Dear friends and supporters,
Thank you for being our co-workers by means of prayer and giving.
This prayer letter will explain the need to disciple a growing number of friends who have returned home to China. In our home, the world atlas functions as the guest book. When our international friends visit us, we ask them to circle their hometown in the atlas and to draw a line from it to their name in the atlas margin. We have now accumulated well over two hundred names (perhaps as many as 300) of friends who have received ministry from us.
Many of these have responded to God’s Word in positive ways. Yet almost all of these friends need additional discipleship. Many need help fully understanding how to live and mature as Christians. Some are in places where there is no Christian fellowship. Others need help in forming Bible studies. We also have many friends in China who are interested in Christianity but are not yet Christians. As you can see, there is a tremendous need/responsibility to continue discipleship with those whom we have begun to minister.
With some of our friends, we are able to do this by means of Skype or Go To Meeting online Bible studies. But with others, a more personal meeting is needed. For many of our friends, effective discipleship will mean traveling to China to visit them.
As you may remember, ministering in the city naturally leads to these opportunities—we are able to follow human connections to other lands and peoples. It will be difficult to minister effectively to our disciples in China while simultaneously caring for our church plant in Boston. We need prayer for wisdom.
This is the seventh of twelve prayer letters reporting on the progress and prospects of the ministry in Boston. Next week, I will report on the biological growth of the International Baptist Fellowship.
We love you,
Bill and Deb