October 2009: PROVIDING RESOURCES TO FACILITATE EFFORTS OF CHRISTIAN WORKERS

"...Go and make disciples of all nations, ...and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you...." Matthew 28: 19, 20a NIV

Articles contained in the October 2009 newsletter:

MINISTRY AMONG BURMESE In Thailand:

Perhaps as many as 800,00 Burmese refugees and displaced persons live in Thailand, most without access to aid or protection. Read about one ministry that is reaching out to assist and to share the Good News with them.

HAITI - Pastor Thony Paul Shares News of Mission Evangelique du Nord d'Haiti:

The leaders of MENH believe development and church growth go hand in hand. Read what this ministry is doing to make a difference.

INDIA - Jehovah Shammah Children's Home:

The children at the home take a break before exams while evangelists continue to work in the face of hostility. Read more...

REGARDING BOOKS - Discover how your gently used books can be "re-cycled" to meet a great need overseas...

PRAYER & PRAISE

Good News Theological College and Seminary in Accra, Ghana - Training leaders for the African Indigenous Churches

SH in South India - working to reach children, youth and families

Pastor Frank in KGF, India - A vital ministry faithfully proclaiming the Good News and meeting physical needs of those whith home they come in contact

Burma - Many in cyclone affected areas come to faith

MINISTRY AMONG BURMESE

In Thailand

Our contact person* in Thailand wears many hats. He is the regional director for an international ministry as well as the senior pastor of a church in Bangkok serving the immigrant Burmese community, in addition to being the director of the Thai branch of a ministry working primarily in Burma. He is also the lead instructor and director of the annual discipleship training program held to train new believers (primarily Burmese) and to identify and train future church leaders.

This training program is held each year from June through August and can accommodate 40 full-time students. This year’s program was a great success with many of the students hoping to return next year to learn even more.

The cost of attending was too high for some students to pay by themselves and their churches were unable to make up the entire difference so EWI was asked for assistance. The five benefiting from our help shared their testimonies and plans for the future: Miss Char said she took the course to be prepared to be a good servant equipped for ministry. “My vision is to spread the gospel to places God sends me for a big harvest.” “My first priority is the Burmese people,” Miss Mary said, adding that the training will help her to know God’s will and prepare her for effective service. “I’m most interested in children’s ministry,” said Miss Esther, who also expressed an interest in learning more and in being better able to discern the will of God. She served in a ministry for nine months prior to taking the training and said that she wanted to be better equipped. Lydia’s stated goal is to become a full-time worker serving in either Thailand or Burma doing gospel drama. Finally, Mr. Yu, a 59 year old father of 7 and a fairly new Christian, expressed interest in knowing more of the Christian life and learning how to be a stronger Christian.

The director of the training program wrote, “Thank you for the support for five students who finished three months DTS with us. All of them have been serving the Lord without our support (Faith Based Worker) for one year. After this training, they will be FULL TIME Evangelists and be assigned to places in Thailand. Some of them [will] attend next year DTS with different topics.”

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HAITI

Pastor Thony Paul Shares News of Mission Evangelique du Nord d'Haiti (MENH)

We are delighted when national partners are able to come to the US to meet many of you and to share news about the work being done through their ministries. Since Pastor Thony Paul from Haiti arrived in September he has had opportunity to meet with friends in Florida, Oklahoma, Iowa, Minnesota and New York. Meeting face to face has allowed us to learn so much more about what is taking place than we can gather in emails, letters, or static-filled phone calls.

Pastor Thony believes that the hold of Voodoo over the minds and hearts of the Haitian people has been broken as they have witnessed the power of God in the lives of believers. He tells many stories of God’s protection at a time when the Voodoo priests placed curses on him and the people expected him to die. He believes that Haiti now has a much higher percentage of real followers of Jesus than any official government statistics show.

MENH has long desired that its friends “teach them to fish, rather than just giving them fish.” They are moving forward with a new program called, in English, Rise up and Walk. This new program is intended to involve the MENH churches and their people in development programs that will allow them to support their own pastors, care for their own churches, support their own families, and be a testimony and example to the entire community and nation. They want their people to become givers rather than takers and to be able to serve others rather than continually needing to be served.

Mr. Ebed Paul, MENH mission administrator, participated in an intense training program in micro-credit development held in Bangladesh. The group with which he studied was run by a Christian Bangladeshi and, in addition to basic teaching on micro-credit, focused on the importance of the national churches becoming self-supporting and on ways of making that possible.

The program is already experiencing some success. The initial step for the first 25 participants has been a three-month training course designed to help them understand not only the how but the why of what they are to do. The agricultural project is already showing great promise. One person who came to the program with a business plan received one of the first loans and now has a mobile food service business. He cooks, loads the food on his bicycle, and sells it along the way wherever he travels. He is so happy with his new enterprise that he stops off at Pastor Thony’s every morning and brings him breakfast! The participants are required to make payments on the loan so that the fund is replenished and available for additional persons.

The people of Haiti have long lived in basic survival mode using whatever they have to satisfy the needs of the moment without thought for the future. Pastor Thony states that if that continues there will be little vision. He gave the following illustration: Haiti has many mango trees. But hungry individuals do not plan. When they see a ripe mango they throw sticks or stones at it to knock it down so they will have something to eat now. In the process they also knock down many others that are left on the ground to rot. With patience and perhaps a ladder they could pick the ripe mangos and leave the others to ripen so that they have a better crop to sell. He also spoke of the Haitian goats that are so thin that they give little milk and provide poor meat. Training the people to provide better care for their goats and manage their breeding would produce a source of milk and a better quality of meat.

