Prayerline January 2024
Your Prayer Guide To Reach The World
Help Disciple Tribal Believers in Brazil
A village recently obtained online access that cleared the way for workers to create a WhatsApp group to discuss the Bible with tribal people. Workers also sent solar Bibles and used cell phones with SD cards containing the Jesus Film, Bible studies and praise songs, including material in their native language.
Expand God’s Kingdom in China
Orphans and other impoverished villagers in mountainous areas recently received badly needed supplies from native Christian workers, opening the way for the gospel to spread. Other workers discipled Christians at newly planted churches in the area. In various parts of the country, workers brought the message of eternal life in Christ to nine ethnic groups.
Support Gospel Work amid Danger in Nigeria
In areas where kidnappings and killings are rampant, native Christian workers are discreetly spreading the gospel. Villagers hostile to the gospel recently received food, clothing and other aid that helped soften their hearts. “Muslims accepted us, received our gifts and gave us everything we needed,” the ministry leader said.
Help Evangelize the Lost in Iraq
In the middle of a native ministry’s worship meeting for children, an Iranian refugee girl requested children’s Bible stories. After workers shared the stories, at the end of the meeting the girl asked them to pray for Jesus to enter her heart and save her.
Support Bold Witnesses for Christ in South Asia
Despite extremist groups’ false accusations against native Christian workers, a native ministry carried out various outreaches that presented multiple gospel opportunities. Praying for and visiting homes in more than 30 villages, workers recently shared Christ with 300 people.
Rescue People from Darkness in Laos
A worker recently led four people to Christ after they listened to a digital audio recording of the ministry leader’s gospel presentation. A worker in another area also gave villagers audio players so they could listen to the recorded messages. “After that, he led them to Jesus,” the leader said. “Now they have been facing serious persecution, and he is taking care of them.”
Help Workers Plant Churches in Spain
In the course of starting 95 churches in Spain and elsewhere over a period of six months, native Christian workers shared the gospel with both refugees and Spaniards. Among the Spaniards was a young woman who was pregnant at 15 and whose parents were addicted to drugs and alcohol. Often beaten and abused, she was visiting her brother in prison when she met a ministry worker bringing the gospel to the inmates, and the worker invited her to a church service.
Support Evangelism and Discipleship in Sri Lanka
A woman who sensed the Lord’s call to evangelism attended a native ministry’s seminary, where she became confident in how to present the gospel and also sharpened her mind as she engaged with other students. The friendships she made with colleagues from other denominations helped break down barriers, unifying churches to serve together.
Share the Love of Christ in Chad
A team of four healthcare workers and five evangelists recently visited a town where they treated 192 people free of charge and shared Christ with individuals, families and various groups. They distributed 50 Arabic-language New Testaments, as well as 100 pamphlets and 20 audio Bibles in their native tongue. “Five people, including three women, accepted Jesus as their Savior,” the ministry leader said.
Support Compassionate Outreach in Lebanon
When the government decided to remove and destroy tents occupied by Syrian refugees, the first night that families were suddenly without shelter, native Christian workers came to their aid. “It was during this very difficult time that we met their physical needs for food, prayed for them, helped them with transportation to visit the United Nations to petition for support, and helped as friends and advocates during a desperate time,” the leader said.
Help Workers Pioneer the Gospel in Burma
A new mission field has opened up for native Christian workers in a town of staunch Buddhists. A contact there recently invited workers to share the gospel, and they found local people were receptive. Seven people put their faith in Christ for forgiveness of sins and eternal life and were baptized the next day.
Bring Salvation to the Broken in Peru
A 22-year-old man who devoted himself to pornography and throwing stones at a native ministry’s church building was tormented by nightmares and what appeared to be ghosts. A neighbor invited him to a church service, where a native worker spoke about the peace of Christ.
Help Share the Good News in South Asia
A woman who had suffered from migraines for three years and often fell unconscious came to a native worker’s church with her family. They accepted Christ and received prayer for healing, and she and her son, who had suffered boils on his body for a year, completely recovered.
Invite People into God’s Family in North Africa
A young woman estranged from her family called out to God, and a friend invited her to a native Christian ministry’s meeting, where she experienced the love of Christ through the other women and leaders. She attended a conference with them and put her faith in Christ as Lord and Savior.
Train Workers for Effective Ministry in China
Minority ethnic groups present a unique challenge for those bringing them the gospel, and a native ministry has begun a new training center to equip workers in the best ways to reach them with the salvation message. Elsewhere, local workers are relying more on home visits and other small group meetings to share the gospel in the face of church shutdowns and other restrictions.
