36,585 Thanks!

Its Thanksgiving and I have 36,585 more reasons to be thankful this year than I did last year.

All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. II Cor 4:15

In the past 12 months 36,585 people have professed faith in Christ as a result of the ministry of Worldlink’s Native Missionary partners. This amazes and humbles me. And fills me with thanksgiving.

These changed lives happened in response to God’s love and Good News in ministries like:

Camp Ministry, bringing the Good News in Pakistan               Jesus Film and Life Skills Education in Uganda

Gospel outreach to Muslims in Ethiopia                                    Children’s Home outreach in Argentina

         Training future church leaders in Togo                                         Reaching former child soldiers in Sierra Leone

Serving Victims of Sexual Violence in the DRC                           Sharing Christ through relief work in Sri Lanka

School Ministry sharing the Good News Rwanda                      Encouragement for the persecuted in Nigeria

Proclaiming Christ in the Midst of persecution Kenya               Sharing Christ through relief work in Nepal

Training lay evangelists in Indonesia                                           Printing Bible literature in Benin

Outreach in the slums of the Gambia                                          Bible reading promotion in Burkina Faso

School Bible Clubs in Liberia                                                      Bible listening groups in Tanzania

Prison Visitation in Zambia                                                         Church Planters in India

And so much more!

Jean-Yawo - Togo West Africa We thank the Lord for helping us to. We had a total of 81 campers and 33 leaders. The camp theme was "Jesus Christ, my delight." Eight campers received the Lord as their personal Savior. We thank God for helping us, through the camp ministry, to equip and prepare young people as future Christian leaders not only of our nation, but especially of the Church in Togo. 

Jean Baptiste - Rwanda We praise the Lord who was with us in the Bible camp we held in Ntaruka, Rwanda with around 800 people in attendance. The theme of the camp was taken from Ephesians 5.14: "Awake, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you”. We thank the Lord for 127 people that accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and over 150 people that stood up to renew their commitment to get back to serving the Lord.

Pastors\Church Planters Praising God for His Kindness in the Provision of Bicycles                                                  

Worldlink native missionary partners walk for many miles to bring God’s love and Good News to remote villages in India. Because of the generosity of our Worldlink partners they now have bicycles that aid them in reaching these villages with the Gospel.

Dear Worldlink Partners, Our Pastors\church planters are very happy for the gift of bicycles that they have received from Worldlink. They have shared with me the joy of visiting more villages with Gospel. Suku Thomas - India

  Standing for Christ in the Midst of Persecution

Helen Ongachi - Kenya

The story of the Muslim Background Believer

Asha (not her real name), a young widow with her two sons, had refused to be “inherited” by the brother of her dead husband claiming that the family had robbed her of all the husband’s properties which her own religion (Islam) supported.

She had heard the Good News of Jesus. She knew that trusting Christ would bring a change in her life especially after interacting with native missionaries for a long time. She therefore came one day in our house and said she wanted to be prayed for to receive Jesus.

When she went home and told the family that she had become a Christian, both she and her sons were disowned and they were thrown out of their house. The Lord provided a house for her to rent. Her faith has remained strong in the midst of persecution. She is trusting God to help her to raise capital to start a business to generate income for her family. Please pray for her as she faces challenges and persecution because of her new faith in Christ.

One challenge that Helen and her team face in proclaiming the Gospel is the attitude and view that are held about the role of women in rural Islamized Kenyan society.

In Islamic communities women have no rights, but as people accept Jesus the impact of the scriptures are being felt, views about women are continuing to change.

We can see the hand of God at work as people in the community have begun to changed their attitude towards Christianity.

The Gospel is making a difference in the lives of people. Men have started appreciating women and have began listening to them.

OPEN DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY

“I asked God to give me favour with the Muslim community,” said Helen.

I have seen God creating opportunities for our team to share the gospel especially in closed Muslim communities. One of the school children has been sick with what the Kenyan’s call a very big stomach which the community knew as witchcraft. They tried all means but the child was not healed. Finally they invited us to call upon our God and see whether He would heal. We began to see changes as we prayed for healing. We have made new friends and now have the opportunity to tell them of Jesus the ultimate restorer of their souls. We are trusting that God will bring complete healing.

 Building a Firm Foundation

Dhruba Nepal - Nepal

God causing all things to work together for good

“A 19 year old boy from our church was drug-addicted. He was caught in a gang fight and was put in prison. I went to see him in the prison where I met three other young adults. They all were new Christians who had come to faith through the prison ministry of a pastor. As my desire was to encourage them, I was able to speak to all four. I used the Bible and the Bible reading guide to encourage them. I gave them free copies of our Bible reading guide. I was not able to see any change in the person from my church but I was able to see faith in other three people who asked me to pray for them that they would grow in Christ and they also asked me to pray for their family who were not believers. I was able to see in these people the hunger and thirst for righteousness. I realized that a prison is such a place where people are waiting to hear something hopeful and something they could trust upon.” (Dhruba)

Worldlink Partner Dhruba is committed to help children, young people and families to know God and have intimate relationship with Him through daily Bible reading and prayer. The Lord is giving him many opportunities to fulfill this ministry, not only in the cities but also in remote parts of Nepal. One of the wonderful opportunities came when we held a Bible camp in Rukum, a remote mountainous district of mid western Nepal. Most of the people in this district work in fields for their living but that will not help them survive more than four months. So the breadwinners of families go to India to work as laborers in order to support their family for the rest of the year.

The gospel has already reached this district and many churches are established. However, a discipleship program is a dire need for the believers in order to grow in Christian maturity. They need to be firm founded on the whole truth of the word of God. They needed help to know how to grow in their faith. So the Bible camp was focused on devotional Bible reading and inductive Bible study.

One of the participants, Sundar said, "I did not know what to read. Whatever I liked I read. I usually read only few verses. Now I came to know that I needed to read the whole segment and discuss about it.” Rebika said, "I read my Bible but I immediately forget what I read. Now I learned that I needed to ask questions such as who, what, where, when, why, and with what effect. I learned that Bible guide helps to read the Bible daily. I will also teach others to read the Bible."