J & C,
South Asia
Last month (November), we were invited to the west of the country to conduct a series of pastors’ and leaders’ meetings. God in His grace, provided us a 4WD jeep for the trip. I was able to borrow it from a missionary who had gone home for furlough. Almost after 16 hours, we reached our destination safely.
In our week of stay in the West, mainly due to security reasons, we were only able to visit 2 of the 7 CNL church planting works in this region. It took us more than 2 hours on foot just to reach CNL-Kiwi. But we felt rewarded for the effort when we saw the beautiful church built by the believers. The land was purchased last November and the believers were able to come up with the building on their own effort after 6 months. Today, there are 59 baptized members and over 100 members, including children, attending the weekly services. Our Kiwi pastor told us that healing and deliverance are bringing new people to the church each week.
CNL-KIWI – A new life-giving church for all
The other work we visited was CNL-Tulip. It took us 1 hour to walk there. It is a new work started right after the pastor completed the church planting training course at our Harvest Centre in September 2004. Tulip village consists mainly of the Western Chaudary people-group. They are mostly poor families working for rich land owners. Our pastor and his family are also Chaudaris. They gave up their small piece of land to start the first church in the village. Today, about 25 believers gather weekly to worship Jesus whom they came to know as the only true and living God in this world!
CNL-TULIP – The newest work in the region
Though we were not able to visit the other works, we were happy to meet some of the pastors who came down the mountains for the 4 days pastors’ and leaders’ meeting arranged for our team. Our pastor from CNL-Sultana told us that the day before, a group of 100 armed rebels had come to their village and demanded that they be fed. They would visit the church from time to time and sometimes would even use the premise to speak on their ideology. CNL-Sultana now has over 200 believers, including children, gathering weekly for services. We are currently supporting one of the workers for further Bible school training in the south. We also plan to send 3 others to our Harvest Centre in the near future.
We also received a report from our pastor at CNL-Jambu. Jambu village is now largely under the control of the rebels. People who want to go out of the village, for whatever reasons, are required to seek permission from the rebel leaders. On one occasion, our pastor failed to do so. Upon returning, the rebels punished him by making him feed 50 of their cadres for a week. There was not a single grain left in our pastor’s house. The church believers then each took turns to help feed him and his family. In spite of living under such hardships, our pastor and the small group of believers at CNL-Jambu are keeping their faith strong and continuing to meet weekly.
SHEPHERDS OF THE WEST – Pastors of CNL-Sultana, Mocca, Durian, Tulip & Kiwi
Overall, the 4 days’ of teaching for the pastors and leaders in the west went very well with many turning up. Janice Ha’s pulpit ministry was well received. The people loved her lively stories and practical illustrations. Many showed their appreciation by thanking us for making such a long trip to minister to them.
The Lord’s mercy saw us through to the very end of our trip. After we left, there were reports that rebels placed a bomb on the highway back to the capital. A police inspector was killed trying to diffuse the bomb. After we arrived home, the rebels declared roadblocks on certain sections of the highway. We could have been stranded on the road for days. We depend on the Lord’s grace and count on His providence living in such times of uncertainty.
“The Lord’s lovingkindness indeed never ceases, For His compassion never fails.
They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness”
Jesus is always our true and faithful Master! He never fails to be the God who will be there for us in every single need. So let’s not fail to count on Him every day in 2005!
A very Blessed Christmas and a New Year of a new level to you and your family!
Prayer Pointers
- Church Planting Works – To date, we have planted 14 churches of which 4 are new works started in the last quarter of this year. PLEASE PRAY for these works daily. Remember especially our pastors and believers in the remote areas where rebel influence and threats are strong
- Harvest Centre – The 6th training course will commence in February 2005. Pray for wisdom in selecting the right trainees. Pray also that new church planting works would result from this batch of training.
- Vision 200/20 – To establish 200 vibrant churches in 20 years in the Himalayan regions where there is no church.
- Goal 200/2 – To have 200 believers in 2 years for each church planted. This year we had embarked on 8 new works. This is close to our vision of starting 10 churches a year. Pray for our follow up support in helping each church to meet its Goal 200/2. The programmes include quarterly gathering of our pastors for re-training, on site Bible teaching for new believers and implementing 4 evangelistic outreaches annually in each church, etc.
- Himalayan Hope Orphanage – We are still in the process of registering the home with a local NGO. Pray that the Lord would direct our paths. Meanwhile do pray for the 8 boys that are with us now. Pray for their physical well being as well as spiritual growth in the Lord.
- Special Thanksgiving – C and I are truly encouraged by the faithful support and generous giving by CNL members for our boys’ home, Harvest Centre, church planting works and also to our personal support. We are both grateful to you in CNL and thankful to our God for His faithfulness in providing all we need for our livelihood and ministry.
