Church Planting Movements

Trusting the Holy Spirit to Speak to my Family

Mar 28, 2019 | Stories

If you’ve ever wondered how to simply, yet effectively disciple people, then our next Nugget training on how to use the Discovery Bible Study (DBS) method is for you. The following is a testimony from a previous attendee of the DBS Nugget training.

I really enjoyed that Nugget training about DBS! After attending that Nugget, I prayed and asked the Lord to send me two or more people to start a group with. On January first, I called my dad, and as he told me about his New Year’s resolutions, he said he would like to put God first this year. (My family are not born-again believers or churchgoers, but my dad is seeking, and the rest of my family is open/ interested in listening.) When he said that, I offered to start a Bible study at their house. He was all for it! And we actually had our a first DBS gathering about two weeks ago. It went so great! At least I think it did. Everyone was participated, and there were great insights shared, and everyone actively acknowledged (without my help) that they were created to walk in love and obedience to God, who is their Maker. I mean . . . coming from my family, this was crazy cool to be a part of!!

One of my prayers for this gathering was to trust the Holy Spirit to speak to my family, teach and convict them. And this certain Martin Luther quote had just been on my mind, “I did nothing. The Word did everything.” And I prayed about that, for the Word to do everything, and I really felt that’s the best way I could describe that first study. It was awesome seeing the Holy Spirit teach through the Word. Everyone said they were excited about the next study!

I really enjoyed this method of study SO MUCH! I’ll definitely keep these Stories of Hope handy- thanks for sharing those and for that DBS nugget!

*Whitney

*pseudonym

CLUSTER PROFILE: The Uzbek People

Mar 21, 2019 | Stories

There are nearly 33 million people in the Uzbek cluster spread across 22 different countries.

Roughly 75% of Uzbeks live in Uzbekistan which was once a thoroughfare for the Silk Road, and, as such, it was a strategic point of conquest for many invaders. The result is a culture with a rich mix of various ethnic groups: Russian, Tajik, Kazak, Karakalpak, Tatar, and Korean to name a few. There are large communities of Uzbeks in other central Asian countries (Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, etc.) as well as smaller communities in many other nations, including the United States.

Traditionally they are shepherds, but today most either farm (cotton being their principal crop) or live and work in towns and cities. Those living in rural villages have no access to the Gospel; however, those living in cities and larger towns are more likely to have access to the gospel message. Despite increasing scrutiny and harassment, the Church continues to grow, mainly in urban areas, where about one-third of Uzbeks reside.

The Uzbek mountain men love to play buzkashi, a wild polo-like game with two teams on horseback. The game, which uses the headless carcass of a goat or calf as the “ball,” can be very violent and go on for several days. The object of the game is to pick up the “ball” and carry it to a goal that may be as far as two miles away.

The Uzbeks are a creative people, they love poetry, music and playing unique instruments, such as the Sato, a two-stringed fretted lute. Uzbek culture is preserved through folk dances and traditional handcrafts like metal working, wood carving, leather craft and wall or textile painting. The women are expert weavers and are known to weave brightly colored rugs.

Most Uzbeks would call themselves Sunni Muslims. Most, however, are not orthodox Muslims and intermingle traditional beliefs with Islamic practices. Many are practicing Sufis, a mystical branch of Islam. Less than 1% of Uzbeks are Christian, and Uzbekistan is one of the top twenty most persecuted nations in the world. Islamic fundamentalists have called for stricter adherence to Islam; fear of the instability created by Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism has led to the government’s attempt to limit religious practices in support of a more moderate form of Islam. In spite of these uncertainties, Christians have been praying for, investing in, and working for disciple-making among the Uzbek people, many of whom have been very responsive in recent years.

WAYS TO PRAY:

Pray for safety, growth, and spiritual maturity for those in underground house churches.

Pray that religious freedom will soon become a reality for the Uzbek people

Pray for the Eastern Orthodox Christians in Uzbekistan, that they would be bold in their faith and courageously share the Gospel with their neighbors

Pray for the protection of the Eastern Orthodox Christians.

Information for this post was sourced from Joshua Project and Prayercast.

The Power of the Gospel in Rural Africa

Mar 21, 2019 | Stories

One of our Beyond team members, Neill, was invited to study a movement taking place in Africa. He and a team met with over 100 of the leaders in the movement over a period of a week. These men and women live in very rural areas. In fact, some were late to their appointments because they had defended their crops from wild elephants the night before!

In one particular appointment, Neill and an interpreter were interviewing four young ladies, all of whom had started Bible study groups within “streams” of the movement. This movement has one stream that has 15 generations of new groups started. For the interview, a plate of snacks had been provided, and Neill had intentionally eaten just two of the cashews. He knew that, while he gets three meals a day, these young ladies, two of whom had nursing babies, usually didn’t get enough to eat.

Halfway into the interview, the interpreter and the ladies began laughing. When Neill asked why they were laughing the translator explained by naming off several observations the young women found interesting about the day.

“We’ve never been in a building where we climbed up stairs.”

“We have never been in such a nice “house” before.” (It was a 5-story hotel.)

“We have never been in a bathroom where you just sit down to “go.”

“We’ve never seen a toilet where it just went “whoosh” and took everything away!”

“We’ve never seen a foreigner before. And he ate from the same plate as us!”

