Friends, thanks for your faithful partnership in Jesus financially and through prayer. You all are very much part of all that we are thankful for below. You are part of the small gatherings like this happening in the ministry we get to be part of. This is all a foretaste of the truly here, but not yet fully here, Kingdom of God.
In November, for the first time, our church gathered in a joint "Giving Thanks" worship service with a Sri Lankan Tamil church that meets in our building in the afternoon. What a joy it was to sing in English, Gujarati, Hindi and Tamil.
What a joy it was to hear the pastor of the Tamil church tell how he came to follow Jesus from a another faith background 30 years ago; he was an immigrant in Paris and had a substantial health issue. A Jesus-following friend was trying to share the Gospel with him and he wanted nothing to do with it. But the friend told him where some Sri Lankan Jesus Followers gathered to worship and in a low moment of need he went there and while he watched the worship from a distance he experienced a sudden healing that made him realise the uniqueness of Jesus. Now he is a lay pastor in London and his son and daughter-in-law help to lead worship at our church and his church.
What a joy it was (during an open time where people could "give thanks") to hear really concrete ways in which God is at work, including a few others wanting to give spontaneous testimony to the joy of knowing Jesus.
What a joy it was to hear a British Sri Lankan preacher-in-training share a brief devotional from 1 Thess 5:18 "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." He reminded us that our present ability to give thanks even in very troubling circumstances is rooted in God's past faithfulness and future promises. Amen!
Was this a "friendsgiving"? Was it a "family thanksgiving'? Was it a little taste of Revelation 7? Yes and Yes and Yes.
A few from our team/church went to a British church planters gathering that we are praying about linking up with. It was such an encouraging day. Pray for wisdom and direction.
One of the things we do is offer training to different groups who want to get classroom and hands-on experience in cross-cultural outreach. We have done this for Operation Mobilisation groups and recently for a wonderful team of YWAM-ers who are all preparing to go to places of "frontier mission." Pray for the Lord to lead this group.
In His Love,
Matt & Jenn and the fam