Back in July, we asked you to pray for a trip that Rabbi Jonathan Bernis and two leaders from our Congregation and Leadership Development (CLD) team were taking together. They traveled to Ethiopia and Zimbabwe for our annual gatherings of Messianic congregational leaders. These meetings were for teaching and equipping local leaders of the Messianic Jewish community.
We are so grateful for your prayers and excited to report that this trip was better than we even hoped it would be. The blessings we experienced on that trip – strengthened relationships among the leaders, the Lord’s presence and anointing, and the resulting breakthrough – all speak to the power of prayer and goodness of the Lord.
God heard and answered your prayers. Here are just some of the ways, along with some follow-up prayer requests:
- The audio Bibles arrived safely and were distributed in each country – both the group size that can be heard by up to 200 people and the personal size that each leader received
- Pray, as the Word of God now goes forth in each region, that many will hear and believe
- In Ethiopia, the almost 90 Messianic leaders from among three main groups of Ethiopian Jewish communities enjoyed a positive and productive conference taught by Rabbi Bernis and the CLD team. This united fellowship culminated in the head representatives of each of the groups serving communion to one another as a symbolic act of the breakthrough in relationships that they experienced
- Please pray that this unity will continue to grow, leading to maturity, blessing and more Believers and congregations as a result
- We were privileged to affirm newly ordained leaders in Ethiopia and participate in the dedication of improvements to a full-time clinic run by the Ethiopian government. We continue to marvel at what the Lord is doing, both in raising up leaders and allowing us to bless their efforts in practical ways
- Pray that the influence and effectiveness of these new leaders will spread far and wide in each region
- In Zimbabwe, more than 200 Messianic leaders gathered at their National Headquarters to receive training and encouragement. Several issues relating to life in Messiah, congregational and personal life were effectively addressed
- Lift up these leaders in prayer so that everything they gained will be passed along and multiplied among their families and those they serve
- Young leaders are being discipled and raised up in each nation. One example is a creative young worship leader who writes songs for her people and leads a choir of young people
- Pray for God to sustain seasoned leaders and also engage and mature younger leaders along with those new to the faith
Let’s pray:
Thank you, Lord, for the amazing ways you met with Rabbi Bernis, our two leaders who accompanied him, and all those we ministered to and with during these training visits. You did more than we asked or thought in every session of ministry and teaching, and we are so grateful. Bless these leaders in Africa, Father, as well as all who pray for them. In Yeshua’s name, Amen.
