How Community Development Leads People to Christ [October Prayer Focus]

TEAM – The Evangelical Alliance Mission • Oct 03, 2017

The second-greatest command Jesus gave us was to love our neighbors as ourselves ( Mark 12:31 ). What better way to do that than by building the kinds of communities for them that we would want to live in?

Whether it’s teaching Ukrainians how to restore their community through recycling or teaching job skills to impoverished Papuans, seeking the welfare of others is a concrete way to show Christ’s love. When others see that God’s people truly care about their families and loved ones, they catch a glimpse of what His loving provision looks like in action.

This October, will you pray with us for community development ministries around the world?

Click here to get a printable version of these requests, and sign up here to get the new prayer focus in your inbox each month.

1. Pray that community work will point back to the Gospel.

While community development is a key way to show Christ’s love to the world, ultimately, true hope is found in His eternal solution rather than earthly projects. That’s why it’s so important that this work constantly points back to Christ.

TEAM missionary AJ Westendorp lives and ministers in an especially impoverished community of Guatemala. He says it “takes a firm hope in the true Gospel … to be able to deal with [things like] dying relatives, violent threats, a lot of children and not a lot of space or resources.”

Pray with us for real, Gospel-centered hope to take root. Pray that community members will come to rely solely on Jesus for their spiritual well-being.

2. Pray for an outpouring of the Spirit on workers.

The Path of Hope ministry in Italy thrives with volunteers who help host community events such as Thanksgiving meals or English classes. Photo by TEAM

Community development can be especially taxing because workers often don’t see immediate results for their labor.

TEAM missionary Stan Goertzen says workers need a refilling of God’s Spirit to continuously pour out their energy and efforts in any community project.

Stan founded the Path of Hope in Italy to serve and bring hope to his community through activities such as a children’s day camp, English classes, Thanksgiving Day dinners, concerts, and more.

Pray that the Holy Spirit will renew workers like Stan when tasks are draining. Pray that missionaries around the world will be overflowing with a supernatural love for the communities they’ve been called to serve.

3. Pray for more workers.

“We have been invited into more schools, but lack the staff to add on additional schools at this time,” says Pattie Eager, a TEAM missionary in Mexico.

Pattie and her husband Phil work with at-risk youth in their community through a program called Transformados (“Transformed”). They host summer camps and after-school activities to point kids in a positive direction and dissuade them from using drugs. But without enough staff members, this work quickly becomes overwhelming.

Please pray for the right workers and missionaries for much-needed community development projects around the world. Pray also that these communities will be receptive and open to the workers the Lord sends.

4. Pray for resources for projects.

For TEAM missionary Kurt zurBurg in Ukraine, instilling change and promoting healthy habits started as a community-wide recycling initiative. Photo by TEAM

There’s no denying the value of community development, so why aren’t more people involved in it? One reason is that most community development projects are extremely expensive and require a substantial amount of physical resources.

In Eastern Europe, one TEAM missionary, Kurt zurBurg, is working to remedy the problem of non-recycled plastic in Ukraine.

“We are currently looking for some significant funding for our Precious Plastic Ukraine Project ,” says Kurt. “We realize that our ideas and opportunities seriously outweigh our resources. We need some backers who are excited about the prospect of the impacts we as believers can have in a very secular section of society – environmental care.”

Pray this month for funds for community development projects, like the one Kurt runs in Ukraine. Pray also for the provision of needed materials and manpower.

5. Pray for lasting change.

Lasting change is what community development is all about.

The goal of these projects is not just to give people quick-fix, temporary solutions. Community development missionaries want to help people build their futures and their children’s futures. And this responsibility should be taken very seriously.

Too often, wells aren’t kept up, schoolhouses disintegrate into disrepair or job programs fall to the wayside after a missionary leaves. But by creating solutions that are self-sufficient, multiple generations are blessed.

Pray that God will reveal sustainable solutions to the issues communities face. Pray that positive change will be created and continue to impact for decades to come.

6. Pray for community participants.

Common meeting and learning places, such as the Merauke Community Center in Indonesia, are prime spots for relationships to form and the Gospel message to be shared. Photo by TEAM

Ultimately, if local community members don’t participate in development projects, sustainable improvements aren’t possible.

TEAM missionary Jared Riepma works with the Merauke Community Center , a joint effort between TEAM missionaries and local Indonesian believers. The center provides English and computer classes in order to develop relationships and share the Gospel.

Now, the center is looking for a native Indonesian Christian to serve as the next director of the center.

Please pray that the Lord will raise up local believers to invest time and effort into these important projects. Pray that the communities themselves will participate in finding lasting solutions to complex issues.

7. Pray for physical protection over workers and projects.

Many places in need of community development are unstable and dangerous due political tension, economic depression or civil unrest.

In the Eager family’s case, the primary threat to their ministry’s physical safety is cartel-related violence that has surged in their part of Mexico.

Pray for continued safety for missionary workers and community participants. Pray that nonbelievers will see the Lord’s divine hand of protection over these ministries and come to place their trust in Jesus.

Thank you for partnering with us in prayer! Click the image below to get a printable version of these requests to remember how to pray all month long.

