May 2014 newsletter

Jesus said...“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. �

Matthew 16:19

May 2014

istockphoto #3200993

Ukraine on the Edge

A “Relevant church” for a nation in turmoil

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t was a hard night,” Every Home for Christ’s National Director for Ukraine, Anatoliy (Toli) Kushnir wrote to our office after tensions erupted in Kiev’s Independence Square and over 100 people were killed. “We are staying out of it, but we did not leave the city and I don’t know if we can now. We have mile-long lines at gas stations, stores are empty, and public transportation is not functioning well.

There is panic.”

In February, the controversy surrounding this decision as well as blatant corruption in the Ukrainian government finally exploded.

Mass protests erupted in the capital city of Kiev. In the end, over 100 civilian protestors were killed in clashes between antiYanukovych protesters and members of the opposition security forces.

Such political turmoil is not new to Ukraine.

Discontent has ruled the day for this former Communist nation, known as the “Bible Belt” during the Soviet era, throughout its history.

Over the years, Ukrainian churches have suffered and millions of Christians have been killed. Yet, despite 130 years of sustained persecution, evangelicalism has emerged stronger than ever.

Historically Ukraine has been known as a divided nation with competing loyalties, and those attitudes remain evident today.

For many Ukrainians, the desire is for closer friendship with Europe. Others desire closer ties with Russia. In recent months, thousands of people protested former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to ditch an agreement for closer ties with the For 20 years, Every Home for Christ Ukraine European Union and turn to Russia instead. has remained steadfast in its commitment

to see every home in Ukraine reached with the Gospel. Sustained church growth has created thousands of new congregations requiring leadership, so training is a primary need for the church today. And in a country where the church is bogged down by politics, old walls are being torn down as churches in Ukraine unite under the vision of Every Home for Christ.

of the 25 regions of Ukraine and up to 15 new churches or church planting projects have sprung up in each region. Some churches have conducted big public prayer events, and three stadium campaigns were held in just one region alone. Now regional church communities are beginning to reorganize their strategies with a deliberate effort toward church planting.

Today, Every Home for Christ Ukraine holds regular regional church fellowship meetings where churches are brought together to strategise.

As a service organisation, Every Home for Christ’s work is focused on church partnerships—primarily with the two largest denominations in the country, Baptist and Pentecostal (numbering 2,500 and 1,500 local churches respectively). Because of cultural backgrounds and locations of these denominations, they are well-suited for taking the Gospel to every city, town, and village in Ukraine in partnership with Every Home for Christ.

Toli reports that with an average of more than 500,000 homes being reached annually, he and his team are on track to reach every household in Ukraine with the Gospel every ten years. However, Toli’s goal is to double their rate by the end of 2014 so that his team will be able to reach every Ukranian home every five years.

Every Home for Christ’s unique organisational “Some may wonder why the urgency of such model is to encourage the Church to take a rate of coverage,” Toli says. “And the answer spiritual responsibility for new believers is that our time is short! Reaching for the from the start through evangelism and impossible is only possible with God, and we discipleship. “We see how well this strategy must act now.” Workers are visiting every one is appreciated by the local church,” explains

Toli. “Pastors tell us they don’t feel Every Home for Christ is in competition with their own ministries, so they are more willing to work with us. We as a small team cannot necessarily take on the needs of all the people in Ukraine. But there are enough evangelical churches that can! Thousands of churches and hundreds of thousands of active young people in these churches are our hope and prayer for Ukraine. Mobilising the Lord’s army of many witnesses is the only way we can even consider being able to minister to so many individuals who need to know Christ and grow in Him.” Toli believes there is great hope for his nation because the Church is still a valued part of Ukrainian society: “Overall, the Church in our nation has a high level of trust in our society—exceeding 80 percent.

So, unlike in Western Europe where people are not religious, the Church in Ukraine is still very relevant.”

