June
Sri Lanka
Presently there are 22 churches in Sri Lanka with about 536 saints in the church life. Over this past year, the churches in Sri Lanka were blessed in several aspects.
The Saints’ Enjoyment of the Ministry
In order to help the saints enjoy The Holy Word for Morning Revival (HWMR) in a solid way, every day the serving brothers would pick three key points from that day’s portion and make audio recordings in three different languages. They share the recordings with the saints, which greatly help the saints in their preparation of their Lord’s Day prophecies. The saints’ enjoyment of the prophesying meeting is therefore uplifted. Some seeking ones listened to the audio recordings shared to them and were attracted to attend the meetings.
A weekly video training in three languages is held according to the schedule of the HWMR for the saints to directly enter into the speaking of the ministry. Moreover, there are Life-study meetings and meetings for the pursuit of the 96 Lessons during the week. The Lord’s speaking becomes a great supply to the saints and causes them to be burdened for shepherding and the propagation of the ministry.
A sister in Kurunegrad, out of her enjoyment of the word, was burdened to share the truth of the Lord’s recovery with her three good friends in denomination. During the lockdown last August, she invited them to read The Economy of God together every day. After four months, one of the sisters, out of her appreciation of the ministry, turned to the Lord’s recovery. She is now living a normal church life and regularly prophesies on Lord’s Day to share her enjoyment of the Lord.
Monthly District Training and Clustering
Due to the pandemic and the geographical and language restrictions, trainings and clusterings in Sri Lanka are now held in three separate districts: the northeast district, with 8 churches, in the Tamil language; the central district, with 7 churches, in Sinhalese; the western district, with 7 churches, in Sinhalese and English.
Every district has monthly trainings for the responsible brothers, for the young people, and for the serving sisters. The contents of the trainings are mainly based on the outlines of the seven annual conferences and trainings, supplemented by the present burden, so that the saints can enter into the most up-to-date speaking, receive the Lord’s leading in the church, and be helped to apply the Lord’s word in their spiritual life, church life, and in their coordination in service.
The monthly trainings and clusterings in each district usually last for one to three days. During the training, the saints open their homes to receive participating saints from other localities, and there is much fellowship and blending. Such trainings and clusterings produce many fruitful results in the churches. A brother who stopped meeting for ten years renewed his consecration and joined the church services after joining the training. Another brother who learned the truth from the training began to promote it, thereby bringing 5 local seekers into the church life. He also spoke the truth to his relatives and close friends in other parts of the country. Still another brother who used to be a seminary lecturer realized from the training that we preached the truth and not doctrines; he willingly took the way of the Lord’s recovery according to the revelation he received and became one of the local serving brothers. Another seeking one who was a retired judge enjoyed the truth so much that he bought a Recovery Version Bible with footnotes and started pursuing the truth with his family. He also maintains fellowship with the local saints.
Propagation in New Cities
Ridigama
A brother whose hometown is in Ridigama used to travel 25 kilometers every week to attend the Lord’s Day meeting in Kurunegala. Four years ago, the brothers encouraged him to pray for his hometown and ask the Lord to raise up a new meeting place. The brother received the burden and prayed accordingly while actively preaching the gospel to his relatives and close friends. With the help of the co-workers, he gained a few seeking ones and started to have meetings at home with them. However, Buddhism prevailed in this area and the monks took the lead to oppose such gatherings and even persecuted the saints. As a result, the gatherings were terminated and the saints could only communicate with each other privately. Later on, the pandemic made the external environment even more difficult; but the longing within the saints for the Lord became more intensified.
These saints joined all the online meetings, including the Lord’s Day meetings, Life-study meetings, prayer meetings, responsible brothers’ trainings, young people’s trainings, sisters’ blendings, and the PSRP of the Holy Word for Morning Revival. They touched the Lord and enjoyed the truth of the Lord’s recovery. A brother who was gained by the Lord became burdened to open his home. He constructed an extension to his house to prepare it as a meeting place. The Responsible Brothers’ Training of the central district in April was held there. The brothers are praying that a golden lampstand will be established in September of this year. There are currently twenty saints meeting in this locality, plus some seekers who are in fellowship with the saints. May the Lord continue to bless the propagation in Ridigama and raise up more brothers as pillars.
Galewela
Two years ago, a seeking sister in Galewela, who had been troubled by a chronic disease, came across the ministry and was attracted. After reading The Holy Word for Morning Revival, The Economy of God, and The All-inclusive Christ, she shared the truth she enjoyed with believers meeting in her denomination. Six months ago, she requested that some brothers go and help them. Through the shepherding of the co-workers, 15 people got baptized. Now they have morning revival and study the truth of the Lord’s recovery every day. They also attend various church meetings. We hope that a golden lampstand would be established in Galewela by the end of this year.
Pray burdens:
1. Pray for the economic situation to recover that the saints would receive the Lord’s abounding grace without shortage and that all the church activities would go on without hindrance.
2. Pray for the establishment of the new churches this year: Ridigama in September and Galewela by the end of the year.
3. Pray for the monthly perfecting blending and training meetings of the responsible brothers, serving sisters and the young people. May the Lord raise up more saints as shepherds to cooperate with Him for the shepherding of His flock.
Turkey
Literature work
The translation of the ministry materials into Turkish started in 2013. Thirty-seven ministry titles have been published since then, including the 7 Rhema booklets for free distribution. Moreover, 108 hymns have been translated into Turkish.
Through the operation of the Turkish Rhema distribution, over 2,000 readers subscribed to the physical books throughout the whole country. Three local readers got baptized after reading our literature and having contact with us. A local Christian distributor who helped distribute over 10,000 copies of our literature told us that our books were warmly welcomed by the local and overseas Turkish Christians without any negative comments.
A few years ago we met with some Rhema readers in the Black Sea area. One sister enjoyed our literature and continued to have fellowship with us. She joined the 2019 Balkan Blending Conference in Zagreb, Croatia. She has a burden to preach the gospel to her relatives.
Recently we visited some Rhema readers in a city in Southeast Turkey. One of them was a very active Christian there. He got saved 8 years ago. He treasures our books and encourages all his Christian friends to subscribe to our Rhema books. He testified that he did not receive enough nourishment in the past. But now he has received a lot of feeding and enlightening through reading our books. Another seeking one considered that the Lord sent us to this country purposely to translate these books for them. They both charged us to continue this translation work.
Update
The local epidemic has basically subsided, and the traffic among the saints has returned to normal. The online children’s meeting has been running for four months. The parents and children have begun to practice spiritual pursuits at home. May the Lord strengthen the building work among the saints and gain more healthy homes and spiritual descendants. Please continue to pray for the Rhema readers whom the saints met, so that they may have a deeper understanding of the Lord’s heart desire. Also pray for more saints to come to Turkey for coordination and propagation.
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