos by Shannon Irish Time for Camp! Summer camps in Russia have become the backbone of Hope for Life Homes ministry to orphans living in government orphanages. Not only have we seen the eternal impact the camps make, it provides the local church a platform for follow up in the orphanages. Numerous children have come to know Christ at camp and have since made a tremendous impact in their orphanages by sharing the love of Jesus! This summer we have the privilege of sending these precious children to summer camp for fun, spiritual growth, and encouragement. Words cannot fully express the opportunity this is for so many orphans in Russia! Camp cost: $200 Feeling loved: Priceless We ve seen first hand the effects of children spending two weeks with people who are committed to sharing God s love and building relationships with them that will last for years to come. Give the gift of hope to an orphan today! To help, visit www.harvesters.net, click donate and Hope for Life Homes. To Every Tribe... J. Lucarelli I have had the privilege and honor, over the course of the last month, of visiting with our East African partners ministering in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, DR Congo, and South Sudan. It was an encouraging time of fellowship, strategizing, and confirmation that our partners are laserfocused on sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ to their ministry communities and beyond. Their heart for ministry is both humbling and encouraging. At the center of all of our efforts, the lens through which we minister to others, is church-planting and evangelism. The life-changing message of salvation and the compassion of Christ is powerful and resilient, even in uncertain times and in the face of persecution. In this issue of our newsletter, we are thrilled to share with you just a few of the exciting things that you have made possible through your prayers and financial support from crusades in the mountains of Congo; to outreaches to the Karamojong tribe of eastern Uganda; to equipping of national church leaders in Myanmar and China. The harvest is plentiful and, we are happy to report, the laborers are as well. They are begging to be trained, equipped, and sent out to some of the most difficult and remote places on earth. Thank you for being part of what God is doing. We hope that this issue will be an encouragement to you for the impact that is taking place and for you to continue to enable the laborers to go, make disciples, baptize, and teach in the name of Christ. 2 3
China s Growth Explosion China Sees The church in China, like China itself, is complicated. Western missionaries laid much of the foundation for today s church over 150 years ago. Recent growth in Christianity began and spread from the countryside. Various sources estimate there are between 80 and 140 million Christians in China today, owing largely to a period of explosive growth beginning shortly after the death of Chairman Mao. China is a very performance driven environment. Purely unconditional love is an alien idea and often interpreted as being selfish. Understanding that God has made us in His image and thus relational, we have an inbred desire for unconditional love and acceptance. This is not to say that Chinese people do not love they do! But rather love s expression is often conditioned upon performance and compliance. This idea is quite foreign to the Western mind, but is quite prominent to the Eastern mind. As such, always trying to seek parental approval and not always measuring up leaves a hole in people s hearts that Christ s unconditional and freely given love fills. Chinese people, in general, do not struggle with the idea of being sinful. In fact they are often overly self-critical. The idea China doesn t have formal church planting programs - they just do it! of one who unconditionally accepts them, forgives them, and loves them is an overwhelming emotion. This catalyzes their journey to faith and creates a great desire to share this amazing gift!! When considering church planting and evangelism, the final clause of Acts 2:47 comes to mind: And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Christ s sovereign commitment to grow His church is being carried out in two primary ways in China. The first derives from China s cultural make-up, the second from political and physical restrictions. These two factors stated, the catalyst for people coming to faith is their search for unconditional love and meaning in their lives. Unlike the West, China does not have formal church planting programs they just do it! China s believers are natural church planters because they are natural evangelists, wanting to share the unconditional love they have discovered. Chinese society places a strong emphasis on the family. As a result, when one family member comes to faith, they immediately and enthusiastically share their faith with their extended families. In urban environments, the family extends to include colleagues and college classmates. Frequently over 50% of these family members will come to faith. When this happens, they have the nucleus of a new house church and it gets planted. If not this outcome, the new believers are faithful to keep sharing and many will come to faith over an extended period of time. In the meantime, these new believers will join an existing house church and start growing in their faith. As a result the existing house church network organically grows from the family nucleus or the adding to of existing churches resulting in new plants when they reach physical size barriers. The second factor fueling growth is political and physical restrictions which are interdependent. The Church in China and the government co-exist in an uneasy