Dani, a Bible teacher and leader in a lowland Manubu’ church, visited us a couple of days ago with his wife. Dani had some questions about some things he is teaching at the church. He is also part of a team of Manubu’ Bible teachers who have been doing an outreach to another village we’ll call Santa T. He told us about an elderly lady of the village. Before they started teaching they talked with her and she was very boastful about what a great and moral person she is. She said that she was the government leader (Captain) of the village for many years and was a great help to many people. And that, even now, she advises village leadership. She also boasted that she attended church every Sunday and gave a lot of money to the church (a good works for eternal salvation church).
But, she did listen to the 42 lesson evangelical phase that the Manubu’ Bible teachers taught. After listening through from Genesis to the cross, she recognized that she was a decedent of Adam and a sinner separated from God. And she believed that Jesus, the lamb of God as typified by the substitutional lambs in the OT, died on the cross to pay for her sin. She commented, “Oh my, before I heard this I was in a really dangerous situation for sure because I was trusting in all the good I was doing.”
There are now a number of believers at Santa T and one young man is learning to teach God’s Word under the supervision of the Bible teachers. He is presently teaching the evangelistic phase to children.
These Manubu’ Bible teachers persevered for many months traveling to that village to teach every week. For many months they traveled for a couple of hours each way hiking through the jungle to reach the village. Awhile ago, we helped the believers in the Bible teachers’ sending church to buy a motorcycle for the Bible teachers, and they can now travel to that village by road – and also to more outreaches.
Please*PRAISE* God with us for those Manubu’ Bible teachers and what God has done through them at Santa T. And, please *PRAY* for the ongoing teaching there both of the evangelical phase and of the book of Acts to those who have professed faith in God’s plan of eternal salvation. And *PRAY* also that more there will be saved and that the ones who have been saved would go on strong for the Lord.
*PRAY* also with us that the Lord would raise up more Bible teachers from among the believers there who will not only teach and lead their fellow believers in their church, but also reach out to other villages. Believers reaching out to other villages and then training ones who are saved through their teaching to reach out to other villages and so on is how the good news spreads.
A month ago we asked you to pray for a new evangelical outreach from Dani’s church to a place we called Kasil. Dani told us that that outreach there is going very well – that there are a number of families listening. Please continue to *PRAY* for that outreach.
Nearly 30 years ago Gene taught the first group who became believers here in the dialect where we live and then also the first group in the lowland dialect – about 40 people altogether. Since then, all of the many many outreaches teaching those 42 evangelical lessons and beyond – all the church planting – has been done by those first believers and the ones they taught and the ones they taught. And it is still going on.
For more than 20 years now our ministry has been providing translation of the Scriptures, writing of Bible lessons, and production of other teaching material for those wonderful Manubu’ believers who are so faithful to spread God’s Word.
And, all of you who have been partners with us though prayer and encouragement, and giving have had a huge part in what God has been doing among the Manubu’ people. Thank you.