As I write this we’ve just finished our annual Community Gathering. It’s a (now virtual) fun time of praying, learning, and laughing together. We took a day to be still and listen to God. For many that was the highlight—a chance to sit before God and remember just how good He is and hear what He is telling us. Our board member, Josh Butler, brought us teaching based on his book, The Pursuing God. It was a powerful reminder of just how much God loves us and desires a relationship with us.
Throughout the week, God reminded us of ideas that are so important to us: that He invites us to delight in Him and, as we do, we will see Him fulfill the desires of our hearts; that we are to withdraw to lonely places; that fruit comes from abiding and our strength is found in Him alone.
We also believe He’s told us that He’s going to do new things—things He hasn’t even revealed yet. We are eagerly waiting to see the journey He takes us on. We finished the week excited about the future, even though we’re not sure exactly what it looks like. We do know that we continue to live in this Covid world. But we feel sure that—as we continue to look to God, delight in Him, and spend time with Him—He will do above and beyond what we could imagine and certainly much more than we could do from our own strength.
GLIMPSING GOD IN THE CHALLENGES
The last six months have been hard for many of our team. All of our staff in India lost close friends and some extended family members as Covid swept their nation in unimaginable ways. Similarly many of you joined in praying for our South African colleagues as they lost 5 close friends in a couple of weeks. Most of our staff faced months of lockdowns—some have been locked down for the entire six months! The initial newness of Covid has worn off and, like many of you, we’re weary. And yet, God has shown us His goodness time and again in the midst of it. Here are just a few of the ways that we have seen God at work.
Wholistic Development Center
In Southeast Asia, we saw a former witch doctor come to Christ! Six years ago, the man’s daughter and several other young people from their community came to study at the Wholistic Development Center. They all became Christians. This witch doctor persecuted them severely and abused his daughter. This year the man came from the village to the city, and God used some of the staff of Wholistic Development Center to lead him to Christ. Praise God that no one is beyond His power to transform!
TCT Africa
Earlier this year, we needed $100,000 in order to meet the commitments we had made to train churches in Africa—but had little idea how we would raise it. As the TCT team prayed for God to provide, the head of a large foundation contacted us via our website. We had never worked with this foundation or applied for funding, but they read about our work in the book Becoming Whole and wanted to support us. They ended up providing the full amount needed for TCT Africa. Praise God for unexpected provision!
TCT Asia
In one Southeast Asian nation the churches started to reach out to a neighboring ethnic minority by providing food, clothes, and blankets. They transported a sick person to the hospital and helped to pay for the medical expenses. They also repaired the house of an elderly woman. As a result of this church showing them love, three families came to Christ—the first known Christians amongst this ethnic group of 16,000 people!
DR Congo
God has protected the team in central Africa and opened incredible doors for bringing TCT training to thousands more churches. Our Regional Coordinator, Martin was excited to share about the phone call he received from one of the Christian leaders in Congo. He said, “For a long time I saw the Bible from one side only, now I begin to see the Bible with wholistic eyes, my understanding and my ministerial life is influenced by it, May God be glorified.”
TCT India
One church in India took up a collection and purchased a hand cart for a believer who had lost his livelihood due to lockdowns. With the cart, the man could sell vegetables in front of the hospital and earn some money to support his family. The church also provided food and basic necessities to other daily wage laborers who could not work. Doing these Acts of Love has changed the mindset of the church. The pastor shared, “Earlier we believed we could not serve because we were poor. Now we understand that, when we use even what little resources we have, God multiplies our efforts.”
TCT Uganda
In northern Uganda, there was a man who was living alone. He had so mistreated his wife that she had run away and taken their children with her. When a rainstorm destroyed the grass roof of the man’s hut, the local church decided to help. They spent two days collecting grass and helping him to rebuild the roof. People were amazed that the church would serve such a person. Local leaders even talked about it on the radio. Most importantly, the church’s Act of Love touched off a series of changes in the man’s life. He sincerely gave his life to Christ and renewed contact with his wife. They’re in negotiations for her to return home. The man’s father, seeing the changes in his son, also accepted Christ and subsequently donated a hectare of land to the church.
RELIEF REPORT
Thank you to those who’ve given to our Myanmar relief fund. The government of Myanmar was taken over by the military in February, and the past eight months have been devastating—with brutal retaliation against civilian protestors, food shortages, Covid, and persecution of Christians. In September, regional militias banded together and launched an all-out civil war against the junta (military regime). Just before the civil war broke out, our program director in Myanmar was able to deliver rice, oil, and eggs to 150 households and to pray with and encourage them.
Please pray for God to miraculously intervene in Myanmar. Pray that the military regime will fail and that peace will be restored.
Pray for Christians who are facing persecution—their houses and churches are being burned, and families have fled into the jungle where they continue to hide. Pray that God would sustain and strengthen them. Pray that they would get the food, shelter, and medical care they need.
THE WORK CONTINUES
By God’s grace, RW’s work has continued. We have had online and in-person trainings and held virtual art residencies. To the best of our ability, we’ve served the church around the world as they have gone through immense challenges. We continue to produce weekly Churches Stronger discipleship materials for over 30,000 church leaders and, amazingly enough, our TCT Program continues to expand in Africa. Some of our TCT coordinators have shared video testimonies of how they’ve glimpsed God’s goodness in our work with churches.
Edo, TCT Southern Africa Coordinator
South Africa has weathered a devastating wave of Covid, lockdowns, and economic hardship, unrest and riots. Churches were closed and TCT training stopped. Yet Edo testifies, “God answers prayer…He opens doors. He’s bringing the rain of transformation in Southern Africa.”
Dinesh, TCT Asia Coordinator
Dinesh lost pastors, close friends, and mentors in the recent wave of Covid to hit Nepal. Through the grief, Dinesh praises God for giving him an opportunity to equip and comfort the Nepalese Church.
PRAYER
As you’ve probably noticed, God keeps calling us into more prayer. We’ve instituted an organization-wide day of prayer each month. Our India team has a weekly prayer meeting. We set aside time during our Community Gathering to pray together. Our Truth Centered Transformation Team has committed one day each month to pray with our local partners. Between all those groups, we’ve spent more than 10,000 minutes on Zoom in prayer alone!
We’ve seen a growing enthusiasm for justice prayer among denomination and ministry leaders in Africa and Asia. We’re excited to see what happens as the people of God are mobilized to pray truth over things like fatalism, hopelessness, corruption, and physical poverty.
Our team of intercessors has been growing steadily since it began in May. We started with just 28 people receiving our intercessor emails and that group has now grown to over 100 people. As we’ve prayed, we’ve seen God lift injuries and sickness off of our Congo team and, worldwide, we’ve not had one member of our staff or their immediate family with a serious case of Covid. We’ve also had breakthroughs—like reconnecting with local partners and prospective partners who had stopped responding. We’re praising God for answered prayer! We are so thankful for those people that have committed to journeying alongside us in prayer.
Would you like to be part of our team of intercessors? We’d love to include you!
We’re so thankful that God is always good. A lot has been hard, but we’ve taken refuge in Him. We’re trusting Him to make sense of the tough things in His time. We’ve also seen some dramatic answers to prayer, and we’re praising Him for how He is working in and through churches to bring hope to their communities. Thanks for being part of this journey. Please keep praying for us—there’s lots on the horizon.
