Fellowship unto the Furtherance of the Gospel
“With much entreaty they besought of us the grace and the fellowship of the ministry to the saints.” (2 Cor. 8:4)
“I thank my God upon all my remembrance of you…for your fellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now.” (Phil. 1:3, 5)
“You did well to have fellowship with me in my affliction.” (Phil. 4:14)
Fellowship here [Phil. 1:5] means participation, communication. The saints in Philippi had fellowship unto the gospel, participating in the furtherance of the gospel through the apostle Paul’s ministry. This participation included their financial contributions to the apostle (4:10, 15-16). This kind of fellowship gave them the ground for their experience and enjoyment of Christ. The more fellowship we have in the furtherance of the gospel, the more Christ we experience and enjoy. This kills our self, ambition, preference, and choice. (part of Phil. 1:5, note 1)
Southern California Special Training on the Eldership
Beginning January 12, there will be a special training on the eldership for Southern California elders and responsible brothers. The burden of this training is to strengthen the present eldership and the responsible brothers in the churches, to perfect and raise up the next generation of elders and responsible brothers, and to gradually bring more younger brothers into a functioning role in an organic way.
The training will take place over at least three terms, each term approximately six months. Since it will consist of monthly corporate gatherings, weekly group fellowships, and weekly personal study, this training will involve a significant time commitment on the part of all participants.
The Lord’s need today is for an army of Nazarites to be raised up, trained, and equipped to fight for His testimony so that God can gain the ground on earth and have a people who are built up as His kingdom and His habitation. The elders and responsible brothers must take the lead and be patterns to all the saints in living for nothing other than God and for His satisfaction.
All the saints are encouraged to pray that:
- the Lord will strengthen all the participants and become their perseverance and faithfulness to continually present themselves absolutely to this training;
-
an unprecedented one accord among the churches in Southern California will be ushered in as all the participants are attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion; and
-
the Lord will bless this training so that all participants will be perfected further for the Lord’s testimony in Southern California and for the building up of the church, the Body of Christ.
Spanish-Speaking and Young People’s Conferences
The Southern California Spanish-Speaking Conference is January 18 to 20, at the MCC in Anaheim. Messages will be given in English with simultaneous translation into Spanish.Child care will be provided for kindergarten through 6th grade plus a room with a broadcast for parents with children younger than kindergarten. Conference details are posted at https://churchinlosangeles.org/prayer.
A Southern California Young People’s Blending Conference will take place at the same time in the MCC’s cafeteria (HS) and a classroom (JH). There is no cost and no meals will be provided, but everyone must register at https://tinyurl.com/YP-Jan2019. Registration deadline is Lord’s Day, January 13.
May the Lord super abundantly pour out His rich blessing on these conferences. Let us ask the Lord to open the hearts and outward circumstances for everyone He wants at these conferences and to take a step forward with both Spanish-speaking and young people.
FTTA
The spring term application deadline is January 10; the late deadline is January 31. Lord, bring at least 50 new trainees, including 25 brothers, to the spring term beginning February 17.
United Kingdom (UK) – Brexit
In November the European Union (EU) gave a document to the UK which has conditions for the UK exit (Brexit) from the EU. The UK Parliament will debate this week and vote next week on whether to accept or reject these conditions. The Lord is Head over all things, including Brexit, to the church, His Body. We pray, Lord, 1) head up the UK parliament for Your move in all of Europe, and 2) use the confusion and anxiety generated by Brexit politics to open more people to Yourself.
Germany
In Aachen there are close to twenty saints gathering. They can become a local church very soon. Pray for the establishing of a regular gospel living on the university campus and the preparation of the saints and contacts for the Lord’s table meeting.
A group of brothers from cities surrounding Bielefeld have begun coming together to pray for the Lord’s testimony to be raised up there. We believe in the coming months we will have a new church here. Pray for a stand-alone house for meetings near the university campus with adequate space for all functions, and for the saints from the adjacent cities to gather in one accord for the testimony in Bielefeld.
Lyon, France
When the weather permits, we go out weekly to distribute the Bible. To prepare for 2019, we ordered 900 Bibles from Bible for Europe. In addition to the Bible distributions, we put posters on several campuses to invite students for campus meetings and home meetings.
National College Training in India
Praise the Lord for our National College Students Training held December 22 to 25! We had a record number of 586 (281 college students, 187 young people, and 118 young working saints and serving ones), exceeding our prayer goal of 500.
We had separate sessions for college students, young adults, and young people. We also had one fellowship regarding FTT New Delhi; at least 120 consecrated to attend in the coming years!
Laos
Pray for the translation of the Recovery Version into Lao, so that the translation will be accurate and supply the needs of the saints in Laos.
Announcements
-
Morning revival: Week 4 of Material Offerings and the Lord’s Move Today.
Monday, January 14, we will begin The Reality of the Body of Christ (Thanksgiving Conference). -
Beginning January 1, the Spanish language radio broadcast in Los Angeles Monday through Friday changed time to 9:00 to 9:30 pm. For L.A. County the frequency changed to FM 100.3, with FM 90.3 for San Fernando Valley and Ventura County.
More information is at https://churchinlosangeles.org/prayer/. -
The report from Europe presented at the December training, and supplemental reports, are at https://www.amanatrust.org.uk/reports.