Growing in the Lord

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

I hope you are doing well! Thank you for your prayers and support.

I am doing well by God’s grace. Two weeks ago, I was little sick for about a week. I had a fever, throat infection and upper respiratory infection, but now by God’s grace I am doing well!

In the end of January, I had my birthday. I am thankful that God added another year in my life. I had a blessed year last year. This last year I have grown closer to God and have been given more ministry opportunities.

We have 4 students at our Bible Institute who are in their second year. They will be graduating this summer. Right now, I am teaching 1st and 2nd Peter.

Since 4 students are graduating this summer, they wanted me to also teach the book of Galatians. They asked me to because after they leave they will not really have more opportunities to learn. In our language, we do not have many commentaries and study materials. The students do not really know the English language. So, I am also taking extra class and teaching them from the book of Galatians in evening.

Last month I went twice to a village to preach at the Sunday service. I mentioned in my earlier updates about this village where we do church service. It encourages me to see them standing firm for God and not turning back when there is persecution. At one time there were lot of people who used to believe in the village, but after persecution came, many of them turned back. A few of them stood firm. It is a blessing to preach and teach those believers to continue to grow in the Lord.

Prayer Requests:

  • Pray that God will continue to use me for His glory.
  • Pray for my health. I am allergic to dust and we have a lot of dust in my town. So I get sick very often.
  • Pray for the students to be prepared to start church planting ministry.
  • Pray for my ministry among youth and young adults. May the Lord continue to use me to minister to them.

Blessings,

Pastor 9

* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.

Called According to His Purpose

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

I am doing well by God’s grace. Hope you are also doing well! Thank you for your prayers and support! 

By God’s grace our Bible college is nearing the end of this semester. We have only a few weeks left. The students are doing great as they continue to study and learn the Word of God! 

Last month I was invited to the southern Bible College campus to teach. They had just begun their semester. I taught the book of Genesis. Although the students came from Christian families, most of them did not really know their Bible. So, I was grateful to God to have the opportunity to teach them about Creation. Even though the students did not know much about the stories and doctrines, I could see the eagerness in them to learn. That is why they were there. 

At first the students did not ask many questions because (as I they told me later), they were a bit intimidated when they were informed that a teacher from another state was coming to teach them. But as the Lord helped us to bond well. They slowly began to open up, while bringing up thoughtful questions from the Bible which God helped me to answer. 

When it was time to leave, I noticed one of the student’s tear-filled eyes. They call sometimes just to let me know that they miss me. It means a lot to me even though we were only together for a short time. This provides a good opportunity for the Lord to use me to continue to serve them even while far from them. I trust that God will help me minister to them whenever they have needs. 

In one of the states of our country, Christians are being attacked and killed. Hundreds of Christians have lost their homes and their lives! Furthermore over 300 churches have been burned down. The government has not been taking any serious action to stop this persecution because the government is anti-Christian. Many believe that the government is actually behind this persecution. Last month all the churches of our city held a peaceful rally in support of our brothers and sisters of that state. We also signed a petition which is being sent to the President appealing for action to be taken. 

Prayer Requests:

  • Please pray that I may continue to be mightily used by God.
  • Please pray for my health, as I depend on medications to prevent me from sneezing nonstop every morning due to some kind of allergies
  • Please pray that all the students God has entrusted to me will grow in their faith and be prepared for the future ministry that God has in store them. 
  • Pray for the upcoming rally in my city organized by all the churches to help the Gospel be preached and heard by many. 

God bless,

Pastor 9

* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.

Living For Christ

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

I thank God for you all as you continue to pray for me and support me financially.

I am doing good by God’s grace. Right now, we are having summer break for the Bible Institute students. They have finished their first year, and have one more year left to complete the Bible Institute. It gets really hot here in the summer. The temperature usually gets up to 110⁰ F during the day, so its really hard to go outside in the afternoon this time of year. Therefore, we have a longer summer break than winter break. In the winter the students only get a 2-3 week break.

During this past school year, I have seen all of the students grow so much in their knowledge of the Word and in their knowledge of the Lord. Some of them already had good Bible knowledge, while some did not even know how to read or write properly. But by the end of the school year, with our continued efforts and by His grace, I rejoice to see all of them doing really well. I see that this knowledge of the Word has caused them to love the Lord even more as they spend more time praying and studying the Word by themselves. They also have the heart to reach out to their friends and family members who are not saved. I believe that right now they are witnessing to them as they are back in their homes. I am in touch with them through phone calls.