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Bridging Dissonance: Finding Connection in Music and the Gospel

By Emily Sheddan • 18 Jul, 2024

TEAM worker Luke Standridge and his fellow musicians use music to build connections to faith in Japan. In music terms, dissonance creates movement or even suspense in a song. It invites tension. That tension is what helps grab our ear’s attention and the interchanging of these notes with pleasant melodious parts is what makes music such a delight. In a similar way, God is using music to grab people’s attention and catalyze Gospel impact in the largely unreached nation of Japan. TEAM Global Worker, Luke Standridge moved to Japan in 2019 with no clear direction on how he was going to use his passion for composing music while doing ministry. However, after Luke got involved with a local church and began developing deep friendships, the Lord opened unimaginable doors for Luke that in time, coordinating his creative skills with sharing the Word. “People Need to Come to Japan!” Growing up as one of ten kids in a family that was heavily involved in ministry and missions, Luke never considered that it would one day be a part of his own journey. In 2016, via a Japanese language learning class in Indiana, Luke and his brother had the opportunity to travel to Japan. Hearing, learning, and using the language in the context of Japanese culture was the goal. While it was Luke’s first international trip – even his first trip on a plane - it was also his first time hearing about the spiritual condition of the Japanese people. “And just through that, God did a huge 180 change on my heart,” says Luke. “More people should come here as global workers. People need to come to Japan!” The call God was laying on Luke’s heart is echoed when looking at the spiritual landscape of Japan. The nation is home to the second largest unreached people group in the world. It is one of the most difficult places for the Gospel to take hold and grow. Japan is also home to a deep and rich culture that prizes creative arts from pottery to ink to music to anime – a fact that would help Luke find his niche in life and ministry. God’s Guiding Hand In the short three-month timespan of that first trip, Luke found that opportunities came naturally to share about life, and people’s curiosity for Christianity grew. “I left Japan knowing I just had to come back,” Luke shares. “Even if I didn’t get back to the same area, I knew Japan was where God wanted me to be.” The Lord is good all the time and all the time the Lord is good. His plans do not fail. Luke returned to Japan in 2019, and less than a week after arriving, he was put in touch with a renowned composer in Japan. The composer saw some of Luke’s music and invited him to help write the music for a beloved in-country animated show. But God wasn’t finished yet! Fast forward a year, and more connections and opportunities allowed Luke to help with music for Pokémon - a franchise that has brand recognition around the world and was being developed into a TV series in Japan. Luke recalls how the Lord began using these connections in the production world to open doors for Gospel conversations. One night while having dinner in downtown Tokyo with famous artists and composers from all around the country, Luke was asked about his ministry-focused visa. This was a rare opportunity in a setting with people otherwise uninterested in Christianity. Luke shares, “The whole time I could see God’s hand in guiding the entire thing.”

Connecting in a New Kind of “Neighborhood”

By Lorena de la Rosa and Suzanne Pearson • 13 Jun, 2024

Through creative arts and other forms of innovative outreach, “The Neighborhood” is creating connections to the Gospel and the love of Jesus. CONNECTION. It’s a common word with powerful implications. Dictionary.com defines connection as a joining or linking together; a relationship between people or objects that unites or binds them together. God has created each of us with a deep need for connection with Him as well as connection with others. Hebrews 10:24-25 speaks to this, as the writer exhorts, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” This God-given need for connection lies at the heart of a creative and innovative ministry in Japan known as “The Neighborhood.” TEAM Japan global worker, Kelly and her family created The Neighborhood as a place where connections are formed through creative arts, educational opportunities, and simply just providing a space for people to be together. A Family Calling The journey to the creation of The Neighborhood began over 5,000 miles away from Tokyo, in California where Kelly, her husband Jeff, and their five children were living. The kids were the first to sense God’s calling to missions, and asked why their family wasn’t serving in this way. How Kelly and her family came to TEAM is a God-story in and of itself. “God placed a TEAM Japan worker at our lunch table the same week that the kids posed that question to us,” Kelly recalls. “We had never heard of TEAM and so we thought, ‘let’s check this out.’ After that, God just kept confirming that we were supposed to be here.” After a period of fundraising and with much excitement, the family of seven moved to Japan in 2014. For the first five years, Kelly and Jeff served as a part of other TEAM ministry initiatives, but they began to sense a stirring for something new. Creating The Neighborhood Kelly and her family truly have a deep gift for hospitality, and regularly opened up their home to others they met in Tokyo. They saw a great need for people to have a place to gather and connect, and they wondered what doors the Lord might be opening for them to meet that need. “About a year before we were to return the States on home assignment, we were just really thinking about our future in Japan,” Kelly says. “We saw a need for people to have a ‘third place’ – a place that’s not home and it’s not work. They didn’t have a church community or any other place where they could meet people and just connect.” Kelly goes on to explain that in Japan, the culture is such that people don’t generally invite each other into their homes, but as her family did so, people embraced that opportunity. “This idea formed in all of our hearts of a student ministry center – a place where we can create community and learning,” says Kelly. “It was born out of what we were already doing in our home, but seeing how we could expand it and have better space.” God’s Provision What happened next is a true testament to God’s provision. Kelly, Jeff, and the kids returned to the States and began sharing their vision for The Neighborhood with their supporters and churches who responded generously. Upon returning to Japan, the search was on for the right space. “We had a Christian realtor that we told our dream to, and he just went looking for it,” Kelly recalls. When the realtor found a 5-story apartment building, he said, “It’s kind of out of your budget but it has what you need and want.” The Lord provided the funds and the family moved into the space in November 2019. They now occupy all but the ground floor, with living space for their family as well as classrooms, areas to study or hang out, and guest rooms for exchange students or others who need a place to stay overnight. The first floor is occupied by a pizza shop – a welcome amenity for the many groups and students who visit The Neighborhood. “It’s very convenient!” Kelly says with a laugh. The Neighborhood began to see lots of activity right away until the pandemic hit in early 2020. During the height of the quarantine, Kelly and Jeff used the time to redecorate the space and plant gardens outside the building. Then as the restrictions eased, they invited individual students or families over for meals and fellowship. It wasn’t until March 2023 that The Neighborhood was able to fully open again as intended. Kelly shares that despite the setbacks of COVID, the Lord continued to provide the funds to pay the rent.