DIDASKO MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN BURKINA FASO
We are so excited to share the following testimony with you: "The first Didasko Bible and Missions course in Burkina Faso, West Africa, stirred the hearts of over 30 young people for frontier missions amongst the unreached people groups (UPGs). There was a heartfelt moment when the group was crying out in prayer for more workers in the harvest".
Hearing about testimonies such as these, is such an encouragement! It is also a confirmation of the mission God gave us:
Developing free, online, video-based training for anyone, anywhere.
Disciple Making Movement (DMM) Training - in the USA
The last two months have been very exciting for us, because we have been training people at our church in DMM principles. We had been praying that we could have opportunities to minister face-to-face, not just online through our courses, and God answered that prayer in spades!
A few weeks ago, we taught them about the different kinds of people they might encounter when they talk to people: people of peace, that is people who are open for spiritual conversation; the distractors, people who are friendly but not open for spiritual things - they are most likely to waste your time and distract you from finding the people of peace; then there are the resistors, who are people that might be atheists, agnostics, or people with religious spirits who could be aggressive towards Christians; lastly there are the connectors, people who may or may not be interested in spiritual things, but who are quite willing to lead you to others who might be interested.
Afterwards, we had a fun simulation in class, with some people being 'believers' and others the 'unbelievers'. We gave the 'unbelievers' small pieces of paper with their profile written on it, which they had to act out. We created these profiles from the types we just described. It was a fun exercise. Then we took some of them on an outreach to an area in our city where there are many drug addicts and homeless people. Many of the people we trained were formerly addicts or homeless themselves, so they have true compassion for those who struggle with the same things. This was great exposure to them (and a revelation to us!). During the debrief, they said they were amazed that the people they encountered were just like the types of people we had taught them about.
Some of the early results of this DMM training:
- One woman started a women's Discovery group in another town. Apparently, at the first meeting one of the women jumped up at some point, hitting the table with her fist to show how impacted she was by what she was learning.
- Tonight a group of us is starting with Discovery Bible Studies at a drug rehabilitation center. We expect anything between 3 and 50 people in rehab will attend. We are going along to encourage them, and even to help lead groups if many people come.
- One young guy in the group told us that he found 'his people' - school kids. He wants to teach them how to have discovery Bible studies, so that they can do Bible studies with their friends at school.
- Another man in the group has a heart for homeless people, because he was one himself. In our city there are a few tent camps of homeless people. There they live in all kinds of home-made shelters. Our friend is currently scouting out these areas to find people of peace he can start Discovery groups with. Our objective is to start Micro Churches in the tent camp - taking the church to people instead of people to church.
Please pray for God's direction, grace and favour on all of them.
Teamwork
In Daniel 2 we read about king Nebuchadnezzar who had a dream. He wanted his magicians to tell him the dream and its interpretation, otherwise they would be killed. They couldn't do it, but when Daniel heard about it he asked for time to pray about the dream.
Then Daniel explained the matter to his three friends, urging them to pray, so that they would not be killed with the rest of the wise men (Dan 2:17). God heard their prayers and revealed to Daniel the dream and its interpretation. It is interesting to note that Daniel praised God, and said, You have made known to us the dream of the king (Dan 2:23). God gave Daniel the interpretation, but Daniel understood teamwork - according to Daniel, he wasn't the star in the story. They rejoiced together, because it was a breakthrough for all of them.
YOU are part of the team!
Since we started in full-time ministry in 2000, we always emphasized our partnership with you - the pray-ers, the encouragers, the financial givers, the people who give us rooms to stay in, and cars to drive with, people who spoil us with meals. You are not names on a list, you are our partners, our team workers, our friends. Just like Daniel, we know that it is a team effort that brings free training to people in places like Burkina Faso, the Philippines and India. And it is a team effort to train the people in our church to help addicts and homeless people discover who God is and how He wants them to live their lives.
We have said it before, and we are saying it again: You are an integral part of this ministry. We would love to catch up with you in a more personal way, so send us an email and we arrange a Zoom or WhatsApp call with you.
The glory is God's alone!