From a Team Expansion worker:
We’ve now completed 7 of the 10 sessions of a training in Syria. I will return to finish out the last 3 sessions at a later time. Between now and then, the trainees will start practicing and using the different methods we’ve talked about for both evangelism and discipleship. It was another great time with lots of “lightbulb” moments for people as they realize they are so much more capable of being the hands and feet of Jesus than they have realized. They are empowered and excited to see God’s kingdom grow throughout Syria.
Stories from the last trip:
After prayer walking, many of the people expressed how they never knew it could be so easy/possible/encouraging to pray for people on the street. One woman said she asked a Muslim woman who had most of her head and face covered if she could pray with her. The trainee expected a quick “no,” but the Muslim woman got really excited and asked for prayer for many things. The trainee found out they live in the same area and got her number so that they can connect more over tea or coffee and share more about Jesus.
Another trainee asked to pray for someone who received it well and the door was opened to share God’s story with him. The person hearing this message for the first time said he has lived in a Christian area for many years, but this was the first time a Christian actually prayed for him and shared about God with him.
A young man at the training did the math and saw that, altogether, about a dozen people were prayed for on the streets in the 45 minutes they were out walking. He challenged the church, saying something like, “if we did this every month that would be 12 people a month — if we do it every week, that’s 48 a month! And if we get others in the church to do it also, it can be hundreds of people in our neighborhoods getting prayed for and hearing the Gospel every month. Why haven’t we been doing this?”
God is at work in Syria and I look forward to seeing what He does through this little church in Damascus.
