May Ministry Update

The Sovereign God, who alone knows the day and the hour when our Lord Jesus Christ shall return for His people, has not raptured the believers on May 21.  How unwise is it of man to think that He knows the day and the hour when the Son of Man shall return!  A few in Suriname were wondering whether the world would indeed come to an end.  It struck fear in the hearts of a few but we paid no attention to it since we know what the Bible says. Like Paul, at times we desire to depart and be with Christ but to remain and proclaim the Gospel to those who are yet to hear and to rescue souls from the power of darkness is more necessary.  In the meantime, our hearts are fixed on making disciples, serving Him faithfully, and living in anticipation of the return of our Blessed Hope, Jesus Christ.

The opportunities to reach children for Christ are many and we need to seize it before rebellion, rejection, hardness of heart, indifference, and a lack of fear of God takes over.  Nadira has working with the Hindustani children in Jarikaba and with the Guyanese and Bush Creole children in the city.  Some of the children are from broken homes where is little or no supervision, discipline, and nurturing.  There are rejected, abused, and deprived of some of the basic needs.  When they come to Sunday School, they display anger, lack of respect for authority, and stubbornness.  Pray that Nadira and others will be granted the patience, and wisdom to reach out to these children and lead them to Christ.

Nathan has completed K-4 and he has done very well.  When school reopens on August 15, he will be in first grade.  He has a lot of free time and now we are looking at ways to keep him occupied.  Nathan is 6 years old and he has been very sensitive to the things of God and he is learning about God.  He understands what sin is and the judgment of God on sin, and God’s love through Jesus Christ. In our busyness of sharing Christ, discipling, and training others to impact the kingdom of God, we did not want to neglect sharing Christ with Nathan and leading him to the Lord.  Each night, Nadira tells him a story and explains the Scriptures to him. A few weeks ago, Nadira talked to him about sin, God’s holiness and judgment, and the provision of Christ to forgive him of sin and he prayed to receive the Lord Jesus.  As adults, we tend to down play the simplicity of the faith of children and their willingness to receive Christ.  I spent some time with Nathan to find out whether he understood what he did.  I was delighted that he trusted in Jesus and he is opened to the things of God.  We are spending time nurturing him in his faith and explaining the Scriptures to him so that he will grow to love the Lord and serve Him.   Pray that we will continue to set time aside to teach him to love and respect God and that he will respond to the teachings and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Schuurmans were born and raised in Holland.  They served for a little over 10 years in Suriname in children’s work, in marriage and the family training, education, and pastoral care, and helped with other ministries in the city.  Upon their return to Holland, he served as one of the pastors in a large evangelical church since 2003 to the present.  With their three children grown up, the Lord has opened the door for them to be seconded to World Team to come and teach and train church leaders among the Wayana churches in the jungle of Suriname.  They are working through the rest of the process to get to Suriname to begin their ministry.  They will be coming at the end of October for several weeks for a vision trip to get more acquainted with us and the tribal ministry.  Lord’s willing, they are hoping to begin their ministry in April 2012.  Pray that God will provide for all of their needs, take them through the rest of the process to get to the mission field, and prepare them in the language, and give them the faith, wisdom, and skills to teach and develop leaders.