symbiosis. Neither side wishes to intentionally antagonize the other resulting in confrontation. One of the practical ways this plays out is by not getting too big in any one location. This, coupled with the physical limitations of a house church (the houses are small) naturally leads the church to plant new churches. In the countryside this happens in the 75-125 person range and in the city at 50-75 people. In this way, the house churches do not antagonize the government and the government largely leaves them alone. As well, issues associated with shepherding groups larger than this size with lay-leadership factors into their church planting. As is the case, nationals will always be more productive, cost effective, and efficient at reaching nationals. This is THE challenge in China today. Not church planting, not to encourage them to be evangelistic or missions oriented beyond their borders, and not to create more formalized church structures like we have in the West. In fact, the West can learn a great deal about church growth from China! Rather, and simply stated, China needs to develop and equip a generation of church leaders with the tools to lead and shepherd their fellowships and this is nothing short of a God-sized undertaking. 4 5
Casting Our Nets Samuel Mwesigwa, Kerith Ministry, Uganda crusade. He is now free from the bondage of pornography and chooses instead to study his Bible. He is receiving discipleship in our church. I am thrilled to see how the Lord is working! Our most recent evangelism campaign was in Karamoja, which is located in northeastern corner of Uganda. Karamoja is one of the unreached communities that still practices ancient traditional religious beliefs. There is widespread illiteracy, making it difficult for the people that do accept Christ to grow in their faith and understanding of the gospel. I am so glad to share with you what the Lord has been doing in our evangelism outreach during the past few months here in Pallisa and other places. It has been our joy to share the love of God to people through our evangelism efforts. Jesus often used real life stories to teach the people who gathered around him. With compassion, He related to the needs of people. Jesus worked incredible miracles miracles of healing, provision, and deliverance. In the same way, our ministry has responded to the great commission in Matthew 28. Over time, our ministry has seen thousands of people respond to the call of salvation. Our God is an awesome God! As a church, we believe that evangelism must always lead. This is a central truth I have practiced everywhere. I, the evangelist, bring my nets and borrow the nets of the local churches, and together we cast our nets into the human ocean. The Holy Spirit will pull them to Himself. I strongly believe there is an urgency in my heart and in the ministry to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in the most Muslim-populated areas and unreached communities of Uganda. I bring my nets and borrow nets from local churches. Together we cast our nets into the human ocean. The Holy Spirit will pull them to Himself. During a week-long crusade in Pallisa, 362 people accepted Christ! These new believers will receive discipleship through River of God Church and other churches that have been planted in their communities. Yusuf, a former Muslim, had for many years heard the gospel, and he finally got saved during this During the week-long campaign, we reached out to four villages including the largest village in East Africa called Nakaperumoru, which is estimated to have between 20,000 and 30,000 people. A team of 15 people held open-air crusades, visited people in their homes, and distributed clothing to children and medical supplies to the hospital. During the open-air meetings, 276 gave their lives to Christ. We conducted two discipleship classes to help lay leaders minister to these new Christians. The Lord has laid this group of people strongly on my heart to continue to evangelize, disciple, and plant churches. I am so thankful to the faithful believers who have supported us financially and in prayer to bring the harvest of souls in the Kingdom. Please continue to pray as we focus our efforts on planting and supporting new churches in the unreached villages of Uganda. Living Testimony During our last visit to Karamoja last year, we visited with several families. One had lost all its property including the house due to a fire. We counseled the family and prayed with them and encouraged them that God loved them and would take care of their needs. In our visit last week, we visited the family again. They greeted us with big smiles on their faces! The Lord had enables them to build another house and a child that had run away returned home. They are now filled with joy and they continue to thank God! 6 7
From The Field Julius Murgor - Pokot Outreach Ministries, Kenya Winter greetings to you all from the snowy and icy roads where I am struggling to drive! I arrived in the US on February 11 and started my ground trips from Texas. I thought down south was my kind of weather. Boy was I wrong! CHURCH PLANTING AND EVANGELISM We are experiencing the power of the gospel all over our outreaches. In December, we had a gathering of over 3,000 people in the northern part of eastern Uganda in Auorkeya Village. The people walked for many miles from several other villages to come and hear the gospel preached. These are people who have never heard the gospel because of the hostility towards each other. Over 400 people received Christ as their Savior. We thank God that people who sat out in the open and under very hot heat were very patient to listen to the gospel. From there, we climbed the mountain of Korokow and preached