Newsletters
November
India
There are currently 187 churches in India, with 4,684 saints meeting regularly on Lord’s Day and 7,495 saints in the church life. Since the national lockdown in March 2020, the saints have been established through the burden of prayer in the Lord’s recovery. Until now, there are still a good number of saints in the churches gathering in small groups to pray daily for the Lord’s move and His interest on earth. Though the saints are not able to gather physically, the prayer and fellowship among the saints have been greatly strengthened via online platforms.
In the month of May, the churches experienced a fresh turn when 2,908 saints from 82 localities entered into the Memorial Day Conference messages online corporately to receive the Lord’s speaking. Translation was provided in 7 Indian languages. Moreover, there were 1,921 unique IP addresses from India that accessed at least 1 message of the conference on LSM Webcast. Through the Lord’s speaking in the conference, many of the saints began contacting their friends, relatives, neighbors, classmates and colleagues. The common feeling among the churches is that there has never been a time when people in India are as open to the gospel as during this pandemic. Weekly gospel meetings and Bible study meetings are conducted in various localities. Many gospel friends and new ones are under the saints’ regular shepherding.
In addition, we began to have online College Trainings from the month of June. Since then, we have had 12 regional trainings over 7 states in India. Approximately 700 college students attended these trainings. Through the Lord’s up-to-date speaking, we encouraged the students to pray and consecrate themselves before the Lord, receiving a burden from the Lord to love and care for their friends. Based on the ministry books, such as “Witnessing” and “Rising Up to Preach the Gospel”, we encouraged the students to list out the names of their friends in order to pray for them and follow the Lord’s leading to distribute gospel tracts as well as invite their friends to online gospel meetings conducted during the trainings. About 1,500 contacts joined the gospel meetings. After the trainings, the students were encouraged to continue shepherding their friends. Recently some friends of the students got baptized through their regular contact and shepherding.
Rhema Seekers’ Meetings
The Rhema serving ones had to cancel the distribution trips since March 2020 due to the spread of the pandemic. This greatly affected the free mass distribution and the spread of the ministry. It was then the serving ones began to conduct online seminars for the existing Rhema readers in coordination with the churches. Being encouraged to see that a good number of readers joined the seminars, the serving ones then began to hold more seminars in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada languages.
As some churches planned to have regular meetings for the Rhema readers, there was a need to reach out to more seekers who could be invited to the seminars. Hence the serving ones began to promote the 7 Rhema booklets in electronic format via social medias, especially on Facebook. The promotion of eBooks started in a language called Marathi, which had 73 million native speakers primarily in the state of Maharashtra. Requests for eBooks soon poured in! In less than 3 months there were over 3,000 requests for Marathi eBooks. The saints in that state then called these contacts to help them download the books and invite them to the seminars. In one particular seminar there were 163 new ones from all over the state of Maharashtra. The saints also began to read the ministry with some of the eBook contacts. Some of the contacts then started to join other church meetings. One such contact who recently got saved and was meeting with another group had to stop going to the meetings due to the pandemic. As he was wondering what to do, he received the eBooks and joined a seminar. Now he joins all the online meetings of the nearby churches and is enjoying the church life!
Now the promotion of the eBooks is also done in Hindi language to reach the Christians in northern India. Seminars have been conducted for the contacts in New Delhi and its surrounding areas and the response has been very positive. Many new ones were thus brought under regular shepherding by the saints.
The Kannada language has over 43 million native speakers. The pandemic opened the way to distribute the eBooks in Kannada, especially in the cities where the saints had the burden to raise up golden lampstands. A total of 52 new ones joined the first seminar in Kannada. What’s more encouraging was that prior to the seminar, many saints rose up to function to call the Rhema contacts to encourage them to read the ministry and invite them to join the seminar.
The Video Training
The video training of the 2020 Summer Training was conducted online in various localities in India. Audio translation of the messages was provided in 7 Indian languages. The lockdown situation provided an opportunity for many more saints to join the training. Over 1,600 saints from 105 localities registered for this training. This was twice as many registered saints as last year.
To maintain a proper atmosphere of the training, the saints were asked to be punctual, each meeting began with prayer, the saints were divided into small groups for sharing, and testings were conducted. In several regions, the churches clustered together to conduct the training, which very much uplifted the atmosphere. Before the training, the saints came together online for twelve days for PSRP of the outlines. During the training, there were also review sessions. In some localities, following the training the saints gathered together to pray and fellowship over the up-to-date speaking of the Lord with its application, seeking a way to move forward in the church life. Many saints testified how the Lord not only spoke to them but also started working in their lives based on His speaking. The saints’ appreciation of the ministry has gone higher after seeing how the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations, which they previously considered difficult, have been opened up richly by the ministry. May the Lord’s word grow mightily, multiply, and prevail in India. May the Lord grace the churches in India to take root downward and bear fruit upward!
Please pray for the following matters:
1. Pray for the campus work, that through the functioning of the college students in contacting their gospel friends in various states, the burden of the gospel and shepherding may continue according to the present situation.
2. Pray for the Rhema booklet distribution during the present pandemic, that the word of God can grow, multiply and prevail in various states and many seeking ones of the truths can be gained for the church life and the Lord’s testimony.
3. Pray for the strengthening of the major cities in India, that the saints can be supplied in the word and can continue to grow in life and grow in number for the sake of the Lord’s testimony.
Laos
Thank the Lord for leading us in these days. As the pandemic spread, the churches first joined in the burden of twenty-one days of global prayer to pray for the Lord’s move on the earth. This was followed by the Memorial Day Conference messages, which became a timely supply for us to not lose heart or be shaken but to continue sending our roots by Him as the stream, see the spiritual vision behind the world situation, and rise up to cooperate with the Lord. Many brothers and sisters became burning for the gospel, inviting their family members and friends to the meetings to preach the gospel to them. Twenty-four people got baptized into the Lord from May to September.
The serving saints have the same feeling that we need to not only bring more people to the Lord, but also have more thorough and tender shepherding for the new ones. Although quite a number of people got baptized every year in the past, their growth in life was not sufficient and not many have remained and functioned normally in the church life. On the one hand, we asked the Lord to create an atmosphere of shepherding in the churches. On the other hand, we used the shepherding materials to perfect the saints in the matter of shepherding and help them go out to visit people.
We began praying steadfastly for this burden since May. The saints began to see the importance of shepherding and started going out in twos and threes. In the prayer meetings of the church, prayer for shepherding has become an indispensable item. There are now seven regular home meetings in the saints’ homes. From October 24th to 25th, about 25 to 30 saints gathered together to enjoy a video conference held in Thailand on shepherding the flock of God. Some saints were touched by the Lord and cried bitterly when they saw their unworthiness and peculiarity, some saw that only thorough shepherding could the Lord gain His Body in this age, and some repented for not taking care of new ones whom they brought to salvation. After the meeting, the saints invited each other to visit and shepherd their new ones in twos and threes. Thanks to the Lord who is the great Shepherd of the sheep! Please continue to pray for this work of shepherding in Laos that the churches will continue to have a shepherding atmosphere and more saints will rise up to go as shepherds to people’s homes in twos and threes, bringing divine and heavenly food to the new ones.
Three trainees from Laos completed the full-time training in Thailand in October and returned to Laos to serve full-time. They will participate in a two-month propagation on college campuses. Please pray for this propagation that 20 young ones would be gained and become remaining fruit for the Lord’s move in Laos.
