Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Caribbean Mission Director Charles Fleming sent this update on our church in Haiti:
Yesterday I had a long talk with Haiti pastor Joseph Franklin. He, his family and all our members are doing relatively well and in good spirits. They are still sleeping outside and are fearful of aftershocks, but they have access to a flea market where they can buy food. The big news is that one of the two bank branches open in the city is within walking distance of the Franklins’ home. So we are finally able to get some money through to them. Mat Morgan has already sent it, but it may take a few days to get it to the Franklins.
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Attached are some pictures showing the damage done to the church building (the school is a newer building but Mr. Franklin did not sent pictures of it). Also attached are some pictures Mr. Franklin sent of his family and some relatives sleeping under a tarpaulin in his backyard.
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Please pass on sincere thanks from the Franklins and all the members in Haiti to all who are praying for them and sending them help. All the members are planning to get together this weekend for the first time since the earthquake.
Phoenix, Arizona
On January 17, District Pastoral Leader Glen Weber traveled to Phoenix, Arizona, to participate in the installation of Phoenix Co-Pastors Al Yeager and Michael Wyatt-Paige, as well as Michael Wyatt-Paige’s ordination as an elder.
Al Yeager has been serving for many years as pastor of the Phoenix congregation that meets on Saturday. His heath now requires that he restrict his duties, so he will share pastoral responsibilities with newly installed Community of Hope pastor, Michael Wyatt-Paige. Michael Wyatt-Paige has been serving the Community of Hope congregation for some time under recently retired pastor, Larry Marshall. Community of Hope meets on Sunday. Mrs. Sheila Yeager and Mrs. LaVerne Wyatt-Paige took part in the ceremony.
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Denver, Colorado
January 29-31, ministry trainers Randy Bloom (Church Multiplication Ministries) and Greg Williams (Generations Ministries) visited Ground Zero, a group of people in the Denver area who are working to start a GCI church in the Denver area. Randy and Greg, as well as Lorenzo Arroyo, are providing Church-Next Training (training for starting new churches) for the group leaders. Ground Zero is searching for a place to meet within a community they feel called by Jesus to make disciples. A highlight of the weekend was a blessing ceremony for Mikalaya Pearman, five-month old daughter of Jason and Rachel Pearman.
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Asia
Rod Matthews sent these reports about India and Myanmar.
India
In December, Hyderabad pastor Daniel Zachariah was asked to conduct a counseling course in Mumbai under the auspices of the Person to Person Counseling organization in India. He had the opportunity to teach pastors at the Free Methodist Church and counselors at the YMCA counseling center in Mumbai.
Then in late January, Daniel was asked to go to New Delhi to be in involved in a three-day conference conducted by the Association of Christian Counselors. About 150 people participated and Danny was asked to conduct the communion service at the end of the conference.
He discovered on arrival that the plenary speaker was Dr. Ajith Fernando, Principal of the Colombo Theological Seminary (CTS) in Sri Lanka, whom Mohan Jayasekera and I had met in Colombo this past December. CTS had printed the Sinhala edition of our discipleship course for us in Sri Lanka, and our meeting was to express our thanks and strengthen our contacts with CTS as we prepare a Tamil edition. Danny was surprised that Dr. Fernando knew so much about our church, and he expressed to Danny that the changes in our church are nothing short of a miracle.
Myanmar
In late November, Malaysian senior pastor, Wong Mein Kong, travelled to Myanmar (Burma) to meet with pastors and leaders and respond to several new requests for contact. His conclusion is that there is much potential for future growth and involvement of the church in Myanmar.
Firstly, Mein Kong met with Tluang Kung, a young man from the north of the country whom we got to know several years ago. He was “adopted” by the Gold Coast congregation in Australia who helped him financially in getting a masters degree in theology so he could serve his people more effectively in ministry. Tluang Kung currently teaches at a theological seminary in Yangon.
Tluang Kung has appreciated our literature and teachings, and we have developed a close relationship with him. Through him we are in the process of having the discipleship course translated into Burmese. Wong Mein Kong discussed its progress with him and suggestions as to its use and distribution after we have it printed, possibly later this year.
Tluang Kung’s father, Peter Za Hmung, through whom came our first contact with this family and their fellowship of churches in northern Myanmar, is now a pastor of a house church in Yangon and active in evangelism and outreach to the local community.
Wong Mein Kong wrote, “Saturday morning Tluang Kung and I took a taxi to [Tluang Kung’s] father’s house in [a] township about 40 km north of the city. A group was waiting for a worship service. Also present were a pastor and his wife from the AOG church. A total of 10 children and 18 adults attended. Peter and Tluang Kung introduced me. Tluang Kung led worship, the children sang special music and recited scripture, followed by short messages from Peter and the AOG pastor. Then I gave the sermon with Tluang Kung translating. We had lunch together in the house.”
I should insert here that after Wong Mein Kong’s visit, Tluang Kung was married and here he is with his new wife, Ro Din Pui.