Pray for Ukraine and for Toli and the Every Home for Christ team! Toli says, “My biggest privilege to date is working with Every Home for Christ in Ukraine at a time such as this. Our desire is to take the printed Word to every home in Ukraine. We believe it can be done through the partnership of Every Home for Christ and the Ukrainian Church. And it will be done!” Amen!

I LIVE FOR ONE PURPOSE Cleopas Chitapa: EHC Zimbabwe National Director and Southern Africa Zonal Director

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A Christian brother I knew in school helped me in my faith. He would give me gospel booklets that simplified the Bible’s truth of salvation, and I would read them again and again. I had never been exposed to the Bible and its truths.

My family’s religious life was interwoven with These gospel messages laid the foundation of ancestral worship. We believed that our dearly all that I needed to know concerning my new departed would smile upon us and that they relationship with Jesus. spoke to God (whoever “God” was) directly on THE BEGINNING OF FOREVER our behalf.

It was the beginning of forever and the n my entire childhood, I never thought anything about Jesus Christ or God. Our family was poor, living in one of Zimbabwe’s isolated rural villages in Gokwe. We survived on hunting and subsistence farming.

My parents separated in my youth, and my mother died when I was still young so I don’t have the faintest recollection of what she looked like. My grandmother and uncles (my mother’s brothers) raised me.My grandmother was a well-known spirit medium in our district, and it was considered an honour for me to be born into this family. Desperate people would flock daily to our home, seeking help for various ailments and the advice of my fortuneteller grandmother.

In my first year in secondary school,Jesus saved me. A team of evangelists from the Assemblies of God church visited our village and shared about Jesus. I accepted the message and was baptised in the muddy rivers of my village.

beginning of many troubles, too. My family did not realise I took my decision seriously. I began to distance myself from traditional ceremonies and ancestral worship practices, which were meant for the whole family. My attitude was considered arrogant. You see, in my culture it is unimaginable for one to acknowledge a new God of whom the lineage of your family has no knowledge.

Nevertheless, I began to conduct ministry activities in my home. Every day I would hold prayer meetings. On several occasions, there were confrontations with those who had come to consult my grandmother on charms or fortune telling. But then those who came would end up accepting Christ!

My family did not tolerate this, so they began to persecute me. They withdrew funding for my schooling, suggesting that they did not need to pay because all their money was from demons. However, God still provided through unbelievable means. In the period I was kicked out of my home, Christian brothers took me in and provided shelter.

I spent many hours in prayer, seeking God’s help to endure my persecution. The senior uncle of the family was the most ruthless. He had helped raise me, but now as a teenager I was claiming to have met a God whom they had never known. He threatened me and ordered me not to go to church meetings. I would always go and in return he would beat me after each service. But God knew my uncle’s real heart, and that same man today is one of my associate pastors!

because it spilled over from the school campus until we had numerous evangelistic teams going into villages weekly. Today, 23 years later, even when I visit the school, they close all classes and give me the honor of addressing the entire student body to preach God’s Word.

AN UNUSUAL LOVE FOR PEOPLE My first encounter with true ministry sacrifice and an unusual love for people was exhibited by my pastor. He would walk for two days just to preach to people. I never heard him once complain, and at times we would wait until midnight for his arrival. Then he would have church services in order to make the most of his time with us.

As a poor young boy, I would promise my pastor that when I finished school and got a job, I would one day buy him a bicycle. Today God has honoured my desire, and by His provision A TIDAL WAVE OF THE MOVE OF GOD through EHC I have distributed hundreds of When I was sent away from home, a witch bicycles and motorbikes to rural pastors who doctor predicted that I would be dead in three have walked dozens of miles to visit a single months. Well, I was still alive after five months soul (pictured below). Praise God! and that started a new thing in my family. I I also continue to distribute hundreds of shared Scripture verses from the booklets on thousands of gospel booklets and scripture divine guidance and assured them that Jesus booklets to multiple villages across my country. was greater than any spirit possessing them I still travel more than 40,000 miles a year, and if they came to Him they would be safe walking the steep hills of the villages, riding under His fortitude. scotch carts, boarding airplanes, and sailing in My grandmother was the first special case study of our village on how a spirit medium can convert to Christ. The day she accepted Christ was wonderful! We spent half the night burning charms she had used for years. Other members of the family were deeply enraged, but it started a tidal wave of the move of God in the district.

