Pray for our church partners- for local pastors and evangelists. We recieved from FJKM church 5 new pastors for the churches that were born in our region of Betroka. In 2016 the FJKM had 3 churches here in Betroka region, today they have 10 churches, 5 of them were born in the last 3 years: Mahatsinzo, Andakana and Ivahona. Pray for growth and good testimony of the believers. May God make his church keep growing among the Bara.
Shown interest
Mama Su. has agreed to start reading scripture each week and has shown interest as she and a missionary work through Matthew. Please pray that God would continue to open her heart to truth and that she would proclaim Jesus as her King and Savior as a result of the Word taking root in her!
Seeds bear fruit
Pray for the seeds we’ve planted to bear fruit. Salvation belongs to the Lord. May He draw many to Himself and build His church.
Have mercy Lord!
Please pray with us that the Lord would bring peace and prosperity to Madagascar. 80% of the population is living in poverty.There have been protests against the government since Sept 25th and now the president has fled the country and the military has seized power. There are many people from Madagascar living here, and we have many links with the country. Pray for the Lord to intervene!
Women’s conference report
We can praise the Lord, the Women’s conference went well! Please continue to pray that the seeds that were planted would produce much fruit and produce a generation of women that love Jesus and want to serve him.
Burden to pray
Praise God for an initiative to mobilize prayer for the Saharawi people among the Spanish church. May more and more feel the burden to pray for and share the good news with these dear people in our midst.
Thanksgiving
We want to thank God for the successful recording/filming of The Hope film – Creation to Christ in Somali language. Continue to pray for the final editing and uploading of the film on sttn.org website. This will bring it to be part of the +70 languages that have already been completed.
Still fragile
Pray for discipling and gathering of NBs – this remains a huge challenge! The groups are still very fragile and it seems riddled with the fear of persecution and individuals deeply ingrained with deception! Pray for God’s Holy Spirit to be poured out with power to give hunger and thirst for truth, convict and deliver from those roots of sin, and to nourish, grow and bless with the abundant LIFE of Jesus!
Suffering in war
Since the start of the war in April 2023, tens of thousands have been killed and 12 million have fled their homes. Famine has been declared in parts of the country and a cholera epidemic has broken out. Pray for this terrible situation- that the leaders of the two factions would see the suffering of their people and lay down their weapons and seek peace. Pray people would cry out to God in their distress and God would intervene.
Scripture App
Praise the Lord that a new version of the app- building program became available and we were able to get all our apps updated! Pray for islanders to continue to engage with the Scripture that is available to them. We have been advertising the Book of John. Next we will advertise the Book of Acts. Pray for more islanders to be exposed to these apps and may His Word not return void.
Heart to share
Pray that the Lord may give the believers a heart to share the gospel boldly.
Pray that the believers will remain firm in Christ despite the challenges.
Southern Shilha Berbers
Southern Shilha Berbers of Algeria
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The Southern Shilha are peacemakers. Pray that they will know Jesus, who is Himself our peace and theirs.
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Pray for revelation that Jesus is the Peace they seek.
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Pray for workers to go to the Southern Shilha and preach peace through Jesus Christ to them.
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Pray for God to call gospel workers from near cultures, like the Moroccan Shilha.
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Ask God for family movements to Christ among the Southern Shilha.
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Pray for God to raise up gospel storytellers among them.
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Ask the Lord to bring a migrant Southern Shilha into your life.
Connecting with new friends
Diaspora in Ontario: Pray for me as I build friendships with Somali women I met at the mall. Give thanks for their openness in sharing their stories. Pray we can go deeper and the Spirit would work in their hearts.
Pray for my husband as he builds relationships in the neighborhood. His strength is in starting conversations and listening well. Ask God to guide him to connect with new friends who the Lord is drawing to Himself.
Cast out of village
Please pray for Belazaina. He has been a believer for more than 6 years and decided to go to the Bible School to learn more about Jesus. However, his father became really angry at him because he is not following the Bara culture anymore. As a consequence of that, his father cast him out of the village. This village is Ambatomanga. One of the first villages we showed the Jesus film in. Pray for provision for Belazaina and for his father to repent.
Great atmosphere
Diaspora in France: We had a big welcome meal at the end of September and around 150 international students came and the atmosphere was great.
We are thankful for students who are growing in their understanding of the Gospel and participating in our house church. Pray for their salvation.
As the academic year begins, pray that God will guide us to the students He is seeking.
Thought for the day
Diaspora in Wales: The “Thought for the Day” verses from Proverbs have prompted good discussions during tea time in recent weeks. Pray for the hearts of those who come to the Women’s English and Sewing classes to be receptive to the Gospel.
Repented!
We knew one of the NBs had been lying to us. God orchestrated the perfect private meeting, with followup arrival of Timothy (a close friend of his). He was called to repent, and he responded with conviction and humility -to turn away from his sin! He prayed to confess his sin and chose to get back on the right path. Pray the NBs here will be genuine and keen in their sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s voice.
Know the truth
Diaspora in Brazil: Pray for young Aissatu, that she may know the Truth
Pray for Eliana and Venância, young believers who have faced emotional battles.
Pastors’ challenges
Pray for the pastors who are already in the field doing evangelism and strengthening the churches. Sometimes they suffer hunger, sicknesses, and long walks in the sun which discourage them sometimes from going to unreached groups with the gospel. Ask God to bring an overflow of blessing in the land, and that the pastors may get some means of mobility to reach all churches in Jiye region despite it being so large to cover.
Pray for a growth in the pastoral movement in order to see many churches coming up in the region and ensure that all people have an opportunity to hear the good news of Christ’s transformative power.
