"The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."--Matthew 25:40 NIV
PRAISES:
Answered Prayers
Each year, in preparation for Nazarene World Week of Prayer (NWWP*) NMI asks the regions how God answered the prayers in the previous year’s NWWP. Below are a few of the many ways God responded to the prayers of His people for Eurasia and Mesoamerica Regions requests: *NWWP is this week, March 2-7)
Eurasia Region
•Original request: Please pray for many leadership transitions taking place on the region this year. •God’s answer and update: Thank you for praying for the twelve new district superintendents and the election of our new regional director, Rev. Arthur Snijders, this past year. Please continue praying for these transitions and the four new field strategy coordinator transitions to take place this coming year.
•Original request: Please pray that the literature ministry in South Asia will grow. Pray for more gifted translators, editors, and proofreaders, and that more materials, especially for the education of students and pastors, could be developed.
•God’s answer and update: In Sri Lanka, two of the three tracks of the Course of Study materials for the ministerial preparation of pastors have now been translated into Sinhala. Previously, the Course of Study was only available in Tamil; but with the growing number of Sinhala speaking students, the need for the education of pastors in their own language had become very apparent. This translation addresses this need. Moreover, the two finished tracks of the Course of Study in Sinhala have been recently posted on the Wesleyan Holiness Digital Library site and are available worldwide. The growing awareness of the need, the response to it, the availability of translators and editors, all point to a wonderful answer to prayer! Please continue praying for the original request in all the countries of South Asia.
Mesoamerica Region
Thanks to the Lord for His answer to prayer presented in 2013: •We prayed that the Nazarenes in the Mesoamerica Region would have a greater passion for supporting the financial arm of missions, including the World Evangelism Fund. As a region, we set a goal to raise US $400,000; and to the honor and glory of God, we received US $484,987.83.
•We prayed for the GENESIS project, that young people would be challenged to serve as volunteer missionaries. We thank God for six young people who have been selected to be part of church planting in the region.
PRAY FOR:
GLOBAL MINISTRY REQUESTS
Nazarene Health Ministries
Please pray for Nazarene Health Ministries in Papua New Guinea – including the Nazarene Hospital at Kudjip, rural health centers at Imane, Sangape, Bana, and Ulamagi, and our primary health care outreach. All will be greatly affected by a new free primary and subsidized specialty care policy being handed down by the government. Many decisions need to be made regarding the hospital’s role in this plan and how health care ministry can continue under the potential demands brought about through this policy. The government is still clarifying many things. Please pray for wisdom for the politicians, National Department of Health, Christian Health Services, Nazarene Health Ministries, and church leaders as how to respond to any changes brought about. Pray that whatever happens, Nazarene Health Ministries can continue to serve as a light of hope to hurting people."
Nazarene World Week of Prayer
The annual Nazarene World Week of Prayer (NWWP) is nearly here. The dates this year for NWWP are Sunday, March 2 – Saturday, March 8. During NWWP, we encourage churches to develop a plan to involve their people in praying specifically for requests received from each Global Mission region. The requests are posted on the NMI website and can be viewed and downloaded by clicking here. We will also include some NWWP requests in PML for the next four weeks. This week’s NWWP requests are: Persecuted Church (Global, not necessarily Nazarene)
Kenya: Pastor Murdered
A pastor was murdered in the early morning hours of February 2 while guarding the Glory of God Ministries Church in Mombasa. Although police are still investigating the murder, it is believed that radical factions may have killed the 59-year-old assistant pastor for alerting police about security threats and for preaching the Gospel close to a mosque. (Voice of the Martyrs)
Nigeria: Village Attack
Pray for the people in northeast Nigeria who were affected by a series of violent attacks on February 15. At least 200 people were killed and scores of homes and businesses burned. More than 120 of the dead were from Borno village of Izghe, a predominantly Christian town.“Christians live in perpetual fear of being attacked. In recent days, it becomes very risky to travel from one place to another as attacks have become recurrent, almost on daily basis. We feel lonely and abandoned and rely on God for our security,” a church official said. World Watch Monitor withheld his name to preserve his safety. (World Watch Monitor)
Mesoamerica Region:
Please pray for:•The regional leadership (director, ministry coordinators, staff, and their families), field (strategy coordinators, ministry coordinators, staff, and their families), district (superintendents, ministry leaders, and their families) and local (pastors, ministry leaders, congregations, and their families) in the Mesoamerica Region.
•God to raise up and send more workers to plant churches in urban centers of the Mesoamerica Region.
•The GENESIS project, which was created to plant churches in countries where there is no Church of the Nazarene and in big cities where we have little or no presence.
•Areas where the GENESIS project is starting in April 2014:
•Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
•Veracruz, Mexico
•San Pedro Sula, Honduras
•Grenada in the Caribbean English Field
Africa Region
•Pray for African churches to be more connected with their communities. Also ask God to provide funds and human resources to churches to equip and empower the soul winning strategies. •Pray for more non-government organizations (NGOs) to be established to provide assistance to women and children. Both people groups need education and assistance on how to make positive lifestyle changes.