Mein Kong also met with Saw Hler Ghaw, who is now the effective leader of our group in the southern delta area, who had travelled to Yangon for the meeting. His father, Saw Htoo Plow, our pastor there, whose wife died in May, has been in ill health for quite some time and is often bedridden and limited in what he can do. Hler Ghaw holds services in his home for the group (mainly Htoo Plow’s children and their families) totaling 43 people. Two members of the group were baptized earlier in the year by our northern pastor, Naing Key Har. Mein Kong gave Hler Ghaw some used clothing, children’s Bible stories, Karen language Bibles, Bible study materials, sermon outlines, and some funds for his family’s medical expenses and his house roofing repairs.
One of our new contacts is a young man of 26, with a BSc in Botany who works as a volunteer with World Vision in Yangon. He got to know us through Hler Ghaw and the denominational website and is very keen to learn more. He and a group of his friends interested in Christianity meet as a cell group for study and worship. He invited Wong Mein Kong to visit his family and meet his friends; and volunteered to help Mein Kong in communicating with the other Yangon people in the future.
In another new contact, Mein Kong said,
Mein Kong concluded it had been a profitable trip filled with potential for the development of new connections and opportunities to serve small ministries bringing the gospel to a country in great need of good news.
Soon after I arrived, Pastor Aung Kyaw Moe and his cell group leader Nyinyi Tun came to see me. Both are young men about 30 years old. Aung had contacted our website and wished to learn more about us. He graduated from a Bible college in Yangon and started church planting. He has a church and several cell groups in Thaketa Township just east of the city. They are active in evangelism and even have a football outreach in the local community. Aung realizes the need for leadership training and discipleship for new converts, which he hopes we can help provide. I told him about our collaboration with other groups in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka and gave him copies of the Malaysian magazine, WCG Today and A Brief Introduction to Trinitarian Theology. He is dynamic and sincerely wants to learn to develop his ministry. He wanted me to visit his church, but I didn’t have the time, so he invited me to conduct a seminar for his leaders on my next trip.
Immediately after Aung left, pastor Daniel Ling Thang came to see me. He is 32 years old, a graduate of the Gospel For Asia Bible College in Yangon (same as Tluang Kung) and a seminary in northwest India. He planted a house church and several cell groups through his evangelism and outreach efforts in the same township as Peter Za Hmung, so I arranged for him to meet with Peter. Our discussion was similar to the one I had with Aung earlier. Daniel seems a humble, simple man full of faith. He too wanted me to speak to his group.
Sunday morning Tluang Kung, Hler Ghaw and I took a one-hour bus ride to hold a Bible study in Peter’s house for a group of four children and 14 adults. I also had a Q&A session that they really appreciated. Peter then telephoned Daniel Ling Thang, who came over to fellowship with us. Daniel, too, originally came from Kalaymyo and he recognized Tluang Kung from his Bible college days. I wanted the two groups to know each other and they seemed glad for the opportunity to work together in future. Daniel then led me, Tluang Kung and Hler Ghaw to take a bus to his house where we met his wife. The three of us left shortly after to take two bus rides back to Yangon.
On the way we stopped in Insein Township and walked 20 minutes to Thant Zin’s house, where his grandfather, parents, two brothers and a friend were waiting. They spoke good English and asked me to pray for them. They were very pleased with my sharing in response to their questions and requested for a visit again on my next trip. Thant Zin and his brother also asked me for books on counseling and Christian topics. Since it was already dark, a relative of Thant Zin drove us to my motel before sending them back.
Mein Kong concluded it had been a profitable trip filled with potential for the development of new connections and opportunities to serve small ministries bringing the gospel to a country in great need of good news.
Prayer Requests and Updates
Last week Rod Matthews received an urgent message from Deben Sam, our ministry partner in Nepal. Deben reported that a small congregation in the town of Dolakha, part of his network of rural congregations, established only in the last year, had been attacked by a mob of ethnical religious leaders and their followers. They had destroyed their “cottage of fellowship,” badly beaten the believers and driven them from the village with threats that they should not gather for fellowship any more or speak about Christianity in the village. The local leader and his family had just arrived in Kathmandu with the news, saying that the environment in Dolakha was not safe for any Christians at the moment. He asked for prayers for all the persecuted believers wherever they had fled so that they would stand strong in the faith. In the meantime, he needed to be accommodated and supported in Kathmandu, and since Deben’s local congregations there are small and poor, the Australian office sent some money to Deben to provide him with additional means to look after their needs until it was safe for them to return home.
Remember that prayer is the battleground where we fight the good fight of faith. Let’s encourage everyone to join together in prayer, for we belong to Christ, and by the Spirit it is in Christ that we pray. Prayer and other spiritual activities help keep our hearts in tune with God and remind us of who we are in Christ. He is our all in all, and in him we are eternally beloved of the Father and blessed to share his good news with others.
Love from my family to yours,
Joseph Tkach