The ultimate purpose of all programs conducted by MENH is to introduce people to faith in Christ and to work for the transformation of the nation. We asked Pastor Thony about the work of the churches and he responded that all of them are growing in numbers and in maturity with at least one new church plant in recent months. He reported as well that 19 people were baptized during a service this summer at one of the churches.

The micro-loan program has already begun to bring in returns and should become self-supporting as time goes on. As more individuals and their churches become involved, the costs for the training programs should also be met locally.

One of the great needs, in addition to the micro-credit program, is for good vocational training for the young people. The mission launched a tailoring school that has experienced tremendous success. There is still, however, need for computer training as well as training in trades such as carpentry, plumbing, electrical, automotive and much more. The mission is making plans and raising support to start a vocational training center to serve the entire area.

How can we help MENH achieve their goals?

• Prayer;
• In the early stage of the micro-loan or micro-credit program additional funding is needed so that more people are able to participate in the program;
• Funds are needed initially to cover the costs related to the training programs.

 INDIA

Jehovah Shammah Children's Home

Many of the children visited relatives in their home villages during the mid-term break leaving only the older students preparing for exams at the home.  Soon all will return and the household will again be bustling with activity.  Please pray for health and safety as the children travel.  Some nearby areas are currently dealing with major flooding and loss of life.

David, the director, reported , “All the evangelists working under the banner of JSCH are doing very good work in taking the gospel to unreached people and the Lord did amazing things in the midst of many challenges and difficulties. It was a joy to lean on the Lord at every step for every need of the JSCH ministries. We are grateful for your prayer, monetary support for the evangelists and the children’s home and for standing with us in all difficult circumstances in fulfilling God’s mandate. The gospel message is touching many people and transforming the various faith communities in the rural areas in Andhra Pradesh. We believe that the encouragement given by EWI this year enabled them to present the living word to the masses with more strength and power. Our evangelists are really believing that the Lord is with them and protecting from dangers. Please pray that the Lord will keep them in good mind and courage.” Fundamentalists attacked one of the evangelists recently as he returned home from an evening meeting at a village church.  He was hospitalized for a spinal injury but David reported that he has recovered and continues to minister.  Please pray for boldness, wisdom and safety for the workers, their families and for those who have come to faith.

 REGARDING BOOKS

Your Gently Used Books Meet a Great Need

We wish to thank those who have donated books, journals, and other materials, as well as the funds to cover the cost of shipping. Your generosity has provided Bible schools, seminaries, and other institutions, as well as individual Christian workers, with the tools they need to train and to minister to their people.

The president of a Bible College in India shared the following: “Our new academic year started with about 100 students from the 22 provinces of India. Thank you for the partnership in mission. We are grateful to you for the sacrificial service to develop our Library through your contribution of books. Our faculty and students are much benefited through the books that you have sent to us.”

The Great Commission School in Nairobi, Kenya has trained more than 200 students and sent them out to minister throughout Africa. When the school moved from one location to another, many of their books did not survive the journey, leaving them with a collection that did not meet the minimum standards of the accrediting board. The librarian reported that since the time that EWI began to provide books, the library has grown from about 5,000 volumes to over 8,200. The government requires 10,000 to qualify for accreditation. NGCS has 12 extension centers in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Sudan. Books that they do not need in Nairobi are selected and sent to the appropriate center for use by both the students and the larger community as well. These books are helping village pastors to study and prepare their sermons. There is a need for more Bible commentaries and dictionaries, books on Hermeneutics, on Homiletics, and on Christian counseling, as well as for community development materials (including HIV and AIDS).

 PRAYER & PRAISE

Good News Theological College and Seminary in Accra, Ghana

Please pray —

• For those who have enrolled and for those who are still considering enrollment for the current term;
• For the new weekend part time program;
• For Humphrey Akogyeram who is studying in the US for two years.
• For his family as they remain in Ghana.
• For those who have taken on some of his teaching and administrative duties.

Praise God —

• For the completion of the new temporary library.

Please pray —

• For the administration as they seek a person with the right qualifications to serve as librarian;
• For Principal Oduro as he travels to Abuja, Nigeria to teach during the first two weeks of November.

SH in South India

Please pray—

• For the December Christmas programs which serve as a way of connecting with the community;
• For the new opportunities to interact with students in two local colleges;
• For five children who stopped coming when told by their father that they would not be allowed to re-enter their home if they attend Sunday School; pray that the Word already sown in their hearts will bear fruit;
• For grace as SH deals with an anti-Christian neighbor who deliberately spreads filth on SH’s property and turns away children coming to the Sunday School;
• For health and strength for SH as he has many speaking engagements.

Pastor Frank in KGF, India

Please pray —

• For the pastors and workers as they minister in the midst of hostility;
• For the health needs of Pastor Frank and his wife, who ask for strength to carry on the work.

Praise God —

• For good response at meetings held at five mission churches;
• For safety as they traveled over 1,200 kilometers on roads said to have “unruly traffic;”
• For the medical personnel who volunteered to examine and treat over 1,200 people at a recent medical camp.

Burma

Please Pray —

• For many new believers who came to the Lord as a result of the witness of those who participated in relief efforts following the cyclone of May 2008.