Pray for successful trainings for church leaders in Darfur and Khartoum. We would like to encourage believers to grow mature in Christ and to share the gospel to their fellow communities.
Pray for upcoming Kingdom Business trainings and the new businesses that start up as a result of the training to be successful so that they can support church planters and their families.
Diaspora in Canada: Pray for M, the daughter of one of our believer friends from our favorite people group. She has denied our Shepherd, and married a Muslim man. Her family has disowned her, and refuses to talk with her, even though she has tried to contact them. The parents have both been brutally persecuted for their faith in their homeland and are understandably grieved and upset. Pray for a change of heart that M’s heart will turn to her Shepherd, and her parents’ hearts will be broken in love for her.
The believers on i3 are really wanting to see the work move forward this year, so they are praying that each of them will bring a new islander to faith. They are also hoping to do more to shepherd and teach their kids. Let’s pray with them that these efforts would be empowered by the Holy Spirit and there would be an increasing desire among them all to see the kingdom grow on i3 and all the islands.
TAYIB the TUAREG
Tayib served our small tour group as the cook in the deep desert of Tassili N’Ajjer National Park in Algeria. Always present with a smile and truly never a complaint he demonstrated joy each and every day. We enjoyed speaking with him about the Saviour we follow but he kindly emphasized to us that the entire Tuareg group are 100% Muslim and he was no exception. We each said our goodbyes and returned to the comfort of our various homes. Then, without warning, two weeks later and with no explanation we are told by a fellow tour guide that Tayib has passed away leaving a small family behind. Clearly no one knows the day or time we will breathe our last breath, but our time is now to join the work happening in this land. We are compelled by His great Love to share the hope of salvation we have in our hearts. We have an obligation to participate in spreading of his word to a people that have extremely limited access to genuine believers in such a vast land.
Please pray for a Digo man named ‘Saul’. He continues to come to my house to read Bible every morning. Please pray for him to be born again and be Jesus’ disciple.
Please pray for the two faithful believers in Imoluha (a village in the Lopit mountains), Thomas and Clement. Both of these men have remained faithful to the Lord while facing much opposition from their community, including their own wives. Despite the opposition, they deeply desire to help their village, not only by being a witness for Jesus there, but with practical skills. Pray for Thomas as he pursues medical training at the Torit Health Institute, and Clement as he pursues veterinary training. Pray for them from 1 Corinthians 1:8 – “He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We visited “Jan” and her husband, whose cancer is slowly staking claim to his increasingly-frail body. We’ve been through so much with this family over the past decade and spending time with a man who’s been a sort of ‘uncle’ to our kids was important. The evening was rich with laughter, tears, food, storytelling and a lot of gosple-centred, pure-Love-inspired intercessions for one of the harder and more stubborn North African men we’ve known. Yet here I was, right next to him on his floor mattress while the traditional living room swarmed with dozens of others who love him… his own dear family and colleagues we’ve introduced them to over the years. The conversations we’ve had over the past year have been sweeter than we ever imagined possible. Please ask that “Justin” turn to Jesus or be healed… or BOTH(!!) in the coming months. They are hopeful but realistic. He is very unwell.
PTL for God’s provision of a young new team to cover for our Home Assignment. It is an amazing answer to prayer! Even a month ago we were still so uncertain of IF or WHO God would provide for coverage while we’re away. Now we have a Pastor & family, 2 nurses and a Teacher and family! Pray for each one to abide deeply in Jesus, and to be blessed with much lasting fruit! Pray for team unity for this new team, and also joining with our whole greater AIC team in 3 O-land villages! Pray for a huge explosion of a disciple making movement to begin and powerfully advance God’s Kingdom while we’re away!
François and his wife have been sent for theological training by the Christians of 7 cell groups in one region because they are longing for a leader. François is now in Antsirabe following a 3 year course of theology.
Pray that they adapt well to living in a large town with different climate.
They both have a bachelor degree in nursing. So we think they’ll be ok with the challenges of studying all day and doing research. But still, the course is quite hard, with Greek, Hebrew, and English in the first year.
Please pray for enough financial support. The project Hopitaly Vaovao Mahafaly is helping them, but it’s not enough to cover all the costs. Pray that his wife will find a job.
The team is praying that they will be able to reach out to 11 unreached ethnic groups in Darfur and win first generation men and women of peace to Christ Jesus. They hope to expand their outreach to 7 new villages. Pray for fruitful ministry.
Pray that believers will engage in community service such as volunteer in schools and community activities, local fundraising for rebuilding schools and clinics, and community mobilization with the aim to be salt and light among our communities.
They are praying for a center in Khartoum for use as a central home church and training facility. Please join them in prayer for this need.
Continue to pray for island brothers and sisters we have mentioned in the past, like Jonny whose wife died this fall leaving him as a single dad of 4 kids, and Dorcas who was kicked out of her family home because of her faith. Continue to pray for her relationship with her family. The crisis moments may have passed, but they continue to live in challenging situations in need of prayer.
Diaspora in Wisconsin: I have an ESL student who is seeking. Pray that the student’s heart would be open to receive the truth.