Get the Gospel to the Young and Old in Greece
With many opportunities to share the gospel with refugees, native workers also bring the hope of Christ to nationals and their children. In a 10-week summer program for teenagers, workers presented Bible lessons using videos followed by interactive games of questions and answers. “There was a lot of laughter, sharing, games, snacks and the sowing of God’s seeds in the hearts of the children,” the ministry leader said.
Spread Word of the Messiah in Israel
Through street evangelism, individual relationships and social media, native Christian workers are spreading the Good News of salvation in Christ, in addition to distributing evangelistic books and Bibles through their church and website. Discipleship of new Christians is done individually or through small groups that meet to study the Bible and discuss how to better live for Christ.
Share the Gospel with Unreached People in Indonesia
A team of evangelists met a 56-year-old man at a park and engaged him in conversation, and at one point he said it was the first time he had heard that sin is forgiven through Jesus. After he said he believed their message, they led him in prayer to confess his sin and accept Christ as Lord and Savior.
Support Evangelism in Hostile Areas in Cameroon
At a four-day evangelistic event in the northern part of the country, local leaders mobilized those hostile to the gospel to destroy the team’s generator and sound system speakers. “But finally those who made it so they lost power accepted Jesus and confessed all the wicked works they have done to keep the villages poor and afflicted,” the ministry leader said.
Be a Supply Line for Native Missionaries in South Asia
A villager opposed to the gospel told anyone who became a Christian that their children would be denied admission to government schools. A native Christian worker helped poor children gain admission to schools as part of his ministry, and when the daughter of the villager was denied access for reasons that were unclear, the worker advocated on his behalf.
Strengthen the Body of Christ in Pakistan
A pastor recently expressed thanks that he was able to share the gospel with tribal people after receiving an invitation to preach among them. The ministry that supports the pastor also reached many villages with the gospel while distributing aid for victims of flooding, taking advantage of a worker’s ability to speak their local language.
Extend Hope to the Lost in Burundi
A Muslim mother of five attended a meeting at a native Christian worker’s home, where she was stunned by how genuinely church members prayed and loved each other. As she began studying the Bible, she concluded that Christ was her Savior and put her trust in Him.
Bring More People into the Kingdom in Türkiye
A family suffering various illnesses was passing by a church and, having seen a film depicting foreign pastors casting out evil spirits, entered the native ministry’s office and asked for prayer. Workers prayed for them and gave them a New Testament, encouraging them to read it daily and ask Christ for help.
Fortify New Believers in Ghana
A native Christian worker who travelled to a northern region to disciple people who had accepted Christ on a previous visit found they were in need of biblical reinforcement. “Almost all who gathered under the trees were not sure of their salvation,” he said. “These 105 people rededicated to Christ.”
Reach Refugees for Christ in Europe
Refugees from Africa, the Middle East and other areas of conflict take life-threatening risks to migrate to European countries in desperate efforts to survive. Arriving at areas where local people are increasingly hostile toward migrants, the refugees frequently find that native Christian workers are the only ones offering them aid.
Help Bring Gospel Transformation in South Asia
As new Christians stepped out in faith to build God’s kingdom, they found the Lord wondrously helped them. Native Christian workers discipled young people in how to minister to people in their community, and widespread alcohol abuse, black magic and gambling decreased.
Build Biblically Solid Churches in Bangladesh
Native Christian workers following up with people who accepted Christ during home visits later prayed and studied the Scripture with them and left them with Bibles. “They were very happy to get this special thing,” the ministry leader said.
Help Proclaim Freedom in Christ in Mexico
A 17-year-old tribal boy was carrying deep resentment over abuse he suffered from his parents and was beginning to rebel. Family members of a native Christian worker recently shared the gospel with him, and he put his faith in Christ. He learned to forgive his parents and felt a great weight lifted from him.
Help Victims of Natural Disasters in the Philippines
Super typhoon Goring hammered the islands with gale-force winds, torrential rains and flashfloods in August, damaging some homes and destroying others. Crops were submerged and businesses wiped out. As families were evacuated to government relocation centers, native workers provided aid that helped restore homes and lives.
Support Indigenous Missionaries in China
Young people are the future, leading native evangelists not only to focus on university students but preparing them to plant churches when they return to their home areas. The evangelists’ native ministry has founded four university fellowships and begun 15 house churches since its inception 16 years ago.
Help Find, Vet, and Evaluate Workers
The native ministries that you support are working among more than 2,000 unreached people groups, planting churches and raising up indigenous leaders to equip them to further expand the kingdom. In many cases the only ones in position to bring the gospel to unreached people, native workers are key to fulfilling the Lord’s command to make disciples of all nations.