Greetings to our friends, supporters and prayer partners, and welcome to this update. Once again there is much to share with you about the activities in South East Asia of those who serve the Lord under the Advent Christian banner – particularly in India at this time as it is the summer school break and most of the Advent Christian churches, and indeed most other evangelical churches, are holding Vacation Bible Schools, and God is using His people to share the Gospel with literally thousands of children, many of whom come from Hindu homes.
INDIA
Thank you for continuing to pray for the sale of the Guindy land. We are convinced that the sale of this property is in accordance with the Lord’s will and that His will includes the future, financial stability for the Advent Christian Conference of India, and the extension of the ministries of Yesuway Jeevan Mission and its ministry partners throughout India, for which funds from the sale will provide. Please continue to pray that the Lord will clear the pathway and that the sale will be completed as soon as possible.
At the Fellowship of Blessed Hope Church at Nandanam, Pastor Paul Selvin and his team welcomed between 140 and 150 boys and girls to their VBS from 29 April to 6th May. Ten congregation members joined Pastor Paul Selvin in teaching lessons on the topic of “Transformation” (Maruroobam in Tamil). Mission Manager Immanuel attended on the last day to hand out prizes and commented that “the teachers were very good; the singing was very good, and the children gave an excellent Good Samaritan skit!”
It was obviously a very colourful affair, and the colour changed each day! 🙂
From the FBHC church at Ramapuram, Pastor Solomon Rajan reported…
“This year’s Vacation Bible School’s topic was “FRAGRANCE”. It included the stories, sacrifice and life history of missionaries like William Carey; the birth, life, love, second coming, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and eternal life.
All of this was taught to a group of 65 students which included 45 students who have never known of the love of Jesus before. 16 teachers were specially trained to lead the children in daily activities.
Paerarasan [aged] 13 and Shilpa [aged] 15 accepted the Lord Jesus as their personal saviour through VBS 2018 and they attend the Sunday service regularly.”
Please thank the Lord for these two new, Christian children and pray that they will grow in the knowledge of their newfound Saviour. Pray too that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in the hearts of all the children who attended all the VBS sessions throughout India this summer.
Pastor Lawrence, who ministers to tribal people in several areas on the outskirts of Chennai, also conducted VBS in a village called Theruthavelli in the Kanchipuram area, where the children of the Irular tribe were very interested to attend the classes (picture left below) and at Periyar Samathuvapuram near Kizkintha, Tambaram (picture right below)
Pastor Pani and his team, in Odisha State, continue to be blessed with fruit for their ministry. He wrote early this month…
“We did a baptism program on Saturday. [5 May] Thirteen (13) new souls for the Mission.
Please pray for the 13 candidates who have been newly baptized in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Odisha Mission staff is reaching to the unreached with the Gospel and bringing up new souls to the kingdom of God.
We are working hard for the Lord to do the evangelism works over our area. Please pray for us and for our ministry.”
THAILAND
Ministry continues at Christian Mission Naratchakwai with Maeo, Pastor Boontaa and the ladies of the leadership team working very hard to represent their Lord to those around them.
As is often the case, some of the girls who have been “Mission girls” (those who have stayed full time at the Mission in past years, to learn English and go to schools in Nakhon Phanom which have good English programs and, in many cases, to learn to love the Lord) return to attend Sunday services. On 29 April, Ploy wrote on Facebook…
“Thank you, God. We were happy to be here and worship God together. Thank you, God, for Beam
and Toom who came back to visit us at CMN this Sunday. God bless you.”
Beam and Toom
On Tuesday 1 May, the leaders of the member churches of the Christ for All People Churches Association, of which Christian Mission Naratchakwai is a founding member, met for fellowship and prayer at the Kusumarn church in the adjacent Sakhon Nakhon province. This church is the church planted by the President of the Association – Pastor Jalat – third from the left in the picture.
As is often the case when the leaders’ meeting is held at other locations, Maeo distributed the two food parcels which Christian Mission Naratchakwai distributes each month, to needy folk at Kusumarn.
Please pray for the member churches of the Christ for All People Churches Association and for their leaders, asking the Lord to bless their commitment to sharing the message of life in Jesus Christ, in an area of the country where many of the Buddhist people worship evil spirits.
Visas have been obtained and travel arrangements confirmed for the visit of Ploy and Parn, the two senior members of the CMN leadership team, to New Zealand for approximately eight weeks. They leave Nakhon Phanom to travel to Bangkok and then to Auckland via Sydney, on 1 June and will leave Auckland to return home on 1 August. They have never flown before – please pray for safe and smooth travel for them.
Please thank the Lord for this opportunity for Ploy and Parn to visit us and pray that the experience will be an exciting and enriching one for them, and for the folk in NZ as they meet some of those who serve the Lord in Thailand, for whom they have prayed for some years. Those who have been members of recent Work Teams to Christian Mission are especially looking forward to having them here with us.
MALAYSIA – Kluang Advent Christian Group
Please continue to pray for the small group of faithful, Advent Christian believers who gather weekly on Sundays for worship in the home of Sister Ruth Devairakkam and Brother Wilfred in Kluang and in members’ homes for Bible study and communion during the week. Christian ministry is not easy or without danger in Malaysia, but Ruth and Wilfred faithfully continue their one-on-one ministries of friendship, practical assistance and counsel to friends, neighbours and other contacts.