September―October
Vietnam
Serving One’s Training
From July 7-9, a training for the serving ones was held for the first time at Zion meeting hall in Ho Chi Minh City by the churches in Vietnam. This training was for the coworkers, elders, responsible brothers, full-time serving ones, and all brothers and sisters coordinating in different aspects of service in the seven regions of the country. The burden of the training was to bring all the serving ones into the same vision and burden and for all to press on in the same direction with the same practices for the Lord’s recovery in Vietnam.
The content of the training consisted of two parts: messages and reports. The general subject of the training was “Being Formed into an Army to Fight with God for His Interest on Earth”. The six messages of the training were “Being Governed by the Vision of the Lord’s Recovery and Maintaining the Nature of the Lord’s Recovery,” “Putting to Death the Natural Life, Experiencing Christ as Life and Ministering Christ to the Churches,” “Being Trained to Take the New Way and Continually Researching and Improving,” “Enjoying Christ as the Heavenly Manna and the Richness of the Good Land to Prophesy for the Building Up of the Church,” “Praying at the Incense Altar for the Formation of the Corporate Army,” and “Our need to be Formed into an Army to Fight for God’s Move on Earth.”
In parallel with the messages were reports and fellowship on the work and the Lord’s move in the seven regions, including statistics and the general situation of the church life in each locality. This was the first time that a detailed statistics was made with the coordination of the coworkers and the churches. While there was much to be improved, it was indeed a great step forward. Service groups of the literature work, the college students, the young people and children took turns to give fellowship. The brothers in charge of children’s service have been working on translating children’s songs and creating a website for children’s lessons. The Nazarite training was suspended at the end of last year. Our goal is to transition that training to the two-year Full-time Training in Vietnam, pending further fellowship and help from the Body.
Burdens for prayer
1. Pray for the elders, responsible brothers and coworkers in each region to coordinate together for the producing of church life statistics regularly.
2. Pray for the Full-time training to be established in Vietnam to perfect the young people for the Lord’s move in Vietnam.
3. Pray for the continual labor by the brothers and sisters involved in children’s service to complete the children’s songs and lessons.
God-man Family Living
After joining two God-man family’s trainings in Taiwan in April and August, 2019, many saints were enlightened and had the burden to pray for the practice of a healthy God-man living at home.
From July 25-26 of this year, the church held a healthy family camp for all families with children between the ages of 5 and 12 in Ho Chi Minh City and 8 nearby churches. The content of the camp was on 3 characters: single, corporate, and open with the story of Nehemiah returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the city wall as an illustration. This is the first time the churches in Vietnam had such a family camp which parents and children attended together with the view to bring in a healthy family living.
Praise the Lord! By the serving ones’ persevering prayer in one accord, a total of 95 children, 45 parents, and 36 serving ones joined the Camp. The parents used the three weeks prior to the Camp to pursue the materials with their children and prepare the lessons. Many of the parents were touched by the Lord and developed a burden to enjoy the Lord with their children at home.
The parents were enlightened on the importance of taking care of their children in the Lord for children were the heritage of Jehovah and were parents’ main responsibility. This was opposite to their previous practices of merely bringing children to the meeting hall and handing them to the serving ones without taking adequate care spiritually of their own children.
The serving ones encouraged the parents to coordinate with the local saints in their respective localities and districts to open their homes for children’s meetings on weekdays. May the Lord bless such endeavor that all the families would have a healthy living and their children would be nurtured to be proper vessels for the church life.
The Situation in Central Asia
Central Asia is a region which stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the east and from Afghanistan in the south to Russia in the north. It includes five countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. This region is an important part of the ancient Silk Road, through which the gospel was brought from Jerusalem to the East.
Kazakhstan is the world’s largest landlocked country with a population of more than 18 million. There are currently four churches with about 88 saints, of whom 33 are in the capital, Astana.
Uzbekistan has a population of about 33 million. The capital, Tashkent, is the third largest city in the former Soviet Union after Moscow and St. Petersburg, and is an important aviation hub in Central Asia. Currently there is a church in Tashkent. The total number of saints in the country is about 71, of which 53 are in the capital.
Kyrgyzstan is located in the Tianshan Mountains and has a population of about 6.5 million. The saints have been gathering together since 1997 or 1998, and the church life there is more solid and stable. There are five churches with 105 saints, 50 of whom are in the capital, Bishkek.
Turkmenistan, with a population of more than 6 million, does not yet have a golden lampstand. Turkmenistan used to be an extremely closed country, formerly known as North Korea in Central Asia. It has only opened to tourists in recent years, but the whole country is still not so open. Tajikistan is located in the Pamirs, with a population of more than 9.5 million. There is no golden lampstand yet.
Except for the majority in Tajikistan being Persian people who speak Persian, the majority of the other four countries in Central Asia are Turkic, speaking Turkic languages. As these five countries were all ruled by the former Soviet Union, Russian language is still widely used in these countries. The total population of this region is about 74 million. Currently there are ten churches and about 264 brothers and sisters. Among them, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan have no golden lampstands. There are saints in several strategic cities in Central Asia: Astana, Almaty, Bishkek, Tashkent, and Samarkand.
These five countries are basically Muslim countries. In the three countries that have the Lord’s testimony, their constitutions stipulate freedom of religion, but prohibit proselytism. Christians can neither share the gospel in public nor have the intention of evangelism. For example, a person may own a Bible for his own use, but is prohibited to have two or more Bibles. People can only perform religious activities in the so-called places of worship.
In spite of the outward restricted environment, the saints can still preach the gospel in private. People are saved whenever the gospel is preached. The Lord’s Table meeting in the capital of Uzbekistan was banned ten years ago, so the saints gathered at home instead. As a result, more than 20 homes were opened, more saints were able to function, and the number of saints increased. More than ten years ago, the church in Kyrgyzstan bought a meeting hall and was officially registered. The saints started to enjoy various gatherings freely in the meeting hall. Special conferences and trainings thus can be held, making the church life in Kyrgyzstan more stable.
The saints in these countries are simple and love the Lord. They long to participate in the fellowship of the Body and welcome the saints to visit them or migrate there for the church life. Nearly ten years ago, two Korean couples migrated to Kyrgyzstan. Among them a middle-aged couple bought an apartment next to the campus and labored among the young people. Although this couple did not understand Russian, the young people liked to go to their home and enjoyed their care. Another senior couple in their seventies rented a house. They also did not understand Russian. Upon arriving in Kyrgyzstan, the sister bought about 60 kilograms of cabbage at the market and made kimchi, which they then distributed to the saints household by household. The brother, not knowing the language, attended the prayer meeting of the brothers and prayed loudly with an exercised spirit. A local responsible brother testified that whenever this brother was present in the meeting, everyone exercised his spirit. Such migration became a great blessing to the church life.
With a Chinese language learning boom in recent years, many young people in Central Asia are interested in learning Chinese and schools begin to offer Chinese courses. If some Chinese-speaking saints can come to teach Chinese, they will have the opportunity to contact young people in large numbers. At present, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan have no testimony of the Lord’s recovery, but some from these two countries are living and working in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. On the one hand, we pray that the Lord would open the door for the gospel of the kingdom to spread to these two countries. On the other hand, we also ask the Lord to gain some Tajiks and Turkmen in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to not only receive salvation, but also be perfected in the church life and bring the gospel back to their hometown. Please pray for the advancement of the Lord’s move in Central Asia.
