Pakistan
In mid-September this year, brothers from all over the country came to the capital city Islamabad to participate in the July semi-annual training and entered into the messages on “An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord’s Recovery.” It is our hope that through the brothers entering first into the messages and enjoying the Lord’s speaking for the present age, an atmosphere of intense desire to pursue the truth will be stirred up among the churches.
Constitution of the Truth
In previous trainings, we had a few brothers taking the lead to share the messages first, followed by the saints sharing on what touched them. In this recent training, we spent each morning getting into two messages, and then the afternoon was devoted to pray-reading, studying, reciting, and prophesying the outlines. The brothers studied and compared the outlines with the reference scriptural verses, thereby grasping the key points of the truth and entering into its divine thoughts. Everyone strived to enter into the truth, speaking the crucial points to one another and mutually helping and adjusting each other. As they spoke, they were inwardly filled with unspeakable joy and exulted because of the truth.
Gospel Move and Speaking Christ
The messages mentioned the riches of Christ being unsearchable and our need to learn the new language in order to speak out His riches. During the gospel move held on Thursday and Friday, because the brothers were equipped with the truth, the spirit of the gospel within them was stirred up and they prayed together for the Lord to spread His word. Then they went to people’s homes to speak the full ministry of Christ in three stages, sharing about the eternal and infinite God being brought into the finite men. The more they spoke, the more they appreciated every step of His work. As a result, not only were the speaking ones joyful, but the ones being spoken to were also very happy. Together we realized the riches of Christ.
Taking the Way of Constitution
Every morning at 8:30, the brothers in Islamabad pursued the ministry together at the meeting hall. Through the speaking of the present age, the Lord brought us into the divine and mystical realm and delivers us from all earthly entanglement. We testified that by being trained in the word of the Lord every day, the work of the Lord in us became more and more intrinsic. Through the washing of the water in the word, the natural elements were gradually taken away, and the new element of the Lord was wrought into us. Through the revelation of the high peak truth, we saw that our eternal destiny is to become and to work out the New Jerusalem.
Burden for Prayer:
May the Lord bless the propagation in Faisalabad, that a golden lampstand may be established by the end of the year.
Sri Lanka
The Co-workers’ Training
The National Co-workers’ Training was held from September 5 to 8 in Kandy, the capital of Central Province. A total of 22 co-workers, responsible brothers, and serving ones participated and entered into the messages of the July semi-annual training this year on “An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord’s Recovery before His Appearing”. Together we prayed, studied, recited, prophesied, and got tested. Four messages related to the God-ordained way were also given during the training to help the co-workers in four areas: “Setting up a Personal Schedule”, “Establishing the Habit of Contacting People—Gospel-preaching and Home Meetings”, “Propagating on College Campuses”, and “Propagating Groups and Districts for the Multiplication and Spread of the Church”. In this training, a portion of time was devoted to fellowship and reports from each region of the country. This enabled us to fellowship more specifically and in depth concerning the situation of each region and on the practical ways to move forward. The brothers from each region also used this opportunity to update the list of saints in their area and identify those who needed further shepherding.
Praise the Lord! In this co-workers’ training the co-workers received the Lord’s up-to-date speaking. Moreover, through the Lord’s speaking, the co-workers were given a clear direction and practical leading. In terms of practice after the training, two localities experienced significant increases in the number of Lord’s Table meeting attendance because the brothers continued steadfastly to pray for the saints on their lists. In addition, seekers have been baptized to become brothers and sisters. The co-workers also practice going out to contact people ten times every week. Young working saints are encouraged to get into one life-study message per week by reading together and sharing with one another online during the week.
The Church in Colombo
After the National Co-workers’ Training, through the fellowship of the brothers we began a time of prayer and fellowship with the responsible brothers every morning. By praying together every morning, the responsible brothers in Colombo entered into the same burden and prayed for the church in Colombo to reach 100 people in attendance on Lord’s Day. During that prayer time the brothers also prayed for each one whom they would meet with that day. Through such prayer in one accord, the Lord added seekers to us.
First was the daughter of a pastor in a denomination. As soon as this pastor learned that his daughter wanted to serve the Lord full time, he told his daughter to go to the church of the Lord’s recovery to learn the truth. He realized that the truth released by Brother Lee was proper and that if his daughter was to serve the Lord, she must study the truth in the church of the Lord’s Recovery. Currently, this sister joins the full-timers’ morning pursuit in Colombo once a week. May the Lord lead her.
Aside from this, the young full-time brothers living in the meeting hall once bumped into the neighbors next door and invited them to attend the Lord’s Table meeting. The neighbors actually got saved more than 20 years ago, and through our sharing the ministry materials with them, they touched the Lord anew and were regained. So far they’ve joined two Lord’s Table meetings.
The third incident happened when a responsible brother unintentionally sent a ministry portion to a group chat of non-believers. One of the group chat members messaged the brother back to inform him that only half of the message was sent. Then she went on to ask for the complete message. Praise the Lord! Through the brother’s “mistake”, we gained a seeker.
Concerning the Lord’s Day meetings, we began to practice having the prophesying meeting in two languages after the bread-breaking meeting. The Sinhalese-speaking saints meet in one venue, while the English-speaking saints meet in another venue, both inside the meeting hall in Colombo. This affords more saints the opportunity to function and allows more time for fellowship after the meeting. We also invite the new ones and gospel friends to come to the meeting hall for love feast and fellowship after the Lord’s Day meeting. By doing this, we hope to see more saints come into the church life. The brothers in Colombo have set a goal to start a new district next January, bringing the total number of districts to four. They also look forward to having one more district by next June, bringing the total number to five. On Lord’s Day, November 19, we held a year-end gathering with love feast and invited more than 120 saints, new ones, and gospel friends, with the view to bring the lost sheep back to the house of God. May the Lord grant the saints the loving and forgiving heart of the Father and the shepherding and seeking spirit of the Savior as seen in Luke 15. May the number of Lord’s Day attendance of the church in Colombo exceed 100 before the end of next June.
Currently, we have a campus team consisting of two full-time serving families and two full-time serving sisters. We labor on four major universities: Colombo University, Kelaniya University, Jayewardenepura University, and Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (referred to as SLIIT). Since July, we have collected a list of 15 students who are open for contact. Some of them already started to have appointments with us. We need the saints to pray that the campus team might gain key students on the campuses to be useful vessels for the Lord’s move in Sri Lanka.
As for the young saints participating in the full-time training, on August 21, a brother and two sisters went to India to join the three-month short-term full-time training. On September 26, two sisters went to Batam, Indonesia to join the training there.
We pray that the Lord will continue to bless the churches in Sri Lanka, and that by the saints preaching the gospel and shepherding people, there will be the multiplication of districts and small groups for the increase of the church. Through campus work, may young people be gained to join the full-time training for the producing of more living and functioning members in the Body, issuing in a strong and bright testimony of the Lord in Sri Lanka.
Prayer Items:
1. For the church in Colombo to reach 100 saints by June, 2024.
2. For the gaining of key students on the college campuses.
