Local church partnership

Please pray for the local church, that Jesus would strengthen and encourage his body. May there be unity in reaching out to the community with the love of Christ.

Man of peace

Please pray for a prominent religious leader in one area who for many years has been a “man of peace” and encouraged many to hear God’s word although he has not yet become a believer. Recently he again was excited to study God’s word and agreed with what he read. He was hungry to study more and more. He himself pinpointed the barrier within himself which is stopping him come to Christ. May God break down all barriers! May this man meet God, who is worth everything, and worth losing everything for.

Mid-week group

Please pray for a mid week group we are praying and planning will start in one village. We hope it will be the first time various secret believers and seekers will be meeting together to pray and study God’s word. Pray that God will establish this group, despite many potential challenges.

Luke recording

Praise God for a great week with 2 Alagwa speakers recording the first lot of passages from the translation of Luke in Alagwaisa. Pray for these portions of God’s word as they are listened to and studied over the next few weeks. May there be much fruit!

Completely On Her Own Initiative

Praise God for two “secret” believers in one village, both of whom have recently called their friends to join them in studying God word. One did this completely on her own initiative. May they all continue to hear God’s truth together and apply it to their lives.

All Follow Together

Please join an Alagwa believer who is praying for her husband and children to know Jesus too. They all listen to God’s word on audio players and some are really drawn by the beauty of God’s word. May the family all follow God together.

A Bold and Vocal Man

Praise God for an Alagwa man who wants to study the Bible with some of the team weekly, and is planning to bring his friends too. He has already been seeking Jesus and praying and reading the Bible for some time. He is a bold and vocal man. Please pray that he would continue to respond to Jesus and that the Holy Spirit would use him to draw others too. The first Bible study is tonight!

Chains Still Binding Them

Please pray with us for the Alagwa, that the chains that bind them and stop them making steps towards Jesus would be broken. Please also pray for a breakthrough, that the Holy Spirit would lead people to confess their sins to God and repent.

Training and outreach

Please pray for the Global Disciples evangelism training now being hosted by our local church. Believers have come from different people groups for training. There will be an outreach happening in an Alagwa village after the initial training. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to be working both in this village, and in the hearts of the believers as they receive their training.

looking for people to disciple

Please pray for the church amongst the Alagwa who have all been challenged to find at least one person to disciple from outside the church, whilst being accountable to a person from within the church. Some also attended the discipleship training seminar we ran. Please pray that each believer would be faithful and persevere in praying and seeking people to share their faith with and continue discipling them.

Needs to surrender

Pray for an Alagwa lady who has tasted and seen for many years that Jesus is good and is the way, but was not willing to leave her religion. She seems to be softening towards Jesus again; she is coming much more often to study the Bible and pray with another believing lady in the community. She loves listening to God’s word and thinking about how it applies to her. She is also happy to pray in the name of Jesus. Yesterday, she came for medicine for her daughter who was sick. We prayed for her and God brought healing that very evening. This lady said today that she thanked God for healing her daughter. May she at last bow her knee to King Jesus!

Couple sharing with family

Praise God for a couple who are continuing to follow God together, and are getting to grips with what it means to be Alagwa and follow Jesus. After a few visits to some of their wider family a few hours away, they are excited to disciple the ones amongst them who are now seeking. Please pray for this couple for continued boldness and perseverance to travel the three hours to disciple these family members and also for their protection as a couple. Please pray for their marriage and their relationships with others in their community.

Continuing to live for Jesus

Praise God for a baptised Alagwa believer who has featured a few times in PA. She has continued to live for Jesus in her community and people are asking why she is different. Recently, after teaching about discipleship, she was so encouraged that she also could be the one to encourage and teach others. Pray that she will find people to regularly disciple in her neighbourhood.

May the whole family come!

Praise God for a devout young Muslim man, and our dear friend, who has been listening to the Alagwaisa Bible stories and the Swahili Bible on an audio player. He came last night and said that he has been listening, and has questions. We encouraged him and his friend to come with their questions and we could talk together and he agreed. Earlier in the week, we asked his father, who also has scriptures on an audio player, whether he was ready to follow Jesus. He said he needed to ask his children so they could all decide together. Please pray for this extended family, where the mother/wife is already following Jesus, for all of them to decide to follow Jesus together. They are a key respected family in the area and the impact of a family decision would not only be huge for them, but for the wider community too.

