June 5, 2008
A Life of Sacrifice
There are few things that demonstrate more the nature of Christ than living a life of sacrifice.
This is something I see demonstrated continually in the lives of the people of Madagascar I work with. Making sacrifices to bring advancement to the Kingdom of God is simply accepted as part of being a follower of Christ. Let me give you a couple of examples.
A couple of months ago I was working with a local Malagasy Pastor to plant a new church. It would become a daughter church to the one he already pastors. It is not uncommon here to have one pastor responsible for as many as 6 or more churches by themselves. They work tirelessly going from one church to another giving oversight and direction to these new, growing bodies of believers. That in itself is amazing. But that is not the sacrifice I speak of. It is actually of one of his believers.
I had gone to plant this new church in this small community about 4 miles from the main church of this Pastor. This involved spending three days holding open air evangelistic meetings, singing, preaching & praying for people to receive Christ, as well as healing. It is always a rewarding time of ministering to the people. Afterwards, the Pastor & other believers begin discipleship of these new believers in a home or building that is available.
On this particular church plant there was a woman with a small baby who was there assisting with the meetings. I was asked to give her a ride home after the first day of meetings as she lives near me. I was shocked to learn that she had walked from her home to the site of the evangelism that day to help out. It was a distance of over 15 miles (with a baby!).
She explained that she was in charge of the childrens ministry at the church, and had challenged the children of the church to never let a lack of finances or anything else, to keep them from obeying God when He spoke to them. She said it was important for her to set the example. And as she had no money to take a bus to the evangelistic meetings, she had simply walked the whole way to obey God. I was both humbled and inspired as I realized the commitment of this woman to make the sacrifice without a second thought, to do what God had placed in her heart. Then I was even more shocked when I spoke to her Pastor later and found out that this was normal for her. Many times on Sunday mornings, she and her husband (with their two small children) have walked the 10 miles to the church to fulfill their responsibilities in touching the children of the church. Even in rain or other severe weather, they are always there, quietly doing their best to love and disciple the children of the church.
But this is not the only example. There are many more. But let me give you another quick example. I recently went to the east coast of Madagascar to plant a church in the primitive city of Nosy Varika. it is a very remote city that is difficult to get to without a boat, plane or 4 wheel drive vehicle. On the way to this village, we had to travel for 2 days through very difficult terrain. It was a journey that took us through the mountains, rain forest, sand roads and included crossing the same river four times by putting our speed the light land cruiser on 4 different ferry boats. It was a grand adventure.
But again, this is not the story of sacrifice. It is of the Pastor's wife. The Pastor, Stefan, had gone ahead of his family to prepare for the crusade and to arrange housing for his family. His wife, Pastor Hanta, followed behind two weeks later. She had closed up their home and had wrapped all of their life's belongings in some large bundles to transport by bus. Then with her 4 year old little girl and 6 month old son, began a 2 day bus trip to meet her husband. That meant sitting with approximately 30 other people in a vehicle designed for 15, as this van dangerously makes the trip up and down the mountains on narrow, twisting roads. After two days, she realized that she had gone as far as the bus could take her. Now she was forced to place all of her belongings and children on a small boat. She would then spend the next two days (48
hours) on that boat as it slowly wound its way to this town. When it arrived, her only thought was to thank me for coming to their village to help them start this church in this remote, distant place.
Why do I share these examples with you? To demonstrate to you just a small glimpse of the people we have the privilege or working with. Every church is filled with stories like these of those who pay the price to share Christ with someone else. Almost every Pastor has a testimony that demonstrates a willingness to overlook their own needs in favor of helping meet someone else's. I am continually inspired to do what I can to partner with my brothers and sisters in Christ to help them achieve their goals. What are those goals? To reach their nation by planting Assemblies of God churches across this island.
I encourage you to consider what sacrifice you can make to reach the world around you. Maybe that will be sharing your faith with a coworker or friend. Maybe it will be volunteering for a ministry in your church.
Maybe it will be giving to ministries and missionaries who are working around the world. It could even be leaving your home to travel somewhere else in the world to share the Gospel. But whatever that looks like, remember that there are those everyday Christians, in small towns and villages in Madagascar who consider their sacrifice to be their normal activity in the work of God. To them, sacrifice is just part of being a Christian, nothing more.
Here's how you can pray:
NEW CHURCH PLANTS: Almost every month we are working with local Pastors to plant and establish new churches across the island. We need prayer for safety as we travel. We need prayer for favor with local community leaders as we go into these unreached villages to start new churches.
You can also believe with us for God to meet the needs of our Pastors and their families as they work in difficult conditions. Most of all, we need you to believe with us for the demonstration of God's love and power in our meetings as we share about God's plan for their lives.
FINANCES: with the planting of new churches, comes the need to partner with them with lands and buildings. As God enables, we try to partner with these new and growing churches to purchase land and build a place of worship. Some of you have already partnered with us in this area in the past, but the need is always before us to do more than we presently can accomplish financially. Plus with the decreasing value of the dollar, the cost of accomplishing this increases. When I was in America, I told many of you that we could help a church with land and building for approximately $6000. In some areas of the island that has increased from 50 to 100%. So, on average, it costs us $9000-12000 to help an individual church. Pray with us for God to provide continuing funds to help in this area. If you want more information how you can partner with us in this area, please contact me for instructions.
NEW PASTORS: pray that God will raise up new Pastors to lead our churches. This week we will see over 30 students graduate from our Pastoral Bible school, ready to be launched into the ministry. Pray for them to be effective. But we need many new student to enter the school and receive training. believe with us for God to call many young people into the ministry.
ORPHANAGE: While this has nothing to do with the subject of this e-mail, we do need your prayer in support in this area as well. We have 40 children at our orphanage here in Madagascar. While we are striving to minister to these children in a way that would honor God, we have found that the finances are lacking to meet the ongoing expenses of this needed ministry. At the moment we are in need of some significant one time gifts to strengthen this account and make up for the finances we presently lack. Pray with us for God to speak to individuals and churches to consider giving to this area of need. If you would like to give to this ministry (through a one time gift possibly), send it to our account listed below and mark the gift "orphanage", and it will go to help these children.
Thanks for Praying with us!
Blessings!
Jay