Leadership Training
We are currently working with around 20 main house-church leaders, and 120 other leaders of small groups, university student Bible studies, and other ministries. We are meeting through Zoom, Skype, Telegram, and WhatsApp, and following up to help them teach and lead.
This year, due to quarantine and travel restrictions, we had only 8 leaders for a 7-day training session in another country. We covered an overview of the Old Testament, and then looked at Nehemiah and Ezra deeper. We studied the meaning and application of these books and, particularly, what message they have for the new Afghan church in this time in history. Our plan is to continue doing our training for another 20 leaders in 2021.
Online Ministry
Our website is online now and we have almost all of our translated books on it as eBooks, as well as worship songs in the Dari language. We hope soon to upload articles as well. Our website is linked to all our social media platforms and also the audio Bible teaching App (Farestade). https://www.khabarkhush.org
Our media team is doing a great job engaging and answering questions on our social media platforms. We have reached thousands of Farsi and Pashtu speakers around the world with our two Facebook pages – one is more for evangelism and another for apologetics. We are using YouTube for our newly produced worship songs and also a couple of evangelistic videos in various languages and dialects of Afghanistan.
Testimonies
This year, even with all the restrictions and the increase of pressure and persecution for the Afghan church, we witnessed the growth of the church, with 14 newly established house-churches around the country, and 5 Bible study groups for those curious about Christianity. Here are a few testimonies:
“There was a man we were serving without saying we are Christians. One day he came to one of us and asked, ‘Who are you? What kind of God are following?’ This brother was surprised and said that we are following the true and living God! Then our brother asked the man why he was asking. He said, ‘You guys are serving me and my family in a way which we were never served, even my own father has not served me in that way. I am sure you are not Muslim, and I want to become like you guys.’ Then our brother was a bit relaxed and shared about Jesus. By God’s grace, the man professed faith in Christ. One of us is reading the Bible with him every week. He is so happy and reading the word of God daily.”
“I was working with a man via our Facebook page for six months. I finally met him in person and, by the grace of God, he professed faith in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. He was once a very strong Muslim, and studied in a Masjid (mosque) for several years. He planned to become a religious leader. Then he finished high school and entered university. He started reading different books and realized the Mullah’s teaching was not true. Eventually, he abandoned religion. After a few years, he became tired and realized that he cannot live like that. He could not deny that there is Someone who controls the whole world. He started searching for the real God and the true way to follow. He found himself drawn to Christianity. He wrote to us on our page and we were working with him. After several months we met him and, thank God, he professed faith in Jesus. He has started coming to a newly established home group.”
“There is a Christian young woman in our church. Last year her father forced her to marry a Muslim boy. When they got married, we were worried about her and prayed for her and her husband. We thought we had lost our sister, because our society is all about men, and women have no right to speak. Last month the wife shared the gospel with her husband and introduced him to one of the brothers from the house-church. Our brother worked with him and God touched his heart. He professed Jesus Christ as his Savior and his God. We had a Christmas celebration on 22 December and both of them came. The husband was so happy and enjoyed God’s presence in the worship.”
