Prayers of the Saints | the Reach October 2021

by | Nov 4, 2021 | Biblical/Missional, Church Partnership, Field Story

“And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth.”
-Revelation 5:8-9

Dear friends,

Twenty years ago, the EPC and EPC World Outreach declared the Malay people and Malaysia to be a “designated field” – meaning we, as a denomination, were going to work hard at seeing Jesus’ church established among the 20+ million unreached Malay peoples .
 

The first ten years were a struggle; a team was formed, laborers were raised up and sent, but struggle and suffering led to an exhaustion of commitment and resources to the Malay people. In our lowest point, there was just one family remaining in Malaysia, and they were thinking of giving up….

During this time, the Engage 2025 initiative was launched and by 2012, plans were made for the World Outreach team and the Malay people to become an Engage 2025 project; in God’s providence, the Engage 2025 focus through the presbytery provided a means for the EPC to shore up our commitment to the Malay people. God began to move among us. He called laborers and by 2014, the WO team became one of the largest planting teams in Southeast Asia.

When the WO team began processing how to move toward seeing the multiplication of disciples, an observation was made: “there has never been a movement to Christ without a preceding extraordinary prayer movement.” We asked ourselves, “has Malaysia and the Malay people ever had a prayer movement?” The answer? No.

Our course of action became apparent: create an extraordinary prayer movement. We increased our own personal prayer times, we prayed corporately as a team every month, and started a city-wide prayer meeting for all who shared our heart for the Malay people.

As God was moving among us, he was also moving hearts within World Outreach and the EPC. In 2016, WO declared a year of prayer for breakthrough among the Malay people. One hundred forty-nine people committed to pray for the Malay at least once a week for the whole year. Following that initial General Assembly, four additional years were designated by World Outreach at GA as years to pray for breakthrough among the Malay.

At the same time, God was moving in Malaysia and inspiring Pastor Raymond Koh and others to mobilize prayer and evangelism among the thousands of Malaysian minority Christians in the country. The vision was to believe God would launch disciple making movements in each of the fifty-two zones of Malaysia within the next five years: the 525 prayer initiative.

We have witnessed an incredible amount of prayer on behalf of the Malay people. Yet, for all of this extraordinary prayer, the breakthrough still tarries. We have seen green shoots – some Malays have begun to follow Christ, but nothing like we envision when we think about Revelation 5:9 and 7:9.  Did we fail? 

Or does God plan to do “far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Eph 3:20)? Perhaps the bowls we see in Revelation 5 and 8 represent our prayers for the Malay and we are just now reaching our tipping point?  Stay tuned and keep praying for breakthrough among the Malay people.  Believe God’s promises and His word, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Gal 6:9).  The best is yet to come… 

The Malay people, like all people, are one of the tribes  / languages / peoples / nations bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, and will join us in the great multitude standing before the throne of God.  How many will be there?  Only God knows, but with over 20 million Malay peoples presently scattered over, South Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and Indonesia we have to believe it will be millions.
 
Written by “J” a team leader in Southeast Asia.

Community Life

Malay Prayer Card

If you feel called to pray for the Malay of Malaysia, or are interested in learning more, take a look at our prayer card. We would be happy to send these cards to you to pass out to friends and church members, as well. Simply email us here.

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Foundations of Prayer

Listen to audio lectures by J. Edwin Orr which give us a key understanding to what precedes church planting movement activity.

LISTEN

PRK 555 Prayer App

Download (iOS & Android) this daily prayer guide and pray along with thousands of others who are eager to see prayer, revival and the kingdom come and God’s will done among those in South Thailand, Malaysia (East and West), Singapore and Brunei. You may also request a free book copy of the prayer initiative by emailing us. 

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Walking With Those Seeking Refuge | the Reach September 2021

by | Oct 12, 2021 | Biblical/Missional, Church Partnership

Dear friends,

It took five long, lonely years before Fatima*, an Afghan mother of five, could finally embrace her husband, Sayyid, again. During their escape from their war-ravaged country, Sayyid was shot in the hip by the border police and unable to make the exhausting journey across Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea. Sarah and Andrew – WO global workers – met and befriended Fatima when she arrived with her children at a camp near their town.

During those five years, the family began to change: feeling the freeing effects of a European culture originally based, in part, on biblical ideas. Sarah has had numerous opportunities to pray with Fatima for the safe return of Sayyid, for healing (both are severe diabetics), and the insurmountable paperwork. In response to life questions from their children, Sarah and Andrew have also furnished them two Bibles in their own language. 

