Mission Africa Prayer Letter August 2018

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 NKJV

Friends: Greetings in our Lord’s love, grace and peace! John 3:16 is a favorite verse of ours and it really communicates one of the major goals of our work and that is to evangelize the lost and needy. In the Alur language of Uganda John 3:16 (Yohana 3:16) reads: “Kum Mungu maru ng’om mumbe, ketho emio Wode kulong’, kara ng’atu ma tek uyie kud erwiny ki, endre ebed ku kwo ma rondo ku rondo.” And in our Street Kid Outreach as in all of our efforts we seek to bring God’s powerful Word to the people that they may believe in Jesus and so have everlasting life. Pictured at the top left are members of our Street Kid Outreach (from left to right): Kizza, Pastor Sunday, Adam , Peace and her new baby girl and one of the Street Boys we are blessed to love and serve. Not pictured are Benjamin and Apophia who serve the Street Boys at Discipleship House. Please pray for these wonderful friends and faithful co-workers who constantly bring the truth of God’s salvation to the Street Kids. In the second photo from the top the Street Kids from our Day Shelter are enjoying a recent swimming party (with football)! You can see that they REALLY ENJOYED the party—with a headstand no less!!! Pictured below are three boys who are a part of our current Street Kid group being served at the Day Shelter. The boy in the top left photo was recently reconciled home after a time of  trouble on the streets, two boys of the streets died recently and six of our boys wanted to go home and were reconciled home in July after the deaths. God’s truth resounds, whoever believes in Jesus the Son of God will not perish but has everlasting life!!!! One of the boys who died was a regular at our Day Shelter and professed faith in Christ and our workers say they saw a change in him. Please pray that God will further grace this ministry component and all involved in it in His truth and love.

In our other outreaches including the Prison/HIV+ Outreach, Children’s Ministry, Pastoral Development, Church Planting, Radio Sermons, and Preaching and Teaching we also seek to evangelize. In the photo in the lower right corner is Z_______ who recently passed on to the Lord Jesus. She was a N______, and was part of an unreached people’s group in Uganda. She professed faith in Christ and showed good signs of being born again and was baptized through the ministry of one of our workers, a pastor who evangelizes the N______’s. Please pray for her family (one of her sons professes faith in Christ) and for other N_______’s to come to faith in Jesus. About 20 of them are now meeting in secret meetings and we hope to establish an open church in their community as God wills in the future. Pray for the pastor who brings the Good News to the N_______’s.

Also please join us in prayer:

For the salvation of God’s people and for the edification of the Church through Mission Africa. For God’s blessings on our ministry components, evangelism and discipleship efforts. For Sustainable Church Planting and Multiplication to take place. For wisdom and direction in God’s leading and for His Spirit’s unction and empowerment in ministry. For personal and corporate Revival. For God’s love to be evident and manifest in all that we do.

“Prayer is the longing of the soul to hold communion with the Most High, the desire of the heart to obtain blessings at His hands.” C.H. Spurgeon

KAPPY’S CORNER —The Façade

The sunlight was drowsy and gentle on our backs that morning. As we walked, lost in conversation, we kept our eyes on the sidewalk for one good reason. Roots from the old trees in the oldest part of town had pushed the sidewalk into foot-catching ridges. As my daughter and I came to the front steps of an old red brick building, I glanced up. I had always liked that building with its old wooden door and narrow windows on either side. It spoke of the history of the town. But this day there was something different. The windows were filled with sunlight from inside. The roof was gone. The front wall stood alone. A few steps further and we could see around the front wall. There was nothing behind but a straight drop into a deep pit with rubble at the bottom. My first thought was, don’t open that door!

The scene I have described is a perfect example of the word façade in all of its definitions. The front, or façade, of the building stood where it had always stood, but it was now a false front with nothing behind it but danger. It occurs to me this presents a clear picture of one of the devil’s favorite tricks. He presents us with something attractive that looks reasonable and solid. It may be something we have seen in the past as acceptable, maybe an old habit or old belief. Some behavior we might excuse in ourselves as harmless, or what some may call a besetting sin. But these things belonged to the ‘old man’ and for those of us who are ‘new creations’ in Christ these behaviors no longer have control over us. If we look at the old things straight on and see them for the empty, possibly dangerous, things they are, we have taken the first step away from temptation. I don’t know about you, but the next thing I have to do is beg the Lord to give me grace to resist the temptation—and He always does.

As long as we live on this earth we will be tempted. In fact, I’ve heard it said that the closer we draw to the Lord the more the devil will try, like those old tree roots under the sidewalk, to trip us up. But the Way, the Truth, and the Life has opened our eyes to see the lie, or façade, for what it is. He has opened our ears to hear His voice. All we have to do is trust and obey when He tells us, Don’t open that door!  

For our Lord Jesus and His people,

Jim and Kappy