I have also been teaching children (above) from the Bible each week for over a year. I am blessed to have this opportunity to lead them in their spiritual journey while most of their friends are enjoying a worldly life. They love the Lord. I am so glad that they do not give in to peer pressure as they stand for the Lord and live out what they have been learning.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to preach at a medical college’s chapel in my city. The topic of my message was “Living for Christ”. I had a positive response from the students. There were about 40 students. They told me that they were really blessed by the good solid teaching of the Word. They told me that most of the teaching that they hear is prosperity teachings. At the end, the student leader thanked me saying, “Thank you for presenting the truth without sugarcoating it.” A few of them told me that they would love to visit my church so I gave them the address. I plan to follow up with them and get in touch with them.

Prayer Requests:

  • Please pray that I continue to grow in my spiritual life and the knowledge of God.
  • Please pray that I will be used mightily by God.
  • Please pray for the Bible school students. May God use them right now as they share the Gospel with their friends and family during this summer break.
  • Please pray for the children and teenagers of my city with whom I am involved. May they stand firm in their faith at this age when Satan tries to distract them.

Blessings,

Pastor 9

* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.

Investing In Young Lives

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

I hope you are doing well! Thank you for your prayers and support.

I am doing good by God’s grace. I am teaching 1st &2nd Corinthians at our Bible school. They students are doing great. I can see the improvement in them. When they first started, some of the students did not know anything about the Bible at all. And couple of them even had hard time with reading. I thank God that He has helped them grow! They have improved a lot in their reading and understanding of the scriptures. I am blessed and thankful to God that He has chosen me to be the part of this ministry–where I can invest in the lives of these young men and in future watch them start their own churches.

At the end of January, I had the opportunity to attend a conference in the South. It was really good to meet all of the pastors from all different parts of our country. We had a blessed time as we shared with each other about what God is doing in our ministry. Things are getting harder in our country when it comes to sharing the Gospel. People are getting more hostile and persecution is increasing. But, I thank God that the work is spreading. Just as Paul says in second Timothy, the Word of God is not bound/chained. At the conference, I was also reminded that the our main purpose is to church plant. To teach those who we disciple that they need to teach the same to those who they disciple. So that they can start their own church and so on. 

Prayer Requests:

  • Pray for me to continue to grow in the Word of God.
  • Pray that God will continue to uses me here.
  • Pray for the teenage children whom I teach the Word each week. Right now they are taking their school final exams. Please pray that they will do good in their exams and glorify God.
  • Pray for my country. Persecution is increasing. Pray that the Work of the Gospel will also increase. 

Blessings,

Pastor 9

* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.

By God’s Grace

Happy New Year! I hope you had a blessed Christmas season!

By God’s grace, we also had a wonderful Christmas season. We had organized a few Christmas programs to share the Gospel with non-Christians, and everything went well by God’s grace.

One evening, we had a program for children. We invited children from the neighborhood and friends of the children from our church. So many non-Christian children attended the program! We performed a few skits and a dance, taught them action songs, and shared the Gospel message. We also had a fun time—we played games and distributed gifts and snacks. I believe that the Word that is being planted in their hearts right now will bear fruit one day.

For three nights, we had carol singing. The people of our church gathered and visited different Christian homes, sang Christmas songs, shared a brief message, and then prayed for each family. At a few places, while we were singing carols in front of the Christians’ homes, many non-Christians who were passing by stopped to hear the songs. As a result, we had the opportunity to preach the Gospel to them. Some unbelievers came to us and shared their problems and sought our prayers.

However, there were also some who were filled with hatred and did not want us to be there. Overall, it was a blessing to share the Gospel and pray for those who came seeking prayer.

One day, we, along with some of our church members, went to the nursing home in our town. We sang Christmas songs and then shared the Gospel message with them and distributed fruit and groceries as a Christmas gift.

Every year in our town, all of the Christian churches gather together and conduct a Christmas rally. This year, we had the Christmas rally in the afternoon on December 18th. We went around the town singing and proclaiming the Gospel. It is always encouraging to join this group every year and see all of the churches sharing the Gospel.

Prayer Requests:

  • Pray that God would continue to use me for His glory.
  • Pray for all of the people who have heard the Gospel message during this Christmas season to put their faith in Jesus.
  • Pray that our church will continue to grow in the Word and in number.
  • Pray for the Bible School students to continue to grow in the Word and in His knowledge.

Blessings,

Pastor 9

* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.

The Riches of His Glory

Greetings to you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I thank God for your prayers and support!