Neill felt very humbled to be with these young ladies. They lead such a basic life but are seeing generation upon generation of new believers coming to Christ. They have front row seats, witnessing and participating in the Kingdom coming to earth.

Are we, who have so much, doing all that we can to reach the unreached with the Good News of the Gospel?

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God Stories Changing Families in India

Mar 15, 2019 | South Asia, Stories

AMEETH’ STORY
God’s word has the power to change people’s lives, even without the input of an “expert” or an invitation to “church.” As Paul told Timothy all those years ago, the Bible really is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right (2 Tim 3:16).

In India lives a man named *Ameeth. He has two sons and two daughters. He recently told his story:
Life was not peaceful. I was a cruel person. Even my children did not want a relationship with me. Then, on May 22, 2017, I was changed. I was walking along the road when I heard a loud story (like a radio) coming from a nearby house. I stopped to listen to the story. It was about miracles. When the story finished, I walked into the house [in Indian villages, front doors are usually open for ventilation] and asked, “What are you listening to?”

The people looked at me, then asked, “Who are you?!”

I told them that I simply wanted to know about the story I’d just heard. It had caught my attention. Could they give it to me?
They said, “Yes, you may have a copy,” and they gave me a microSD card with stories on it, and a speaker through which I could play the card. I took the speaker home and listened to the stories. I used to drink every night, and do other bad things. However, that night, I did not go out to drink. I stayed home and listened to the stories. My family was happy that I did not drink that night. They liked this better version of me. The next day, again, I did not go out drinking, but stayed home and listened to the stories. The third day, the same.

After three days of this new behavior, my wife said, “I am seeing a change in you. You are not bad like before.” I told her that I didn’t understand it myself, but that when I listened to the stories, I had no desire to do those other (bad) things.
My wife asked, “Can we all listen to the stories?” And so, we did.

My whole household changed. The neighbors also noticed. One of them, *RK, asked my children, “What’s going on in your home? Your father doesn’t do bad like before.”

The children replied, “Uncle, my father has changed. We all listen to stories, and he does not do bad things.”

RK asked, “Is there truly something that can change your father?”

They said, “Uncle, you can also come and see, and listen.”

RK went home and got his whole family. Later, when they entered my home, they found us listening to the Proverbs on the speaker.
When I turned off the speaker, RK said, “These are great! I’d like a copy of the stories, also.”

I replied, “I only have one copy, but I can play the stories together for both of our families.”

Thus it is that every evening, 30-35 people meet to listen to Bible stories in this village in North India. A mentor is helping them take their first steps of faith and a baptism service is planned.

*pseudonyms

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If You Can Find a Christian

Mar 6, 2019 | Stories

Only twenty-six years old, *Tashi suddenly found herself dying of renal failure. Getting medical help was problematic because Tashi lived a three day journey into the Himalayas. Her family was able to bring her to a city, however, and Tashi began dialysis for her failing kidneys. Unfortunately, the underlying condition remained.

Tashi visited Hindu priests to seek healing, paying them large sums of money to make blood sacrifices on her behalf. There was no improvement in her health. In desperation, Tashi’s family again paid handsomely, this time for Buddhist lama priests to pray for her healing. She continued getting sicker.

Finally, a friend who knew of her situation offered a suggestion, “If you can find a Christian, they will pray for you. They don’t charge you money for prayers. They worship a God, Jesus. Jesus has powers to heal.” The Christian Tashi found was *Jampa, a long time partner of *Dr. Peters and his family, who serve with Beyond.

In response to Tashi’s request, this humble man of prayer said, “Yes, I am a Christian, and yes, I worship a God, Jesus. I am happy to pray for you, and you don’t need to pay me,” Then he continued, “But if Jesus heals you, you will owe your allegiance and worship to Jesus.”

Two weeks later Dr. Peters was able to meet and examine Tashi for the first time during a medical camp he was holding. She was without ankle edema, had normal blood pressure, and her most recent labs were good. She was no longer on dialysis. In Dr. Peters’ words, “If there were someone healed from renal failure, it would look exactly like this.”

A few days later, Tashi, her brother, and his wife became baptized believers amidst great excitement. Yes, the healing was tremendous, and the way she and several family members responded in faith was beautiful, but there was a third reason for excitement.

You see, Tashi’s family is from “Sky’s End” village. For years, Jampa had wanted to spread the gospel in that village but never found an opening into people’s hearts there. God, however, in His great goodness, used Tashi’s illness and healing to open the village to His life-giving words. Tashi began holding Discovery Bible Studies in her home, and four weeks later, Dr. Peters received a picture of a dozen believers gathered in a bare concrete room preparing to dive into God’s Word together.

WAYS TO PRAY

Please pray for these new believers as there are many daily hardships – physically, spiritually, psychologically, and socially. Pray for them to grow in maturity, in power, and in the knowledge of God’s love. Pray that they will not fall away under persecution.
Pray for these new disciples to be trained, supported, and mentored well. Pray that their faith would grow deep, for their witness to be bold and loving, and that they would go on to make other disciples of Jesus resulting in a Disciple Making Movement among Himalayan peoples.
The words “If you can find a Christian . . .” reflect the reality here: Christians are hard to find. Pray to the Lord of the Harvest for more laborers to come to this field.

*pseudonym

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