Something so profound happened at church that I have to tell you about it!
I was praying for a man at the altar. Two smaller children were with him, politely staying occupied at his feet. The prayer time was emotional, and I could sense the Spirit moving in this man’s life, comforting him and encouraging him. When we were finished, the little girl who was with him looked up at me. She had a trail of tears running down her face. I was shocked! I didn’t realize she was even paying attention.
Buddhist monks chanting in the temple in front of a Buddha statue
Our ministry efforts are growing and God is giving us favor in this very difficult, restricted, predominantly Buddhist and Animistic country! Our Alliance workers, in partnership with indigenous leaders, are rescuing girls from human trafficking and exploitation and have made safe houses for them with full counseling, care and presenting the Gospel. Many are coming to Christ!!
We have also created a beauty shop business where they are trained to have meaningful jobs that keeps them off the streets and into a good Christian environment. We also started a jewelry business where they make jewelry to sell to tourists, locals and some jewelry is even being shipped and sold overseas – God is blessing us richly!!
The manifestation of the spirit I want to look at today is discernment – another gift to the church to build it up – that comes through people, to people, so that we can storm the gates of hell.
There are people who, by nature, are more discerning than others. They just have good insight. When naturally discerning people surrender themselves to God, I think the spirit of God manifests through them discernment because they’ve surrendered that dimension of their personality to the spirit of God, allowing him to use it.
Last month, at General Council, Simpson University signed an articulation agreement with LEAD with the purpose of being able to work with LEAD students, enabling them to finish a degree with Simpson University. The program is called LEAD because they train LEADers with the purpose of "Equipping men and women to be ministry leaders."
The following post is written by Chris Braun, a former C&MA missionary who now serves at The Stirring in Redding with his wife Marcia, who is part of the Board of Directors for The Alliance.
We have some exciting news!
There is a new initiative started within the Alliance family called RAIN, which stands for Refugees and Immigrants Network. The Central Pacific District, especially Raed Awabdeh and our Arabic Ministry in Sacramento, is a front runner in getting this off the ground nationally!
RAIN has launched with a new website and will be kicking off with a planning meeting at General Council the end of this month. Please go to www.rainalliance.org to find out more!
People who are uncommitted and uninvolved don’t need empowerment because they’re not doing anything. I believe God begins to work through people who surrender their lives as living sacrifices to God and say, “God, take my ability, talent, mouth, eyes, ears and everything I have and use it for you.” He manifests himself through them in a variety of ways, gifting the church.
On April 27, 2019 we made history as we welcomed Guam into the Central Pacific District!
Guam Christian Alliance Church has been working through the process of joining the Alliance for about a year. A Mandarin speaking Chinese church of about 60, GCAC joins us as the 20th Chinese church in the CPD.
We have some great new work going on with unreached people groups, unreached villages, and remote areas. Alliance News shared this update from Syna Lao, an Alliance international worker serving in Cambodia a few months back about God's work happening in Anlong Veng province.
It's been so exciting to see several of our CPD churches visit this specific location in the field. Our district has a strong connection with this new ministry and we didn't want you to miss these amazing reports. I will be traveling to Cambodia soon, so check out my prayer request at the bottom of the page.
Church attendance has doubled and even tripled as healings and miracles occur regularly in Cambodian villages.
God is doing something amazing at Srae Nouy Alliance* church! Located in Anlong Veng province, one of Cambodia’s spiritually dark areas, the congregation continues to see miraculous healings and people being set free from evil spirits.
Written by: Pastor Mike Schill Psy.D
Recently, I read an excellent article by Michael Gerson who suffers terribly from depression. I would like to combine this article with another article by Dr. Peter Kinderman on, “Why we need to abandon the disease model of mental health care.”
In the first article, Mr. Gerson called his depression “an illness.” Undoubtedly, because this is what his mental health practioners told him. And everything in his journey as he explained so well is very similar with the experiences of many others I have counseled.