We are reaching the end of this year’s first semester of our Calvary Bible Institute. The students are doing really well in their study of the Word of God. I think that I mentioned in one of my updates that they are diligent (not intelligent) students of the Word. Sometimes when I visit them in their free time, I see them studying and discussing theological questions, which makes me really happy.

The Lord has been opening new doors for the ministry. In recent months, God gave me opportunities to get in touch with local Christian teens and young adults from different churches in my town. Last month, one local church teen/young adult group invited me to their church to share the Word of God. I thank the Lord for these teens and young adults who He has given me to help grow in the Lord and in His Word.

During the last week of September, all the churches in our town organized a 3 day conference. This was another opportunity for me to connect with the teenagers and young adults of different churches, since we were all part of the worship choir. I am praying that God will raise up this generation who are willing to stand for Christ. Since I am involved with local Christian teens and young adults, they see me as an example. I am thankful that they come to me with their Biblical and spiritual questions and that during their time of need they come to me seeking spiritual guidance. God has opened the door for these teens and young adults to trust me and come to me when they are low and need spiritual uplifting.

One of the brothers with whom I grew up at the church, now has his own church in his village. He lives quite far from where I am right now. If I took a train, it would take me more than 24 hours to reach his village.

He has started Bible study from the book of Genesis on Fridays for the believers of his church. I am grateful that he gave me the opportunity to teach at his Friday Bible study a couple of times. It is encouraging to see new believers learning for the first time about creation and the fall of man. Most of these believers are from villages. Many of them do not know how to read or write. We try to keep it simple when we teach them, so that they can understand.

Prayer Requests:

  • Please pray that I may continue to grow in the Lord and in His knowledge and be used by God.
  • Pray for my health. I have been taking medication for the past few months for allergies. I am still trying to figure out what I am allergic to.
  • Please pray for the Bible Institute students to be equipped for the work of the Gospel. 
  • Please pray for the teenagers, young adults and school children whom I am ministering to, to stand for God and be the light in the darkness around them.
  • Please pray for the brother and the believers in his church, who I mentioned above, to continue to grow spiritually and stand firm in their faith. They are going through persecution. 

Blessings,

Pastor 9

* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.

By Thy Word

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Thank you for your prayers and support!

We have started Bible School again here in the central part of our country. The classes are held in the same hall where we have our church service. For the students to stay, we rented out a small house near the church so that students can just walk to the classroom. We are looking for another place where the students can stay and have classes in the same place.

Right now, we have six students living in the rented house. We have another person who lives at his house nearby and attends our classes. We have another student from one of our churches in the North who attends live online through his mobile phone. The student from the North came to faith a few years ago through one of our pastors there. He always has really good questions from the Word. He is a really good student of the Word and calls his pastor or me to ask questions. He is married and has a small child, so he could not come and live here. But since he wanted to study, he is attending the classes through audio and video calls.

So, this semester we have a total of 8 people attending the classes everyday. They really like the way we teach the Word of God and have been growing in the knowledge of the Lord. I have been teaching them Systematic Theology. I am really enjoying teaching this subject. I have to study a lot to teach them and studying it has been a blessing to me as well.

Prayer Requests:

  • Pray for me. This last week I was not well and had a high fever. Now, I am much better, but I am weak. Please pray that I will recover well.
  • Pray for me and the other teachers to be a blessing and good teachers to the Bible school students.
  • Pray for the students that they may also grow in the Word and be well equipped to be used to expand the kingdom of God in their places.
  • Please pray that we may find a good place nearby for the Bible school. 

Blessings,

Pastor 9

* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.

Growing in the Truth

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I thank God for you as you continue to pray and support the ministry.

Since last month, we have been having Sunday church services in another village (above). In that village there were a few believers. About two years ago they went through persecution and many of them turned away from the Lord, but there were a few who did not. They have been having a house fellowship. For the last two years they have been doing Sunday services by themselves. They were excommunicated from the village. But, these two families remained faithful to the Lord and they (ten members in one family and five in another) would gather together in one family and sing worship songs and study the Word. They were left by the others, and had no one to guide and teach the Word.

It has now been over a month since we have been going to their village every Sunday to teach them from the Bible. Each Sunday two people from our church go there to have the church service. We take turns since we also preach at our main church in the city. In our church I have been teaching through the book of Galatians, so I am planning to teach the same in this village church when it is my turn. The last couple of times I visited them, I shared from Psalms.

