Our Blog

Filter By:
Showing items filed under “Missions”
in Newsletter, Missions

Women on Mission - September

main image

Mission Prayer Request
Prayer Focus - Northern African and Middle Eastern Peoples: Many Israeli Jews have died from COVID-19, and those left are now questioning their faith, pondering the Law of Moses, and wondering what God wants from them. Many believers have been actively sharing the gospel via the internet with them. Pray for Israeli Jews to finally see the truth of Jesus and be saved.

Prayer Focus - East Asian Peoples: During a monthly outreach, the North Japan Team gave two 90-year-old women Bibles and read them aloud together. One teared up when she read about God strengthening the fainthearted. The women planned to read their new Bibles out loud daily to exercise their voices and minds. Pray they would not fear their community’s judgement but completely trust in Jesus.

Prayer Request - Ohio: Allen Lawless planted Abundant Life Church in West Chester, Ohio. “I’m a bivocational church planter in West Chester, Ohio. In the past five years, I have had both knees, both hips, and both shoulders replaced. I am recovering from my reverse total shoulder replacement currently and will be filing for disability. Please pray that I will be able to draw short-term disability until the permanent disability is finalized and that there wouldn’t be any trouble having the final disability approved. I’m looking forward to having the extra time to spend doing ministry.”

Prayer Focus - All Missionaries: Some missionaries are sending their children off to college in the United States this month. Ask God to provide smooth adjustments for parents and children. Pray these young people would be firm in their faith and make good decisions. As God to gift them with friends.

Prayer Focus - Deaf Peoples: Four Southeast Asian believers finished their studies at the Deaf Theological Center in Tennessee. Praise God for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them and their churches. Pray they would stay healthy as they travel back to their countries. Ask God to use them in mighty ways in Southeast Asia, leveraging what they learned effectively.


Prayer Focus - Southeast Asian Peoples: Pray for the Western Cham, a Muslim minority group in Cambodia. Since COVID-19 broke out among them, they’ve experience discrimination from other Cambodians. Pray Cambodian believers would love the Cham as God loves them by reaching out in friendship, especially when others ostracize them. Pray the Cham would hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and respond in faith.


Prayer Focus - Central Asian Peoples: In her household, Zoe* is responsible to care for her aging parents, a drug-addicted brother, an abusive brother, and a brother with Parkinson’s disease. She is burdened by the weight of her life but is open to dialoguing about Christ. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of Christ to her.     *Name Changed.

Prayer Focus - All Missionaries: Lift up missionary teachers, asking God to use their witness for Him in powerful ways. Many will be teaching English as a second language to people hearing the Word for the first time. Pray God’s Word would fall on fertile soil.

Prayer Focus - Deaf Peoples: At first, Diego*, a 28-year-old Deaf man in Mexico who lived a homosexual lifestyle and came from a Jehovah’s Witness background, was reluctant to attend a local church’s Deaf group. After attending for three years, he placed his faith in Jesus, became baptized, and walked away from homosexuality. Pray for Diego as he grows in his faith and is discipled.     *Name Changed.

*****************************************************
Women on Mission will not meet in September.  Our Hunger Offering receipts to date are $866.00.

Posted by Women On Mission with
in Kids, Newsletter, Missions

Spare Change - August

main image

Is Covid Making It Too Easy to Drop Out of Church?

Usually, pastors can always tell when the church attendance will be down.  It happens when the weather is bad...or really good, when there is a holiday, in the summer, or when something big in the community is going on.  Do you sense a little bit of a trend?  It doesn't take much for people to find a reason to miss church.  This is especially true during this global pandemic.  A recent Barna research study says that 32% of Christians have essentially dropped out of church during this time.  They no longer attend church or watch their church online.  This is a shocking revelation! One third of regular church attenders are not participating in church at all.

Participating in church is essential for believers.  God created the church to bring glory to His name through worship, discipleship, and evangelism.  Church is the place where we take time to prioritize the things of God.  By not engaging during this time many Christians are putting their spiritual health in great danger.  We need to re-engage in church!

I understand what is going on in our world.  I know there is a pandemic going on; however, the church has made unprecedented strides in creating access to spiritual teaching, preaching, worship, and discipleship through online avenues.  There is no excuse for not taking advantage of what our church is making available.  I know there are many that are in high risk categories that cannot attend in person.  If that is you, you should stay home for your health and safety, but that doesn’t mean you should disengage from church.  Even now, our deacons are making home deliveries of sermon DVDs and CDs for those that don’t have internet access.  We are doing all we can to engage with our church body and if there is something else we need to be doing please let us know!

If you are not in a high risk category and you can safely be out in public then you should come to church.  We, like many churches, have figured out appropriate safety measures and have embraced the recommendations put forth by our government officials.  We encourage masks when social distancing is not an option.  We have gallons of hand sanitizer throughout the building.  We are spraying down the chairs with disinfecting solution after each service.  We encourage people not to shake hands or hug.  These are just a few of the safety measures we have implemented.

All this to say that you don’t really have an excuse as to why you are not attending church, or at the very least participating online.  Of course, like we have always said, we understand that you can’t attend when you have to work, have an illness, or when you go on vacation.  Those are valid reasons, but on the whole, you should be at church most every Sunday.

You need church not only for your own spiritual health, but your child’s as well.  LifeWay research found that each drop in regular attendance has a corresponding 1.25% drop in a child’s overall spiritual health as an adult.  This may not seem like much but if a child experiences 4 or 5 drops in attendance it can add up.  Church is important for the spiritual health of your children.  That doesn’t mean they will be spiritually mature as they grow up, simply because they attend church, but it will help to give them a gospel foundation for life.

Also, making church a priority in your family tells your children that the things of God are important!  Think about all the things you spend time and money doing.  Are the things of God less important than those?  Of course not!  But for some reason church is the first thing to go when we get busy, tired, or just plain lazy.

This is assuredly a temporary crisis that we are facing, don’t let it permanently keep you out of church!  Make sure to engage with your church.  Come in person, if you can, and please serve!  We need people to serve as volunteers like never before.   There are so many people that want to serve but are in a high risk category.  We need younger people to step up and serve in the nursery, drive the church van, help at the food pantry, etc.  If you can’t come in person then please go online and keep up with all our content that we are putting out.  You will surely be blessed.
 
●     For more on this topic listen to episode 9 of the Families for Life Podcast at www.oakhillbc.org/f4l
●     Find the Barna Research study here https://www.barna.com/research/new-sunday-morning-part2/
●     The LifeWay Research study is found in Settle for Nothing Less by Jana Magruder on page 105

Posted by Bryan Gotcher with

12...47484950515253545556 ... 8081