•Pray for the new work in the island of Mauritius. It is a predominantly Hindu community. There is also Roman Catholic and Islamic influence present. The pastors need much prayer support.
•Pray for street kids who have lost their childhood. They are totally dependant on the generosity of strangers. This endangers them to other forms of abuse.
Asia-Pacific Region
Philippines and Micronesia Field:
•Pray for the rehabilitation efforts in the disaster affected areas of the Philippines. Pray as the church engages in rebuilding homes of more than a hundred Nazarenes and eight church buildings that were totally destroyed by the typhoon. Pray for Nazarene teams that are engaged in other interventions such as clean water, sanitation and hygiene; providing psychosocial and trauma recovery activities for children, protection for women, and livelihood rehabilitation for farmers and fishermen.
•Pray for the church planting efforts in twelve strategic cities where the church is not yet in the Philippines and for church planting efforts in Palau in Micronesia. One of these cities in the Philippines is considered as the back door for human trafficking activities. Pray that the church will be more intentional and passionate about planting churches and being God's agents of transformation.
•Pray for Leadership Development, especially among young people, lay people and emerging leaders, in the Philippines and Micronesia.
•Pray for the students, faculty, and staff at Visayan Nazarene Bible College and Philippine Nazarene College.
•Pray for Dr. SeungAn Im, as he begins his assignment as president of Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary in Manila.
•Pray for the effective ministry of the 15 JESUS Film teams in the Philippines as they work with district leadership to expand into new areas.
South America Region
•Pray for the Brazil Sub-Región and each one of its Fields: Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Central, and Brazil South.•Please pray for the RE-VISION Conference that will convene in Quito, Ecuador, in April and for the Regional Advisory Council meetings that will follow.
•Pray for the Regional Ministry Coordinators of South America: Liliana Almeida (NMI); Jimmy de Gouveia (NYI); Patricia Picavea (SDMI); Germán Picavea (Communications); José David Acosta (NCM); Jorge Julca (Theological Education); Carlos Fernandez (Leadership. Evangelism, Literature); Fernando Almeida (Global Mission)
Eurasia Region
•Please pray for young leaders to be encouraged and supported as they seek to serve their fields, districts, and local churches.•Please pray for safe travels to all attending the District Assemblies in the CIS Field in early March.
•Prayer is requested for the children and youth camps throughout the CIS, especially for the provision of economic resources and for the leaders and their preparation.
USA/Canada Region
•Pray that young ministers in the USA/Canada Region will continue to discover balance in leading a church/ministry and also in leading their young and growing families.•Pray that God will continue to help our pastors and people discover and refine how to make Christlike disciples.
•Pray that God will send a revival of holy love to each of the 5,021 churches in the United States and Canada.
•Pray that each of our churches will experience vibrant renewal inside the Body and that renewal will lead to a new passion for reaching the lost and hurting of our communities.
•Pray that every USA/Canada Church of the Nazarene will be known as a body of loving people, so that people in need will know they can find help among us.
•Pray that Nazarenes in the United States and Canada will continue to have a spirit of generosity so missionaries can continue their work around the world.
Call to Prayer for Global Theology Conference
Nazarenes from around the world will gather next month in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the denomination’s third global theology conference. The Board of General Superintendents (BGS) is calling on Nazarenes to join in a month of prayer for this historic and impactful event. The prayer emphasis began on February 23 and will continue throughout the conference, which takes place March 23–27, 2014.
Board of General Superintendents
Please pray for the ministry and safety of the General Superintendents as they travel this month: Jerry D. Porter
J. K. Warrick
Eugénio Duarte
David W.Graves
David A. Busic
Gustavo A. Crocker
HEALTH-RELATED REQUESTS
Janet NealThank you for your continued prayers for Janet Neal who was medevaced on March 3 to Singapore along with her husband, Warren, after she experienced heart problems. The regional office in Singapore is monitoring the situation closely. The Neals write: "What a whirlwind the last 48 hours have been! We have seen the hand of the Lord at work in so many ways. We are now in Singapore where I (Janet) spent less than 24 hours in a cardiac care unit. I am so glad to get rid of all the wires and tubes! All the tests were good—no medical reason for the "broken" heart on Sunday. We are now staying with friends from Iowa who we are friends with on Facebook but hadn't officially met. Isn't that amazing? And more than that, they live in walking distance from the hospital where I was a patient. I can easily get back for a follow-up appointment on Thursday. We are resting in God's loving provision. Thanks for everyone's prayers!"
Thank you for praying.
"How happy we would be if we could find the treasure of which the Gospel speaks; all else would be as nothing. As it is boundless, the more you search for it the greater the riches you will find; let us search unceasingly and let us not stop until we have found it."-—Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God--------
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