Year 1 of 2 Completed
Watch this video of my interview with a staff couple whose family church planted among the Bagwido people in PNG.
"...That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
-Ephesians 3:16-19
As I was praying the other day, I realized that I am always thanking the Lord for his intentionality and personal involvement in my life. As I read the Bible, I am amazed at God's personal involvement in the world and in the lives of his people. And I continue to be amazed and blown away at his personal involvement in my own life!
What is one of your favorite things about God or something about his character that you find yourself always thanking the Lord for?
Discipleship Ministry
This semester I had the opportunity to go through a book called Stranger on the Road to Emmaus with 2 women from my church. This is a condensed version of the chronological Bible teaching that Ethnos 360 does. We went through it together weekly, reading and discussing key Bible stories from Genesis through Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. I loved going through the Bible and learning with them and growing in our friendship at the same time. I thought it was so sweet of the Lord to provide me with this opportunity to lead this study with women who are older than me because that will probably be the case in the tribe one day.
When asked what their biggest takeaway was from the study one of the woman responded:
"What his plan was from the beginning, even though it took so long for it to play out. I didn’t really understand the whole plan from Adam and Eve’s day."
Studying the Old Testament has brought clarity in my life and theirs as we have seen it all leading up to Jesus coming to earth and dying for our sins. We see more of God's plan throughout history!
Classes
Pre-Evangelism
This class was one of my favorites this semester! When arriving in the unreached people group we will be working with, we will spend several years learning their language and culture so that we can communicate God's word effectively with them. During this time of "pre-evangelism," we want to live our lives in a way that lines up with God's word and is a reflection of the Lord Jesus Christ. A powerful quote from this class was, "What you do on day 1 will have an affect on day 100." We want to model dependence on the people we are living among and ultimately on the Lord. We don't want to plant a church that is dependent upon us because one day we will be gone.
We also learned how to be intentional in asking questions in hopes of getting them to see inconsistencies in their belief system and hopefully stir in them a desire in them to know truth.
Communication Universals
In this class we learned that there are universal principles of communication but that communication looks different in every culture. We can't go into another culture and communicate to them in the same way we would to people here in America. We learned the importance of studying how they communicate with one another. The key is HUMILITY. We have to go in with the mindset, "I don't know anything and I need you to teach me and show me." We will have to do this in dependence on God as we mess things up a lot until one day we can stand before them and share God's word in a culturally appropriate manner in their heart language.
New Testament Church Principles
This topic was covered some in our first semester and we dove into it more as we studied things like communion, baptism, spiritual gifts, etc. and looked at the key aspects of the church in the Bible. The goal of this class is for us to know what a church is Biblically and not just from our American mindset. We don't want to impose our cultural way of doing church onto them!
Suffering
This class was also one of my favorite this semester. I learned that God doesn't promise his people comfort, security, or safety during our time on earth. We read through the book of Acts and looked specifically at how God used suffering to move the gospel forward and grow the believers to a deeper faith and trust in him. This topic is a heavy one but my main takeaway was realizing that I am not promised that I won't suffer in this life. I honestly should expect suffering as I live a life for Christ, remembering that my eternal hope is secure with Jesus in heaven.
Health Update
I am moving to a new student housing apartment with 4 other single ladies for this next year of training that shouldn't have any mold issues. I am very thankful the leadership was willing to make this accommodation for me. I think this will really help me to be able to get the most out of the rest of training!
Praises
For God leading me to be a part of church planting among the unreached with Ethos 360 and for you to be a part of that with me through prayer/giving!
For God continuing to shed light on the motives and desires of my heart. I am continuing to go through the book from soul care with a friend and God has been teaching us a lot through it!
For getting to spend quality time with family and friends this summer.
Requests
The Wantakia and Pei tribes in Papua New Guinea who are both hearing God's word in their own language for the first time in history! Let me know if you would like to join my prayer team to receive more updates on this.
Our country right now. For God to be moving in hearts and lives. For us to all look to Him as we fight for justice while loving one another well and seeking to treat our neighbor as ourselves.
For my family and I as we go through a chronological Bible study together this summer.
My cousin Brandon who has been going through a difficult time.
How can I be praying for you?
You can let me know by shooting me a text or responding to this e-mail.
With love,
Jess