July―August
Myanmar
Currently there are 79 churches in Myanmar with over 5000 saints. The serving brothers labor to shepherd the churches by visiting them personally as well as by Zoom meetings.
On June 18, 103 trainees graduated from the Full-time Training in Yangon. A new term began on June 22 with 69 trainees. Four times a week four trainers from the Full-time training in Hamilton, New Zealand, gave online classes; eight local trainers take care of the rest of the training courses.
We plan to finish translating four ministry books into Burmese by the end of 2020: Ministry Digest Vol. 1, No. 1, Life-study of Genesis, Vol. 3, The Proper Sisters (from Chinese to Burmese), The Speciality, Generality, and Practicality of the Church Life. We hope these publications will render rich supply to the saints and meet the different needs in the church life. In addition, the electronic version of the Holy Bible Recovery Version in Burmese can now be obtained from Google Play Store for the saints to enjoy the Lord’s word at every time and in every place.
Regarding the annual seven feasts, the saints get into either the hard copy or the audio version of the Holy Word for Morning Revival. Currently the saints are pursuing the HWMR of “A Timely Word Concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Recovery” to receive the Lord’s timely speaking and supply.
Bangladesh
The Church in Dhaka
Due to the pandemic, many brothers and sisters returned to their hometowns. Even though the internet signal in those areas is poor, the brothers and sisters steadfastly endeavored to pray with the saints by phone. For those with better telecommunication signals, we get into the HWMR with them every morning for the Lord’s up-to-date speaking. Through such a practice, the brothers and sisters became more open to us and to the Lord’s Word. When we bring them to the small group meetings, they are also open in sharing their enjoyment of the Lord’s Word. Whenever they hear of brothers or sisters being sick, they take the initiative to pray for them and cherish them. Instead of praying for themselves, the saints gradually began to pray for others and for the Body of Christ.
The Church in Chittagong
It has been three months since the brothers started praying at 7 pm everyday. Such steadfast prayer has brought in much building up in reality among us. The majority of the young working brothers have established the habit of praying at set time regularly. Since the number of saints participating in the prayer watch continues to increase, beginning in this month we divided the prayer group into three groups: two groups of brothers and one group of sisters. Through our enjoyment of the Memorial Day Conference messages, our spirits were uplifted to take God as our faith and to persevere in prayer. Our prayers have also been uplifted and are no longer centered on our own needs, but on the Lord’s interests and for the turning of the age.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many brothers and sisters experienced the Lord’s particular care. A specific case is that of a young couple who both work in a bank. The husband had previously joined the short-term training in India, but the sister had always been lukewarm toward the Lord. They are both first-generation believers, and none of their relatives are saved yet. We have been praying for this couple that pressure from their unbelieving family members would be alleviated so that both of them could serve the Lord. Toward the end of May, several of the sister’s family members had fever successively. Eventually, her mother was diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia and she had no choice but to return to her hometown. Despised, shunned, intimidated and threatened by people afraid of the disease, they felt helpless and hopeless with no one to help. In this most difficult time, the sister remembered that she belonged to the Lord and prayed together with her husband. The Lord was faithful in looking after them. On the very next day, they received timely help when someone brought them a large amount of supplies for their daily needs. Upon her return to Chittagong, the sister told us in tears that the Lord was indeed the living and true God. She could not stop calling on the Lord’s name. She also asked us to pray for her family to be delivered from such trial. After that, her mother-in-law, who used to worship idols in their house, suddenly stopped coming to their house. May the Lord release this household; may precious faith be produced within them after such suffering that they may firmly join themselves to Christ and renew their consecration to the Lord.
Other saints also experience the Lord amidst the spread of pneumonia. Please pray for Bangladesh as the number of infected cases continues to rise and many of the saints working in public places lack the necessary protection products.
The following are our prayer requests:
1. Pray for the couple whose family members are sick.
2. Pray for the safety and health of the working brothers and sisters; pray that their spirit, soul, and body would all be preserved.
3. Pray for the saints to have a stronger connection with the Lord and for our online shepherding and fellowship to be strengthened.
4. Pray for the Lord to meet the saints’ daily needs.
Turkey
Earlier this year an Ethiopian brother in London got to know three Christian sisters working in Istanbul via internet and introduced them to us. These three sisters met and served in a denomination for a period of time. At one point one of them felt their service was superficial, empty, and contradicting to her inward feeling, so she stopped going to the meetings. Later on these sisters obtained a copy of “The Normal Christian Life” by Brother Nee and were touched by it. When the government canceled the weekend lockdown at the beginning of June, we had a time of fellowship with them in person. Since then we have continued to fellowship with them on a regular basis. Please pray for their continual enjoyment of the ministry and for them to remain open for fellowship. May the Lord open their eyes and touch them with the word of the ministry that they would know the Lord’s heart’s desire in a deeper way and be preserved on the right way.
A Testimony of Migration for the Lord’s Move
In response to the call for the Lord’s Move to Asia, my wife and I came to Sri Lanka. We stayed in one place for two years from August of 2015 to July of 2017 and coordinated with the local saints in the church life. We had home meetings every day with different people. There were 20 homes under our regular shepherding. We began to visit another city and coordinated with the saints there in our second year in Sri Lanka. After two times of ten-day propagations, over 12 homes were open to us, and we visited these homes every other week. A year later the saints began breaking bread in that city. Eventually we moved there in September of 2017 to continue our shepherding of these homes.
In the past five years, we learned many lessons on how to approach people of different religious backgrounds, how to shepherd people according to their needs, and how to respond to different questions by providing biblical references and leading people to the truth concerning Christ and the church.
During our time here, we experienced being infected with diseases and suffering unexpected injuries, but the Lord faithfully kept and delivered us from every danger and adversity. May the Lord continue to preserve us that we would have the same mind as the apostle Paul: “But I consider my life of no account… in order that I may finish my course and the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus to solemnly testify of the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). May we remain faithful to follow the Lord’s move in the fellowship of the Body. (Brother D)
Prayer Requests
Pray for the 12 Asian countries with no testimony of the Lord’s recovery: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, East Timor, Iraq, Maldives, North Korea, Palestine, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Yemen. May the Lord open the way for more saints to migrate to these countries for the propagation of the Lord’s testimony.
June
Pakistan
The pandemic reached this country at the beginning of March. At that time, everything seemed to be normal when suddenly the whole country began to be locked down. By 8pm of March 21, all flights had been cancelled. By March 22, all businesses were closed and the residents were put on home quarantine. The duration of this quarantine has been repeatedly extended due to continued rise in the number of infected cases. As the people followed the continuous government updates and announcements, and watched the number of infected cases rising, they were left feeling anxious and helpless.
The brothers felt that this was a time to swim against the tide and go upstream by looking after the material and spiritual needs of the saints. Through fellowship and much prayer, we were able to visit almost all the families of the saints prior to the lockdown to give them some daily basic necessities. We were also able to fellowship with them on how to practice the church life during the quarantine period, that is, to set the home as the unit of daily prayer and pursuit, and to establish all kinds of online meetings and fellowship. Thank the Lord, as we practice these in the past few months, we saw the Lord’s blessings in various aspects:
Islamabad
Since the government’s announcement of the lockdown, we have transitioned our church meetings to online meetings. At first, we thought that such an outward circumstance would cause the church to suffer loss. But praise the Lord, the Lord has His good intentions in all circumstances. He led us to a path that had never been taken, but it was indeed a path abounding in blessings. Initially, our church had three districts with five small groups. However, when we started practicing the online church life, we further subdivided our grouping in order to take care of every brother and sister; thus, we now have nine small groups. As a result, we also have nine Lord’s Day Meetings. Attendees on Lord’s Day went up from the average of 102 prior to the lockdown to 115, and the prayer meeting participants also increased from 39 to 57. Since we could no longer go out to preach the gospel and do visitations, we used our evenings to pursue the Lord’s word together in our respective small groups. Initially, our group meetings were held once a week, but now we meet almost every day. Praise the Lord! We seem to be experiencing what the apostle Paul had experienced, to be “pressed on every side but not constricted; unable to find a way out but not utterly without a way out.
