Our Blog

September Women On Mission

This is a sampling of prayer requests from the U.S. and around the world.  Please be in prayer for all our missionaries. 

PRAYER FOCUS - SUB SAHARAN AFRICIA:
The Anuak people live in South Sudan where they herd sheep and goats and grow small gardens.  They live in clans within the villages that are self-sufficient and isolated from other villages.  The Anuak people have a belief in animism.  They practice divination and magic, putting curses on one another.  “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.  For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love” (1John 4:18).  Pray for this unengaged, unreached people group, now living in fear, to live in the perfect love of Jesus.

PRAYER FOCUS - SUB SAHARAN AFRICIA:
Warring with or running from their neighbors, the Hema (HEM-ah) of Uganda are a wary people.  Reportedly 10,000 Hema fled from fighting and massacre west into the Democratic Republic of the Congo several years ago.  The Hema need hope.  They need to hear about a Savior.  Ask God to make a way for more than 35,000 Hema people living in Uganda to hear the John 3:16 story - that God loves them so much that He made a way for them to live with Him eternally through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

PRAYER FOCUS - BELGIUM:
A small group of believing North African women in Belgium recently talked about their journey from Islam to Jesus.  Over and over, each person talked about how she was stunned by the love of God when the truth was revealed to her.  Ask God to reveal Himself to many more.

PRAYER FOCUS - ALABAMA:
Diane Smith serves as missionary through Mission Service Corps (MSC) funding.  Pray for her and the church plant she partners with as they minister to and mentor six homeless people.  This church has stepped out on faith, renting a home in which they can live.  People are partnering financially and have donated all the things needed for the house, called
Pro-Ject Life.

PRAYER FOCUS - TENNESSEE:
Margaret Cole is an evangelism catalyst in Tennessee.  Pray for those in her community who are considering abortion.  Pray they would be led to the center, Margaret’s team would be able to effectively share truth in love, and hearts would be changed.

PRAYER FOCUS - NEW YORK:
James Roberson is a church planter, serving as lead pastor of The Bridge Church in Brooklyn.  Pray the eight recently baptized individuals would be obedient to Christ.  Pray for people to commit to the church’s vision and be held accountable to exercise their gifting, thus accomplishing that vision.  Pray for a young woman to be raised up from within or sent to New York City to serve Long Island University-Brooklyn as a collegiate minister.  Also pray for developing
partnerships.

Stocking caps for the International Seafarer’s Center are due September 16th.  We plan to ship them in late September.

Women on Mission will meet for their annual Potluck at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, September 14th in the Fellowship Hall.  Please bring a favorite dish.  All our ladies are invited to be with us for this time of food and fellowship.

August Women On Mission

A Missionary Legacy

In 1812, Ann Hasseltine Judson and Adoniram Judson were newlywed missionaries aboard a ship bound for India, sent out by a Congregational mission society.  Aboard ship, they studied scripture and concluded that they agreed with the Baptist position on baptism and were baptized upon arrival in India.  (They were no longer supported by the Congregationalist).

They were not permitted to remain in India and after many difficulties, settled in Burma.  (Now Myanmar).  Ann was the first American woman in Burma.  Life was difficult and authorities unwelcoming.  Still, Ann and Adoniram set to work, teaching, translating the Bible and evangelizing.  Adoniram was imprisoned for 2 years, and Ann worked to secure his release while trying to provide him with daily food.

Ann died in 1826 and was soon followed by their infant daughter, Maria.  Adoniram then married a missionary widow, Sarah Hall Boardman, who assisted him in translation, teaching women of the Karen tribe, and serving as a school administrator.  She died in 1845.  Adoniram married a third time.  He died in 1850.  The Judson’s ministry to Burma resulted in the winning of countless souls to Christ.

Fast forward to 2015.  My son, David Russell, pastors a Baptist Church in Ames, Iowa.  This summer he attended a seminar in St. Paul, Minn.  On Sunday he visited the First Baptist Church.  It was an old church with declining membership until refugees from Burma (Myanmar) began attending in 2000.  All of them were Baptists, members of the Karen Hill tribe.  The twin city area is home to thousands of Asians.  This church has a vibrant and active congregation, 75 % of them from the Karen tribe of Burma.  Other congregations have formed in the area from other
Burmese tribes.

The Sunday Dave visited was Judson Sunday, commemorating the arrival of the Judson’s in 1813.  This is an annual celebration.  What an amazing story of how God has worked for over 200 years in the lives of these groups from Burma, beginning with the sacrificial ministry of Ann and Adoniram.

* Please return Hunger Banks on Sunday, August 9th.

* A special thank you to Betty Busch, who has made 589 stocking caps over the past 11   years for the International Seafarers Center on  Lake Michigan.  This is a huge help to     Chaplain Marshal Bundren as he ministers to
  international seafarers who come into the port.  Betty’s late sister, Dorothy Grossman,   made 73 hats.

* Women on Mission will meet Monday, August 10th at 7:00 p.m. at the church.  All our      ladies are invited to join us in a time of study, prayer, and fellowship.