Neighbor Prayer Update

Jesus is the Star of Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

On this second week of Advent, may we all be reminded of, continue to pray, work and live for the continued fulfillment of the ancient promise given to Abraham so long ago in Genesis 12:2,3 – “…you will be a blessing…. and ALL peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

1. These past weeks have been marked by renewed violence and terrorism in places like Mumbai, India and Jos, Nigeria remind us that we must “fight the battle for a broken world on our knees,” until the Prince of Peace rules in the hearts of men and women. May true followers of Christ in places of unrest “act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with their God.”

2. Rejoice with our Sealands team that Mr. S just came to knowledge of truth one week ago! Pray for the student who is mentoring him in the way of Christ. Ask God to give Mr. S an increasing hunger for and delight in God’s Word as he reads his first Bible!

3. Riris’s family lives by their neighbor Mr. B. Mr. B is a well-known and sought-after religious figure in his neighborhood. However, in recent days Mr. B. has been stepping out of his house to listen to preaching and the Sunday School stories. Pray that hunger for God’s truth will grow, that Riris’s family will have opportunity to share this truth with him in person, and that the Holy Spirit will draw Mr. B to the Savior.

4. We thank God for providing opportunity for eight student ministers to become a blessing to their neighbors. Pray that these weekly contacts and relationship building opportunities will produce fruit. Pray that these students will continue to be welcomed and trusting open friendships will grow.

5. Following are some great testimonials from Jesus Film team leaders who serve in various Neighbor communities. Praise God for his mighty works amongst these precious people and pray for an explosion of church planting movements amongst them.

• “One of our teams with a pastor on the team had the opportunity to teach Christian, religion at the middle school. It was decided that he would show the JF as his method, of teaching. Normally only the Christian students come, but they had invited some of their neighbor friends and so there were several non-Christian middle school students watched, the film. FIVE students accepted Jesus! Pray that we will find a good way to disciple these kids.
• “This past month, a new family moved into our neighborhood. As our culture dictates, this new family made the rounds coming to each of their neighbor’s homes to introduce themselves. They came to our house too and it just so happened that when they came, we were showing the Jesus film and so they stayed and watched it. We did not feel it was the right time to talk to them that day, but the next day one of their children came back to our house to ask us more about the Jesus that they saw on the film at our house. Pray for us that God will open the doors for us to be able to witness to them about Jesus.”
• “During the recent month of fasting, as usual, many people returned to their home villlages. These returning people represent a new group of people that we can reach with the JF and although we thought beforehoand that this would be difficult to do, it turned out not to be so and we were able to reach a number of these returnees with the gospel!”
• “Even though this month is the fasting month, we were able to continue to show the JF and a good number accepted Christ and we are discipling them. One of these has already talked to us asking when the next baptism service will be.”

6. Recent reports from a colleague serving in a Neighbor majority region confirm that thousands of Neighbors in that area are coming to Christ! In fact five entire communities have decided to corporately follow Isa al Masih! But these decisions come at a great price. In the past year at least eight new pastors have been martyred for their faith in Christ. Pray that our new brothers and sisters in Christ will be firmly rooted in their faith in spite of persecution.

7. Continue to lift up our partners at “30-Days of Prayer.” Their latest email update says — “Thank you for your commitment to pray during our latest prayer effort in September. Besides the e-mail and web prayer effort about 300,000 prayer booklets for adults and children were produced and distributed this past year in over 25 languages. We believe that this effort was a significant step toward bringing many many Neighbors into the Kingdom of God. We encourage you to continue to pray throughout the year. The recent Mumbai attacks certainly show us that the need for prayer has not ceased! Millions of Neighbors still have not heard the Gospel. Many of them are very frustrated and are asking questions about their own faith.” Please pray for their 30 Days of Prayer 2009 efforts. The dates for the 2009 prayer project are from August 22nd to September 20th.

• Pray for wisdom as editorial decisions are being made at the present time so that the prayer materials for adults will be available to the coordinators and translators around the world in mid January. Materials for children will probably follow soon after that.

8. From this week’s Intercede Magazine, please pray:

• …for Neighbors in Jordan. Pray that the Lord would continue to use MBBs to reach their own communities with the love of Christ.
• …for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be heard by Neighbors in Guinea Bissau.
• …for Neighbors in Senegalto have the opportunity to read the Serere translation of the Bible. 1.2 million Sengalese speak Serere. The translation (which has been ongoing for 30 years) is now complete!