The Lord hears and answers. Praise the Lord!
Praise God for the positive response to the “Beyond Hospitality” symposium on diaspora in Canada. We thank God specifically for raising awareness about the international migrants in the Arctic Circle.
Praise Him for a fruitful Himalayan worship training gathering. We also thank God that some Himalayan-style worship songs are now freely available on YouTube and ask Him to open doors on other social media sites.
Prayer requests from Global Diaspora Forum participants
One out of every four people in the world are part of a frontier people groups. Frontier people groups are unreached groups with fewer than 0.1% Christians and no known gospel movement. Beginning in May and continuing through June 2020, many global prayer networks are uniting with Joshua Project and Global Prayer Digest to pray daily for frontier people groups. Pray that God will show how the movement of people can facilitate these frontier people groups coming to Christ. May the Lord open eyes to see the frontier peoples around and may the Lord send forth laborers.
Please pray for a major cross-cultural outreach in the States to Jewish-Gentile couples. This is a major effort focused on couples where only one partner is Jewish as they are dating, intermarried and trying to raise children. The US is the country with the second highest population and concentration of Jewish peoples, behind Israel. According to Pew Research, the current Jewish intermarriage rate is 58% and above in the States. Please pray for Jewish-Gentile couples to find spiritual harmony in Jesus the Messiah.
Please lift up the next GDN consultation, “Christians from Global South & Diaspora Missions in Europe” from June 5-8 in Liverpool. Each evening will be open to the public and feature music and messages from prominent national leaders. Pray that God will provide funding, volunteers and visas (especially given the current uncertainty regarding Brexit details). Please ask God to bring the right group of participants and evening attendees in order to catalyze the expansion of God’s Kingdom through diaspora missions.
Please pray for “Beyond Korean Diaspora in Europe” from June 10-13 in Frankfurt to be a fruitful gathering. Each Korean participant will receive a copy of the Scattered and Gathered: A Global Compendium of Diaspora Missiology in Korean. Pray that this material will encourage and spur Koreans in Europe to greater things.
The Global Workplace Forum will take place from June 25-29 in Manila and diaspora will be featured in one of the plenary sessions and multiple seminars. Please ask the Lord to give clear insight and wisdom to GDN leaders as they consider how to lead these discussions. Please pray for the smooth cooperation and coordination between the many Lausanne Movement related entities involved, such as GDN and the Lausanne Jewish Network.
GDN leaders are pursuing publishers for the revised compendium and for Hybridity, Diaspora & Missio Dei. Please pray for the Lord’s guidance during negotiations so that the contracts will be mutually beneficial and the end results will glorify God.
Two more consultations led by GDN are planned for 2019: one on the Sikh diaspora in October and another on South Asians in November. Pray that the Lord will direct the preparations for these.
We invite you to thank the Lord for our sister Mila Pangilinan and her faithful service as GDN administrator. As she begins transitioning out of this role, may God bless her abundantly.
On the Move: Peoples of Progress and Victory in the Sahel
One country in the Sahel region of Africa, “Victory”, has areas which foreign Christ-followers have difficulty accessing. Across the border from these areas is “Progress,” a neighboring country which welcomes refugees from Victory and Christ-followers. Both countries have many different unreached people groups. Christ-followers in Progress are equipping some Muslim background believers from Victory in disciple making, church planting, leadership and so on. Travel to Progress is also facilitating large-scale Bible distribution in Victory.
Praise God who enables us to leap over walls; we declare His progress and victory over the peoples of these nations. Please pray for continued stability and openness in Progress. Pray that the Lord will use the training in Progress to raise up more cross-cultural workers in both countries. Pray for God’s Word to speed ahead and be honored in Victory. Pray for refugees from Victory to know the Prince of Peace’s comforting presence. May the God of Abraham make Himself known to the nomadic peoples of these countries through dreams and visions. Pray for movements to Christ to spread widely among many tribes in both countries and across the Sahel region.
Strategic Gathering: Bahrain
Nearly half of Bahrain’s population is foreign born. Many of these international migrants are from South Asia and India in particular, but significant numbers are also from Southeast Asia, the horn of Africa and other Arab nations. In Bahrain, it is illegal to proselytize Muslims but Christians are allowed to worship together. According to Operation World, half of the church fellowships in Bahrain are south Indian. Different congregations often share space.
Praise God for the open doors to worship Him in Bahrain; may He be enthroned upon the praises of His children. Agree with Jesus’s prayer in John 17:21 and ask for complete unity among the believers in Bahrain so that the world will believe the Father sent Jesus. Pray that the Lord will arrange divine appointments between those who follow Christ and those who are eager to learn about Him. Ask God to enable Christ-followers in Bahrain to overcome language barriers and cultural differences when sharing the good news.
(Information gathered from Operation World and Migration Policy Institute)