My husband is starting a Bible study with A, a new MBB. Pray that he gets grounded in the Lord and becomes bold to proclaim his new found life.
Pray for Bible translation efforts that have started in the Northern dialect. It will be a multi year project done in Nosy Be. The goal is to have the entire Bible in audio format in the dialect. Pray for the team of 6 Malagasy translators and their facilitator Laura B.
Pray for some local believers who are having difficult marriage problems. Pray the Lord would speak to them and give them grace to love.
Please pray for the churches that do exist would grow in Christ and not in religion. Like so many church problems around the world, being transformed by Christ is not popular but doing “churchy” things that look good is easy and attractive. Please pray for spiritual growth and maturity.
Please pray for Godly leaders! Polygamy is accepted here and unfortunately something not easily given up! Please pray for this new generation, to embrace the gospel and have courage to leave these practices behind.
Diaspora in Oregon: Pray for A from the Middle East whose brother lives in their home country and has believing neighbors! His brother has accepted these foreigners unlike the rest of the neighborhood. Pray that both A in the US and his brother in their home country will accept the truth of salvation.
• Pray for N and N, recent arrivals who had been seeking to know Jesus for several months prior to arriving and were met at the airport by believers. Ask for their hearts to push away any hesitations and accept God’s gift of salvation.
Please pray for the 10 Digo children who come to my house every Sunday to listen to the Word of God. Please pray for them to know who Jesus is and accept Him as their Savior. Also please pray for their parents to continue to allow them to come to our house without hindering.
Praise God for the 12 training sessions our team mates (AICT Pastor and Evangelist) are planning to run over the next 6 months. These Global Disciples training sessions will help teach and equip church members to share their faith in their communities. Please pray for excitement among the believers, for full engagement and much fruit.
During a recent trip to Khartoum, S found the MBB believers had no women’s ministry. During the trip women gathered and agreed to have a ministry devoted to women-to-women care, individual discipleship and group discipleship.
Women empowerment ministry has begun and women are being encouraged to share the gospel with their fellow friends and family members, and to stand firm in faith as they experience persecution.
A group of 23 women met together and 7 of them recently accepted Christ. Pray for these women to grow in their faith and for the 4 other women who came back with more questions about the Christian faith.
Diaspora in Georgia: Praise the Lord that He has now brought two Africans to my ESL class. Pray that all eight of the students will give a clear testimony of faith in Christ by the summer.
Pray for the salvation of a young Ms woman, Amna, before April. She will share at a spring banquet how the Pregnancy Resource Center has helped her. We would like her to know the Lord Jesus by then, and testify to how He has helped her!
There’s a 4plex apartment building where much seed sowing has been done faithfully since 2018. There’s been some turnover in tenants through the years but it has remained a house of peace for reaching into the Y community. Ask that the 3 Y families living there now would be hungry for Truth, and that the ladies would seek friendship with our team member living in the 4th apartment! May she have opportunities to speak more about our Way. Ask that those who’ve heard the full story would keep searching for truth and wrestling with the empty promises of trusting their own goodness. Ask for us to receive more invitations into this community.
The two Rangi men who accepted Christ in November have both moved down to Dar and have started an in-depth discipleship program with a very godly local believer. Praise God for this opportunity and pray for continued strength against the enemy and maturing of their faith.
Please pray for the disillusioned young people on the island who feel forced into gangs and violence, seeing no other option. Ask for believers to find them first and show them the better way!
I would like to give thanks to God for helping two local pastors (one is a Digo pastor) to read the whole Bible during August last year and to study the Westminster Shorter Catechism in a week last December. Pray the word of God would dwell in them richly.
A local pastor and I go out to deliver the Gospel to the Digo tribe every Saturday. In the morning we study Systematic theology and in the afternoon we go to far away places to meet the people inland. Pray for many to believe our message.
Diaspora in France: I have just started meeting with two older North African ladies to practice English – but mostly to build friendships, as they are very lonely. They came to church Jan 29 and plan to come again for our church service & dinner Feb 5. Pray that they would be touched by the presence of God in our midst, that they would feel embraced by the community, and that they would continue coming and want to discuss what they are hearing.
Please continue to pray for the gospel to be made known amongst the Ndau people who are still trapped in bondage through witchcraft and ancestral worship. Pray that they would encounter and turn their lives over to Christ Jesus and be set free from ancestral/traditional fear which enslaves them.
Diaspora in Canada: Paise the Lord for 4 new Iranian Muslim background believers and 8 baptisms from students that attended our in-person Christianity Explored (CE) course from July to December last year. This movement prompted me to advertise a free online CE class to Iranians living in key areas of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), Ottawa and Montreal. Pray that the Lord brings seekers to the class in His timing and in His way. Class is planned to start today, but there are no students signed up yet.
Our Partners from FJKM church (reformed church of Madagascar) have also gotten the vision to evangelize! Blessed be the Lord who empowers and sends His church!
They have visited 7 villas in the village of Mahabo so far this year! Pray for the gospel seeds that were sown to bear much fruit.