I began preaching at the local school where we began a movement called the Devil Disturbers.

We prayed for students and people to be delivered from demonic oppression in front of other students and teachers.

Within the next three years we baptized more than 500 students on campus! To this day it’s the greatest known revival in the district,

canoes in search of the treasures hidden in the world’s great harvest field. It has been my joy to live for one purpose, to tell the old wondrous story about the God who found me in the middle of nowhere and commissioned me to be a herald of HIS good report.

Crazy for Jesus!

Risking everything to take the Gospel to every home!

By Dick Eastman

Years ago in India an EHC worker was beaten and chased away from a village for preaching the Gospel home to home. Several weeks later he was chased away again, this time by stonethrowing villagers. He returned eight times that year with the same result. Then, on his ninth visit, village thugs caught him and beat him so severely he was blinded in one eye.

majority. Yet I witness the grace of the Lord and have hope and faith He will soften this soil for cultivation.” Praise God for such bold faith!

Sometimes the work also requires great discernment. Recently, two EHC leaders were travelling in a Creative Access nation (the name we give to nations “closed” to open evangelism) when one received a phone call from a man who had just read literature from EHC, no doubt left at his doorstep, and wanted to meet with those who had distributed it. He requested an address for EHC’s office, not published publicly in that nation.

The leader of the gang of villagers could not believe the man would risk his life each time.

He asked him, “Why do you keep coming back? You must be crazy!” Our worker quietly replied,“Because my Saviour Jesus Christ loves you so much He died for your sins.” With that the thug broke into tears and declared before all his friends that he wanted to believe in Jesus. Soon, the entire gang accepted Christ “Discernment is key to avoid problems,” and a Christ Group fellowship was planted in explained one leader, “especially in certain the village. situations. So we told the man that we would Research, strategy, resources, personnel, send him additional materials about Christ prayer! A vision to reach every home and requested that he give us his address. He on earth with the Gospel requires all of hung up immediately.” these things. But in a number of nations it Moments later the man called again; but this requires something else: “crazy” believers time he used profanity and made threats. like this one in India—workers marked Our EHC leader concluded, “It reminded with immeasurable courage. In countries us once again that the work is risky in our that are hostile to evangelism, this vision nation. But it is worth the risk even if only requires EHC leaders and workers to believe one soul comes to Christ.” that what is impossible in the hands of man Indeed, to take the Gospel to every home is possible in the hands of God. It requires in Creative Access nations can cost EHC them to have radical trust in the Lord—trust workers their comfort and safety. And yet, the that can make them seem “crazy” to others!

Scriptures teach us not to consider this a cost A vision like EHC’s in a country closed to at all, but rather a reward: “…after calling evangelism requires faith like that of one of the apostles in, they flogged them and our National Directors in the Middle East. ordered them not to speak in the name He described his experience as a Christian of Jesus, and then released them. So they in his nation: “When we pass people in the went on their way from the presence of bazaars they yell at us.Non-Christian religious the Council, rejoicing that they had been leaders call us names, and if we respond to considered worthy to suffer shame for His them we may be beaten because they are the name”(Acts 5:40-4, nasb).

Nicholas steps out of a church he planted in Kenya’s Kibera slum, one of the largest slums in the world.

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MEANING IN MY HEART Nicholas Mulea, EHC Kenya National Director and East Africa Zonal Director

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“To see thousands giving their lives to the Lord energizes my heart. This has been my great joy!”

icholas Mulea was born on the east side of Nairobi, Kenya. He grew up in a family of four children, each of them accepting different gods. It was not a Christian family, but he still attended church and enjoyed singing along with worship songs.

