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.
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