It is interesting that last Sunday we celebrated Palm Sunday, where Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem and the people received Him with palms branches and praises. Then just a few days later, many of those same people were crying out “Crucify Him”, and a the next day he was being crucified. The one thing that this pandemic has taught all of us, is that our world can change very fast, just like the world of the Apostles did. All of their hopes and dreams seemed to dissipate when Jesus was crucified on the cross.
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But just as that which seemed to be the worst thing that could happen (His crucifixion), actually became the best thing. Although they were not able see it in that moment, but if it had not been for His death, and then His resurrection the Gospel would not have been catapulted to the entire world. So, God took that which the Apostles thought was the worst possible scenario, and He transformed it into a new reality that launched the Gospel to all peoples of the world.
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I recently wrote an article and wrote this frase: “Change, albeit uncomfortable, pushes us to re-evaluate our ministries, our lives and make adjustments”.
This pandemic did not catch God off guard or by surprise. He is totally and Sovereignly in control of everything that is happening, just like the week that Jesus was crucified. This “new reality” that we are having to adapt to, and live in, is making us re-evaluate some of our paradigms. The one thing that we have all learned from this is that the mission of God is people (making disciples; meeting needs) not programs and buildings.
So, is God working in the midst of this pandemic? Absolutely, and He is inviting us to participate with Him. One thing that we have learned is that each and every one of us can be and are, missionaries (sent ones on a mission). It is amazing to see what God has been doing in churches here in the U.S. Churches that would have hundreds or maybe even thousands in their buildings on Sunday’s are now preaching multiplied numbers of people than ever before. It is amazing to see fellow believers reaching out into their own communities meeting needs and giving hope. What we thought as the worst possible thing that could happen (our church buildings being shut down) is actually that which is catapulting the Gospel of Christ around the entire world.
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I would like to take some time to tell you what God is doing around the world with some of the missionaries that we have helped to send out to the field.
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In Southeast Asia, a country that has been growing increasingly more hostile to the Gospel. A Peruvian young lady that we sent told us that the leaders of the village are asking Christians to pray to their God so that they would be protected from this pandemic and that it would stop. She said,” I have never seen a greater openness in this place to the Gospel than now.”
We have a Venezuelan family in Central Asia, in a totally closed country that has been devastated by this pandemic. Their language school has been closed for over a month, but this week opened back up, and the very first day, they began to converse with their language instructor about Jesus, and she made a decision to follow Christ right there!
A Mexican family that we helped to send to the Middle East have a small house church in thier city. Obviously because of the very tight lockdown in their country they cannot meet. They decided to launch a church website, they now have over 500 people listening to their teachings, and over 10,000 people in this completely mslm country have visited their website!
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Another Salvadorian family in the same country wanted to take food bags to the refugee’s and the poor of their city but they did not have enough to share. They began to pray about that, and a friend called them and said, I have food bags made up, but I cannot go out, can I give them to you so you can give them out. They were able to give them out to some very needy families in their city, and God began to open even more doors for there ministry there.
A Venezuelan family we helped to send to East Africa have been feeding street children, they give them food, and also teach them the Bible. The week before last, the leader of an islmc school for boys asked if he could send his students to their feeding program. He said, I know you are Christians, and that you teach the Bible, but you are people of God, and my students are hungry. They are now taking food and soap into that school, and the leader allows them to teach the Bible there!
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A Peruvian doctor that we sent to the Middle East several years ago has been discipling a group of young ladies. One of her disciples led a young man to faith in Christ who was thrown out of his house for following Christ. He is now making videos of his conversion and posting them on social networks (very dangerous in this context), but he said that in the midst of this pandemic, people have to know that Jesus in our only hope.
Another Mexican family serving in the Middle East, a different country, said that they would normally see 2-3 people come to faith in a year, but now they are seeing 2-3 people come to faith every single week since the pandemic!
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Another Peruvian family we helped to send to Europe have started a church, and normally have about 40 people in attendance, but since they have launched their Facebook live services, they have around 170 watching!
This is not all that God is doing, He is doing so much more than we can even imagine, but we wanted to share just a sample of some of the things that He is doing with Latin American missionaries around the world.
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