I just came back from the United Nations where I spoke to lawmakers from many different countries on the topic of poverty alleviation at the Geneva Institute for Leadership and Public Policy. This was my second year doing this. As a result of connections made this year, God has opened huge doors for Community Health Evangelism in Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Cambodia.
Before the official United Nations meeting began, we had a “by invitation” only meeting of Christians that would be part of the U.N. gathering. There is a growing fellowship of believers at the U.N. with a desire to influence policy makers with Christian values. I’ll share details in my next newsletter.
Today I want to tell you about exciting events in Chad.
48 Chadian missionaries trained for work among un-reached and un-engaged peoples in the Sahel and the Sahara
At the end of February I traveled to Chad and Ghana with Djibo and Emmanuel, two French speaking trainers from different countries in North and West Africa. The purpose of the trip was to train Chadian missionaries for CHE work among 72 unengaged peoples in the Sahel and the Sahara.
The Holy Spirit is uniting the Church globally around a vision to establish a Gospel witness among the approximately 2,000 remaining unengaged unreached peoples. 95% of the unengaged live in rural poor villages. Our role as a network of organizations in 129 countries with Community Health Evangelism trainers strategically placed is to help finish that task.
For the first time in Chad, leaders from 18 different church denominations and agencies came together with 100 of their missionaries at a consultation aimed at equipping their missionaries for work among the unengaged. Bible societies, mission agencies, Bible translation groups, development organizations, and campus ministries linked arms in an effort to finish the task among the unengaged in their country.
Our interpreter
I was impressed by the vision and courage of the national missionaries that gathered. Here are some excerpts from a devotional given by one of them, translated into English by a man who interprets for the President of Chad:
The kingdom of darkness does not want the rising of another kingdom. The kingdom of darkness rises against the kingdom of light. God gives his peace to those who resist the kingdom of darkness. Jesus is here. He has risen from the dead. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead accompanies his disciples, and this is the basis of their peace. It is this joy that enables the disciple to stand in the face of difficulty and persecution. This peace of Jesus is the foundation of every ministry, and it belongs to those who receive Jesus, the prince of peace.
Jesus breathes his peace on his disciples and they go in the power of the Spirit. Believers are not alone. They go in the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the plan of God. We are sent just like the Father sent His Son Jesus.
Jesus did not come to Chad. God is borrowing our feet, feet that he created, to preach where he did not go. It is a privilege, even in a country where we face difficulties. The father sent the son, and Jesus has sent us into a world filled with difficulties. We are not many, but Jesus worked with only twelve. We are more than 12 here. When God sends us, he makes provision. His church will generate the resources to achieve his goal.
Jesus sends us to those who have not yet been forgiven so we can bring them to Christ who forgives their sin. We were not called to withhold salvation, but have been given authority to share salvation so that others will be forgiven even as we have received forgiveness. We dare not bury the salvation that he has entrusted into our hands. We must take the Gospel to the unreached.
The opening ceremony
We gathered for six days. Each morning we had a general assembly and a keynote speaker. In one of the morning assemblies, the missionaries were invited to write the names of villages and/or people groups they were committed to reach on sticky notes. They prayed together about their commitments, and then came to the stage in front to post their commitments in the appropriate place on the map. Each sticky note on the map below represents a commitment by a Chadian missionary to a single village or people group.
After the morning assemblies, missionaries broke into three groups for a week of training in one of three areas:
Church Planting and Leadership
Bible Translation
Community Health Evangelism
The first day we had 37 participants. The second day 48 showed up. By the end of the week, we graduated 48 missionaries from the first phase of CHE training.
Follow up plans include training two key missionaries as Master Trainers in Chad that will coach and provide further training for the other missionaries in the country working to establish CHE ministries. The photo below was taken during training on the first day.
Thank you for partnering with us
Thank you to those of you who contribute regularly to our support, and also to those that contributed to this trip in response to our requests for travel funds. God has answered your prayers.
My next trips in pursuit of our Million Village Challenge are scheduled for Southeast Asia and the Ivory Coast. Perhaps you would like to join us in this outreach to those who have never heard the good news of the Gospel. We depend on contributions from people like you to travel, mobilize, and train. Please consider giving to the cause.
