Missionaries to Spain November, 2008
Dear Friends & Prayer Partners,
On this eve of Thanksgiving…
We can’t express how grateful we are for His calling us to Spain to serve the Chinese communities, and how you have made it possible through faithful prayer support and generous financial giving to the Great Commission Fund. Thank you so very much!
We are thankful for this little church that He is building. It is home to some 70 adults and children gathering on Sundays. Also the one we now call home. Folks from different regions of China are learning to get along even as they try to get a handle on the meaning of following Christ, to be called out of this world yet living as His holy witnesses in the world!
While we have been without internet over the last couple of months after moving to a new apartment, in this extreme state of “alone-ness” without daily internet-fix (exaggeration, yes! but not too far from reality), the Lord has nevertheless revitalized our outlook on the ministry here.
We came back after a year of home assignment, all rested up and recharged, ready to go, carrying with us lots of plans and ideas to “bring this church up one notch.” Soon we realized that God’s calling, foremost of all, is to bid us to come and die with Him. We were reminded that we must face the most fundamental yet nowadays oft-neglected truth of “being crucified with Christ on the cross” (Gal. 2:20).
So on this eve of Thanksgiving, we are most grateful for this gentle forcefulness and steadfast reminding from the Lord, because He counts us worthy and graciously includes us in on His work here. …..And, of course, we are also glad that we’ve got our internet connection back!
They Stuck Around
MI is a young man who was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Spain, married a local gal, had a son. Then his marriage fell apart. He came when he didn’t know where else to turn. Although he became a believer and was baptized, he was always on the fringe because he could not fit in with the predominantly Mandarin-speaking church. We had a hard time linguistically as well as time-wise to minister to him effectively. Frankly, he was not high on our priority list.
AW is another young man. He was raised in Guangzhou, spent a few years in Panama, then came to Spain. Always somewhat moody with a rebellious streak, he was also on the fringe. In spite of his profession as a believer, his lifestyle often betrayed that. Once again, we were challenged to minister to him. Frankly, neither was he high on our priority list. When we left for home assignment last year, we were afraid that they’d eventually drop out of the scene. (Or, was it that we had basically written them off?)
Yet, God is much more faithful than we are. He somehow kept them tethered. And they hung around even without us being there, without anyone really making effort to reach out to them. We were so encouraged to see them upon return (albeit still somewhat on the fringe). In confession of our own lack of faith, we’ve made a commitment to seek ways to penetrate their lives and minister to them, because after all, God brought them in and they’ve stuck around!
December Challenge
Spain is in the throes of a severe economic depression. And it’s poised to get worse. Experts forecast the national unemployment to exceed well over 3 million by mid-2009. For the Chinese folks who are mostly shop owners, they’ve barely survived up to now, and are all counting on December to lend them a little more breathing room. Thus the pressure to keep their shops open on Sundays would be greater than ever. Yet, the chance for God to show forth His glory is also greater than ever. Our prayer is that the people would be bold enough to trust Him to go to bat for them, so that His glory would truly shine all around during Christmas.
We are delighted that a STM team from Morgantown (WV) CAC is coming to minister alongside us. Between their visit and the special programs various cell groups are putting together for the special Christmas Day celebration, groundwork would be laid to launch various vital works for the upcoming year. Among them are the youth ministry, women’s discipleship group, and men’s mentoring group. It looks like a busy couple of months ahead!
Some prayer requests:
- For the travel and ministry of the Short Term Missions team from Morgantown Chinese Alliance Church: that they would fire up the believers here and encourage many to follow the Lord in a most trying time.
- For the launching of the youth ministry: for Nancy who’s been tapped to be the leader; and for Gordon and Kathy Munro, our missionary colleagues, who are so gracious to lead us in the work.
- For our wisdom to select suitable candidates for discipleship training and mentoring groups.
Our hearts are thankful for your friendships, encouragements and prayers!
For the glory of Jesus in Spain,
John, Lorraine, Sarah & Abby
No comments:
Post a Comment