“And so I gave myself to fully serve the Lord as a volunteer missionary,” Nicholas says. “Through these experiences I learned how to preach, to teach, and to counsel people.”

One unforgettable day in April 1966, an EHC pioneer missionary visited Nicholas’ junior high school loaded with gospel messages.

He shared about the great love of God, and Nicholas was overwhelmed as he realized that the Lord loved him personally. That afternoon, Nicholas accepted Jesus as Saviour. Because he wanted to learn more, he sought after literature to help him grow in his faith. Nicholas enrolled in the EHC Bible correspondence course and learned key Scriptures to help him stand firm in the Lord.

“Now when I attended church,” he says, “it was with meaning in my heart!”

In 2001 Nicholas was appointed to serve as EHC Kenya’s National Director. “To see thousands giving their lives to the Lord energises my heart,” he says.“This has been my great joy! We are seeing God do tremendous things in the lives of people.” Nicholas has also found joy in travelling around his nation and talking to the leaders of different denominations, watching them catch the vision of going home to home with the message of salvation.

A LONG JOURNEY

NOT ALWAYS SMOOTH Things have not always been easy for Nicholas in his life of devoted ministry. His greatest trial took place on a bus in the town of Mombo, Tanzania. Nicholas and his wife, Agnes, were travelling home after a powerful launch of the EHC ministry in Malawi, when Agnes became sick on the bus. Suddenly she turned and uncharacteristically said to Nicholas, “We should have been at home by now!” Nicholas had no idea that his wife was not referring to their home in Kenya, but to her heavenly home. Moments later, Agnes passed away.

That was just the beginning of a long journey for Nicholas. He quickly became very active in EHC activities and joined an EHC Christ Group established near his home. Soon his responsibilities increased and he became the leader of the Christ Group. Nicholas remembers, “I loved it so much! I thank God for the divine connection with the Lord and for that evangelist who came to my school For some time, Nicholas grieved the loss of and shared God’s Word with me.” his wife. But the Lord sustained him. He says, For the next five years, Nicholas led several “God strengthened me through this time Christ Groups—some with as many as 30 and I saw His hand of comfort in that time.” people.Soon he also oversaw a ministry of 100 Amazingly, Nicholas found new life in the Lord Christian students at a high school. Through and pressed forward in the ministry: “This did these groups, he led evangelistic outreaches not make me stop serving the Lord. I have in different areas involving different churches. continued to hold onto the vision of going

to reach the unreached! I believe when the Lord says,‘Go ye into all the world,’ He speaks to me to go to all the world. Even after such a great trial, I am ready to keep keeping on for the Lord!” The Lord also blessed Nicholas with a new wife, Jennifer, who is a wonderful partner in the ministry.

NO BELIEVER IS LOST! Nicholas loves the ministry of Every Home for Christ because he believes it is holistic and complete. He explains, “When I see what Paul said in Acts 20:20 about preaching the Word of God door to door and in the public places, I see fulfilled the vision of Every Home for Christ. People are becoming strong Christians because they know we will return to disciple them and make sure they grow in the Lord. We know where they live! Because of the work going on through EHC on a daily basis, no new believer is getting lost in Kenya.

The churches have grown to five times the size they were 20 years ago!

Today we are seeing close to 500 churches planted in Maasailand alone, and these churches have more than 100 members.

Some even have as many as 200!”

The ministry of EHC in Kenya is growing rapidly under Nicholas’ leadership. He is an influential leader, able to challenge and mobilise others to do the work of the ministry—going door to door, house to house, and village to village with the Gospel.

“Sometimes we come up with figures that are unbelievable,” he says, “and someone may wonder, ‘Are these figures really true?’

But, for example, when we go to a slum area in Nairobi called Kibera where homes are small and attached to one another, a team of two people is able to reach 100 homes in a day! And you wonder, ‘How did this happen?’

It happened! It happens. And with God’s grace it will continue to happen through the prayers of our partners and friends. We give God all praise when the sinners say no to sin and yes to the Lord.”

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