Several weeks ago, after a perfunctory tea and Sayyid stepping out of the room, Fatima boldly proclaimed her opinion that Westerners have better ‘hearts’ than Muslims. Andrew disagreed with her, saying that all hearts are evil apart from God’s saving work. 

The challenge with our ‘cousins’ is to move their eyes away from works and religion to issues of the heart, and free grace in Jesus. For this reason, this conversation was a breakthrough moment for Fatima. 

It is a joy and privilege for Andrew and Sarah to walk alongside Fatima, Sayyid, and their family on their journey of integration into a new culture, but also their journey into an encounter with the triune living God through His people. 

There are many other displaced people who share similar stories. Since 2016, Andrew and Sarah have met and worked primarily with Syrians, Afghans, Iranians, and Iraqis – some of whom have become like family. As the horrific events unfolded in Afghanistan last month, they received a voice message from Fatima saying that her family had spent the whole last week weeping over the destruction of their country and friends and family in harm’s way. 

Please join us in prayer for Fatima and Sayyid, and so many other Afghan families alike. 

*Names changed for security of our workers and those they work with.

Written by WO global workers, A & S, serving with refugees in Europe.

Community Life

Serve Afghan Refugees

We’ve assembled resources for you and your congregation to serve, learn, give, and pray for Afghanistan and Afghan refugees. Click the button below to access this list of resources online. Or click here for a printable pdf.

SERVE

Support A & S

If A and S’s ministry resonates with you, we encourage you to consider supporting them as they serve refugees in Europe. For even more information on their work, please email us.

SUPPORT

WO Webinar

Last month, we were able to host a webinar around the current situation in Afghanistan and how we can respond in our own communities, as followers of Jesus. If you would like access to the webinar, please email us.

LEARN

Caring for Our Afghan Neighbors – Here and Abroad | the Reach August 2021

by | Oct 12, 2021 | Biblical/Missional, Church Partnership

Dear friends,

For many, these days are full of sleepless nights with anxious hearts. Whether it is the constant threat of a virus which much of the world is unprotected from, a disastrous earthquake in Haiti,  wild fires that are unceasing, or the fall of a government and the rise of another,  we recognize that we are experiencing a broken world. At the root of all of the calamities there is also the Christian hope that one day we have One who is making all things right. However, that redeemed Kingdom is not only far off, but also very ever present in the here and now. We are promised that the LORD who does not slumber, who made all of creation and is recreating it in the image of His son, will bend His ear to His people. If you missed it earlier this week, please watch this link for a call to prayer from Dean and Gabriel.  

Additionally, World Outreach wanted to give specific ways for our people to be praying for the situation in Afghanistan. You’ll see those prayer points below from one of our workers who is intimately involved in that region and among those people. We also ask you to join us next week for a zoom meeting to help answer how we respond as followers of Jesus to Afghanistan’s needs and particularly the refugees coming to the US. If you’d like to connect with your Muslim neighbors (including Afghan refugees in your community), we invite you to also join our workshop taking place in September. 

Let us lift our eyes and our mouths to the LORD, for it is in Him that our help comes.

  1. Peace of heart. Too many people are crowding the airport and making rash decisions, including believers albeit they have reason for concern. God is in control and has higher authority than Taliban. 
  2. Relief to internally displaced people. Thousands of Afghans fled their homes to flock to Kabul only to get caught there now but they are without much food, water or money. No one is there to help them that we know about. 
  3. Civil government. God ordains rulers and kings. The new rulers have the task of running a civil government and society that is stable and peaceful. Even if it is along lines we do not prefer, such laws have not stopped the Church in the past nor will it now. 
  4. Protection from fear and boldness of believers. Evacuation is not the best route for every believer nor all Afghans. Looking to the West has become an idol. God is able to protect them and make the Good News to those around them now and protect them even unto death. 
  5. Opportunity for Christian workers to Afghanistan. Once there is order there will be a huge need for humanitarian/Christian aid organizations to return. We worked under them before and will likely do so again.  
  6. God’s Kingdom to come to Afghanistan. There are no human solutions. Not armies, nor money nor training, etc. have been able to change their hearts, the real root of the problem. Only God can do that through Jesus.

Afghanistan: Crisis and Opportunity – How Your Church Can Repond

by | Oct 12, 2021 | Biblical/Missional, Church Partnership

Dear friends,

Last week, we were able to host a webinar around the current situation in Afghanistan and how we can respond as followers of Jesus. A big thank you to everyone who was able to register and attend. We’re so grateful for the care and concern shown for our Afghan neighbors, here and abroad, and appreciate your desire to help – both in action and in showing the love of Christ. We have heard from many of you who weren’t able to attend asking about ways to help and pray. To that end, we wanted to make both the webinar and the resources discussed available to our broader World Outreach family. To request the webinar, simply click below to email us. 

