The Persecuted Church

Matt WatsonMinistryUpdate

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 5:31)

The Persecuted Church

I was recently in Thailand to work with 150 leaders from a restricted access nation in that broader region of the world. My team has been working with this group of leaders for 5 years now.  Most of them are rural farmers, but God is at work, and these leaders are multiplying! Over the last 12 months this group of leaders has planted 79 new churches! 

Persecution is an ever present reality for these leaders. They aren’t surprised by it, after all, Jesus told them to expect it.  So they very rarely mention it, because it is just a part of life.  Here are a few stories that I heard from some of the leaders in attendance:

  • Renounce your faith: I heard one story about 22 new believers in a village. The leaders of this village are calling for these new believers to renounce their faith or leave the village.  Leaving the village would mean giving up their homes, farms, and the means to provide for their families.  Pray for these new believers as this deadline nears.
  • 12 years in prison: I met a man that spent 12 years in jail for preaching Jesus. He was recently released from jail, and the first thing he did was to lead 6 people to faith in Christ!  When asked if he was afraid of going back to prison,  he said no, because he had Jesus, and they couldn’t take that away from him.  The movement he started before he was jailed led to the creation of 70 new churches while he was in prison!
  • Father turning on son: I met a father and his son at the conference. Years ago the son left his village and came to the city for work. While there he was led to faith in Christ by one of our movement leaders. The son went back to his village and shared his faith with his family. When his father heard this he reacted violently and kicked his son out of the house.  He took some of the materials his son brought him and gave them to local authorities as evidence to get him arrested. The son was persistent in sharing with his father, and eventually his father read the Bible he gave him, and became a believer. When this happened the father was jailed for one month for becoming a Christian.  The father who once threatened to have his son imprisoned later became a believer and ended up in prison himself!

Apprenticing our Philippine Team

Everything we do is about multiplication. On our trip to Thailand we brought some of our leaders from the Philippines. We are apprenticing them so they can reproduce what we do throughout their country. We are headed their way in December to teach them how to lead Catalyst Community #1. The goal is to have them reproduce it in several new locations throughout the Philippines this next year. When we return in 2019 we will apprentice them in how to lead Catalyst Community #2. This is part of our broader strategy of developing centers of regional strength to multiply our work around the world! It’s already working in South Asia and Sub Saharan Africa.

Year End Giving

Our mission is to take new ground for the kingdom of God by catalyzing movements of reproducing churches in hard to reach parts of the world, and we’re doing it…but we need your help to continue!

As we head into the end of the year please consider joining our financial support team. By supporting Taking New Ground you become a part of the work that God is doing to grow his church in hard to reach parts of the world!

In Case You Missed It

Links to some of our recent updates: