Dear HeartCry and Supporters,
In the past two months, I witnessed God’s faithfulness in that he drew sinners to Christ when we faithfully proclaimed the Gospel to them. Thank the LORD for his faithfulness in providing us with the necessities in the ministries through your partnership with us by your faithful prayers and generous supports.
Family and Local Church
Over the last two months, I have been able to be with my family more extensively than in previous months. I enjoyed fellowshipping and worshiping together with my wife and kids. I appreciate the biblical value HC holds that the family comes first in our ministry. I have been particularly encouraged by Brother Paul Washer’s “personal message for the end of 2020.” By God’s providence, the local church I pastor was able to gather on certain occasions. When we don’t gather, I minister the Word of God by having someone play my prerecorded audio or live sermons to them, whereby their souls feed on the Word expounded and are growing in grace.
The church is growing in numbers. We are located in a suburb area, and more settlers are coming to the village, and they would generally join us. Some of them come to settle here to join the church, while others moved here for easy access to education and health care in the town. Please remember for this congregation that soon, we would have a decent church building containing all members and hold conferences when we return to normal condition.
Baptisms and New Local Churches Planted
The greatest joy and visible reward of the Gospel ministry while on earth are seeing new conversions and plant local churches. Near the end of November, I baptized eleven new converts and planted a new local church in the village. We are still yet to construct a village-style temporary church building and to send out a missionary there. There are ten more animistic families we are to win to Christ. The conversions result from our multiple preaching trips and our missionaries’ living testimony who are leading the nearby two newest churches planted last year. Recently, we also had another joyous occasion of seventeen people baptized and added to local churches. They were from different places where we had sent out evangelists living among them and preaching the Gospel. A few of them are from a new village where we now need to send another missionary to lead the new converts and preach to the rest of those villagers.
On another occasion, we started a new village, and a local church, for a few families who fled from other areas because of military conflicts. They were so-called Christians. We preached the Gospel to them, and we are sending a missionary there too. There are more families to come. One day, this will be a significant and healthy church as a result of our ministries. The needs are great. God is glorified. The Gospel was promoted. The power of the Holy Spirit was manifested. We are now entrusted with the care of more souls and churches. We need to send out and support missionaries who would lead local churches where those converts will be nurtured and made disciples. Please pray for this entire ministry that I oversee so that the LORD would provide us with the workers and the needs in the fields.
HC Missionaries
The particular men HC are supporting are working among the most stubborn people and in the most isolated area or a specific region. The most encouraging thing about their ministry is that they have a genuine love for the people they are preaching. Despite the location and situation they are in that would be unfavorable to many of us, they remain faithful and persistent in preaching the Gospel to them. Our missionaries R and S with their wives are faithfully living out their call. The power of the Gospel that they are preaching and their good influence on the villagers will inevitably lead to many, God willing. The other area where three of our men, C, P, and T, are working has recently seen many Covid cases. Please pray that they and their families would be safe. There seems to be little hope of effective treatment for those who contract the virus. There have been a new family converts from P’s ministry. But due to travel restrictions, they have not yet been baptized. Please pray for those men and their local congregations as well as their outreach ministries in the area. Local authorities and their neighbors esteem them. In God’s providence, I believe that the Gospel will prevail all over the region through their ministries.
Last but not least, thank you very much for your generous supports of the ministries in this part of the world. It’s because of your prayers and supports that we, the HC missionaries, can serve the LORD with dignity, effectiveness, and progress in the fields. Please do continue to pray for me, my wife, and my family, as we both have medical conditions so that I would be able to manage the stewardship God has entrusted to me faithfully. Knowing that God is working in me, I continue to preach the Gospel and plant churches both in humility and boldness. May God bless you all as we work together that His name will be great among the nations (Mal. 1:11).
In His Service, Elijah