Email World Outreach

Psalm 121 reminds us that our God is in control and calls the church to respond in love. Below are resources listing different ways to serve, learn, pray, and give to aid those most impacted by the crisis. We encourage you to prayerfully consider the ways in which you can respond in love.

Resettlement Agencies – There are nine national resettlement agencies and additional local ones. Look up the resettlement agencies in your town or state at the following link. Here is a wonderful video that helps show the power of being part of the Welcome Team that welcomes new refugees. Remember that using google translate can be helpful once serving among new neighbors or using the tarjimly app. 

World Relief Sacramento Area Host Homes –  If you live in Sacramento, you have the valuable opportunity to become a host home and offer a safe place for newly arrived refugees. Click here for more information and to apply.

Advocacy – Advocate for refugees and asylum-seekers, including vulnerable Afghans, by getting in touch with your elected officials. Document Templates are available here! 

WO Connecting with Your Muslim Neighbor Workshop – WO offers a 6-week course for individuals interested in learning how to foster and create meaningful, ongoing relationships with Muslims in your communities or in nearby communities. To learn more about this workshop, and how to register online, click here. 

Seminary Course – A 15-week class titled Perceiving God in Islam and Christianity. The course will be offered online through the Lillias Trotter Center and Wesley Biblical Seminary. We will be considering how vital God’s relational (Trinitarian) nature is to every aspect of our faith. We’ll also compare that with the Islamic view of Allah as a mono-personal god. Please join us in prayer that we will be strengthened and encouraged to share Christ’s gospel with Muslims more effectively.

View and share World Relief’s slides from the webinar. If you have more questions, please feel free to email Heather, with World Relief.

Read Loving Your Muslim Neighbor, a book by EPC WO global workers on how to become compassionate and courageous witnesses to Muslims in your community.

Care for our Afghan neighbors financially by giving to these funds: 

Use the 7 Areas of Prayer for Afghanistan pdf, detailing the many ways we can be praying for our Afghan neighbors, global workers, and the country as a whole, in this time of immense conflict. We encourage you to use this in your individual prayers, with your family, and in your congregations.

2 Corinthians 5:14 reminds us that the love of Christ compels us – in all things – and most assuredly in the care and support we show to our Afghan neighbors. Watch this video to see a loving testament to that call, and consider the ways in which you can show the love of Christ to Afghan refugees through the resources listed above. 

EduNations | the Reach June 2021

by | Jul 27, 2021 | Church Partnership, Field Story

Dear friends,

Some of you may be familiar with the work of EduNations – we ignite hope by providing free, quality education to children in remote communities of Sierra Leone. In addition to building schools, EduNations works to ignite lasting, eternal hope by partnering with the Sierra Leone EPC to reach and raise up believers in Christ.

Many first-generation believers have been born out of students attending our schools and being introduced to the gospel for the first time. This past year, EduNations took a big step forward in igniting hope for students physically, mentally and spiritually. In January 2021, we opened our first senior secondary boarding school in one of the remote communities. Roughly 130 students are receiving a free, quality high school education while living in dormitories on campus and receiving three meals each day. Prior to this, EduNations students who had passed the national Basic Certificate Exams after junior secondary school (middle school) simply had nowhere to go to further their education. Now, students from all villages will have the chance to complete an undergraduate education in a safe, Christian environment. We have an invaluable and timely opportunity to make an impact on students’ lives, as all of them are entering an age where they can really make their faith their own.

This fall, we will be adding another class to our high school, which will effectively double our number of boarding students. Many of these students are waiting with great anticipation to finally be able to attend the Senior Secondary Boarding School. The school’s reputation precedes it, as students have heard many good things about it from older siblings and friends. Over this past year, some of the most common things that our boarding students have been excited about include eating 3 meals each day and having a bed of their very own (two luxuries that most students did not have prior to attending the boarding school). One of our boarding students exclaimed, “This is my first time of sleeping on a bed alone! Oh, what a joy!” Another said, “This is the best food I have EVER eaten! I will not go for vacation again.”

We are so blessed with the opportunity to experience the joy of these students as they experience these “luxuries” for the first time. Even more so, we look forward to seeing how these students, who are for the first time in their lives distanced from the direct Islamic influence of their parents, will be impacted spiritually as they are introduced to the gospel and discipled in their young and growing faith.