to over 1,000 mountain people. The mountain people are usually not open to meetings or gatherings. That great number was really God-made and a good sign of God s touch on them. Over 100 people came to know Christ. People walked for many miles just to hear the Gospel. Thank you for your prayers for South Sudan. Reuben is mentoring two men from the community. They participated in the recent Pastor s Conference for additional training and were challenged to help continue to the spread of the gospel. ORPHANAGES Some of you may have lost your parents when you were young. You remember how difficult life was, but God s hand brought you so far. It is true for us that God has been the Father of the fatherless in Kodich, Kauriong, and Chemolingot orphanages. He has provided such that these kids are now recognized as the only sure group among the Pokot that can excel in education. The future is also bright for us as a ministry because it is from these kids that we get pastors, teachers, nurses, and other servants to work with us. God for Pastor Leonard of Kauriong and Simon of Kodich for the spiritual investment they have made in the children in the orphanages. WATER DRILLING Maral has changed name! It was a day like no other for the Maral area as the people came from the villages. Traditional songs were composed by every village group to present to the huge gathering of people there to witness the historical moment the completion of new boreholes! The elders declared that they no longer wanted to remember the bitter past, but recognize the hand of God that has brought change. Therefore, the area will now be known as Kanaan because God has blessed the people with water. As the name of this place is changing, the people are also changing from non-believers to believers! We preached the Word that gave them eternal water. The people of Karita, Uganda, are now gathering and listening to the gospel at new borehole sites that are being drilled. I cannot wait to see how the ten new water boreholes will touch and change lives in Uganda! MISSIONS STATIONS Please be in prayer that God will enable us to start additional mission stations in Nyargayta, Akorkeya, Tipeet, and Karita. These areas are very ripe for harvest! The word of God really grows well in strategically located mission stations, which include a medical clinic, a church and boreholes. It allows us to also reach out to the surrounding villages with the hope of adding additional stations. PRAYER REQUESTS Please pray for: h Reuben and Loice in Kapueta, South Sudan h God to call more laborers to the ministry in Uganda and for POM as a ministry h Souls to be won through provision of clean water h God to provide for four mission stations We thank God that Chemolingot will soon have good classrooms. The buildings will surely enhance education quality at the orphanage. We thank 8 9
Serving Together United in Love and Purpose Meet Wesley Thang and Theint Zar Chi Myint. They are both members of the first graduating class of Myanmar Bible College and were married in March. Wesley was raised in a Christian home. His father died when he was a child, and he spent many years feeling lonely and unhappy. He fell into the wrong crowd and was consumed by alcohol. He attended a Bible camp in 2008 and God changed his heart! He felt God s call on his life for ministry and prayed diligently for direction. Theint was raised by a Christian mother and Buddhist father. She attended the Buddhist temple as a child and struggled for many years with whether to follow Jesus or Buddhism. Thankfully, her mother encouraged her to attend a Bible camp where she accepted Christ. She began praying about her future, and God called her to children s ministry. The couple met at youth fellowship at church in 2008. Both longed to study in a Bible college and to serve in ministry. $200 provides monthly support for Wesley & Theint God opened the door for both of them to attend Myanmar Bible College. Now that they have graduated, both are in full time ministry with Fellowship Bible Church. Wesley serves as a youth leader and evangelist and will assist with church planting. Theint will serve in FBC s children s home and as a Sunday School teacher. We believe that God will use this couple in a mighty way to impact the Kingdom! Crusades for Christ Athanase Habimana, Union of Baptist Churches - DR Congo Crusades are a vital part of our ministry. They allow us to venture into new areas, take an inventory of the needs there, provide training and assistance for pastors, and develop a plan for planting new churches or establishing ministries to aid villagers. We held nine crusades in April in the mountains of Congo where pastors and lay leaders work in difficult conditions. There are no roads in Supply a new Bible for only $10 this area, which makes the trip especially grueling. There are pastors with no Bibles. If they do have a Bible, it is in poor shape and may be missing several books. There is a great need for Bibles in this area. Despite harsh conditions and lack of written Word, God is faithful! The crusades produced over 1,200 new believers and many others rededicated their lives to Christ. Over 100 were baptized. The leaders of churches in the area were so excited and have asked us to organize crusades each quarter. It is our prayer that these crusades will result in many more churches planted, lives changed, and disciples made. All so that the cycle of growth and commitment can continue. We are trusting that God will provide the $200 monthly support needed for this couple to serve. Please visit www.harvesters.net and click donate from the Fellowship Bible Church page to help support Wesley and Theint. 10 11
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