The Kingdom of God grows by faith, time, and effort. We both continue to be challenged by the projects and schedule that God has assigned us. But often things that matter take time to develop. We are both extremely excited about two projects that are completed or nearing completion soon. Thank you for your prayers and encouragements which keep us going.
FOCUS ON JAPANESE SONSHIP
About 30 years ago when we were struggling in ministry, God sent a couple to mentor us through a spiritual renewal program called Sonship. God used this not to change our circumstances, but to change us. And we have not been the same since. Over the years He has given us the privilege of mentoring other couples through this same program. We saw lives transformed before our very eyes. Soon we started dreaming that this 16-week course would someday be available in Japanese. Well, the time has come. A Japanese pastoral couple are translating the lesson material into Japanese, and we are mentoring them online through the Gospel Process. Because of the high language demands in Japanese, this is quite the challenge for us, but God does not give a challenge without also giving the strength and background needed. This may be the most significant project we have done with the Japanese. Last Sunday evening we taught lesson 14 on Gospel driven forgiveness. In a couple of weeks, we will face the Gospel and Conflict, then an overview lesson. We are almost done with this career length project. God is truly faithful. Pray for the next steps. They will need to develop mentors, develop the curriculum in Japanese, and begin multiplying this resource throughout Japan.
FOCUS ON PERSPECTIVES ON THE WORLD CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT
Just last week John taught his assigned lesson in Perspectives on the Christian Movement course. It is a 15-week course and John taught Lesson 14 on Pioneer Church Planting in Rockford, Elmhurst, and Elgin Illinois as part of this major course on mission. John shared about his ongoing church planting projects with the Japanese and leaders in South Asia. In total, about 70 students attended the course over the three locations. John, even though he is a certified instructor, took the entire course again to learn more about the course and especially learn the kinds of audiences he would teach.
Perspectives is a 15-week course on the Biblical, Historical, Cultural, and Strategic aspects of working with Unreached People Groups. Students have reading assignments and meet with an instructor once a week and can be taken for college credit or just a certificate. We are praying for more opportunities to teach the course in various places in the US. Each year over 10,000 people in the US take the Perspectives course. For more information, please check out www.Perspectives.org. Pray especially that John’s recent students would be inspired and motivated to impact the remaining over 7,000 Unreached People Groups with their appropriate role (learning, sending, praying, mobilizing, going).
