Pressure and Prayer in Belarus
A spiritual battle has raged on multiple fronts for over two years. Our national overseer, Henadzi Kernazhytski (Gena), alerted us to the attacks on religious freedom, launched by the Belarussian authorities who sought to forcibly confiscate the property of the largest evangelical church in Minsk, the capital city of Belarus. The struggle escalated as the pastor of the New Life Church, Slava Goncharenko, sent out a call to Christians across Belarus and around the world to intercede for the reversal of the decision to take their church building. Our national leader, Pastor Gena, has been intimately involved with this effort to galvanize Christians around the world to pressure the Belarussian government to rescind this action and support freedom from the repression that affects all churches in the nation of Belarus. The church marshaled a cadre of intercessors and began a hunger strike and fast on October 5, 2006 with up to 150 people occupying the church's facilities and sleeping in the building all night long. Daily prayer meetings were held in New Life church from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Representatives from over 80 churches and denominations have visited New Life Church for this unusual "prayer conference."
A global prayer communiqué arrested the attention of Christians the world over. The Church's actions caught the attention of the Belarussian government. The government reaction gave little hope for resolution as doctors were not allowed to come to church to monitor some of the people who were participating in the hunger strike/fast. However, a few doctors from Baptist churches did offer assistance.
November 2nd was pivotal. Diplomats from a number of European nations including Great Britain, France, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, the Czeck Republic and the United States visited the church and met with church leaders. As the embassy representatives noted, they are interested in the events concerning freedom of worship in Belarus and particularly the situation of New Life. They all stressed the fact that their visit to the church is an expression of support and solidarity with the Christians of New Life.
Stephan Eriksson, Head of Office of the Swedish Embassy said in an interview to the church media service: "A hunger strike of 200 believers is undoubtedly an important event. During the last weeks we have been observing the things going on in this church. That's why we decided to come here and express our solidarity with the believers' legal demands. Everyone has the right to assemble in the church freely."
Pastor Gena commented, "I am sure that God wants to make His Church stronger through the situation the New Life Church has been put in. We, as believers, often learn something through difficult circumstances."
Please continue to pray for the courageous saints in Belarus. Let us know that you are praying. We would love to send notes of encouragement to our brethren in Belarus. Send your notes to retha@cogop.org. You can find this and other missions news on our website at http://globaloutreach.cogop.org.
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Out of Court with Victory in Guinea Bissau
A pastor hears the Macedonian call and leaves his church in the impoverished nation of Liberia, West Africa; uproots his family, and plants the first Church of God of Prophecy in the neighboring country of Guinea Conakry. Good growth and developing leadership put the work in this nation on an excellent path. Peter Koyea, the Liberian church-planter, felt that gospel-launching call again and went into Guinea Bissau to pioneer another church in virgin territory. The unrelenting focus on reaching people, amazing sacrifice, and the incredible results are evident in one of Brother Peter's recent communications: "Even though I am presently in Bissau planting our first church as by the grace of God, yet, He is doing more in our work in Conakry with our churches experiencing revivals, growth…with some having space problem[s] at the moment. Little did I know that the Lord was so real while I was in Liberia. But He has made Himself known to me more and has made me to know better why He called me when I ventured out into missions."
In recent days this courageous church planter has shared the intense attack coming against him in Guinea Bissau because of the life-changing power of the gospel. His note has a New Testament flavor in exemplifying the tremendous work of the Spirit in delivering those in spiritual darkness and the resulting counterattack from the enemy of God's kingdom. Brother Koyea writes: "It all started when a boy 19 years of age by the name [of] Constatinho gave his life to Christ after one of house to house evangelisms. We did not know by then that the house we went to preach to belong to the djambacus [tribal priest]. We were not properly received but were able to preach Jesus with many interruptions from the inhabitants of the house and at last we were asked to leave. After some time Constatinho visited one of our weekly services and gave his life to Christ. His uncle, the djambacus, got to know and every time the boy came to church, he would come and ask him [to come] out of the church. Yesterday the boy was in our baptism class and cut the juju rope from his waist and gave it to be burnt after the teachings. The uncle beat him and threatened to make him mad by means of juju [witchcraft] and the boy fled. The uncle then took us to the court [alleging] that we have kidnapped his son after he came to our house this morning raining insults and curses on us. We spent the whole day at the court until Brother Julio, one of our members, a military personnel came and signed for us and we are to reappear in court on Monday [November 6, 2006]."
Brother Peter wrote to ask us to join him in persistent prayer. The court had his passport, residency permit and other documents, the loss of which would be catastrophic since he is not a native of Guinea.
Two days after getting Brother Peter's plea for prayer support we received another email from him which outlined the scope of God's deliverance. When he appeared in court the judge ruled in Brother Koyea's favor dismissing the charges against him; fined the juju man 100,000 Cfa (about $200), and warned him not to attack to attack the church since he would be held responsible for any action taken against the church in the future. Brother Peter's praise is contagious, "We thank the Lord for taking control and putting a stop to what the enemy intended, that is, the enemy wanted to put me in jail until the boy can be found, thus hindering our work here in Bissau…praise God we are only fighting from victory to victory."
How You Can Help
* Pray for young Brother Constatinho who will probably have to go to live with another relative in Gambia since he has stirred the animosity of the town by breaking with the rules of their tradition.
* Pray for Brother Koyea and the church in Guinea Bissau that they will be bold to declare the testimony of Jesus.
* Pray for wisdom as Brother Koyea disciples new believers, develops leaders, establishes the work.
