SOUTH ASIA
by Ursula Conlong-Griffiths
THE FEET THAT BRING GOOD NEWS Workers trek for miles, carrying an extraordinary message of good news to people who have never heard.
T
rekking along remote, rugged paths in the Himalayas, workers put one foot in front of the other for days on end to reach small villages tucked away in lofty valleys. What is their motivation? Other committed adventurers are attracted by the spectacular views, but for these followers of Jesus it’s the people in the villages who draw them, and a profound love which spurs them on. Geographical isolation, lack of education, and government restrictions mean that many of the people in these villages have never heard the name
GLOBAL 4
of Jesus, let alone know of His transforming love. The workers, who trek day in day out on mountain paths, are ordinary people, often locals themselves, but the love they’ve discovered in Jesus is worth the walk. And it is worth the weight they carry on their backs – supplies for the journey and Bibles and Gospel booklets in every spare corner of space. As they walk, they encounter people. Conversations flow. Booklets are opened. Hope is shared. Bibles pass hands. Prayers are uttered. In time, truth takes root. Individual lives and whole
communities are changed. God has been working through the committed steps of a few faithful Jesus followers, as they continually return to communities, establishing relationships, and venture into new territory. The team work creatively, offering audio Bibles to those who can’t read and Bibles apps to those with phones, all available in local languages. Over the past six years alone, God has nurtured 80 new fledgling churches into being, in communities where
Jesus’ name was previously barely known. “God is doing more than we could have imagined,” says the leader of OM in the Himalayan region. “Even through lockdown, God has been at work. We are mobilising more local believers these days – as they are more welcome in communities than foreigners – continuing to carefully and responsibly carry out distributions, by local people in their local areas.”
Thank you for your committed prayer and sacrificial giving which enables God’s extraordinary work to take place.
