Liz and I praise God for the 48 years we have had, to date, serving the Lord in the interior of northeast Brazil, and for the health and strength, both physical and spiritual, that we have to continue this work with great joy and pleasure for His glory.
We are the longest serving missionaries EAB has had and it is a privilege to be at the hub of Mission activities, in churches and projects, to this day. Whilst we have health and strength our pleasure is to serve the Lord as we are doing. As we compare ourselves with three of the Democratic candidates vying to be the president of the USA this year, which is a pretty demanding job, we feel youngsters!
Thus we ask you to especially pray for us and support us in this exciting period of ministry that we are involved in for God. We are leaders and coordinators of 88 churches, (small, medium and large) & multiple community projects to express God's love including rural community projects building underground dams, drilling wells, setting up market gardens, bee keeping for honey and goat rearing. All such projects always aim to help the poor help themselves and not be simply paternalistic hand-out people. We teach, behind all this, how such community development must be done in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way, backed up by our Green Pastures Nature Reserve and Christian Conference Centre which is a living example of what we preach. (Carnival Camp there from February 22-26 would welcome help to get poor families there @ £30 per person for the 5 days)
In other fields of the work we run many small Action schools for those in extreme poverty, empower women to defend their rights, combat domestic violence and generate income by training them to make handicraft (Desert Flower Project), run a Christian Care Centre where a dentist treats the poor (principally children), the deaf are blessed and our seniors too. Our food bank is run here as well, for those in emergency need.
We manage to do so much because we are "team people". That is, we enjoy working in and with teams. Our work needs to be understood as a series of multiple interlinked circles (teams) which all work together for God and our neighbour. We are leaders of a central team, and each church has a pastor and team of leaders, and all projects are church based and have teams of leaders. Liz and I have the joy of being involved with all these teams and are ultimately leaders of this, working together with this army of Christian workers built up over the years, and above all else, working together with God, and with His people who pray for us and support us, which is you.
So as we have plunged into 2020 we ask you to reinforce your prayers and support for us. The support of us your missionaries is key to these widening circles of Christian outreach and ministry. The core general fund of our Mission contributes to the entire work in terms of churches, leadership training and social action projects. We are not just leading a secular charity! We are leading a branch of God's church in a dry, barren and very needy part of Brazil which has in recent years seen much confusion, added to the religious mix, with abhorrent prosperity theology teaching.
We march on in 2020 on our knees! We march on proclaiming the fantastic good news of Jesus! We march on speaking out for the voiceless and loving the unloved because that's just how Jesus loved us!
We count on your prayers! We count on your support! All is for the glory of God!
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