Please thank and praise the Lord that since our last update, the final third of the funds needed to enable the group to purchase a second-hand van, to assist with the transport of their members to their Sunday worship gatherings and to the regular meetings during the week which rotate around the members’ homes, has been promised by the Men’s Group of an Advent Christian church in the United States, and is being remitted to Malaysia shortly. Please pray that Ruth and Wilfred will be led to a suitable vehicle to purchase.
MYANMAR
The International Missions Department of the Advent Christian General Conference of America was recently able to send funds to Myanmar to enable them to purchase Bibles for their members and new converts.
Conference President Pastor David wrote when the funds were received, saying…
“Greetings in the name of Jesus from Yangon, Myanmar.
It is a great blessing for four ministry leaders in Myanmar.
Today, we received 250 Bibles safely and we all are happy for the blessings.
Thanks and God bless you.
In Christ,
David”
Pastor David later wrote…
“Each of our four leaders have new converts that do not have Bibles. These Bibles will soon be placed in their hands. Give praise to the Lord that these Bibles have been provided. Pray for their new converts that their faith will grow strong in him.”
Please thank the Lord that there have been these new converts under the ministry of the members of the Advent Christian Conference of Myanmar and pray that our new brothers and sisters in the Lord will grow in grace and the knowledge of their Saviour as they read these Bibles.
Back in September 2016, following a series of natural disasters, including flooding and earthquakes in various parts of Myanmar we wrote as follows…
“We have been very concerned about the supply of clean drinking water for the leaders of the Advent Christian Conference of Myanmar, who together care for 271 orphan or underprivileged children, mostly in their homes. Our enquiries indicate that there is an urgent need for bore-wells and water purifying systems for all four of the leaders. Where water is available, even from deep bore-wells, most of the time it is not suitable for drinking without treatment and purification. …. We would like to work toward ensuring that each of the four member- organizations of the ACCM has a bore-well to supply water and a proper water purification system for that water at least for their respective “headquarters” locations, to ensure that their families and the children they care for are protected from water borne diseases. “
Thank you to all who prayed about this need and thank you to churches and individuals in New Zealand and the United States who gave generously. We praise the Lord that this project was recently completed with the support of an Advent Christian church in the United States with a gift for the fourth purifier. All four leaders of the Advent Christian Conference of Myanmar now have very efficient water purifiers which will ensure excellent quality water supplies for their families, church members and the orphan and underprivileged children that they care for – now a total of 295! A big thank you to all those who helped to make the completion of this project possible.
This latest and last purifier went to the compound of Pastor David, the present President of the Conference and leader of the Fellowship Bible Church of Myanmar, whose organisation cares for 100 children. Pastor David wrote to the International Missions office at ACGC expressing his thanks. He also shared the photo (right) of the water purifier showing two small, smiling faces that are certainly enjoying the water from it.
The new school year will begin in Myanmar on May 20, 2018, and all the school children who are being cared for by the four leaders of the ACCM will need school supplies – school uniforms, umbrellas, shoes, school bags, writing pens, books and other items for school supply. This is one of the biggest needs for their orphan homes at this time of the year. Together the four leaders have 295 children in need of school items.
ACMissioNZ has been able to send some funds to some of the leaders to assist with this need, but more is still needed.
Pastor David, 2018 ACCM president, asks that you please remember this need in prayer.
PHILIPPINES
Rev Efren Miranda. President of the Philippine Advent Christian Conference recently shared about a new ministry to aid their “Vision 20/20”
“The Philippine Advent Christian Conference, Inc. (PACCI) implemented a new ministry: Evangelistic Tour 2018 developed to support their PACCI’s Vision “20/20,” reaching 20,000 disciples by 2020. In 2012, the PACCI made a goal of reaching 20,000 disciple-makers by the year 2020. Thus, the PACCI’s vision became known as Vision “20/20.”
The conference and Conference President Efren have worked diligently through churches to create cell groups that teach others to become disciple-makers. Cell groups meet weekly for two hours. Each meeting covers the following activities: fellowship, Bible-reading, worship and prayer. The photo below was taken in a recent cell group meeting of the young people auxiliary. The cell groups were designed to reach a certain number of members and then the group would divide to make another cell group. The training is designed to produce disciples that will then disciple others.
To continue to reach the goal of 20,000 disciples by 2020, the PACCI has now begun Evangelistic Tour 2018. The conference is working to intensify their vision, since 2020 is fast approaching. The purpose of this training is to promote personal, spiritual and ministerial development of the participants and to assist in the growth of the local churches, making contacts and increasing the membership through Bible study.
Evangelistic Tour 2018 is a sports evangelism ministry, consisting of a basketball mini-league that the committee will hold at Claveria, Misamis Oriental and Maramag, Bukidnon.
For basketball enthusiasts in the area, this is a chance for them to play and to hear the gospel of the kingdom. The new ministry was launched on April 9 – 21, 2018. Twelve participants from local churches came for a training conducted in Claveria, Misamis Oriental.
Once again, my sincere thanks for your partnership in the Lord’s ministries in South East Asia. Thank you for your prayers for and encouragement to and financial support for our brothers and sisters in the LORD who are so committed to sharing the message of LIFE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST with their people.
Please pray that they will know the leading, guiding and blessing of the Holy Spirit on all their ministries.
