Dear Pastor, Congregation and Friends,
We’re so thankful for God’s sustaining grace in our life, family and ministry! This time last year we were in a stage of complete recovery and rebuilding after a difficult season in ministry that had affected every area of our lives. God used our pastor, Matt Anders, dear missionary and pastor friends, our extended family, and many others to help us trust in the sovereignty and goodness of God and persevere through it all. Now we look back at 2024 and see what God has done and we are thankful that we didn’t give up and quit when we were at the height of discouragement. Not only that, we see that God allowed the circumstances that came into our lives to help us grow spiritually and prepare us for present and future ministry. We know that there will be more valleys, but His grace will sustain us when they appear, just as it sustained us in the past.
After losing families and our attendance dropping considerably in 2023-2024, we now have more members and more in attendance than ever in the history of the church. Not only that, almost every month we have visitors that find us through different means. Last year we had several candidates for membership and this year we already have three more. We continue evangelising and training in evangelism and we pray that this year we would see more conversions through our efforts. One lady in our church, Marga, is being greatly used in the area of evangelism. Every week she shares with the church the many people that she is evangelising as she goes through her day, and it greatly encourages us.
Another huge difference between the beginning of 2024 and the beginning of this year is that we now have faithful men that help with the different aspects of the church service and that are strong spiritual leaders in their homes. I have started meeting up with two of these men, Joab and William, every other week. In these meetings we discuss a book that we are reading together and we make ministry plans and encourage each other in the Lord. These men, in addition to helping during the weekly services, are also leading in the men’s ministry and actively discipling other believers. I want to continue working with these men and others like them with the hope that future deacons, pastors, and missionaries could be raised up and trained for gospel ministry.
We are already seeing God work through the men’s and women’s ministries that we restarted the end of last year. In both ministries we are reading a book together, getting to know each other better, and most importantly, being open and transparent about our sins and need for growth. We are helping each other follow Jesus and that’s what we want more of in our churches. The men’s and women’s ministries are an example of the kind of discipling ministry that we want to see developed and implemented more in this new year. As always, we thank God for you. Your love, faithfulness, and generosity motivate and strengthen us!
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