Dear
Christian Friends,
Thank
you to all of you who continually support our ministry here in Southeast Asia
and China which is based in Chiangmai, Thailand. Whether you are a regular or a one time money
giver, or time in prayer, you have always been the encouragement that we need. Your endurance in partnering is a very essential part to our ministry in expanding His Kingdom and carrying our the Great
Commission to the lost people through our evangelism, equipping and empowering
native leaders throughout Southeast Asia and China.
During
the past two weeks, we (Stephen and students) had a wonderful class
pilgrimaging through the book of Hebrews.
We explored in depth the five warning passages in the book of Hebrews by
taking the Exodus generation as the example and contextualizing them into the
Lisu church context. Yet, there are many
differences between the context of the first readers, the Hebrew community and
Lisu churches, however; similarly can be applied between the Exodus generation and the Lisu churches nowadays. Like the Exodus generation, the Lisu people came out of the slavery, not from Egypt, but
the realm of evil spirits and, of course, death and sin. The first generation
believers of Lisu people firmly experienced God’s power in deliverance,
fortunately I (Stephen) am one of them.
This type of spiritual experience has been waned among later
generations. Many of later generations are losing their focus, rather
than fixing their eyes on the heavenly Jerusalem, the unshakable Kingdom, they
are seeking things of this world. Rather
than following the footsteps of Jesus or the heroes of faith into God’s promise
land, they are like Esau who exchanged the eternal life for a single meal. Please keep these students in your prayers so
that they would transform their churches, their city, their country with the
Word of God.
Equipping
the Christian-servant leaders is a very challenging ministry. It is challenging not only because of our
emphasis on the Word of God, the Scripture, but also because of taking Jesus’s
path on the Cross as the model in every aspect of daily lives. Particularly, the second group of our students
from Myanmar are very unique. They come
not only from different ethnic groups of Lisu people, but also various
theological backgrounds. Except Moses,
each of them graduated from Bible college in Myanmar which emphasizes on
mission or theology. Whether graduating
from theological college or from a mission college, they all share one similar
thing, that is, no solid biblical knowledge.
Their biblical foundation is critical.
They learned the method of evangelism or the theological topics, without
learning the Scripture in depth. This
was the major reason that most of our faculty felt very frustrated. I (Stephen) personally felt very discouraged
at their first year since we emphasize on the Scripture, studying the scripture
passage after passage, book after book and applying them accordingly. We are searching what each passage in each
Bible book meant and what it means for us today.
After
spending three years, they are now so different. After patiently teaching them book after
book, for instance, Philippians, the First and Second Corinthians, the Gospel
of John, Romans, etc, their lives have been transformed by the Word of God. Equipping them out of the emptiness of
biblical knowledge to the point that many churches in their hometowns expecting
to hear God’s Word from them does really bring us joy. It is our joy in seeing the spiritual fruits
that they will bear for His Kingdom.
This is the reason that we keep thanking God and you all for your
financial and prayerful supports. This
is the major role that you are being part with.
Without you, we would have never accomplished such things!
Our
appreciation goes to Mary who not only took care of all the daily needs, but
also took students out for evangelism and church visiting at the weekend so
that the students would be able to practice their preaching and teaching in the
real church contexts. Our gratitude also
goes to Becky and John who tirelessly took turn every night in teaching and
improving students’ English skills, while Nick took his time off for three
month and has gone down to Bangkok for a special bi-vocational-training. Nick has done his best to do a tent making
ministry. Our appreciation goes to
Isaiah Yintum who graduated from Cincinnati Bible Seminary teaching two
consecutive weeks on preaching and biblical theology. Though struggling with the health issue, his
sacrifice for 6 hours a day in equipping these students is beyond words of
expression.
Mary and students are singing a special choir
church at village is packed inside;
church attendants have to sit outside
the church building
Moses is preaching
Students at the Chiangmai International Airport,
returning to their ministries
At
the moment, the Wongratanamajcha family is going back to the normal daily
routine. John is starting his senior year
at Grace International School. He is studying
intensively for his ACT test. Isaac is
in his third grade. Mary is not only busying
the environmental improvement of the site, but also turning the place for an
alternative medication. A group of
alternative doctors from Korea came to our place and gave our neighbors an
alternative medical treatment, acupuncture in particular. Stephen is preparing himself for holding
another leadership conference in Myanmar, if God is willing, this upcoming
November or December. He is also going through
his lectural notes for the first group of students from Myanmar so that they
will be able to enroll their graduation ceremony during the conference. Again, he has been invited to be a guest
speaker in Yunnan, China, on Lisu culture in this upcoming October 2015. His article entitled “The Uniqueness of Lisu
People and Culture” written in Lisu and translated in Chinese will be published
at the conference. He is wavering to
take the invitation, unless he will be allowed to teach non-believing villagers
in Yunnan and Sichuan on how to read the Lisu language. Because this is the only way, he believes,
for the non-believers will be able to read the Lisu Bible. He is negotiating with the board of the
conference. Much appreciated to keep
this deal in your prayers. Moreover,
Stephen’s anthropological book entitled “Dancing with the Song of Life,” has
seven volumes. The first volume is at
the process of translation into Chinese and hopefully will be published in China
soon. This book is about Lisu life,
culture and language. It is composed mainly
with the Lisu traditional poetry genre with a brief explanation in narrative
genre. His commentary on the book of
Revelation is at the final stage of proofreading before publishing in Myanmar
this upcoming November 2015. God’s
blessings go particular to Saxonburg Christian Church for a designated fund to publish the commentary on the book of Revelation.
An alternative medication from Korea
Again,
we want to thank you for your consistant partnership. Much appreciated for your continuity on what
you have done—especially in prayers.
Please pray for our AIS students/pastors who are going back to their own
churches and country, Myanmar, with God’s Word.
Pray that God’s Word will be able take root among them so that the
Kingdom of Christ can grow not only among themselves, but to their neighboring
ethnic group of people who still remain in the midst of spiritual darkness.
For
the Sake of His Kingdom,
Stephen
and Mary