Karachi
During the pandemic, we spent 43 days bringing the brothers and sisters into an in- depth pursuit of the book of Revelation, using two hours every day pray-reading this book chapter by chapter. The words greatly impacted on us and brought much enlightenment and revelation. All the brothers and sisters who participated in this Bible reading experienced a great spiritual revival. We also put much importance to the global prayer watch. By bringing the saints to take part in this global move, our prayers were strengthened and uplifted. This lockdown also prompted us to put the internet platform into great use. We started sending our daily enjoyments not only to the brothers and sisters in the church, but even to Christians acquaintances, their friends and relatives. The responses were very positive. Thank the Lord, may He continue to strengthen His testimony!
Lahore
The March 31st 24-hour global prayer watch brought us into the flow of prayer. On that day, many brothers and sisters seized the opportunity and were raised up to pray. Following this, the brothers called for a 30-day global prayer watch which we deeply felt was the present need and leading of the Lord. We thus sounded a call for the brothers and sisters to sign up for this prayer watch. From the initial number of twenty registrants, the number of brothers and sisters who participated in the continuous unceasing prayers every day reached 66 by the end of April. At present, there are already 82 brothers and sisters in more than twenty different prayer groups who are taking part in this prayer watch. The number of Lord’s Day participants was almost doubled that prior to the lockdown.
Certainly, the Lord heard our prayers. After the lockdown, the number of participants during Lord’s Day meeting and other various meetings not only did not decrease, but continued to increase. In addition, we started the brothers’ online prayer meeting and fellowship. The Lord’s day meeting attendance also increased from an average of 44 people in the past three months to an average of 56 people in April (average for the first three weeks of May was 68 participants). Previously, only four places had bread-breaking; now it has become eight. The number of those who joined the small groups also increased from 29 to 47. Moreover, 17 new ones got saved and baptized in the first three week of May. These are blessings we have never experienced in the many years of the church’s propagation work. Praise the Lord!
Rawalpindi
During the pandemic, although our outward activities were very restricted, we grasped the opportunity to gather the brothers who have the burden and led them to pursue the book of Revelation and the spiritual book “The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit.” A group of brothers continued steadfastly to enter into the Lord’s Word almost every day which laid a foundation of pursuing the truth. W have received so much help from the Lord’s Word that we feel we must not only practice in this way during the time of pandemic but must continue to do so until the Lord returns.
Testimonies from the Training of the Serving Ones
Beginning the second week of May, we have also started an online national training for the serving ones. Thirty-three brothers who signed up from various localities pursued the eight messages on “The Will of God” from the Spring 2020 ITERO. Then, on May 16, we also had an online national fellowship where all the brothers prophesied online one by one. Each of the localities also reported on the statistics of their attendance before and after the pandemic, and concluded on the blessings received. Finally, a serving brother encouraged the brothers to seize this rare opportunity to gain even more people through the Internet; to rise up, pray, carry out God’s will, and usher in God’s move; to be vital persons having a God-man living and being the overcomers of today in this ultimate age bearing the ultimate responsibility; and to carry out the living of vital groups of two’s and three’s.
May the Lord grant more grace to the churches that by entering into these burdens and practices, He would bless the churches with more multiplication and building up.
Current Situation of the Church in Bangladesh
Shepherding in the Midst of an Outbreak
In the early days of the lockdown, the brothers prayed and fellowshipped regarding the need to set aside time to enter into God’s Word. So we selected some reading materials by Brother Lee concerning training on the God-ordained way. Every day, we took up a message and shared to the online community. Many who have read these were enlightened and uplifted in our view of the practice of begetting, nourishing, perfecting and building. After pursuing these messages, we put to practice through the use of the social media to reach out to our gospel friends and saints we have not contacted for a long time. They were all very anxious and without peace. So we prayed with them and supplied them with the nourishing word of the Lord. This kind of practice is time-saving and allows us to reach even more people. As our home meetings and Lord’s Table Meetings are held online and we have increased the number of Bread-Breaking meetings, the attendance in May has recovered back to regular attendance before the pandemic.
Ushering in the Fellowship and Prayer of the Body
Although the lockdown was still in effect in May, this was a special time that God has arranged for us to pause from our busy lives and have more hidden prayers. Following the fellowship of the Body, we led the saints into the global prayer watch. Before, they only prayed for themselves and their families. However, through the global watch prayer, they gradually have the burden for the Body and the Lord’s move on the whole earth. We also had a corporate online pursuit of the Memorial Day Conference with a number of saints, through which we saw the world situation and God’s move, and fully entered into the Lord’s present day burden.
Gospel Video Production and Promotion
To the world, this pandemic is a disaster. But according to our brothers, we should look at this as a period of travailing in order to produce the overcomers. Moreover, it is an excellent time for the gospel, and we must seize the opportunity. Thus, the saints responded and participated in the production of gospel videos. At present, there are ten produced and are socialized in Facebook and other online channels. May the Lord use these videos to let those who seek find, that they may gain Him as their peace and cause more young people to be saved.
Finally, may the God of all grace strengthen the saints in various ways that they may know His will and cooperate with Him to be His overcomers, and the means of advancing. May He also provide for their practical needs during this pandemic.
May
Cambodia
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the government announced school closures and suspension of various religious gatherings in March. More than 30% of the saints have left Phnom Penh and returned to their hometowns since then. We brothers fellowshipped together and felt that we must not forsake our own assembling together. Hence, we decided to change the meeting format and meet online instead. Over the past few weeks, we have discovered that this arrangement is extremely helpful for prayer in small groups and for mutual shepherding. The brothers emphasized again and again the burden to change the saints’ concept and to have more people participate in the organic Body life. In particular, the newly saved brothers and sisters who are learning to serve in coordination have taken this opportunity to tightly connect with one another and increase the frequency of their praying and pursuing the word together.
At present, the saints in Phnom Penh are divided into six groups: four groups for the local saints, one group for the Chinese-speaking saints, and another group for the Korean-speaking saints. Each group comprises 15 to 20 people, with actual weekly attendance of 5 to 6 or more. Dividing into groups allows the saints to practically care for one other and to have more prayers and blending. Some saints who were unable to regularly attend the meetings due to distance and some who had been somewhat dormant are now recovered. If we include those who left Phnom Penh during the pandemic and are now in the church life in their hometowns, then the number of active saints is even higher than in the past. In the online meetings, because the number of attendance is smaller, each one must labor more and function to speak for the Lord. The ratio of saints who prophesy to the number of attendance has increased from 50% to 80%. Moreover, we have eight prayer-watch groups with an average of 24 saints participating in prayer-watch every day. In total, 42 saints have participated in at least one prayer-watch.
A few saints who got saved in Phnom Penh were opposed by their families when they returned home. However, as we continued to care for them via video chats or conference calls, several families gradually opened up and even took the initiative to interact with us. The pandemic also opened the hearts of some saints and gospel friends, causing them to consider the meaning of human life and “forcing” them to return to the church life and to spend time pursuing the Lord.
