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PSALM 3:3-4
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
Thank you friends, we are humbled by your help.
It has beeen an overwhelming joy, and so encouraging to get messages, gifts (to pass on to others) and promises of help in the demanding year ahead. We are realistic about the many challenges of the next few months, but we have much to thank God for, and every reason to move purposely forward after this month of prayer.
Perspective and Praise
When we started this month of prayer, it was primarily to make the most of the lockdown opportunity, and get more disciplined / serious about praying for His world. Hindsight shows however, that non of us saw the absolute battering some of our friends in gospel ministry would get during this time. In a variety of places and so many situations the message was the same, "be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand..." (Eph 6:10-11)
When tough times come, self sufficiency is not the weapon Christians have to rely on, we have someone far greater than ourselves. The biggest battle for many of us and our friends has not been covid (as massive as that is), but the unseen battle for minds and hearts. There is one who hates what is being done to communicate the overcoming, overruling grace of God. The tactic of our enemy is to tell the lie, that destruction and despair are our only future, (we might as well just live for today and ourselves). There is one in charge however, who overrules this season, and holds eternity in his hands. His hands bears the scars of His love for us, testifying to the glorious and undeniable truth. This is a love which will never ever give up on us, has conquered the power of death and secured the ending for all who trust in Him. Because he lives we can face tomorrow, and all (true) fear is gone.
So from the wider missional family, this month of struggle was also a time of surprising success, as we came to depend more on Him. This month - youth groups started in church plants, people came to faith over zoom, people alone without hope...without a home - accepted not only a humanitarian aid visit, but also accepted Christ. Our partnership with many friends grew, and detailed planning gathered momentum about how we could help in the future. Network friends with similar interests linked up together, people in lockdown (red zone) had really special times of fellowship. Ours is a supporting role only, but we do get a ringside view of what God is doing, which is a priceless privilege. Nothing can derail the plans of God. We are so grateful for the prompt of God to pray more earnestly, and so grateful for your mighty partnership in this.
How was lockdown for you?
Some English friends said they'd even lost track of which day it was, a sense of the rhythm of life had dissipated, that every day has seemed to be a bit like a "blurday". All our times are in his hands (including the extraordinary and very ordinary days. Psalm 31:15, Psalm 139:16)
Don't be fooled, this season is finite but His promises and presence are eternal. In Him we are truly freed not bound, restrained or restricted... and we have many things to praise him for at the end of this month, including the many fresh gospel opportunities before us. God has "opened up the way" (Heb 10:19-20), the way of salvation, the way for us as a team to have many more opportunities to serve. We are so encouraged! We hope you are too.
Prayer and plans
1) Thank him for the unity we have enjoyed, partners and teams in a number of countries (with a number of languages) all with one purose in Christ (even if we are now all in different tiers).
2) Thank him that a number of unplanned exchanges and developments happened in the month that have forwarded his purposes. Whether it was prayer, property, provision, planting or pastoring, it was all by His plan, and we are thrilled at what he has done to move things forward when we've been stuck in one place. We have been confined but he hasn't, we are in one place, but he is omnipresent and so nothing of our prayers have been wasted.
3) Thank GOD that we look to the future with a measure of confidence (in Him and not in ourselves).
Plans and days of opportunity.
All our plans are obviously subject to change. Provisionally we need to plan for next year (and be good stewards of the next month) if we are to keep on track for making the most of the opportunities given to us.
a) Some plans will only be able to be more concrete if commitment is also concrete from a critical mass of team members.
Pray for this please.
b) PRAY FOR SUCCESS in TEAM TRIPS:
Key Dates:
- Easter will likely mark the way opening up for us to resume team trips.
- Easter Sunday in the UK will be April 4th.
- Easter Sunday Ukraine will be Sunday 2nd of MAY.
Easter Ukraine will also provide the perfect opportunity for folks / churches in the UK wanting to join a team (including those who booked to come last year and were prevented).
The MAY 8th Bank Holiday (FRIDAY), means 1 less days "leave" is used to come on a trip.
For churches looking to partner, this would provide the ideal opportunity to see a number of ministries / activities in a short space of time, including city/ rural and regional evangelism. For the re-building and completion of transition house,and travelling to meet partners this would provide (hopefully) perfect conditions to have a huge "push".
Provisionally then we are looking at
- 17th April - 16th May as a window of opportunity for working teams.
- SCHOOL HOLIDAYS. We are mindful that for some in education timetables, holiday weeks are better, so provisionally we are asking those folks whether this Easter (2nd -10th APRIL) or Summer half term (May 31-June 4) is a better time for you to join us?
- Any indication you could give would be appreciated as we plan.
4) We continue developing our help for folks in the Donbass region with investement into Church planting, sustainable support (Bread and Eggs) and Humanitarian aid. This includes the ongoing building and rennovation of two properties. Pray for a growing team and material provision for this please.
5) We continue to support an increasing network of gospel workers in various ways. Pray for the expansion of training encouragement and fruitful counsel / times in the bible both online and in person.
Please therefore continue to pray with us:
US: Pray over the next month that we will be able to increase clarity on plans for next year.
YOU: If God is prompting you indivudally / as a group to be with us on a trip next year, or support in some other way, please pray about it and (if possible) give a provisional indication by the end of the month for us to plan to make the most of our resources and steward things well.
We want to make maximum progress on gospel initiatives, and be of maximum help to those who are doing amazing things. Any indication at all you give us will help in driving things forward to the earliest possible positive place.
Please do please pray for us as we start to prepare in earnest, for construction, rennovation, team devotions, for preaching, for training, for building, for materials needed, for provision, for pastoral care, for planting, for evangelism, for programming.
Other news in brief...
We are praying for a number of our friends in Ternopil region...
- Volodymyr and Oksana Kostyshyn are involved in a wonderful ministry to children (and parents of chidlren) with dissabilities.
They have an amazing testimony of God's help and provision in their own family situation, and are currently trusting God for new provision of adapted minubus and transport aids (wheelchair ramps and snow tyres etc.) to continue growing the incredible work and witness they have. We thoroughly commend this gospel ministry, its loving impact of on the unreached and would love you to read about it here...
https://www.europeanmission.org/happy-wheels
If you would like to help and don't want to lose some of the gift through paypal, we would be happy to facilate gifts.
- Please also pray for a number of new youth initiatives have started in Ternopil. (photos show the church where Sasha Maximov serves, currently 70% of the young people with no previous church connection. Praise God for this great opportunity, exactly what we have been praying for.)
- Please pray for a women's conference planned for this coming Saturday (5th) in Ternopil city (Church where Pastor Igor Bilorus serves) . Pray that it will obviously still go ahead despite all challenges and be a great encouragement to many in the current situation to the glory of God.
May He bless you in your continued faithfulness, and provide you with every provision for doing His will.
"Salvation belongs to the Lord;
your blessing be on your people !"
Psalm 3:8
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