One of the greatest promises in history was given by God to Abraham: “I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:2, 3). So what was this promised blessing? The Apostle Paul explains, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed’” (Gal. 3.8). The promised blessing is the justification that comes by faith—the promise of eternal life. And for us today, God offers the promise of the Spirit received by faith (Gal. 3:13, 14). Can this be true? Is God’s promise to Abraham still good in 2015? Looking back over the past year, the answer is a resounding YES!
On the Greek island of Rhodes, for the first time ever there is an Adventist house-church led by a convert from Islam. Across Greece, Orthodox Greeks are finding the Savior via our project’s website and wide distribution of literature. In Turkey, believers are growing in number and strength in the city where Paul ministered, a new church is growing on the south coast, and a home-church is being planted in the capital while refugee ministry continues in Iraq. In Ireland we celebrate baptisms, a growing church in Cork, and God’s intervention for missionary visas. In Albania, God is drawing Muslims and those in the occult into the growing church family led by our missionaries.
In Thailand, two new congregations are springing up in Khon Khaen, one for ex-Buddhist Thais, and the other an international fellowship for formerly cynical and skeptical Westerners, while an Adventist grade school and accompanying church is thriving in the city of Ubon. In Cambodia, God is growing a new congregation, home Bible fellowships and a new mission school among the Pnong, and drawing Cham Muslims to their Savior. Elsewhere in southeast Asia, Buddhists are encountering God in inductive Bible studies and seeking baptism, and the number of home Bible fellowships among Buddhists is continuing to grow.
In Papua New Guinea, after the sacrifice of John Lello, the Spirit worked, and we saw more than 300 baptisms and 12 new congregations planted in the past 12 months! In the Philippines, multiple evangelistic series are growing churches and new home Bible fellowships as missionaries enlist with God to wage overt spiritual warfare as Jesus Christ delivers Satan’s prey. In India, God is bringing people of peace to our missionaries, converts are living out their faith despite skepticism and hostility from their Hindu families, and lives and families are being forever changed.
In the deserts of Saharan Africa, under the hostile glare of Sharia law, there is a growing tide of baptisms among ex-Muslims. In Guinea, we claimed the promises of Psalm 91, and God protected every Adventist in our church plants from Ebola. The mission school in Fria has grown to more than 500 students, and more than 30 Muslim students worship each Sabbath with the growing Adventist community. A new church has been planted among the Malinke Muslims in the easternmost city, and many demons have been cast out in response to prayer and fasting. In Mali, God has raised up a small but steadfast group of Muslim-background worshipers that meet each Sabbath. In Benin, the work among the Otammari is coming to completion, with an established and thriving network of churches and groups among this previously unreached tribe. In Benin’s northwest Pendjari region, a new Adventist congregation is growing rapidly among the region’s six unreached people groups. Among the animist-Muslim Dendi, a solid mother church has grown and birthed two thriving church plants of former Muslims.
As I look back over 2015, God’s promises have come true! The unreached are being saved, the Spirit is at work, and God’s kingdom is growing! Thank you for being part of God’s purposes for the unreached. As 2016 dawns, let us join together in eagerly lifting our eyes to see how God’s promised blessings for all the families on earth will find fulfillment.