In our consideration of the current situation and the online meetings, the following are some key points in terms of meeting, shepherding and gospel preaching:
1. Increasing the number of vital groups: We hope to form three to four more vital groups so that more saints can participate in smaller yet more frequent online meetings and be nourished.
2. Making lists of saints for contact: According to Brother Lee’s fellowship in the ministry books, each serving brother should make a list and contact three saints every day or twenty saints every week. With this in view, we hope the number of saints being shepherded will increase.
3. Supplying the members in the groups: By sharing Bible verses and audio messages to members of each group, we supply the saints even when they miss the online meetings.
4. Sending little gospel cards to friends and relatives: We learned recently that the saints in New Delhi made little gospel cards and shared them with friends and relatives through various Apps to preach the gospel to “warm doors” and determine the open ones for revisit. We plan to make similar gospel cards (the content of which are Bible verses or good quotes from the ministry) to send to the ones under our care and encourage them to do likewise. By doing this, we hope to not only shepherd these new ones, but also help them develop a burden for men.
5. Holding online Lord’s day meetings for the new ones: Some vital groups have tried to use the last 5-10 minutes of the online Lord’s day meetings to specifically care for the new ones so that they can take part in the Lord’s Day meetings and be blended with the saints. During this time the saints mainly sing hymns and pray.
6. For saints in areas with poor internet connection, we help them stay connected by getting them on the phone while an online meeting is taking place so that they don’t miss out. Telephone conference meetings are also arranged.
Thank the Lord! We truly believe that in His Sovereignty the Lord has prepared such an environment for His move. We need to see and know His will in this kind of situation and cooperate with Him for the building up of His Body to bring Him back.
Prayer Burden
Pray for the saints to be more burdened and function for shepherding and for more saints to separate their time to join the Lord’s day meeting.
Turkey
Since the declaration of lockdown and weekend curfew in mid-March, saints have switched to online meetings. Online meetings are less interactive, but because they are conducted at home, saints who could not attend the physical meetings for various reasons in the past can now participate in online meetings. The Chinese-speaking district meeting is on Saturday afternoon, and a brother in South Africa joins in to enjoy the Lord together; the English-speaking district meeting is on Lord’s day morning with some saints in Cyprus and Israel participating; the Turkish-speaking district meets on Sunday afternoon and a brother from Hong Kong joins the singing part. In addition, we meet with the saints in Baku, Azerbaijan once every two weeks to get into “The Economy of God”. From April 10th to 12th, we joined the London conference held online, which over a thousand saints from Europe, Asia, Africa, the United States and the Middle East attended virtually. The content was the 2012 Thanksgiving Conference messages. Such online meetings are very helpful for the blending of the Body and the appearance of the one new man. May the Lord speed up the development of the internet infrastructure here for the blending and building up of His body and for the saints to have freer and smoother fellowship online for the practical manifestation of the universal one new man.
On April 1st, the co-workers in the Lord’s recovery sounded the burden of 21-day (later extended to 30-day) global prayer. We translated a relevant website into Turkish, hoping to bring the Turkish saints into this burden. A brother mentioned in his fellowship on the website that in the Bible every time God had a crucial and dispensational move, such as opening up the seventh seal and the sounding of the seven trumpets in Revelation, the prayers of the saints were mentioned. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant changes in global politics, economy, and many other aspects. At such an important time, the Lord needs more saints to pray in cooperation with Him to bring in a breakthrough of His move.
In order to grasp the opportunity to spread the gospel during this time, new gospel leaflets have been posted on the website of Rhema distribution. We are working on translating these leaflets into Turkish and have put up advertisements on Facebook. Moreover, some saints had the burden to produce a gospel video which the saints are free to translate into different languages and share on social media. The link of the Turkish version of the video is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB0X9NWh3aQ&t=3s
Prayer Burdens
1. Pray for the saints of all languages to adapt to meeting online and to set aside the time to get together for prayer. May the Lord strengthen all the saints to enjoin and live Christ more in spite of the negative effects of the pandemic.
2. Pray for the online propagation of the Rhema books that more pure-hearted seekers can be brought into the Lord’s recovery.
3. Pray for the Lord to open the door of the gospel and establish His tesimonies in the following twelve strategic cities: Adana, Ankara, Antakya, Antalya, Bursa, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Izmir, Kayseri, Kanya, Sanliurfa, Trabzon.
April
East Timor
East Timor is an island country on the eastern half of the island of Timor to the east of Indonesia. It is connected to Indonesia’s West Timor to the west and across the Timor Sea from northern Australia to the south. East Timor was a Portuguese colony for 400 years. In November 1975, the territory gained independence from the Portuguese regime. Then early that December Indonesian forces occupied the area, and East Timor became one of its provinces. In 1999, an independence referendum was held and passed, but those who opposed its independence fueled a civil war, which came to an end after a multi-national peacekeeping force intervened. East Timor finally gained its independence in 2002. (Reference: https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Timor#ref326338)
East Timor has a population of approximately 1.32 million. Among them, the indigenous people of East Timor (Papua and Malay or Polynesian mixed race) account for 78%; Indonesians account for 20%; and the remaining 2% are Chinese. Its capital, Dili, is a major city with a population of approximately 280,000, and 80% of the country’s economic activities take place here. The official languages are Portuguese and Tetum (many of its vocabularies derive from Portuguese). Yet Indonesian and English are considered the working languages. East Timor’s economy is still recovering from many years of war. It is one of the least developed countries in the world, with a huge economic inequality. While 60% of its people are engaged in agricultural production, the country is not self-sufficient and depends heavily on foreign aid for food sustenance. More than 90% of the government revenue comes from offshore oil and natural gas mining.
East Timor’s traditional belief is animism, holding that all natural things have spirits and can influence human events. During the period of Indonesian rule, the constitutional monotheism required people to choose one from among the six official religions recognized by the government. Many turned to Christianity and the number of Christians swelled rapidly. Before Indonesia’s occupation, only 20% of the population were Roman Catholics. Today, more than 90% are, making it one of the most densely Catholic countries in the world. Protestants account for about 2.6%, and Muslims about 1.7%. The Constitution guarantees religious freedom; the government does not interfere with religious affairs. Various religions co-exist on friendly terms, but the Catholic Church has strong influence and control over its believers.
As early as 1997, a sister from Surabaya, Indonesia came to the capital Dili to do business and started a group meeting in her house. But in 1999 all the saints returned to Indonesia to escape the civil war after the independence referendum got passed. Later on another sister came back to Dili. At the beginning of 2013, the brothers in Surabaya received the burden from the Lord to visit Dili. Along the way the Lord’s presence was with them and they witnessed the move of the Holy Spirit. They came across a local brother who recently returned from Taipei to Dili. This local brother got saved in Taipei in the 80s and had his church life there. He had a strong burden to start the church life in Dili and even prepared a room for the meetings. They also met a seeker meeting in a denomination who was a contact of one of the saints and had a very good fellowship with him. To their delight he decided to come out of his denomination. Shortly after that, the saints began to have the Lord’s Day meeting and a week-day meeting in the home, with about a dozen people attending. The saints in Surabaya took turns to come and shepherd the saints in Dili up to June, 2015.