Pray for bold proclamation of the Gospel through Christ-centered, reproducing, culturally appropriate churches. Praise God for village believers who have begun two new churches planted around the Tabora area. These outreach points are places where new believers may come to join others in fellowship with the family of God. Pray for the vision for the visible church to be not only in Tabora, but physically present and active in every village surrounding Tabora, too. Pray for increasing ways for the Good News to be broadcast into communities through radio, preaching, discipleship, visitations, love and care, teaching, etc. Pray that those who are seeking to know Jesus will see clearly where God is at work in and through his visible church.
Pray for S, a young Rangi girl who accepted Christ a few months ago. She went back to the village for school and is so thirsty to learn more but there’s no one in the village to teach her. Pray she will remain close in God and pray earnestly. Pray also as she hopes to tell her father about her conversion, pray he will receive it well and that the Lord would even miraculously work in his heart through his daughter.
The San people believe in a creator god, but they are not considered religious. Despite there being a couple of San churches, they are largely unreached. This could be due to living in remote/inaccessible areas, a nomadic lifestyle, and a unique and difficult to learn mother tongue. Pray that San believers, and other close-culture Christians, would commit to bringing the Gospel to the lost. Pray for work to be done in bringing oral translations of the Bible in the San language, bringing the beautiful Good News to those who are perishing.
Mama Fae is a seeker, who’s studied our first story set. She is not yet convinced that Jesus is the one way to the Father, but wants to keep studying. I’ve been trying to meet with her to study John, but many things get in the way – work, family illness, children’s behaviour. Please ask for protection over her family and work, wisdom to find a good time to study, and most importantly an open heart to receive Jesus as Lord.
The churches we’ve visited seem to show the characteristics of a people “cast down but not destroyed, persecuted but not forsaken” (2 Cor 4:8). Within these churches we meet many gems, small groups of people dedicated to prayer and the battle to raise godly children. Praise God for slow but solid growth within the ministries across this region. Three Makwe men are now faithfully running the radio station, reaching many with the Gospel over the airwaves. Pray for one MBB called Bwana; he faithfully and boldly goes out to share the word of Christ, and more of the believers are wanting to join him. Pray that the Lord will provide all of their needs according to his riches in glory and bring many more Makwe to faith in Jesus!
Many years ago a small team of mother tongue translators translated the book of Matthew. The Sakalava people began to listen to the word of God in their mother tongue. A local Sakalava (secular) band became friends of the team created songs made up of the translated Bible verses. Later they themselves became Christians, and many Sakalava people came to faith. One of our missionaries, Rosina—a Sakalava herself—writes, “I have been invited by an organization called Spoken to lead a team of mother-tongue translators. They are partnering with AIM and I will be based in Nosy Be, my home.” Pray that the translation work in Sakalava will bring the Bread of Life to the hungry, the Living Water to the thirsty; pray that the funding and resources needed would be generously provided; pray for those who will make up this team of Sakalava believers, that they would be committed and hard-working, all for the glory of God.
Come Holy Jesus and purify the church by your blood. Remove the hatred and unforgiveness. Let each one live at peace as far as it depends on them. May your children long to gather and fellowship and praise God together.
Praise God that a new missionary family will soon be moving to Madagascar, and reaching out to the Karana-Gujarati people there. Pray for strength and energy, for clear minds and wisdom, for good connections with K-G people through the local church; ask the Lord to provide divine appointments with those who need salvation and freedom from Islam. Pray for the local church to put aside prejudices against this people group, and instead have the compassion and love of Christ to share the treasure they hold in jars of clay.
We are now part of Som** Prayer Network. This groups is made up of MBB’s and missionaries from other organisations. We seek the Lord’s guidance as we passionately seek His face as we move forward as joint labourers’ in His vineyard. In the last meeting, an MBB requested that we pray that they will no longer be seen as a secret (home) church but come out in the open and boldly declare that they are part of the Church of Christ that is lighting the world. Please pray with us for that.
Praise the Lord for a large team working amongst the Mwani people, serving him by bringing the Good News to the lost! This team is an intercultural team: please lift them up to the King of Kings as they navigate working together and serving one another “…so that (they) may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God…” Col. 1:10. Pray that as team members interact with Mwani friends, neighbors, shopkeepers, etc., that the Lord would use them as instruments of his peace, love and truth, and that many lost will be found and brought into the Kingdom of God.
While praying through Rev 2 a believer received a picture of small candles trying to get charcoal going… one white hot spot directly above the candle… but until the whole chunk turns white hot… it doesn’t affect the ones around it. And if you take it out by itself… it burns out. But once the whole chunk is white hot those around it also burn… and you can pour lots of new charcoal on top and it will still burn.
Praying for each disciple to be baptized with the Spirit and fire, for first love to not grow cold, for strong deep roots and bold proclamation.
The body of believers have had a rough couple of weeks. One had a young cousin who passed away suddenly. Another is facing a difficult situation with her children. One couple is struggling to have children. Please pray for these precious brothers and sisters as they walk through the trials of life. May they know that Jesus is with them in the grief and sorrow, know His love and comfort, and continue to trust Him even when things seem so broken. Pray for wisdom for us as a team to know how to encourage and support the local followers during these difficult times.
