God is at work through The Alliance around the world! People are meeting Jesus in multiple ways as they interact and engage with Alliance workers and ministries—all because of the prayers and financial gifts from friends like you. The stories are overwhelming, with too many to all be told—but here’s a sampling of some from 2019 you may not have yet heard. To God be all glory, honor, and praise!
Reducing Preventable Surgical Deaths
According to The Lancet, 5 billion people around the globe have no access to safe surgical, obstetric, trauma, and anesthesia care. The Alliance-affiliated Bongolo Hospital in Gabon, Central Africa, serves 40,000 patients annually and partners with the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS) training program, which is helping to reduce preventable surgical deaths.
Training and Discipleship Ministry Has Broad Reach
An Alliance couple founded a training and discipleship ministry in a creative-access country. Despite the government’s increased persecution of religion, in the past year 628 people heard the gospel for the first time through this ministry, 78 nonbelievers attended seeker classes, and 23 put their faith in Christ.
Spanish DMin Program in Latin America
At the Alliance World Fellowship CLA (Latin America) Regional Conference in Argentina, 164 participants from 13 Latin American countries gathered. Alliance Theological Seminary and FATELA signed a partnership agreement to provide an accredited Spanish DMin program in Latin America for the leaders of the C&MA and other like-minded denominations.
The Deaf Will Hear
According to the World Health Organization, 466 million people worldwide are deaf, but just 2 percent are believers. This unreached people group will be overlooked no more as The Alliance moves into deaf communities in the United States and around the world—including the deployment of the C&MA’s first deaf international worker to West Africa, this fall.
Evangelism Spreads in Senegal
During Alliance-affiliated Dakar Academy’s annual January outreach in Senegal, the medical team treated 434 patients and distributed 100 pairs of glasses; another team constructed a church foundation. Child evangelism efforts in 11 villages resulted in 100 kids making decisions for Christ—280 people prayed for salvation during the evening evangelistic campaigns. Pray for local Alliance pastors discipling the new believers.
Progress Made in Vili Villages
God is moving among a previously unreached people group—the Vili of Congo. As oral learners, who comprise two-thirds of the world’s population, the Vili didn’t have God’s Word in their language. So Alliance workers helped translate and record Bible stories for them; their team is now leading hundreds of these formerly resistant people to Jesus. Communities of new believers now meet in 11 villages where they are being discipled.
Congo Alliance Multiplies
The Alliance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has over 1.5 million members—more than triple the size of the U.S. Alliance!
Kosovo Care Center Opens
Recently, an Alliance team in Kosovo opened a new center to build community with the people in their city. It has a study center with computers and classes in English, counseling, business development, and work training. There is also a ministry outreach to mothers that cares for the physical and emotional needs of 22 women.
Children the Heart of CAMA Vietnam
A CAMA (Compassion and Mercy Associates) couple has served in Vietnam for 20 years, building public preschools and small water towers in low income communities. With a heart for orphans and single-parent children, the couple has helped 250 children by providing school tuition, rice, and school supplies and encouraging them to finish high school. More than 1,600 children, youth, and college students have been served through the reach of CAMA Vietnam.
IT Business Saves Souls
K, a marketplace ministries worker, started an IT software development business 10 years ago in south Asia. The company’s core values are biblically based and mostly counter-cultural to the staff. Because K and his team daily model these Christlike qualities, seven employees have come to faith as well as six of their family members. Marriages have also been healed.
Bible Used for Reading Lessons
Quechua women in Inca Link, Peru, were never allowed to go to school or learn how to read. Envision project leaders are teaching women how to read using the Quechua Bible, and their children are hearing about Christ through a puppet ministry.
Caring for the Poor
The urban poor now constitute the world’s third-largest unreached people group, which is doubling every decade; it is also the most responsive group to the gospel. Through the combined efforts of CAMA with other Alliance teams, The Alliance is addressing the physical and spiritual needs of the poor in sub-Saharan Africa’s urban centers—sharing a vision to see communities of faith established among these most marginalized people.
Life-Saving Signing and Swimming
Our Alliance aXcess teams are celebrating new believers in a previously unreached people group in the host country, a creative-access location. A new NGO is providing community development opportunities in this area through using sign language and traveling to villages to provide swimming training (the word “Jesus” and “life-saving” are the same in this country!).
New Ministry Center in Middle East
A church ministry center has been completed that serves people from multiple ethnic backgrounds who are coming to Christ; interns are also being equipped in evangelism, discipleship, and pastoral training.
