Nehemiah Teams: Student Missionary Training

Every day for the past several weeks, our team has been preparing for National Nehemiah Teams in the Philippines. We even set an alarm to remind us to pray daily.

God’s Word reminds us, “How are they to preach unless they are sent?” (Rom. 10:15).

Recently, your generosity helped us train 70 Filipino young people and send them out in 13 teams to the unreached and hard-to-reach peoples across the Philippines.

For the next month, they will share the gospel with families, helping start churches in several locations without any existing churches.

This year, we also have 12 NT365 Gap Year students. As part of the Missionary Residency program, they memorize Scripture, train in evangelism and missions, and serve in multiple deployments throughout their year with us.

Every year, we stand amazed at how God uses the simple obedience of these young people to advance His kingdom and transform lives.

Thank you for your obedience, too, as you give and pray for this ministry, the young people who serve on Nehemiah Teams, and the lost they touch.

Please join us in prayer:

• Praise the Lord for these 70 Filipino young people serving this month. Ask Him to give them discernment, wisdom, and courage as they minister. Praythat this month of ministry impacts these young people for the rest of their lives, as they continue serving and growing in Christ.
• Pray for boldness for those in the NT365 Gap Year program as they train and serve cross-culturally across the Asia-Pacific Rim.
• Ask God to stir the hearts of future Nehemiah Team members so they, too, obey God’s call to serve Him cross-culturally.

Nehemiah Teams are invaluable in preparing the way for long-term workers and multiplying their labor in harvest fields. Thank you for your “partnership in the gospel” (Philippians 1:5).

Sarah* knew she needed a break after high school. Her interests were scattered, and she needed more time before determining a college and school major.

Thanks to givers like you, Sarah found the “NT365 Gap Year” program, a year-long program designed to help students find God’s purpose for their lives as they work toward fulfilling the Great Commission.

“God has been teaching me patience over this past month. The country I am living in has strong Buddhist and Taoist beliefs. People here are reserved, and it takes time to build relationships. We are meeting new people but not growing close as quickly as I hoped. I thought I was failing. God was not failing, in fact He is always working, regardless of what I count as success. Through my quiet times, God has reminded me that He is good, and He is working in peoples’ hearts. I surrendered my definition of success to God.”

—Sarah*

Sarah is one of 10 American students currently serving in five locations across the Asia Pacific Rim through the NT365 program.

After completing their initial evangelism and church planting training in Southeast Asia, they are sent on two short-term deployments before spending the Spring semester in a single location.

Thank you for providing these students opportunities to grow and serve alongside your IMB missionaries, sharing the gospel with hundreds living in lostness.

Please join us in prayer:

• Pray for fruitful gospel conversations between Nehemiah Teams and the lost.
• Ask God to deepen relationships and open hearts as they build relationships.

Your gifts and prayers enable students like Sarah to travel, train, and bring the gospel across the Asia Pacific Rim. Thank you for your faithful support!

*Name changed

Thank you so much for your generous support of our team and the students we equip to go to the nations. Because of your prayers and sacrificial giving, we are creating additional student-missionary teams, developing new strategic partners, and sending out more young adults to unreached people across Southeast Asia.

Here is an update from one of our students:
Since arriving in Asia in August 2022, I have prayed for opportunities to use my art for God’s glory. God has offered me multiple occasions to use my artistic gifts to connect with others and to tell people about who God is and how much He loves and cares for them. Praise God! I have even been able to teach an art class for children and their parents!

In art class, I had students paint five loaves of bread and two fish as I told them the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. At the end, we all cut out our food paintings and put them in a basket I painted so the children could understand how Jesus multiplied the food. Seeing how joyful the kids were to paint was beautiful, but they were also attentive while listening to the story. We are praying we can soon use these art classes to develop Bible studies groups.

Join us in prayer for this Nehemiah Team:

• Pray the art classes this team holds in Asia will continue to connect with children and their parents and that these classes will lead to opportunities to share the gospel.
• Pray for this Nehemiah Team to build relationships with those seeking God.
• Pray for direction for each team member as they seek God’s direction beyond their current term of mission service.
• Ask God to begin working in the lives of students joining Nehemiah Teams this summer—that their hearts and ears are open to all God has in store for them.

Thank you so much for your kindness, generosity, and prayers. You are truly making a difference in the lives of students serving globally and those whose lives they touch.

• Over 4,500 people heard a complete gospel presentation
• 450+ Bible studies were held, with almost 1,700 total in attendance
• 3,200+ children attended kids’ Bible classes
• 135 English classes conducted with over 2,600 participants

Prayer requests:

• Pray for the national partners who are following up in areas where teams ministered.
• Please pray that those who heard the gospel will respond to God’s gift of forgiveness.
• Pray for the impact of these mission experiences on the students who went. Ask God to continue working in their lives.

Click HERE for a video update.

In 1996, we sat in a small bamboo house of one of the most well-known witch doctors in the Agusan River Valley of the Southern Philippines. We shared the gospel with him and his 28-year-old son, who accepted Christ. The son’s life was transformed, and he began sharing the gospel with many others, starting several churches. All these years, he has lived for the Lord and raised his children in church.

This year, on May 30, we finished our tenth Advance Operations Training (AOT) with Nehemiah Teams, an intensive three-month residential discipleship/mission training for Nehemiah Teams. The witch doctor’s grandson, Marvin, now 28 years old, attended this training. He was able to participate because of generous gifts given to our Nehemiah Teams ministry project.

This summer, for 52 days, college students serving with Nehemiah Teams will serve Christ not only in the Philippines but also among refugees from South Sudan, the Middle East, Myanmar, Nepal and several other closed countries. We have been able to travel and train these teams because of you’re your generosity and that of other faithful supporters. Thank you for joining the work of Nehemiah Teams. Through your support of this ministry, God is reaching the lost and preparing the next generation of international missionaries.