Due to the unique historical background of East Timor, the saints belong to different language groups and the need for translation is tremendous at meeting and blending times. In order to cope with the different needs, two simultaneous meetings are always conducted in two different languages. The total number attending the meetings is around 20. Although the saints are very busy with work, they still long to meet. One of the prayer meetings on Tuesdays is held online starting around 9 to 10pm. During the week, the saints pursue the Holy Word for Morning Revival in various languages. On Lord’s Days, they come together to supply one another. But there is no bread-breaking meeting yet in Dili. The local brothers are very burdened for the establishment of the church. A brother has already prepared a piece of land on which to build a meeting hall.
In November last year, two overseas brothers came to visit and had a good time of blending with the saints. With their help, the brothers of different languages began to gather more to pray, fellowship, and enjoy the Lord for blending and building up, with the view to establish a core service group in preparation for the establishment of the church. In one of the blending meetings, two gospel friends came and joined. They were deeply touched and after the meeting expressed their willingness to be baptized. On the following day, under the witnessing and blessing of the saints, these two got baptized in the ocean to become children of God. At present, both are in the church life under the saints’ shepherding.
The people here are quite open to the gospel and to foreigners. Over the past three years, many foreigners came for investment, and a large number of Jehovah’s Witnesses missionaries also came with Bibles and literatures in Teton. The locals responded enthusiastically and a number of Jehovah’s Witnesses “kingdom halls” have since been erected. Seeing this, the saints in Dili are quite burdened to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom and teach the proper truth. They also yearn for fellowship of the Body of Christ and warmly welcome the brothers and sisters to visit them and to take part in the gospel propagations to establish and expand the testimony of Jesus in Dili.
Prayer Items:
1. Pray for the establishment of a core service group and the raising up of the church in Dili.
2. Pray for the saints of different languages to come together to pray, fellowship, and enjoy the Lord more for blending and building up.
Pakistan
In response to the spread of the Coronavirus, the government initiated a nationwide lockdown in April. Before the order took effect, the brothers and sisters looked after each other by sending basic necessities (oil, rice, flour, and facemasks) to the more needy homes. During the lockdown, by the saints daily getting on the internet to pursue the word, pray and fellowship together more than once a day, the Lord knitted us together tightly. Many dormant saints got recovered through this practice; some of them took the initiative to contact the saints for prayer. We are in awe of the Lord. The number of attendees in different online meetings (Lord’s Day meetings, home meetings, and prayer meetings) not only did not decrease, but has in fact increased. The brothers and sisters are burning in spirit. May the Lord continue to move in His churches and strengthen His testimony in every locality. Please pray for the saints to rise up to pursue the Lord, to pray the kingdom prayers in cooperation with the Lord, and to enter into the current burden of the Lord’s Recovery.
Sri Lanka
Because of the pandemic, the government announced school suspensions starting on March 22. A Twenty-four-hour curfew was instituted and all religious gatherings were banned. In response to this, the brothers decided on the following changes after much fellowship:
1. Conduct the existing responsible brothers’ fellowship, trainings, and all the church meetings, such as Lord’s Day and small group meetings, online in small groups of 4-8 as well as strengthen the online corporate morning revival. It turned out the number of saints attending the Lord’s Day meetings increased instead of decreasing.
2. Train the responsible brothers to care for each household individually via social media platforms and to lead online small group meetings by teaching the truth. We proposed getting into the 96 lessons from “A Pattern of the Healthy Words”, 4 weeks per lesson. So far, we’ve finished 4 lessons and are on Lesson 5. We hope to perfect the brothers to take 5 to 10 minutes each time to teach one outline point with one or two Bible verses. We estimate that it will take five years to complete the 96 lessons.
3. We also contact the seeking ones and open homes via different social medias in order to reach our goal of 50 churches in Sri Lanka in 5 years. Many new homes are open to us in many places. We truly feel that through the environment the Lord is forcing us to thoroughly practice the God-ordained way. Only by taking this way can the church stand and its testimony spread at such time.
Please pray for the continuation of online meetings that all the saints would be encouraged. Also pray for the saints to form small prayer groups to pray for the churches, the saints and the world situation according to the fellowship of the Body of Christ.
March
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is located in Western Asia at the southeast end of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf, bordering Saudi Arabia to the south and west and Oman to the east. UAE consists of 7 emirates/states with a total population of 9.8 million, of which 11.48% are locals and 88.52% expatriates from around 200 countries. Standard Arabic is the official language used; however, as a result of the high immigration rate, other foreign languages such as English, Hindi, Farsi, Urdu, and Malayalam are often spoken in the country. The Christian population is 0.88 million, roughly 9% of the total population. Open preaching of faith other than Islam is prohibited. But Christian denominations and free groups are allowed to gather for worship in government-designated areas.
In spite of the limitations in the environment, the saints rejoice in the Lord, growing in life and function, and faithfully practicing the God-ordained way. The first church was raised up in Abu Dhabi in 1995. Since then through the work of the Spirit and the migration of the saints, the Lord raised up churches in Sharjah, Al Ain, Dubai, Ajman, Ruwais and Fujairah successively. Currently there are 393 saints in the churches in UAE, with 279 meeting regularly during the week. As the number of families in the churches increases, the number of children has proportionally increased as well. The brothers have felt the need to start the work among the children and young people in a more solid way and with the coordination of all the churches. There has been a positive response from the saints to join the service in coordination.
The combined Lord’s Table meeting of the churches is held quarterly while the International Blending Conference (IBC) is held every three years. In 2019 the IBC was held in Dubai from Nov. 29-30. A total of 305 saints from the churches in UAE, the neighboring GCC countries (Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain), and other countries such as the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Lebanon, Hong Kong, and USA attended.
The subject of the conference was “The One New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose in Creating Man”. The messages showed us that the eternal purpose of God is to have a corporate man to express Him and represent Him; this was God’s purpose in creating man. On the cross Christ created the one new man while terminating the old man and all the negative things in the universe. The goal of the Lord’s recovery is to bring forth the one new man. For the practical existence of the one new man, we need to take Christ as our person and our old person must be put away. We also need to have genuine prayers which respond to Christ’s heavenly ministry. Moreover, there is a desperate need for us to be the stewards of the grace of God to dispense God into man, so that we may practice the church life in the consciousness of the new man.
During the time of sharing, the saints enthusiastically responded to the burden of the messages. A time was also given for each locality of UAE and the countries of GCC to give a presentation on how the churches are progressing in carrying out the God-ordained way. The saints then prayed for each locality and country. Many saints testified after the conference that their view concerning the Lord’s move on earth was broadened. Everyone was strengthened and encouraged.
Prayer burdens:
1. Pray for the raising up of the churches in the remaining 2 Emirates (Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah), which do have any churches.
2. Pray for the proper aggressiveness of the churches in practicing the new way.
3. Pray for the forming of more districts in the churches to intensify the shepherding and perfecting work.
4. Pray for a proper direction in the work among the children and young people.
India
National Trainings for the Young People, College Students and Young Adults
From December 22-25, 2019, 488 saints from 78 localities in India came together for the National College Training held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The main burden of the training was to enter into the messages of the Crystallization-study of Numbers (2). Besides the speaking sessions, there were grouping sessions where students got into the outlines with the message abstracts in groups and prepared for the testing. Other burdens were also released in the training, such as encouraging the students to become seeds on their college campuses and to join the Full-time Training upon graduation.
Simultaneously there were trainings for the young people and for the young working saints. The young people used Lesson Book, Level 2: The Triune God—the Triune God and the Person and Work of Christ as the training material. The young working saints got into the messages from 2019 Thanksgiving Conference on Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ. May the Lord stir up the young ones’ desire to pursue Him through these words and release many to join the Full-time Training in the coming days to fight for His interest in India!