First Believer in a Balkan City
Following a year of prayer-walking in a small town in Bosnia-Herzegovina, a woman placed her faith in Christ. She is the first known believer in this city.
Alliance Church in Korea Grows
Since it was established April 8, 2018, the Alliance Church in Korea (ACK) has grown to 15 member churches, 5 associate churches, and 7 parachurches—with 45 ordained pastors and approximately 1,000 total church members. ACK is working with the C&MA and Alliance World Fellowship ministering to 2.5 million migrant workers in South Korea; train future missionaries; and prepare for ministry in North Korea and south/west Asian countries.
Spiritual Deliverance in France
Recently, more than 60 people representing 11 French Alliance churches and 3 non-Alliance churches attended a soul care retreat in Limoges. Ministry leaders and pastors experienced renewal and freedom in the depths of their souls. After one elderly woman was delivered from spiritual oppression, she said: “I have been waiting 65 years for this day!”
Motorbike Missions Trip
During an annual motorbike missions trip this May, a visiting team of Alliance youth traveled more than 298 miles to visit five Alliance village churches in Preah Vihear province, the northern part of Cambodia. Overall, 71 visitors traveled from 4 different provinces in the northwest region—35 of whom were first-timers on a missions trip. At every village, participants shared their faith with villagers—and, as a result, six people gave their lives to Jesus!
No Passport Required
The C&MA Midwest District is home to the number one and number three largest populations of Chinese students in America—attending Illinois University in Champaign (6,000) and Purdue University in West Lafayette (5,000), respectively. Alliance ministries are reaching out to the Chinese populations in both these cities, as well as others, making cross-cultural impact possible without a passport!
From the Garbage Dump to the Classroom
Elim, a garbage dump ministry of Inca Link in Peru, collected essential school supplies to equip 70 children and teens for better learning and performance. In addition, this Alliance-based ministry also distributed clothes and other necessities that were greatly appreciated by parents who live in the garbage dump community and sector 7 of El Milagro.
Language Opens New Doors to Conversation
A team from the C&MA’s Spanish Eastern District joined Alliance international workers in a northern European city for their prayer-walking ministry. Following God’s leading, the team was able to locate Spanish-speaking people and engage them in conversation. In three days, they led 14 people to Jesus, invited several others to events where they could learn more about Him, and provided follow-up connections for ongoing discipleship.
Basketball and Bibles
At the beginning of July, The Alliance in Kosovo partnered with the International Basketball Training Academy for a basketball camp in the unreached city of Drenas. Eighty-eight youths attended and learned not only about basketball but also the importance of godly character. On the last day of camp, every kid heard the gospel, and 24 asked for their own Bibles.
Future Cambodian Church Leaders
About 190 young people recently attended a youth rally at Svey Sisophon, Cambodia, where they worshipped, performed special songs and dances, and shared testimonies. After delivering an inspiring message, Rev. Bo Samoeun challenged the teens: “Jesus is calling some of you in this room to be fishers of men. Who is willing to answer the call?” More than 100 youths raised their hands!
Deaf Children Share the Good News
A deaf team from Salem (Oregon) Signing Services partnered with a local deaf school in West Africa to host the first-ever camp for 43 deaf children from 8–18 years of age. The campers worked and played hard—their experience culminating in a skit illustrating the Creation, Fall, and Jesus’ death and Resurrection, a powerful expression of the gospel that touched many of the unsaved family members and friends in attendance.
Good News Heard in “Circle of Silence”
At the Breath of Life church plant in Guadalajara, Mexico, located in The Circle of Silence—an area where few have heard the good news—49 people have been baptized over the past three years. Since their women’s ministry launched this year, three ladies have come Christ. A second Breath of Life congregation just opened in December.
Healed and Helping**
After being hit by a car, university student Yulia was in a coma and given no chance for recovery—but God healed her and restored her health beyond what doctors thought possible. She now advocates for widows and children in western Ukraine. With the help of Diane, an Alliance aXcess worker, Yulia helps supply them with groceries, firewood, and Christmas and Easter presents.
Girl Healed of Evil Spirits**
In Cambodia, a 16-year-old girl filled with evil spirits was set free after a member of the Ang Salaa Alliance house church prayed with her. When Cham was asked to help, he prayed for strength, courage, and wisdom. “Do you want to be well?” he asked the girl. “Yes,” she replied, so they prayed together. As a result, she has been freed from oppression and comes to church occasionally.
