Here at Reconciled World a major focus of the last six months has been prayer. While we have always been passionate about prayer, it feels like God is more and more asking us to focus on prayer. And so praying we are. We have organized prayer retreats for TCT partners and put aside time to pray and fast ourselves. In light of the current upheaval in our world, we are so grateful that God has so firmly directed us toward prayer in this season.
PRAYER PRAYER PRAYER
Prayer Retreats
Ever since we began to see Truth Centered Transformation (TCT) multiply, one of our greatest concerns has been that people would see the program as The Answer for transformation. We know that no program and no human effort can bring the transformation we long to see in vulnerable communities. God alone transforms. Our strong desire is to help our partners understand that TCT is not just about teaching 10 modules but it’s about experiencing God’s intervention—it’s about praying and fasting and depending on God.
With this in mind, we’ve begun helping new local partners launch their TCT programs, not with planning sessions but with prayer retreats. Over the past six months we’ve had six prayer retreats with partners. It’s been amazing to see how differently God speaks each time— sometimes redirecting our plans, sometimes reminding us to rely on prayer and not our efforts, and sometimes restoring hope.
Many of our partners shared that they struggle to take significant time to wait on God. Earlier in their ministry or while in Bible school, daily time with God was their habit but, as the demands of leadership have grown, it’s become harder to find that time. They all shared that the retreat was a great reminder of how important waiting on God and listening to Him is, and that it’s created a hunger to have more time with God.
Week of Prayer
In early February, our leadership team began to discuss the idea of an organization-wide week of prayer. We had cancelled some planned in-person meetings that typically happen in the spring, but didn’t want to lose the focus on prayer that those meetings have provided in past years. So the virtual week of prayer was fixed for March, and we began to make preparations. Amazingly, this turned out to be perfect timing, as the COVID-19 shut down began around the same time. We spent the week gathering virtually to pray for all of the concerns surrounding the pandemic and shut down, for one another, and for God’s guidance for our program and organization. It was a great time to “cast all our cares upon the Lord,” and the team decided to continue virtual prayer meetings in the coming weeks.
Join us in Praying
A Prayer for Health
In April, we put together a prayer video about health, and especially about the COVID-19 pandemic. As the world continues to face uncertainty with this virus, please join us in prayer. You can pray along with this video or use it as a starting point for your own prayer time.
A Prayer for Dignity
We invite you to set aside a few minutes to thank God for creating us in His image and to pray for vulnerable people in the light of this simple truth.
SOME OF OUR FAVORITE STORIES
God is at work in churches around the world. Their stories of God’s power in difficult circumstances are a huge encouragement to us.
Rescuing Families from a Flood
During the rainy season, a pond in one Indian community overflowed its banks. Five mud homes around the pond were completely destroyed, and 35 people had to be evacuated. The church in the community had been studying TCT and, when they saw that these families needed help, they opened the church and provided shelter for them. Even though the five families were not Christians, the pastor and two families living close to the church cooked, fed, and provided for all their needs for three days.
In this area, Christians are a tiny minority and often looked on with suspicion. But since the flood, those who used to vocally oppose them have stopped speaking against the church. Two of the rescued families and others who witnessed this Act of Love have begun attending church to learn about the Christian God. Sunday services are overflowing! Even the local magistrate and village chief visited to see what the church was doing. They expressed appreciation to the church for saving the lives of these 35 people. Praise God for using this Act of Love to heal and strengthen the relationship with the community and the government.
Caring for an Orphan
Last year the church in Lome, Togo began praying for a widow who had become ill. Sadly, the woman died, leaving her 3-year-old daughter, Efe, orphaned. The child was so weak from malnourishment that she couldn’t eat or hold down food or water. She was listless and near death.
Efe’s grandparents came from another village for the funeral and planned to take her back with them. They attributed Efe’s condition to evil spirits. They blamed the church for making the spirits angry by taking the mother to church for prayer. They took Efe to a witch doctor, performed ceremonies over her, and tied talisman’s on her arms. They intended to take Efe back to their own village.
The church prayed against this, certain that if the grandparents took Efe she would die. Thank God, the grandparents had a sudden change of heart. When they saw that the church was willing to care for her, they said, “Okay, you say that you worship God, so you bring her to the church.” They relinquished her care to the church and returned to their own village.
One of the believers, a widow of 15 years, became the girl’s “Auntie”—she accepted the child into her home to care for as her own daughter. With the help of the church, she gave the child medicinal herbs and fed her nutritious food until she regained her strength. Another believer in the church is a medical doctor; he examined Efe and gave her medicine for free. Now the little girl is healthy and full of energy. Because of her transformation, the little girl is a living testimony to the community and her relatives that the God of the Christians is loving and powerful to heal.
Helping a Prostitute
In one community there was a girl who had grown up as an orphan. With no income, no skills, and no parents to guide her, the girl turned to prostitution. At age 22, the girl became pregnant. Although she had lived in the village all her life, the community shunned her because of her sinful ways. There was no one to care for her when it came time to give birth—no one to help her with the baby or teach her what to do.
But one church in that village had learned through TCT that God values every person. Suddenly, they looked on the prostitute with new eyes and said, “She is important to God, so we must help her.” The women in the church mobilized to care for the prostitute while she was in the hospital to deliver the baby. When she brought the baby home, the church ladies made sure she had tea and food. They helped wash the clothes and clean the house.
The neighbors were disgusted. They said to each other, “That girl is a prostitute! Why should the church mamas do all this for her? Why do they even talk to her?” But the women of the church explained that every person is made by God and very important to Him. Then the villagers said, “We despised her and thought ‘God doesn’t know her’ because she’s a prostitute, but this church sees her differently and shows her love.”