Resisting the devil

Praise God for one Alagwa old lady who has been opening up her heart to Jesus for some time. She has struggled with demons for a long time, and is now clear and agrees that Jesus is the one who can help her. A team mate who has been talking and praying with her for a long time came to church with her last week. She was prayed for and one of the demons left. Later in the week she said the demons came and strongly said to her: “We don’t like that Jesus!” and she told them that she was with Jesus now. Please pray for her; there is a battle. May she continue to resist the devil, and see him flee. May she be completely released of all demonic holds on her life. May she come to know the love of Jesus more and more.

Boldness in Christ

More and more Alagwa are meeting to read and discuss Scripture, and a team is doing an oral translation of the book of Luke. Pray for a breakthrough among the Alagwa people that would result in courageous bold faith in Christ. Pray that the Christians will know and love one another, and form new loyalties and alliances in Christ as part of His Body. Pray that the Spirit will work mightily among the Alagwa people.

Confessing Jesus

Please pray for an Alagwa couple who are being discipled. They have decided to talk to their wider family and tell them they are following Jesus. This is a huge step. Please pray for them as they go (hopefully today), for courage and Holy Spirit boldness. Please pray for their family too, for open hearts to hear the good news of Jesus.

May friends follow too

Praise God for one young man who is following Jesus and now listening to Bible stories a lot in Alagwaisa. He has been encouraging a few of his friends to study God’s word with him and the pastor. Pray that they would meet regularly to study and that the Holy Spirit would cause his friends to follow Jesus too.

Needing Jesus

Praise God for a man in one neighborhood who has decided to follow Jesus. He has for some time been struggling with addictions and he was recently witnessed to by an Alagwa believer who told him that he needed to follow Jesus and that he should speak to the pastor. He did! Please pray for him, that he would continue to surrender his life to God. Please also pray for his wife, that the Holy Spirit would move her too to seek Jesus herself.

Fasting

Praise God for a new believer who got really excited when he studied about why Christians fast: I’ve never heard this before! Pray for him and other seekers and believers who are under pressure to fast for Ramadan. May they draw close to Jesus and know their salvation is only in Him.

The Word of God on Audio Players

Praise God for the many Alagwa who are excited to get the word of God on audio players. In one extended family now has the word of God playing in the 2 married sons’ houses as well as the parents. Praise God a believing wife is now listening with her husband who isn’t following Jesus yet.

Praise God too for an old man who has been quite firm in his Muslim beliefs. He heard the gospel recently and today came for an audio player. He said that he really wants to get back to God. When someone said they knew he would find God because the Bible says those who seek will find, he said wistfully if I could find God, that would be so good. Please pray for this man, that he would know the God who loves him and gave everything to save him.

Under Stress

Please pray for a number of seekers whose family units and also relationships within the family are under attack. Pray for protection for the families and for God’s spirit to bring peace. Please also pray that those seeking Jesus would not be distracted but continue to seek him and give him their whole lives.

Under Stress

Please pray for a number of seekers whose family units and also relationships within the family are under attack. Pray for protection for the families and for God’s spirit to bring peace. Please also pray that those seeking Jesus would not be distracted but continue to seek him and give him their whole lives.

God, Speak!

Please pray for the church amongst the Alagwa that is meeting regularly for the now monthly night of prayer and fasting. Pray that God would speak to them and draw others from the community in. Last month, a man who had previously beat his daughter for following Jesus visited the prayer night.

Meet Openly

Praise God for the Thursday group studying the Bible and praying together in one Alagwa village. Please pray for another village, where there are a few “secret” believers and some seekers, that they would also start to meet altogether regularly for fellowship and Bible study and prayer. May they gather and be able to encourage one another and spur one another on to love and witness.

Brokenness

Pray for one village area where there is a lot of brokenness. Praise God that some people are beginning to recognize that brokenness and that they cannot fix themselves. May the Holy Spirit bring about godly repentance in hearts and a turning to Jesus. (2 Cor 7:10).
Please pray specifically for one man of peace in the community who is already taking steps to bring reconciliation and seek Jesus as the only one who can heal brokenness.

Press on

Please continue to pray for the church in Kwa Madebe, those who were trained in discipleship, and also for the more secret believers, that they would all continue to press on to know Christ (Phil 3: 10). May they share the good news of reconciliation with many in their communities.

No Longer Afraid

We praise Jesus that S, a fearful neighbor we told you about in July, is continuing to visit with us in our home and has begun hosting us in his home as well. He is no longer fearful of visiting! Recently he was talking about Jesus and the prophet of Islam in our home with some other neighbors. He was accused of “haram” (sin) repeatedly by one of the neighbors. S continued to adamantly defend his beliefs of mixing the two religions, which includes Jesus as the Savior. We praise Jesus for the boldness of S and the deep hunger he has for God’s Word. We pray that he would choose Jesus completely and boldly proclaim that Jesus is the only Savior!

