Ounate-Lare, Sena and Jane
Ounate-Lare main page
Prayer Letter January 2005
(click here for
Acrobat pdf version)
Greetings from Dapaong. We have been in Togo now for about a year and we are grateful to God because he has been alongside us through all this time. We are also very thankful to you for your support and prayer. Here is some fresh news.
Sena preaching
FAMILY NEWS
One of the crucial things here concerning the family is our health. Until recently, when we all had some sort of gastro, we had been well. We know that God’s hand is on us to protect us but please continue to pray for us. Now that we have settled and have a little bit of routine, life seems a bit easier. The children are growing well. Eloise is 17 months now and has started saying a few words and showing us that she is an independent lady. Joshua is three and he has some local friends. He loves making things with plasticine and also playing with the new puppy. With both of them we had a good time decorating our Christmas tree. Jane is looking after the family well and sometimes misses good English food! Sena is enjoying raising chickens at home. Our courtyard will soon look like Noah’s ark! As there is not much entertainment around Jane and I bought two bikes and we are enjoying cycling around.
MINISTRY
Singing and worship
We started the church as you may know on the 19th September and God has been good to us. The church is located far from the town centre and we are hoping later on to buy a piece of land that we found which is nearer to town. We divided the church into 8 cells scattered throughout the town and each of them has a leader who is trained by Sena once a week. We are lacking leaders because many of our cells are too big and need to be divided. We delayed starting the 8th cell, that we told you about in our prayer update, until recently because of a lack of leaders.
The church is composed at the moment of 90 percent young students and apprentices. We hope to start in the coming months an outreach Bible study for people working in the town. Please pray for that. Our Sunday morning worship starts at 7.30 a.m. with a 45mn bible study. At the moment this is a series on the ‘characteristics of God’, which is led by Gregg a missionary here. It is followed by the service at 8.30am. At the moment we are doing a series of 15 sermons on ‘the foundations of the Christian life’. We are very encouraged because we are seeing people come to Christ.
One man is a Muslim high school student who surrendered his life to the Lord Jesus despite the fact that he got thrown out of his home by his father who also stopped supporting him financially. He now lives with his grandmother. He is very hungry for the Lord and his Word. We are planning to have our first baptism service at Easter and are planning another one for Pentecost.
Challenges
- Resisting the temptation to plant a European church instead of a Togolese one because it is easier to do what we know well.
- Changing people’s animistic way of thinking to Godly and Bible-based way of thinking
- Helping people to a deeper understanding of worship and its importance.
- Getting people to appreciate the importance of children’s work.
- Discerning those who are potential leaders
- People coming to Christ with big spiritual bondages.
Please pray with us for
- Family health
- Our church, the new believers and our young leaders
- God will continue to strengthen us to face all the challenges ahead
- A month seminar (17-01 to 11–02) that the church “ Ministère de Jésus” is organising for its leaders throughout the country. May the Holy Spirit be their teacher.
- Our first baptism course that starts in January and our Baptism service on Easter Sunday.
- Our outreach program for people working in the town.
Please do keep us up-to-date with your news and send us your prayer requests. May the Lord bless you and guide you.
Lots of Love in Christ
Sena, Jane, Joshua & Eloise