Recently in…. the Middle East
17 friends from nations where persecution is high came together for a special Training The Trainers conference.
It was amazing to see church planters from 6 ‘closed nations’ learning together and from each other. There was lots of prayer, discussion, laughter and skills development.
One of the trainees had seen all but one of his family murdered in recent years, yet continues to have huge compassion for those in his nation who have sought to do him harm. Wonderfully, he is one of the most joyful men we have partnered with.
Another friend is returning to his nation where 150 church planters and leaders will gather soon – he has decided to train them in an entirely new way – including lots of the interactive and team-led methods learnt this week.
During the week each trainee held their own practice training sessions, on subjects such as ‘The 4 fields of church planting’, ‘The importance of unity’, ‘The character of a leader’ and ‘Keys for Biblical discipleship’. These were excellent, with each trainee inspiring others, while growing their own confidence.
These 17 trainees now head back to their home nations with fresh ideas of how to train their networks of church planters and workers. This was a very special week.
Please visit our support page and help make a difference to the lives of friends seeking to show God’s love in their nations.
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Recently in…. NORTH AFRICA
3P trains partners to send out short term teams – they find a ‘Person of Peace’, who God has been preparing them to hear the Gospel (Luke 10). Team learn how to then plant simple healthy house churches. One team of 3 was on the way to visit a city in North Africa and they had to drive 1800 km from their home town. Here is what they wrote:
“Our objective was to reach out to *****, where there are few believers to gather them and start a group of prayer, then a house church. On the way there was big city, where we know just one believer. We called him on the phone before arriving and he talked to us about his sister who had an operation and was still in the hospital. We prayed that God will use this opportunity to be able to start a group in this city too. When we arrived we went straight to the hospital to visit this woman, who is not a Christian. She had been lonely and asking God to send her visitors. When she saw us, she was very surprised. She went on to tell us about her dream from the day before: During the night, she saw three angels coming to her and said. “You asked for a visit, so God send us to you.” In the morning, when she woke up she told her husband about the dream and said that she believes someone will come to visit her. Her husband isn’t a believer either and was thinking that she is behaving strangely because she is feeling lonely. But then at 1pm we arrived, the three of us. When she knew that we were Christians, she immediately accepted Jesus and her husband too and her two children. They invited us for dinner and when we visited her home we preached the whole gospel and prayed with them.”
The friends we trained are now starting a house church in this home. They couldn’t go to the place they had initially planned because rain blocked the road for several days. However, the Lord had other plans, good plans!
Recently in…. THE MIDDLE EAST
“Always be full of joy…”
We had the privilege of being with leaders from across a large Middle Eastern nation. Often on these trips our plans and ideas change at the last minute. But it seemed God had prepared us all, and exploring Paul’s letter to the Philippian church, with its issues and potential, was timely. We explored nine ‘spokes’ of healthy relationship which enable us to move forward together in God’s love, purpose and joy.
There were times of discussion, study, feet washing, forgiveness, prayer for the future, as well as lots of great food and fun.
Paul and Silas of the New Testament experienced the God’s joy, though locked up in a Philippian Jail (possibly the worst thing for apostles – locked up and shut up!). Yet their joy led to worship, and subsequently their chains fell off. Interestingly, though only two prisoners (Paul and Silas) were singing, all of the prisoners chains fell off! A fitting picture of how God’s goodness spills over to those around us.
Years later Paul wrote to the same Philippian church from another jail – this time a Roman prison cell. On this occasion his chains did not fall off, and the doors did not swing open. Yet, Paul again expressed his deep joy in God, mentioning it not less than sixteen times!
Our friends display the same kind of joy, echoing Nehemiah’s conviction ‘The joy of the Lord is your strength’. We are deeply committed to standing with these friends as they continue to love their fellow country men and women.
Please visit our support page and help make a difference to the lives of friends seeking to show God’s love in their nations.
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Recently in…. Iraq
Love those who hate you…
The response of ‘Friends of 3P’ to the ISIS crisis of last August has been, and continues to be both moving and remarkable. We have been able to channel funds directly to 550 needy Yazidi & Christian families which no other organisation has been reaching.
750,000 IDPs (Internally Displaced People) fled terror, rape and murder and by the grace of God our local Iraqi partners, who live in Erbil, were ‘in the right place at the right time’ to respond to their need.
S****** (3P team member), on his return, said “It was such a privilege to spend 2 days in September with the local team on one of their regular weekly visits. On this occasion the distribution was rice, tea, biscuits, tinned meat and toys for the children. Joyce, the team leader’s granddaughter aged 5, was with us and happily gave out the presents to poor children who had huge smiles on their faces. It was so well organised as well. The village ‘elder’ had been rung a few days earlier to discuss the current situation so that the real needs of the moment were being met. Each family turned up with a bag or a box and the elder was there to make sure everyone was standing neatly in line and responding to their name as it was read out. They then came forward and had to produce UN Identification to confirm their name and status before they were checked off on the list. 3 families had relocated to their packages were kept for others.”
S****** speaks Arabic so was able to spend time listening to their stories. Some had seen the ISIS attack coming a couple of weeks before and had driven by car bringing money & possessions with them. Now, over one year later, all their savings are spent and the prospects of employment are minimal. Thankfully the Kurdish government is providing education for the children with overseas aid. Others had not had so much foresight and left in a panic with only the clothes they were wearing as the fighters entered the Quaraqosh. Their occupied homes were only 20km away from where we were. There is much to do, and we are fully committed.
July in…. Central Asia
Planning…. Boring or Exciting?
We were asked by one network to focus on ‘Planning’. A group of 12 dug deep into the Biblical basis for planning
(Creation, Nehemiah, Spying out the land…), and then got practical! These mature leaders made and shared plans for their ‘Family’, ‘Ministry’ and ‘Personal’ lives. They discussed, prayed and developed these and then committed to helping each other be accountable.
Most of these leaders have regular jobs which we encourage. Some have lost jobs because of their faith, and have had to start from scratch. One is ‘Faruze’.
‘Faruze’ was new to us a first-timer at leadership training. Our conversation with him turned out to be really encouraging. Last year, with help from friends, we funded 3 second hand (Daewoo Matiz) taxis to give new emerging leaders like Faruze an income, outreach opportunities and time to plant new churches.
Faruze shared with us how he drives the taxi 5 mornings a week and has already started a house church with 6 people in a town with no existing church. He is now starting another group and using the car to help his wife get her bread-making business off the ground!
It is exciting to see the project working well. Each person pays back a monthly amount (cost of the taxi) into a fund for other believers to do the same in 2 years time. It’s working well. We will continue to encourage and monitor.
Faruze, who is a humble, serious man said, ‘My life has changed’.
Please visit our support page and help make a difference to the lives of friends like Faruze.
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