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.
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