Pray for partners
Please pray for the Mahafaly people. It is difficult to access their region and that is keeping us back. We are trying to stabilize partnership with a church in that area but it has been complicated. Pray for God to make a way to build partners among this UPG.
New sister
Diaspora in Washington DC: Praise God for a new sister in Christ! May God continue to lead her in her journey of discipleship and may He guide her to be wise and innocent as she discerns how to share her faith with those she holds dearest.
Cattle raids
Taposa attacks and cattle raids have been ongoing resulting in loss of livelihoods and lives here these past couple months. We are praying that the Taposa and the Laarim will surrender themselves to the Lord and take care of their own cattle and families without inflicting pain and suffering on each other.
Fruit that will last
Diaspora in Michigan: Praise the Lord for two conversation café’s. Ask the Lord to bring the right students to minister to, recognizing that many we serve are transient.
Lord bring fruit, and fruit that will last. Open the eyes of our team and volunteers to whose hearts you are working on!
Continue to come
Diaspora in Georgia: Pray for all my ESL students to continue to come to class, and that each one will have a clear testimony of faith in Jesus by the end of the year.
Pray for the Lord to open up relationships with immigrants in my neighborhood, those whose hearts are hungry for Jesus.
Pray for a coffee time I will host for neighbors and ESL students on October 18, for relationship building and openness to the gospel. Pray also that there might be a way to provide a moms group for young international moms who want to meet American moms and practice English together.
Understanding and Faith
Pray for the girls who took a Bible home recently. One of them came to the office to read it. She was very moved and touched to see God’s love through the Book of Genesis. Let’s pray for her to continue to come and read. May God grant her understanding and faith.
The battle rages
Please pray for H, one of the young believers- his father is trying very hard to bring him back to Islam.
Pray also for A, S, and Mama N, who have all fallen away from their faith. Pray that Jesus would open their eyes and win them back.
Pray against all Satan’s schemes and efforts to hold onto the Alagwa, and all the ancestrally inherited strongholds and ways of thinking that are opposed to God. Pray for renewed minds.
New videos
Diaspora in England: Light House has several new videos and posts planned for this month which have an emphasis on explaining the Bible and people sharing their testimonies. Pray many will watch the videos and read the posts and interact with our team.
Counting the cost
Diaspora in Florida: Praise for Henry who was saved this last week. Pray for him to get plugged into a home church when he returns to his home country in a few weeks.
Pray for Tony, William, and Jasmine as they are counting the cost to following Jesus. Pray for their salvation.
Pray for the next few weeks as we are welcoming over 30 new Chinese. Pray as we host them and get connected to them for gospel conversations.
Continue to pray for fruitful conversations with the North Africans. The Moroccans are distancing themselves from us- long story- please pray for the couple of connections that we have that they will stay strong.
Farming
A recent Farming God’s Way training was just finished, showing how farming on the coast can be possible. Pray that the words of truth spoken at the training will deeply impact those who attended both in farming and in faith.
Going to hard places
Pray for good health of the church planters as they walk long distances to reach out with the gospel, going to hard to reach places, enduring persecution in some areas, which at times is scary. Pray for courage and anointing of the Holy Spirit.
New parenting class
Diaspora in England: Praise that numbers are improving in the English Conversation class. Pray for our new parenting class starting on October 9. We have a few spare places so please pray that more parents would sign up. Pray for the Lord to be at work in all our students’ lives.
Students
Pray for the men and women in Superior 1 class as we continue looking at the broken relationship between man and God. Ask that their hearts would desire to know Him more. We began the year with 19 students, but attendance has dropped to 12, with only 8–10 coming regularly. Pray that they would be consistent and that anything hindering them from coming would be removed.
Continue praying as the Superior 2 students study the New Testament. One student recently asked about dreams and visions, specifically how to know if they saw Jesus in them. Pray for him and others to have visions and dreams, and to recognize who He is.
Recording
We have been able to start up Scripture audio recording again after our island recorder was off the island for over 2 months. We have just finished recording the book of Luke and we will be starting recording the book of Matthew. Please pray for a quiet, uninterrupted environment for recording.
Professional football coach
Pray for this short-termer who will be with us for about a month, that he will be able to engage with the many S* teams that play football most of their free time. Pray that this may be the beginning of starting a football academy to reach these youth with the love of Jesus. After one month, he will move to another city to do the same.
First couples study!
Praise that on the plateau we are now studying with Ma Fiona and her husband together – our first couple’s study. Pray that it would serve both their needs and be a springboard for them sharing with others and adding to the study in their home.
Help others come
Please pray for God to raise up more Matumbi who have an intimate relationship with Jesus and want to live their lives to help others come to know Him.
Gospel bearing fruit
Praise Jesus for courageous brothers sharing the gospel and obeying the Word of God. Several have said they want to follow Jesus. Pray that each believer would keep abiding in Jesus and growing in the knowledge of God, that no heresy would creep in as the gospel bears fruit and grows (Col 1:6)
Also hear Jesus’ voice
Pray for the children’s ministry in Betroka. About 1,000 children come to the program. Pray for them and their families. We are watching a new generation of believers coming up. Pray for the fear of the Lord to come in their hearts and boldness to stand for Jesus, being a testimony to their family.
Pray for the families of the children that they also will hear the sweet voice of Jesus and leave the life of idolatry and ancestor worship.
Pastors’ visit
Pray for the pastors as they intend to visit all the churches to encourage and strengthen them with the word of God.
Pray for the spirit of endurance and patience for the pastors as they trust that they will be supported for their basic needs like medication, water, housing, and also a church building as a place to gather believers.
Get to know Christ better
Thank God for the Fellowship of believers meeting every Friday. Pray that they may get to know Christ better each day.
Pray for the plans and logistics of our annual youth camp in December. Ask the Lord to help and guide, and provide for all the preparations.
