Editor’s Note: Because God’s people pray and give to the Great Commission Fund, Alliance teams are serving in some of the most spiritually desolate places on earth. This adapted report is by an Alliance worker who ministers in the North and Central Asia Region among a people group of whom there are no known believers.
Updated: February 22, 2018
During summer 2015 we conducted minority language workshops in several communities here. We introduced the new alphabet to members of a people group, an oral society, which previously has had no written language. And we shared several stories to encourage discussion, hoping to inspire some writing in the mother tongue.
Lively Discussion
A favorite tale was about the son who took his inheritance, wasted it, and then returned to a loving father. This parable always elicited lively discussion, since shaming your family is one of the worst things you can do in this culture.
Some workshops were in remote communities, so we stayed overnight with host families. Evenings were a great time to visit; people opened up, and we had opportunities to discuss eternal matters as well as pray for one another.
Freed from Fear
One evening our translator, Zeke*, quietly approached me and related his struggle with fear, especially at night when he would see jinns, a word of Arabic origins meaning evil spirits (“genies” is the anglicized version). We prayed to the Conqueror of the evil one—Jesus—on Zeke’s behalf, asking for deliverance from fear.
A week later when I saw Zeke, he immediately approached. “First, I thank God!” he said. “Next, I thank you; I slept more peacefully this week than ever in my life.”
Following Zeke’s lead, we first thank God! Next, we want to thank our friends and supporters for their intercessory prayer on our behalf and especially for praying for the many in this vast region needing desperately to see the Kingdom and know its King.
*Name changed
Pray
Use the weekly Alliance Prayer Requests to join the Alliance family in interceding on behalf of our global teams, including those serving in the North and Central Asia Region—one of the last missions frontiers.
Learn More
Check out people groups of the world lacking access to the good news, including the Turkic, Persian, and Tibetan peoples in the North and Central Asia Region. Praying for them is an effective way for Alliance people to help fulfill the Great Commission.