Video Trainings
Brother Lee once said, “It is a fact of history in the Lord’s recovery that any church which follows the ministry is strong and blessed.” (Life-study of First Timothy, message 8). Video Trainings of the Crystallization-study of Deuteronomy are still going on in various localities in India in different languages. The following are testimonies from some churches that already finished the video training.
The Churches in North India－from February 8-9 and 15-16, 2020, 161 saints from 9 localities of 6 different States in North India came together for the Video Training. The training was conducted in both English and Hindi languages. The atmosphere of the Video Training was uplifted by the saints staying together over 2 weekends to study and pursue these messages corporately. Many saints testified that this up-to-date speaking of the Lord not only strengthened them but uplifted their desire to pursue the truth and follow the ministry of the word so that they could be ready to enter and possess the all-inclusive Christ as typified by the good land for the building up of the temple and the city!
The Church in Chennai－On 3 consecutive Saturdays (February 8, 15, and 22), 123 saints from Chennai came together in three big districts for the Video Training in both English and Tamil languages. Many saints testified that they never saw that the book of Deuteronomy was a book about Christ. They were enlightened to see that in order to enter into the good land, the young generation needs to respect and be reconstituted with the word of God. Some saints were touched that our God is a loving and gracious God. He has the system of grace and the system of government for Him to give all that He is to us as grace through His righteous government. We need to love God, obey His commandments, and walk in His ways, so that we may inherit the good land as our possession in full.
Chennai Land Acquisition Project
This year the Lord faithfully fulfilled the Chennai land acquisition project. The registration for the land was done in January, 2020, and the sale deed was received in February. The land is located at Pallavaram area in Chennai, close to the Chennai Airport and two suburban railway stations and situated adjacent to a 200 feet radial road in a developing area. The total land size is 48,352 square feet (1.11 acre) in more or less a rectangular shape.
We have heard numerous heart-touching testimonies of how the saints experienced the grace of God bountifully by pouring out upon the Lord Jesus. A brother couldn’t sleep after the burden for the land offering was shared in the meeting that night. He started to pray and the Lord reminded him of a small piece of land which he purchased as an investment for his daughter’s medical school’s admission fees. He was subdued by the Lord’s love in his prayer. The next day he handed over his land document to the church. A brother who is a tea vendor barely meets the daily needs of his family with his income. But he still faithfully separated a specific amount from every sell of tea for the land. He offered well beyond his measure. Many more testimonies are yet to be told. As the footnote of Matt. 26:8 says, “To those who love Him in such a way He is altogether lovely and worthy of their offering. What they have poured upon Him is not a waste but a fragrant testimony of His sweetness.”
Upon acquiring the land the saints would like to start the construction work of the building as soon as possible. The proposed building size will be with around 1000 seating capacity in the main meeting hall, in conjunction with multi-purpose functional rooms with movable partitions. There will also be adequate accommodation capacity within the building. May the Lord continue to bless and meet all the financial needs for the sake of His move in this country.
February
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan is a Muslim country located in the east of Transcaucasia in West Asia at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Central Asia and bound by Caspian Sea to the east, Iran to the south, Armenia and Turkey to the west, and Russia to the north. Presently we have meetings in the Capital city Baku and practice the corporate God-man living. On average about 9 saints attend the weekly prayer meeting, 12 attend the Bible-study meeting, and 10 attend the Lord’s Day meeting. We also visit the new ones, blend with one another, and preach the gospel throughout the week. All the saints serve and coordinate in one accord. In the first two weekends of last December, we pursued the Thanksgiving Conference messages with several new ones and were all strengthened and encouraged.
In December we harvested our first fruit, a friend of a saint, who began to regularly meet with us during the week and on Lord’s Day, staying connected with the saints in his daily living. In the matter of shepherding, the Lord worked in people’s hearts to make them open to us. A few families and some seeking ones are now under our regular shepherding, and we continue to seek out new ones. We take advantage of every opportunity to establish gospel contacts. Some contacts join us for dinner and read the Bible with us every week. We also invite saints from other Christian groups to join our gatherings during the week. On the last day of this month, we invited all the saints, new ones and gospel friends for a love feast at home to enjoy mutual fellowship and welcome the new year. On the next day, the first day of the year, we went on an outing and became more acquainted with the new ones.
Saints from other places also came to blend with us. Their sharings and experiences became our encouragement and strengthening. The visiting brothers particularly fellowshipped with us concerning the gospel and helped us be more effective in this matter.
Concerning the literature work, we are still looking for suitable channels for distributing the ministry books. Due to some misunderstanding of Brother Lee’s ministry by the local Christian community, we expect to distribute Brother Nee’s books first. More prayers are needed for the Lord to release and break through the negative influences from the Expatriate community that Brother Lee’s ministry would be able to go out and that the pure truth would spread in this land.
In a Muslim country as such, we are quite restricted in many ways. Yet we still pray and look to the Lord for His blessing and for Him to cover and preserve us in our daily life and walk that we would not run in vain or labor in vain. May the Lord arrange all things for His economy for the saved ones to be added to us and for us to continue living the corporate Body life with the view to ultimately establish His testimony in this country.
Prayer burdens
1. Pray for proper channels for the distribution of the ministry books.
2. Pray for the gospel work, especially for a local couple to be saved.
3. Pray for the saints’ practice of the God-man living and the church life.
4. Pray for our contact with Christians in other groups.
5. Pray for the establishing of the church.
Bangladesh
Dhaka
In January by seeking before the Lord, the brothers in Dhaka felt an urgent need for the church to break through in three areas—the gospel, home meetings, and blending.
Concerning the gospel: Last December, the Lord gave us four new ones. In a service fellowship in the beginning of this January, the brothers set the goal of gaining four more new ones in the month of January. During the weekly propagations, the brothers and sisters fully offered themselves; some even took time off from work to preach the gospel and shepherd the new ones. At the end, the Lord faithfully added to us four saved ones: two with Christian backgrounds and two Buddhists. They all had one thing in common, that is, when we first met them, they seemed unlikely to be saved. In fact, it seemed they would become obstacles for others to get baptized. But through our fighting prayers, eventually they were the first to be baptized into the name of the Lord. Through them we were able to reach other young people, some of whom were studying in top universities in Bangladesh. Despite their Buddhist background, they were willing to read the Bible with us and were eager to know more about Jesus. May the Lord gain these young people that they would fully know and receive Him.
Concerning the home meetings: Our goal was to establish home meetings with the unbelievers, especially among the Hindus. By knocking on doors, we met a Muslim who was willing to read the Bible with us. Some Hindus were also open to our sharing of the Bible. At present, these homes still need to be stabilized. May the Lord have mercy on each of us that we would devote more time and energy caring for these homes and for the Lord’s move here.
Concerning blending: During the holidays in January, we carved out more time for blending and became more open to one another for more building up. There were also love feasts in the homes of the saints, which warmed the hearts of the newly saved ones and caused their family members to open up to us and willingly receive us into their homes. May the Lord strengthen these new ones that they would have a deeper relationship in life with the Lord and gradually grow in life.
