Reflections on a Ministry Update from one of Our Partners

One of the great joys of working in the office of Engage Today is to get the ministry reports of our partners around the world. There were so many things of note in a recent update received from Daniel T, one of our partners, that I wanted to highlight several details to you and comment on them to you, our faithful prayer warriors and supporters. The following text which is italicized are quotations from Daniel’s update; the regular text are my reflections.

Morgan and his wife are actively reaching out to the H**** people. They serve in mobile clinics in order to share good news and tend to the health needs of the poor. Recently, an elderly couple received Christ as Lord and Savior. The couple was deeply involved in demonic worship before being set free and becoming God’s children.

Morgan, who is trained as a dentist, has sacrificed a lot to serve the Lord. He could have had a more prosperous life according to worldly standards if he had simply practiced his profession. But the burden to reach out to the nations is so great that he and his wife decided to serve the poor and unreached in order to love them and share the gospel.

Morgan’s team is also reaching out to young Islamic women. Many of these women live in abusive and violent families but have received Christ after watching the Jesus’ film. Recently they come together to watch the movie together again and were reminded of the early love they received from Christ when good news was preached. This fellowship is critical to sustain them in their faith because they will return to the hostile family or community in which they live.

1) The zeal for the Lord’s work and sacrifice of Morgan and his wife are both encouraging and challenging; 2) It is good to be reminded of the perfect power that Jesus’ possesses to set captives free; 3) The importance of fellowship with other believers is necessary for perseverance through heartbreaking and difficult situations.

In the north, brother Douglas and his congregation benefit from the tent that he rents out to the community. This area is famous for celebrations and feasts and thus there is a high demand for tent rentals. From the income he gets, he can build a church in a place which has a significant Muslim population. The income also helps some other local churches nationwide that have a need. He dreams of having a fish storage facility to be able to help more pastors and churches who are struggling nationwide. Their area is famous exportable fish.

It is beautiful to see the commitment to furthering the Lord’s work with the profits from tent rental. I am reminded of a brother who owned and ran a hotel in West Africa who said, “The profit of our business is supporting missionaries to reach out to our Muslim neighbours. The Muslims who stay at our hotel are paying us to reach them with the gospel!” God has gifted some of his servants in particular to be effective in generating resources locally for the work of the ministry, but very few have this gift. We have seen a number of our partners try things like this without success. God continues to call his worldwide church to generously support the mission to bring Christ to the unreached.

At least 100 pastors and missionaries came together in February for a seminar. They long to come together, as it has been a while since we had a large gathering. At that time, I led the message about God’s providence in difficult times through His wisdom (Prov 3:5) and how he cares about the health of our soul and how our brain functions. Missionaries and pastors were also refreshed, and those who were itinerants received gifts to support their ministry. 

Our partners know the importance of bringing their missionaries together. The need for encouragement and Bible teaching for pastors, missionaries and leaders is something we hear over and over again wherever we travel.

We also helped missionary Binsae, who was very sick. He has been instrumental in reaching out to the Muslim people in one of the most difficult places of the country. He has suffered lower back nerve pain for years. He used to walk for 10–15 km just to preach the gospel to UPGs. But this year, long-term pain forced him to walk on crutches. With your support, we were able to send him to the city, and he spent two weeks undergoing medications and therapies. He was able to refresh himself from the pressures of ministry and problems in the family. He has returned home now, healed and ready to go back to the Father’s field as powerful as ever.

The commitment of these missionaries is truly incredible. And when various challenges and hardships come, sometimes we can be of significant help to address their particular needs.

Praise God for the unity of believers from various churches and the gospel witness to the local community. The beauty of God’s Word is both a comfort and a strength to us who know the Lord, and a faithful and a true witness to the watching world.

Lastly, one of the missionaries has been reaching out to UPGs using goat farming. After three years of faithful outreach, two young men from Muslim backgrounds felt the calling of the Father for salvation. They are teenagers, and they are eager to get baptized by the end of this month. Please pray, as this won’t be easy for them afterward.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). How wonderful that teenagers from Islamic backgrounds have such clarity about this truth!

Thank you for your prayers and support, brothers and sisters. It has been a joy to have fellowship with these missionaries and pastors. Now I ask for anonymous prayer for one of our missionaries who has been so courageous in preaching the gospel in one of the most difficult places; many came to Christ. However, the enemy has been discouraging him. His wife has been unfaithful for 10 years, and many times this brother called me to ask the Lord to take his life. He was so disheartened. I could only pray and listen to his wounded heart now and then. Please pray.

Some stories are simply heartbreaking. Whether a person is in the remote corners in the global South, or in the urban cities of Canada, the reality of the daily battle with sin rages on. And how tragic to hear that this would be the case in a missionary family. But we must not be naïve to think that this cannot and does not happen.

Pray for true repentance and healing which only the gospel can bring. Pray for much pastoral wisdom for Daniel as he walks with them through this.

And these partners are sincerely grateful to the Lord for your prayers and support. They acknowledge that your support – prayer, financial, and encouragement – is truly a grace of God in their lives for the work He has called them to. Thank you for your partnership in the gospel.