Thank you so much for your generosity to this ministry and the Asian Pacific Rim people God allows us to reach with the gospel. Your prayers and sacrificial giving purchase materials for adult English class through which the local refugee church engages refugees in conversation about the gospel. We also use these materials in another part of the country where large groups of Muslim refugees are not currently engaged. In addition, your partnership enables us to offer career training classes, covering topics such as drafting a resume and searching and applying for jobs in another country.

Opportunities abound. We have now supported 41 refugees from eight families connected with a local refugee church, helping 20 adults and 21 children. These families are all believers from Central Asia. Two of these men lead small home groups for refugees who speak their language. We believe we can support these eight families for the next year.

Blessed to be a blessing. Because of your gifts, we recently sent a Central Asian refugee to train and equip leaders for a semester. This believer leads several groups and is helpful in leadership development. This program was so successful we may send another group leader later this year to bolster the work further. In addition, God blessed us with another believer to come in and support some of our network connections and provide training to other refugee ministries.

We are so thankful for you, our partners, who make this project possible. Your sacrificial gifts and intercession are truly transforming lives as we partner together to solve the world’s greatest problem, lostness.

Several cities in our Southeast Asian country have taken in a significant number of refugees over the last 10 years. We live in one of these cities, and last month, I visited another to connect with refugee small groups, churches and potential ministry partners. Our goal is to encourage and equip refugee engagement in five other refugee-populated cities, and your gifts make this possible! 

As ministry in our city matures, we are developing leaders with the expectation that they must also raise up new leaders.  Last week, one of our group leaders suddenly had to leave when he was resettled to Canada. This event was a good reminder to our leadership team that we have limited time to equip new leaders for ministry. So I asked them, “Who are you raising up to take your place?”

Because of your generosity, we were able to take the members of our fellowship outside the city for a spiritual renewal retreat last month. For a refugee, life in the city can be hard and monotonous; it can often feel like the walls are closing in. These retreats allow believers to take a break from the city, look at something natural and beautiful, and rest their souls for a day. Thank you for making this possible! 

A few other updates:  

• The refugee children you support at the private Christian school have resumed in-person learning!  
• Regular discipleship through our fellowship continues, supported by your gifts which pay the refugees’ bus fare to and from small group Bible studies.   

• We are celebrating four baptisms in 2021, all from a non-Christian background, all baptized by first-generation disciples! 

​​​​​​​Thank you for allowing God to use you to reach refugees with the gospel. Your generosity is expanding the kingdom of God in our country and many other countries where our leaders settle. We are grateful for your partnership and ask you to prayerfully continue supporting our work as we expand Refugee Outreach and Discipleship in five other cities.  

When the pandemic hit our city, we moved all ministry online. You would think that our inability to meet in-person would cause our ministry to atrophy, but we’ve seen growth! Praise the Lord! We saw two new small-group Bible studies begin for new believers and seekers (Muslims who are open to hearing more about Christ). One of these groups is led by an Iranian woman named Sarah*. Just a few years ago, Sarah was herself a Muslim seeker who, along with her husband Daniel*, came to know the Lord and put her faith in Him. Prior to COVID, Sarah was discipled in a women’s small group Bible study that met in our home.

The other group is made up of Afghan men, led by two brothers whom I discipled along with other men in our refugee fellowship. As the refugees begin to meet in person again for Sunday worship and Bible study, we saw in tangible ways that God was at work through your gifts. Some of the refugees live miles outside of town, which makes the cost of public transportation prohibitive, but your gifts remove that obstacle by paying their way to and from group gatherings!

As with ministry, school children have moved their education online as well. The Christian school with whom we partner currently enrolls around 37 refugee children, many of whom require a scholarship to attend. Your generosity allows our partners to offer reduced tuition to families who struggle financially. Most of these children have parents who are not believers, but they are impacted spiritually through the relationships they and their children have with teachers and faculty who are sharing the gospel with them.

We expect that as the spread of COVID-19 lessens and more people are vaccinated, we’ll be able to reintroduce and expand our outreach efforts among the greater population of refugees in our city through adult English classes, seminars and trainings. We’re looking forward to what the Lord will do in 2021 and beyond. Your support for this project makes all the difference!