The girl herself was humbled by the love of the church, but could hardly believe that she had value to God. When she met the pastor, she said, “Pastor, I know that I’m a sinner, but my baby is innocent. Please pray for my baby.” The pastor prayed and named the baby “God Intervenes.” Indeed, God is using this church to intervene for both mother and child—to show a girl who was orphaned and cast out that she is loved and can live a better way to please her Creator.
RW IN THE TIME OF COVID-19
Like most everyone, our lives feel like they’ve suddenly been turned upside down. We went from spending most of our time traveling to finding ourselves at home. And yet we’ve been somehow busier than ever. In the past six weeks we’ve been:
- Modifying TCT training materials and creating more online resources to make it easier for people to do TCT without our involvement. So far we’ve adapted Module 1, which tells the whole gospel story and introduces the principles of wholistic ministry.
- Working to provide Bible-based materials for our local partners to use in radio broadcasts to address issues, like fear, questioning why God allows calamities, and healthy habits that prevent sickness.
- Creating virtual hermeneutics training for Majority World pastors, to help them combat the rash of false teaching that has sprung up.
Now we’re working to get virtual training resource packs to thousands of churches. These packs are designed to help churches emerge stronger from this difficult season. We surveyed our partners to understand what questions and issues they or their churches were struggling with. The content will cover:
- Depending on God in when circumstances seem hopeless.
- Managing finances in the midst of extreme economic hardship.
- Marriage and family as God intended, to decrease violence in the home.
- Counseling skills for pastors whose church members are experiencing depression, job losses, etc.
- Serving the vulnerable in creative ways when money is short and gathering is restricted.
Relief for the most vulnerable
As the COVID-19 situation continues around the world, it can be difficult to know how to respond. Most news channels are filled with local concerns, but we hear very little of how shutdowns and health fears are impacting the most vulnerable in the Majority World. The reality is that the world’s poorest—people who rely on each day’s wages and were already struggling to survive—are in a desperate situation. Our local partners tell us of families going days without food and in danger of losing their homes. We are partnering with Indian churches to provide those in city slums with food parcels and money to cover rent. $35 provides a family’s rent for one month. $15 can feed a family of six for two weeks. We invite you to join us by contributing to the relief fund.
A Prayer for Provision During COVID-19
We invite you to pray along with this video or use it as a starting point for your own prayers.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Change of Leadership at In His Image
In January, Geeta, the founder of In His Image, transitioned away from having a role in the day-to-day leadership of the center (she remains on the board of directors). She established the center in 2007 with the vision of helping Indian society see the blessing of children on the autism spectrum. Since that time, we have indeed seen many schools, institutions, and practitioners change their mindset and methods for working with children with special needs. There are significantly more opportunities for children to receive the range of therapies and special education they need now than there were 12 years ago. Geeta receives many requests for training from those who wish to improve their programs. Passing the baton of leadership at the center allows Geeta to dedicate her time to training churches, organizations, and practitioners in some of what God has taught her through 12 years at In His Image. We’re excited to see how God continues to bless the center while using Geeta to extend the message and skills He’s given her.
Wholistic Development Center
We welcomed a new class of students to Wholistic Development Center (WDC) in the fall. We were really encouraged to see the way God was working in their lives, and that they were growing deeper in their faith each day. Several people from non-Christian backgrounds came into relationship with Christ.
Like nearly all other schools around the world, WDC ended the term early and closed for the rest of the school year due to the COVID-19 lockdown. We’re praying that God continues to work in the hearts and minds of the students in this season and that they are able to return to school in the fall.
The Whole Gospel for Families and More
God has taken what used to be called our Ending Gendercide program and dismantled much of it—the team and the projects. However, God has also blessed the program leader, Raaj, with many opportunities to speak and teach about biblical marriage and family, God’s value of women, and biblical wholism (the message that God cares about every aspect of life) with churches, organizations, companies, practitioners, pastors, Sunday school teachers, women leaders, artists, and more. We’ve been amazed at the fruit God has brought in this new season. More than 545 people heard Raaj teach at 14 different events in the past six months.
The Create Commission Residency
The Create Commission held their International Artists Residency from February 21 to March 8, with the theme of “What to do with difference.” They saw God’s hand on the preparations for the event, as a prominent venue offered to provide exhibition space free of charge—a tremendous answer to prayer! During the residency, 20 artists contemplated and created art around topics of gender, disability, caste, religion, and age (among other areas of difference). The residency ended with a one-day exhibition of the art that was created over the two weeks. We’re thankful that the residency was able to go forward before the COVID-19 lockdowns began.
Looking back over the past few months, we are overwhelmed with the truth that God is in control. None of this has taken Him by surprise. For us, we look at the way He began to shift us toward prayer and to thinking about distance-learning resources before we had any idea how critical that would be in the face of COVID-19. He has reminded us in this season of the words in the book of Esther, “for such a time as this.” He has placed each of us—and our nations’ leaders and our partners—right where we are, fully knowing what would come. We are not called simply to hunker down and wait this out, but to steward well the time and opportunities He gives us.
We also see all the ways that He is still at work in our world. COVID-19 has not overwhelmed His resources or overridden His good plans. We see Him keeping His promises to “work all things together for good.” Church leaders around the world report that people are more open to the gospel than they’ve ever seen before. As COVID-19 lockdowns have stripped away our busyness and distraction, our illusions of safety and independence, God’s people are humbling themselves, praying more, and learning to depend on Him in ways we never would have in times of comfort.
We certainly didn’t wish that it would happen this way. Our hearts are heavy with the suffering that we are hearing about around the world. But we are also grateful for all the ways we see God present and in control. Our prayer is that you too will be amazed at how He uses this season.
May God be Glorified,
