We were all seated around the table at a coffee shop waiting for Christine, the last member of our discipleship group, to arrive. Instead we got a text message. It was Christine, and she was being detained against her will in her teacher’s office because she was a Christian.
The others in our group began to tell stories of how over the past few days the university was having the class presidents go through each class one by one and ask each student if they were a Christian or not. Because Christine boldly said, “Yes,” she was now locked in her teacher’s office while she was being told she would be in big trouble if she didn’t stop participating in Christian activities immediately.
Right there in the middle of the coffeehouse, these young believers began to pray, calling out to God for Christine, their campus, and the salvation of the persecuting teacher.
An hour later Christine was able to leave, and she immediately came and met with our group. She was shaken up and crying, but each of the others began to encourage her that Jesus was the most important thing in this world and that she didn’t need to be afraid. As persecution hit home, these believers, each of whom has followed Jesus for less than a year, began to overflow with love, wisdom, and boldness.
As I talked with Christine at the end of the night she said, “I didn’t know before if I would be willing to give up something really important just because Jesus asked… but now I know. I will follow Jesus no matter what.”
Jesus is using everything to build his precious Church in our city.
Prayer Requests:
-Our new workers that joined our team in August have been remarkably fruitful so far. They have been a part of over 25 students giving their lives to Christ over the last 5 weeks! Two more just came to know Jesus today! Please pray for these new believers that they would grow in their new relationship with God and make the decision to join a discipleship group.
-We feel like one of the things God is going to give us a breakthrough in this year is multiplication: Asian believers reaching their friends and family for Christ. Please pray for all of the believers here for boldness and effectiveness as they share about Jesus with their friends.