A spiritual battle has raged on multiple fronts for over two years. Our national overseer, Henadzi Kernazhytski (Gena), alerted us to the attacks on religious freedom, launched by the Belarussian authorities who sought to forcibly confiscate the property of the largest evangelical church in Minsk, the capital city of Belarus. The struggle escalated as the pastor of the New Life Church, Slava Goncharenko, sent out a call to Christians across Belarus and around the world to intercede for the reversal of the decision to take their church building. Our national leader, Pastor Gena, has been intimately involved with this effort to galvanize Christians around the world to pressure the Belarussian government to rescind this action and support freedom from the repression that affects all churches in the nation of Belarus. The church marshaled a cadre of intercessors and began a hunger strike and fast on October 5, 2006 with up to 150 people occupying the church's facilities and sleeping in the building all night long. Daily prayer meetings were held in New Life church from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Representatives from over 80 churches and denominations have visited New Life Church for this unusual "prayer conference."
A global prayer communiqué arrested the attention of Christians the world over. The Church's actions caught the attention of the Belarussian government. The government reaction gave little hope for resolution as doctors were not allowed to come to church to monitor some of the people who were participating in the hunger strike/fast. However, a few doctors from Baptist churches did offer assistance.
November 2nd was pivotal. Diplomats from a number of European nations including Great Britain, France, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, the Czeck Republic and the United States visited the church and met with church leaders. As the embassy representatives noted, they are interested in the events concerning freedom of worship in Belarus and particularly the situation of New Life. They all stressed the fact that their visit to the church is an expression of support and solidarity with the Christians of New Life.
Stephan Eriksson, Head of Office of the Swedish Embassy said in an interview to the church media service: "A hunger strike of 200 believers is undoubtedly an important event. During the last weeks we have been observing the things going on in this church. That's why we decided to come here and express our solidarity with the believers' legal demands. Everyone has the right to assemble in the church freely."
Pastor Gena commented, "I am sure that God wants to make His Church stronger through the situation the New Life Church has been put in. We, as believers, often learn something through difficult circumstances."
Please continue to pray for the courageous saints in Belarus. Let us know that you are praying. We would love to send notes of encouragement to our brethren in Belarus. Send your notes to retha@cogop.org. You can find this and other missions news on our website at http://globaloutreach.cogop.org.
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Out of Court with Victory in Guinea Bissau
A pastor hears the Macedonian call and leaves his church in the impoverished nation of Liberia, West Africa; uproots his family, and plants the first Church of God of Prophecy in the neighboring country of Guinea Conakry. Good growth and developing leadership put the work in this nation on an excellent path. Peter Koyea, the Liberian church-planter, felt that gospel-launching call again and went into Guinea Bissau to pioneer another church in virgin territory. The unrelenting focus on reaching people, amazing sacrifice, and the incredible results are evident in one of Brother Peter's recent communications: "Even though I am presently in Bissau planting our first church as by the grace of God, yet, He is doing more in our work in Conakry with our churches experiencing revivals, growth…with some having space problem[s] at the moment. Little did I know that the Lord was so real while I was in Liberia. But He has made Himself known to me more and has made me to know better why He called me when I ventured out into missions."
In recent days this courageous church planter has shared the intense attack coming against him in Guinea Bissau because of the life-changing power of the gospel. His note has a New Testament flavor in exemplifying the tremendous work of the Spirit in delivering those in spiritual darkness and the resulting counterattack from the enemy of God's kingdom. Brother Koyea writes: "It all started when a boy 19 years of age by the name [of] Constatinho gave his life to Christ after one of house to house evangelisms. We did not know by then that the house we went to preach to belong to the djambacus [tribal priest]. We were not properly received but were able to preach Jesus with many interruptions from the inhabitants of the house and at last we were asked to leave. After some time Constatinho visited one of our weekly services and gave his life to Christ. His uncle, the djambacus, got to know and every time the boy came to church, he would come and ask him [to come] out of the church. Yesterday the boy was in our baptism class and cut the juju rope from his waist and gave it to be burnt after the teachings. The uncle beat him and threatened to make him mad by means of juju [witchcraft] and the boy fled. The uncle then took us to the court [alleging] that we have kidnapped his son after he came to our house this morning raining insults and curses on us. We spent the whole day at the court until Brother Julio, one of our members, a military personnel came and signed for us and we are to reappear in court on Monday [November 6, 2006]."
Brother Peter wrote to ask us to join him in persistent prayer. The court had his passport, residency permit and other documents, the loss of which would be catastrophic since he is not a native of Guinea.
Two days after getting Brother Peter's plea for prayer support we received another email from him which outlined the scope of God's deliverance. When he appeared in court the judge ruled in Brother Koyea's favor dismissing the charges against him; fined the juju man 100,000 Cfa (about $200), and warned him not to attack to attack the church since he would be held responsible for any action taken against the church in the future. Brother Peter's praise is contagious, "We thank the Lord for taking control and putting a stop to what the enemy intended, that is, the enemy wanted to put me in jail until the boy can be found, thus hindering our work here in Bissau…praise God we are only fighting from victory to victory."
How You Can Help
* Pray for young Brother Constatinho who will probably have to go to live with another relative in Gambia since he has stirred the animosity of the town by breaking with the rules of their tradition.
* Pray for Brother Koyea and the church in Guinea Bissau that they will be bold to declare the testimony of Jesus.
* Pray for wisdom as Brother Koyea disciples new believers, develops leaders, establishes the work.
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