Dear Doves,
 
I thought I would share experience and exposure to some of the Missions effort with the Evangelical Free Church, National Conference.  The Missions Department is ReachGlobal.   I have attached a letter from a former Pastor of mine who is in leadership for ReachGlobal and his report.    Please prayerfully read and keep the many he has shared in your prayers as the Gospel in these last days is still touching many lives.
 
Patty Hayes
 
From: Mark Wold, ReachGlobal, EFCA

Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:41:00 -0500

 
We are home at last, after nearly 3 ∏ months ministering on 4 continents. What a joy to English speaking clerks, have the dollar as our currency, be able to look around at the scenery as we walk on paths, sidewalks & roads without worrying about stepping into big holes, on animal dung or even little children (a common tactic by beggars to gain sympathy), and not wake up early in the morning to an Islamic call to prayer or find ourselves thinking now which country are we in?' It's also great to have home cooked meals with food that we are more accustomed to. But the trip was definitely worth all the time and effort and we are most grateful for you making it possible. We can't begin to tell you all that the Lord did, and it's been extra hard to share with you because as my computer got a major league virus in Africa and it was just repaired this week.
 
We have learned tons from so many expatriates and nationals who are working sacrificially in tough conditions, to reach atheists, Muslims, Hindus, and very remote nomadic tribes like the Fulani and Masai & Zamora in Tanzania. The 13 Rwandan lead pastors & their wives that we spent several days training, have each lost between 1 and 4 children to disease, and at least 20 family members each to genocide – yet they are seeing Good triumph through their pain and churches are growing. It was so good that Marilyn came! The African leaders also came with their wives and we were able to get to know them and minister to them as couples. Five key African leaders have formed  ReachAfrica with the goal of multiplying church planting movements in every African country, and reaching 10 million Africans in this decade. Congo has begun reaching unreached pygmy tribes in remote areas, the leaders of Liberia have started planting churches in Muslim areas in Niger, Togo & Sierra Leone. The needs and opportunities are immense, and they plead for more training and partnerships to help them do more. But it hasn't been easy, Pastor Esron, the leader of the church planting movement in Rwanda shared how his his mom and 2 siblings were slaughtered. And Pastor Jackson Olega, the leader of the movement in Sudan was nearly killed in a January car accident, that broke his legs, hip, jaw, & several ribs, and was brought by taxi to a hospital that did nothing at all to help him for 7 days thinking he would die anyway. ReachGlobal found out and got him transferred to another hospital where he has had several surgeries and is now thankfully recovering in a wheelchair at home. Here are Jackson's words of thanks to you:
Praise be to God! Brothers and sisters thank you for your daily pray and also for your support to me and my family. May God bless you so much. I believe soon or later I will get back to the ministry. Many people especially the relatives and other friends have been asking me about the question of why all this to me? But at the same time my respond have been Why not to me? Pray for me that my accident should be a clear sign of God's power over the demonic attack to our Sudanese people who live in fear of spiritual forces. I believe, if it is the will of God for me, then the accident will only serve as a promotion in the ministry. Many of our pastors and Christians have been so much encouraged when they hear me encouraging them to stand strong in the faith contrary to their thinking that the accident may discourage me from the ministry. Next week I will go back for medical review in Kijabe hospital.”


Here are 2 remarkable transferable tools these leaders have developed and are using with great effectiveness:

1)    A 37 story Chronological Bible Narrative that works amazingly well in cultures where literacy is low, and stories are definitely the best way to communicate God's truth. (I'll be glad to email you this file if you would like it.)

2)    CHE (Community Health Evangelism/Education). It is a great way to combine compassion ministry with evangelism and lead to church planting. The community leaders own” the projects. When the expatriate staff had to leave Congo because of war, they didn't know what would happen to the CHE projects. But they not only survived but their number doubled because they were grass-roots” efforts. If you're interested in learning more, check out this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYn7lVRtFpg

The teaching went well and requests continue to build. So we have 2 primary ministry prayer requests for April-May:

1)    Choosing the best training locations to address next, and tying them nearby countries, so we can maximize the training benefits for the Kingdom, as well as minimize the funding required to make it all possible.

2)    I've decided to make one more revision of our foundational Church Health 101 training course, to build it around the most powerful visual picture that works in every culture outside the USA – the football (soccer) field. Everyone not only understaands that picture, but 46% of Africans say football is the most important thing in their life. A sad statistic, but it can become a great communication tool for instant transferability in oral cultures.  (I tried it out in a remote area in northern Rwanda with pastors who have little education, and realized it's a teaching tool we can't afford to ignore in creating transferable concepts that even oral cultures can quickly understand and get excited about teaching to others.)  

Mark & Marilyn Wold
ReachGlobal, Assoc. Exec. Dir: Church Health
45519 Green Hills Court, Indio, CA 92201    
(c) 760-406-3506   Mark.Wold@efca.org