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| Evening service to celebrate the anniversary of the church |
June 14, 2021 marked the fourth anniversary of the church of San Francisco and an occasion to be celebrated! During this time the church has gone through trials and even persecutions but has remained faithful to the Lord and, of course, He to them in continuing in their faith. They have been threatened with disassociation from their non-Christian extended family members, judged, and slandered on more than one occasion but the conviction of the Holy Spirit in their lives was too strong to succumb to the pressure. Instead they have taken it upon themselves to go out to the neighboring villages to share their faith, win converts, and even start churches.
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| Sharon with some of the attendees of the anniversary celebration |
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| Richar, one of the church leaders and Nilton's brother, sharing the Word on the last day of the anniversary |
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| Nilton,who feels called to evangelize the neighboring villages, sharing the Word in an evening service |
One of the churches we have co-labored with them to start is called New Jerusalem. This also is a small community of seven families, all related to each other but they are a bit more challenged than San Francisco. There is only one person who can read well in the community and although he has accepted Christ is battling with staying committed to Him. This means that sometimes he's really good and can preach the Word and other times he is drinking and not following the Lord. The other families also struggle with temptations of the world and the father of the families was a Shaman making the pull of the enemy quite strong in this community.
Another village called New Hope has accepted the Lord several times over the years but when it came time to be discipled the interest quickly waned. This is a tactic of the enemy as well as of the flesh but I believe there is a very clear spiritual component working against these communities from coming into the fullness of Christ. In New Hope there are two Shamans, one stronger than the other, that are still quite active. One of them is actually the father-in-law of Nilton. Fairly recently Paula, Nilton's wife, had a dream from the Lord that she was to go to her family in this village and tell them about the love of Christ and so she and Nilton started doing that. It resulted in several people desiring to come to the Lord and be water baptized, which we did for them on the Easter outreach in their village. Paula's father, however, has not accepted the Lord yet but seems to be softer about hearing the gospel.
I am sharing all of this with you because I feel the time has come to unite in prayer for these struggling wanna-be believers to break the powers of darkness over their lives and over their villages. Shamanism is very common in the villages and have been such an integral part of the culture for so long that it is not something that can be eradicated easily. Therefore I have asked the men that are preparing to be church leaders in San Francisco if we could meet next weekend, June 25-27, to pray and fast specifically for the village of New Hope and also for New Jerusalem since there seems to be a strong presence working against all of them. Lastly for the two families that are ardently against Christianity in San Francisco. The father was also a Shaman but I'm not sure if he's still practicing.
Would you stand with us during this weekend to pray:
1) Against every spiritual force working against these precious people that want to be committed Christians.
2) For discernment and the heart of God as we meet together so that we pray very specifically against all that is hindering the work of the Lord.
3) That everything that each of these people have ever heard, felt from God, or seen as an example in any of our lives will be brought to mind so that the Lord can use it to make them aware of His truth, power and presence among them.
4) Wisdom to share the right words with New Hope and New Jerusalem that will convey clearly the heart of God for them.
Thank you so very much for all that you've done to make this work possible through your prayers, love, and support. I pray God's richest blessings will be upon you in all you do for the Kingdom in every way in every day!
Sharon Malcolm
Missionary with Go To Nations since 1998
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