** For more stories of miraculous healing and deliverance, check out the September/October issue of Alliance Life magazine, dedicated to the third fold of the Fourfold Gospel: Christ Our Healer.
The Gates of Hell Will Not Prevail
While violence sharply increases in West Africa—by 1,300 percent since 2016*—God is at work. Nearly 500 people in this region came to Christ in 2019 as a result of Alliance well-drilling work alone. *Source: Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project, August 2019
War Trauma Survivors Find Rest
In the last year, an Eastern European Alliance church launched a project with women who are survivors of war trauma. In addition to the grief they experience, the community often shames them for being emotionally damaged by these traumatic events. Alliance workers and local church leaders are providing a safe place for these women to rest from their daily lives, learn life skills, and experience the love of Jesus.
Man Freed from Addiction
Within a two-week period, 25 people have come to Christ in the Srae Nouy Alliance church in Cambodia—including a 43-year-old drunken, wife-beating man who was known in the community as the “king of the addicts.” Having found freedom in Christ after 20 years of heavy drinking, Samuit is being used by God to draw other addicted men to Jesus.
Sustainable Farming
Through the Guinea Agro-Pastoral (GAP) Project, which CAMA workers support, farmers are learning a practice to successfully grow crops and raise livestock. Under Pastor Jérémie’s guidance and ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) training, these farmers and their families have moved from barely feeding themselves to earning enough income to help others—while learning of God’s love and provision.
Life Saved Through the Air Waves
Recently, a young man visited an Alliance radio station in Africa, sharing with staff how he had been contemplating suicide. But after hearing a Christian song on their station, he decided to follow Christ. Twenty Alliance radio stations broadcast in 13 languages across West Africa, reaching 2.5 million people who have never heard the good news.
Circle of Care Brings Hope
A mother and two boys were baptized this summer as the first fruits of the Circle of Care ministry in Guadalajara, Mexico, a partner with the local Breath of Life Alliance Church. This woman began living on the streets at age 14, gave up her first child for adoption, and then had two more babies. She is now married with four children.
Ministry Multiplied in Spain
The first Spain Alliance National Missions Conference, September 13–14 in Madrid, was blessed with abundance beyond expectations. While 120 participants were planned for, more than 155 attended. At the end of the final service, 30 people responded to a call to missions—including a young Spanish woman on mission with Wycliffe, the first missionary sent from the national Alliance church network.
Declaring Truth in a Creative-Access Location
Max, a professor from Asia, was ready to follow Christ—he just needed a simple gospel outline to help him take the next step. After hearing the gospel “ABCs” (we are Aware; we Believe; Come!), he quickly said, “You forgot ‘D’—now we have to Declare this truth!” Max is currently declaring Jesus throughout his homeland where less than one half of one percent know Jesus. Eleven people meet in a home to listen to Citylight (C&MA church in Omaha, Neb.) sermons each week and fellowship together.
A Church Is Built!
In 2012, no Alliance church existed in a West African area where fewer than 2 percent of the population claim to be Christ-followers. Today, this is no longer true, due to the efforts and hard work of the Alliance team and a national missionary couple! What began as a small gathering under a straw-roofed structure in their front yard has grown to a gathering of more than 200 people who now meet in a church building that can seat 400. To God be the glory!
PSALM Celebrates 50 Years
This past August, the Philippine Student Alliance Lay Movement (PSALM) celebrated its 50th anniversary in Zamboanga City. During its years of establishing and strengthening campus and marketplace ministries, PSALM has trained and equipped hundreds of dynamic servant leaders and seen 15,000 decisions to follow Jesus. PSALM was conceived in 1969 by Alliance missionary Joseph Arthur, who saw “the great potential of the sleeping giant—the student world.”
Reaching the World in Atlanta
Atlanta is home to people groups from 145 countries—most of whom have never heard the good news. Last summer Envision Atlanta staff and visiting teams led 125 refugees to Jesus. Twelve house churches have been planted with more on the way. The team is currently seeking a property to house an after-school program for at-risk immigrant youth.
Salvation Through the Air Waves
Hundreds are coming to Christ in Cambodia’s Anlong Veng district, where an Alliance worker couple is discipling the new believers. Many are illiterate and live in remote areas far from churches, so the couple provides them radios with Bible recordings and hymns in Khmer. As a result, many have said their neighbors received Christ after overhearing the radio messages!