Chittagong
Last December we decided to spend two hours every night preaching the gospel and visiting our new ones in the area where students gathered at the University of Chittagong. Every night from 7 to 9 pm, the brothers went out together while the sister prepared love feasts at home and prayed fighting prayers for the brothers. After a month of propagation, we gained the homes of three young people to read the Bible with us. Currently these three homes with eight young people still meet regularly with us. More prayers are needed for the Lord to remove their religious veil that these young people would be saved and come to the fully knowledge of the truth.
At the same time we also prayed for an open home near the university for the campus work. In January, a sister returned to Chittagong to resume work, but her husband was reluctant to come back. The sister had a difficult time working and taking care of their baby by herself. We prayed steadfastly for this home, asking the Lord to gain this home for His move on the campus. After the saints fought in prayer for a month, the husband finally came back. When we fellowshipped with this sister regarding the need on the campus, she immediately expressed her willingness to open her home for the students’ gatherings. She also handed us an offering envelope for the church. In this land where religion had done much damage, it had not been easy for us to gain people who would willingly offer to the Lord. This sister was quite frugal, yet she was willing to give to the Lord. We were deeply moved by this. May the Lord remember her offering and gain her household. May the Lord also move mightily in this country to raise up more open and consecrated homes that the testimony of the golden lampstand might shine brightly.
Prayer burdens
1. Pray for a breakthrough in the gospel among Hindus and people of other religions and for home meetings and Bible studies to be established with our contacts in their homes.
2. Pray for more pure vessels at the University of Chittagong to be gained and gathered on Saturday for Bible reading.
3. Pray for the literature work and for the raising up of more faithful translators.
January
Pakistan
National Blending Conference
At the end of this age, the Lord is working among all the nations to fulfill His heart’s desire, which is to bring all the churches into the reality and the practice of the one new man. Following the burden from the past Fall ITERO－The One New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose in Creating Man－the Lord also brought His churches in Pakistan into the same flow.
November 16-17, we had the National Blending Conference in Lahore. A total of 203 saints from Islamabad, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Kasur and Lahore gathered together for His fresh speaking. A brother from overseas came to help us to get into this burden. The burden of the messages was that we should take Christ as our person and be renewed in the spirit of our mind. We also need to labor according to God’s operation to present every believer full-grown in Christ and carry out the stewardship of God for the function of the one new man. All the messages were followed by rich sharing of the saints.
Another highlight of the conference was the song presentation of the young people on stage that made everyone so joyful. Moreover, we were so touched at the Lord’s table that we all consecrated ourselves again to the Lord. We also had a very wonderful outdoor blending and love feast on Saturday night with all the saints from different localities. There was no difference in language or culture. Only Christ is all and in all.
May the Lord continue blessing His churches in Pakistan. May all the saints in the church life keep speaking the same thing with one mouth and doing the one work in the consciousness of the one new man.
The Church in Islamabad
The third district of the church in Islamabad was established on September 29, with 42 saints attending the first Lord’s table meeting. All the saints remembered the Lord in a joyful spirit.
In mid-October, the three districts of the church gathered as the whole church for the very first Lord’s table/prophesying meeting. The meeting was held in a small hotel. Around 170 brothers and sisters with 60 children attended. Many saints prophesied with exercised spirits. This was followed by a picnic lunch in a large park. All the saints enjoyed wonderful blending and were able to know and be built up with each other in a deeper way.
In early November, 34 young people with 4 serving ones had a blending outing at a very scenic place called Khanpur Dam, which was an hour and a half drive west of Islamabad. While we were on our way there, everyone enjoyed reading the message about “Dealing With the World” from the book Experience of Life. The young people shared their enjoyment. When we arrived at our destination, everyone was enthralled to see a large lake surrounded by mountains. We had a picnic lunch and then went boating. Through the blending the young ones had much fellowship and sharing with each other and were joined together more.
Nepal
General Training for All the Saints
During the largest Hindu festival in Nepal last October 6-9, 2019, the Lord called out 43 saints from various local churches to Lalitpur to participate in a three-day perfecting training. Through the fellowship of the Body, six saints from the Luke group of Taiwan also took part in this training.
The main subject of the training was “Growing and Ministering for the Experience of the Life of the Body of Christ.” The main burden was to help the saints forsake their religious concepts and pay attention to their experience and growth in life, so that they may serve and function in life to become the pillars of the churches in various places that the Lord’s testimony in Nepal may be strengthened.
The training also had three special fellowships to help the saints enter into the burden more subjectively: 1) the need to establish a personal and intimate relationship with the Lord for the experience and growth in life, that the saints may be practically perfected in their personal pursuits, prayers and morning revival; 2) the establishment of a healthy God-man family living, leading the saints to subjectively experience Christ in their marriage life and in raising their children; 3) about their work and offering, helping the saints to exercise to enjoy and experience Christ in their workplace, and to be absolute in their material offering. The saints in Taiwan gave their testimony about loving and serving the Lord, causing the saints in Nepal to be encouraged and strengthened.
The Young People’s Training
Following the general training for all the saints, more than 30 young people from various churches in Nepal gathered in Pokhara from October 10 to 13 to enjoy a three-day Young People’s Training. The main burden of this training was to equip the young people in truth, to perfect them in their character, to help them touch the Lord in prayer, and for them to closely follow the pattern.
In order to encourage the young people to be equipped with the truth, an examination link was set up in this training wherein the young people were tested orally and in written form on twenty-four important Bible verses and some key points of truth. Many of them took this seriously, speaking to one another during the classes, and even seizing the opportunity to be equipped with the Lord’s words in between classes. Twelve young people passed the exam and each received a Bible as a reward.
In addition, a specific person was assigned in this training to monitor the time schedule in order to help the young brothers and sisters be on time and quickly enter into the details of the training. This perfected them in their character and uplifted the training atmosphere.
Furthermore, for the young people to have more opportunity to exercise their spirit in contacting the Lord, much time was arranged for them to practice in the matter of prayer. From the time they woke up to washing up, from their individual morning revival to the time before and after classes, from individual prayer time at noon to the time of exercising to call on the Lord’s name and pray-read His Word, and until the prayer time at night, the young people were given many opportunities to come before the Lord to enjoy the fellowship with Him and the release of their spirit.
By pursuing topics such as “the history of martyrdom in the church” and “the world situation and the return of the Lord,” and through the testimony of the serving ones, the young people saw patterns from throughout the ages of those who loved the Lord and followed Him at all costs. Having been moved by these patterns, all the young ones willingly consecrated themselves to the Lord. Many brothers and sisters signed the consecration forms, and offered to join the 2-year full-time training.
We deeply felt that the Lord is desperate to gain a group of saints and young people who love Him and pursue Him to be His bridge and channel in Nepal. Given our very tight schedule, the Lord surmounted our limitations and richly anointed us with His presence. May the Lord bless His churches in Nepal and cause His testimony to shine brighter through the intercession and supply of the Body.
Prayer items
1. Pray that the Lord will work on the Nepalese authorities to raise up a present day “Cyrus” who will open the door of the gospel and release the environment in Nepal.
2. Pray that the saints will deepen their thirst for the truth so that they will be constituted by this ministry, and to progress in the experience of life so that they may become the pillars of the church, bearing the responsibility of the church and taking the God-ordained way in one accord.
3. Pray that the Lord will continue to strengthen the young people in Nepal to keep their consecration, so that they may regularly enjoy the Lord and live a corporate life to become today’s overcomers to bring the Lord back.
2019
E-2019-12
E-2019-11
E-2019-10
E-2019-09
E-2019-08
E-2019-07
E-2019-06
E-2019-05
E-2019-04
E-2019-03
E-2019-02
E-2019-01