Persecuted Brothers

And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭10:36‬ ‭
Please keep praying for two brothers. One of them has left the village. His father and other village elders have their minds fixed to bring him harm. Pray that this young believer will surround himself with Godly people who will continually point him to Jesus. May this time out of the village be God-ordained and part of the overall plan for the Alagwa to come into the Kingdom.

Identified with Christ

Please pray for a couple who are really showing evidence of their faith in Christ in their private lives. In their public lives, they are still behaving and self identifying as Muslims. May God’s Holy Spirit give them the understanding to see that their identity is now in Christ, and the strength to let their lights shine.

Trusting their Heavenly Father

In the past year two sons of a powerful village elder have become baptized believers.  Their father is trying to use scare tactics about their inheritance to control them. He has summoned them to court tomorrow. Please pray that they will trust their Heavenly Father, and his Holy Spirit will continue to remind them of his love that doesn’t control us through fear.

Remarkable

We have witnessed a remarkable amount of growth from those who attended a discipleship training. They have built lasting relationships with other seminar participants and continue to stay in contact and encourage each other. Just this week they met again in a different area to learn more about preparing and sharing God’s Word. They continue to visit and do outreach in the local village where they ministered during the training seminar. We continue to praise Jesus for the mighty way he is working and continues to work to share His glory among the lost.

Lord, Strengthen The Alagwa Believers!

Please pray for the believers, that they may be strengthened with power in their inner beings through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith (Eph 3, 16-7)

You prayed…God is answering

On Mar 9, 2018 you prayed for this request: “Praise God for the Alagwa woman baptised a few months back. Despite having come from a hugely demonic background, she is continuing to follow Jesus and rely on him. Please pray for her as she continues to be discipled. Please pray for protection and – Ephesians 3, 17-8- a deepening understanding of how much God loves her.” And God is answering: “Praise God that this woman is continuing to grow in Jesus and seek to surrender her life to him. Praise God that she has recently been asking for prayer that she would become a light in her village to draw others to Jesus.”

You prayed…He answered

On May 7, 2018 you prayed for this request: “Please pray that the Alagwa will overcome any fears they have and put their faith and confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Pray that those who have done so will be a powerful influence and example to others who are considering whether to take the step of faith.” And God answered this way: “We have seen individuals being bold in their sharing of faith. One of the disciples who attended the discipleship training traveled to share Jesus with several other villages. May Jesus be praised!”

You prayed…God is answering

On Aug 13, 2018 you prayed for the following request: “An Alagwa friend called to say she would be unable to visit our village, because she was sick. When we discussed rescheduling she told me, ‘tomorrow I have church.’ Praise Jesus! This friend is fighting a hard battle right now against the evil of this world. Please pray for her to have continued encounters with Christ.” How God is answering: “August to December has seen a huge change in our friend who is now attending church weekly. Despite the battle, she is choosing to seek Jesus and is encountering him regularly. Praise Jesus he is faithful and is present with us even amidst the storms.”

You prayed…God is answering

On Jan 16, 2018 you prayed for this request: “Please pray for the 5 believers who were baptised Christmas Eve, for their discipleship and strengthening. Pray especially for one of them who had been possessed and oppressed by serious demonic forces for many years. In the last few months, she finally accepted her need for Jesus and decided to follow him. This is a huge step for her. Please pray for her protection, and that the Holy Spirit will teach, strengthen and protect her over the coming weeks and months.” And God is answering: ” This lady is continuing to walk with Jesus! It has not been an easy path, but if feels like God is teaching her deep things along the way.”

Determined Families

Two families who have been separately listening to the recorded Bible stories have almost finished and were encouraged to start meeting all together. They immediately set a plan for themselves for every Thursday late afternoon. This is such an answer to prayer! The first week, there were many obstructions and obstacles it was unbelievable. It felt like an attack on many levels. Some gossip has started about them too, that they’re becoming Christians, but they say they’re still committed to making it happen again this Thursday. Please pray for them, and pray against Satan.

Sharing Jesus

One of the disciples who attended the discipleship training last month is traveling to share Jesus today with several other villages. He’s been invited to pray with a family whose child is 4 years old yet unable to walk. Please pray with us for traveling mercies, open doors, and open hearts on his journey. May Jesus be praised!