If you remember, I have been teaching Bible study to teenage children every week. It’s really encouraging to see them grow in the Word. Now they have many good questions from the Bible that sometimes I cannot give the answers to right away. It’s good! They make me think and study more. In May they had summer break. During this time they had a Vacation Bible School (VBS) at a Mennonite Church. That’s the first church we had in our city which is more than 100 years old. They started the mission work here and my grandparent’s parents came to the faith through them.

During the summer time, children from all of the churches attend that VBS and learn a lot from the Bible. I went through their books and they have a really good syllabus for the VBS. I am happy to share that two of my students (pictured) got the tag “bright star” in their respective class group, which is like the best student award. I then shared with their teachers that they are my students. I am really glad to see them grow in the Word and in their Christian faith. I am thankful to God for using me to be a part in their spiritual growth.

Prayer Requests:

  • Please pray for me to continue to grow and be used by God here in my city.
  • Please pray for my church people to also continue to grow strong spiritually and that new believers may be added to the church as we minister to the non-Christians.
  • Please pray for the new village church that I shared about. May they also grow in the Word and faith.
  • Please pray for us to find committed students as we are planning to start the Bible School next month. 

Blessings,

Pastor 9

* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.

Thanks Be to God

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! 

I thank God for your partnership in the ministry through your prayers and financial support.

In my last update I shared about how Covid was spreading throughout our community and about all the restrictions that the government was imposing. My family and some of our church members had tested positive and were quarantined. A lock down was even imposed.

During the second wave in our country, hundreds of people were dying every day. I remember watching on the news that because there were long waits at the cremating place, people threw dead bodies in the river. During this time I thought that the situation would got worse in this third wave. Thank God–it wasn’t so. All of the people (my family, neighbors and church members) who were affected by Corona got well. There were no complications.

Now our ministry is going on as usual. We are having regular church gatherings with no restrictions. I am teaching the book of Galatians during Sunday services when it is my turn. I am half way done and I am really excited to preach the rest of the book.  

By the end of last year, I had started a Bible study with some school children. They are from Christian backgrounds but do not know the Word well. So I got the opportunity to lead them in this Bible study. They are doing good and are always excited to have the Bible study. I have been seeing progress in them which really brings me joy. They want to grow in the Word and grow in their spiritual walk with Christ.

Prayer Requests:

  • Pray that I would continue to grow in the Lord and continue to serve Him.
  • Pray that I will be a blessing to the people in my town.
  • Pray that people of our church would also continue to grow and stand strong in the Word. 
  • Pray that the children who are coming to the Bible study at this young age will fall in love with Jesus and His Word. Also, this month they are taking their final examinations at school. Pray that they will do well in their studies and exams.

Blessings,

Pastor 9

* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.

He Teaches My Hands

Happy New Year! Praise the Lord for His faithfulness! He has kept us safe, and through His grace, He enabled us to do His work in 2019. He has added another year for us to do the work of the Gospel. Thank you all for partnering in this work of the Gospel in 2019 through your prayers and financial support! I trust and pray that you will continue to partner with me this year as well.  Thank you! 

At the conference with staff and students

In November 2019, I was ordained along with some other co-workers for the work of the Gospel in our country by SGWM. I praise the Lord that He has given me this responsibility to train the workers of the Gospel and also to help my brothers who are in the field preaching the Gospel. Please continue to uphold these brothers in your prayers, as it is becoming more and more difficult to preach the Gospel due to the political situation in our country. The rate of persecution of Christians here is increasing.

We had a Christmas program in December. During this time, I was able to spend more time with the youth in our church–for weeks, we met every day to practice and prepare for the Christmas program. I had a wonderful time with them, talking and encouraging them from the Word of God. The youth invited their non-Christian friends to come to the program. We performed dances with Christian songs, and we did skits. After the skit, I also shared the Gospel message, which we had also shown through skits. Please pray for the non-Christian youth who came; pray that the Holy Spirit will work in their hearts and that they will surrender their lives to Jesus. 

I am also an assistant pastor at my church, so God has been giving me opportunities to preach on Sundays. I also get to to share the Word during our church conferences.

Right now, our Pastors School students are back home for the semester break. God is using them during this time–they are sharing the Word at their churches and among their friends. The students call me often to ask me to explain certain Bible passages. This encourages me that the students are studying the Bible and that God is using them in their home areas.

Prayer Requests:

  • Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in the wisdom and the knowledge of the Word.
  • Please pray that God would use me among all these young people I am involved with.
  • Please pray that the coming semester of the Pastors School will go well, and pray for God’s protection over us. 
  • Please pray that God will continue to work in the hearts of my church youth, that they will continue to grow in the Lord and get closer to Him.

God bless you,

Pastor 9