As we prepare this summer for bringing on another 140 boarding students this fall, would you consider giving so that each of our new students will be supplied with a mattress to sleep on and three hot meals each day? To give, click here and select “Donate to our most pressing need”. You can also consider sponsoring a student, which provides you with the opportunity to support and connect with a specific child.

To learn more about our work in Sierra Leone, sign up for our monthly e-newsletter. And most importantly, please commit to praying for each of our senior secondary school students, that they would feel the love of Christ and come to know him as their personal Lord and Savior.

Thank you!

Written by Samuel Sesay, President of EduNations

Community Life

Be a Healthy Missions Partner

This article by Andy Johnson will not only suggest six principles for you and your church to consider, as you partner with global workers, but give practical application to put these principles into action.

PARTNER

Support EduNations

EduNations creates self-supporting schools in Sierra Leone, caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional health of their students. If you feel led to aid them in this goal, please consider giving to their most pressing needs, or sponsoring a student. 

SUPPORT

EduNations Annual Report

Read the EduNations 2020 Annual Report to learn more about EduNations, the fantastic work they do, and how they’ve persevered through COVID.

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EPC WO Director’s Reflection on Ministry | the Reach May 2021

by | Jul 27, 2021 | Biblical/Missional, Church Partnership, Field Story

Dear friends,

In one month, I will step down after seven years as Director of World Outreach. I want to reflect here on four developments I’ve seen in our work during that time.
 
Internationalized Church-planting Teams. The EPC World Outreach global workers we send out from North America almost always end up teaming with spiritual brothers and sisters sent out from Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. These relationships are rarely orchestrated from denominational or mission agency headquarters, but rather are organic partnerships that grow as disciple-makers from very different cultures discover each other working on the same task directed by the same Spirit.
 
Second Generation EPC WO Global Workers. By Presbyterian standards EPC World Outreach is relatively young, having sent out its first workers in 1985. But in recent years we have seen adult children (Jackie, Peter, and Josh) from three different EPC WO families return with the EPC into full-cycle church-planting among people with least access to the gospel. With these folks we build on the foundation of decades of the very best preparation for cross-cultural ministry.
 
Repatriated Immigrant Global Workers. The dream of escape to America, the Land of Opportunity, is still very much alive throughout much of the world. Few who have achieved that dream give it up and return to the lands of their birth, but we in EPC World Outreach have several families where at least one spouse fits that description. These families have unusual credibility with neighbors who recognize they are animated by a power greater than material success. Coupling that credibility with a deep understanding of local culture to share the gospel has had a major impact in many cases.
 
National Church Missional Leaders. As World Outreach Director, I receive several requests each week from Christians around the world, asking for “partnership”. Of course, partnership may have many different meanings, but usually these appeals are for funds to carry out ministry in their communities. As important as these ministries are, I routinely turn down such requests to focus our resources and energies on a different kind of partnership. World Outreach has developed close relationships with church leaders in Asia and Africa whose eyes are always on the frontiers of their communities. They look beyond where their churches are, to the neighborhoods, villages, and towns where no churches are. They pray for those places; they go to those places; they train and send people to those places; and EPC WO comes alongside to help them. Our efforts here become magnified and multiplied for a hundred-fold effect.
 
One final note – these developments in World Outreach have been gifts from God through the labors of people other than me. It has been the labors of loving missionary parents which have borne sweet fruit in the lives of our World Outreach MKsa. It has been the faithful service of elders in our presbyteries who nurtured relationships with national church missional leaders in places like Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Albania, and Russia. It has been EPC pastors who welcomed and befriended immigrant Christians in their congregations, and then encouraged and guided them to be sent back by EPC World Outreach. And it has been our WO global workers who have recognized “God’s team” in the faces of El Salvadoran, Brazilian, Singaporean, Indonesian, Albanian, etc. brothers and sisters and reached out hands to work together.  To all of you, I say thank you for your service to Christ, and for making my work as WO Director a joy.
 
Grace and peace,
Phil Linton, World Outreach Director

Community Life

Annual Report

Click here to read EPC WO’s Annual Report for 2020 for more information on what we were up to this past year: stories from the field, WO by the Numbers, and information on the communities we’re serving overseas. 

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WO Workshop

If you’re interested in learning how to foster meaningful relationships with Muslims in your community, we encourage you to take part in EPC WO’s six-week Connecting with Your Muslim Neighbors workshop. Visit our website for more information!

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