Recently it was again my privilege to visit missionaries in a number of locations in Africa. Again, my admiration for our missionaries’ fortitude, vision and determination to stay at their task were reconfirmed. As I praise God for how He has blessed the work of AFM missionaries and lay workers in 2015 and dream about the possibilities of 2016, won’t you join me?
In 2015, three new families launched to some of our neediest fields. Two of these projects are in the Middle East. In spite of all of the bad news coming out of that region of the world, powerful gospel work is going forward there. Please stay tuned as we detail these plans in future updates.
The Tai-Kadai Project is expanding and will soon open work in another location, applying the wisdom and methods they have gained over the years. The results promise to be exiting.
In Cambodia, in spite of many challenges, the school is growing, and for the first time little Pnong children are learning the gospel daily. The Sabbath worship service in the village is also going well and promises even more growth in the year to come, as the school opens doors to new contacts. We thank God for His manifest blessing and ask Him for more laborers to join the Pnong Project.
In Europe, in a former Soviet republic, AFM is planning new initiatives to use English teaching as an entering wedge as doors are opening. New calls in Central Asia focus on medical ministry. Way up north in Scandinavia and way down south on the Mediterranean, new invitations have come for AFM to minister to unreached people groups.
As you can see, there are many reasons for our excitement here at AFM as we look forward to what God will do in the coming year. While we are sobered by the events transpiring every day as the world seems to descend more deeply into chaos, we are encouraged by these words:
“As you see the peril and misery of the world under the working of Satan, do not exhaust your God-given energies in idle lamentations, but go to work for yourselves and for others. Awake, and feel a burden for those who are perishing. If they are not won to Christ they will lose an eternity of bliss. Think of what it is possible for them to gain. The soul that God has created and Christ has redeemed is of great value because of the possibilities before it, the spiritual advantages that have been granted it, the capabilities it may possess if vitalized by the word of God, and the immortality which through the Life-giver it may obtain if obedient” (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 6, p. 21).
