Mission & Mercy Ministry Update - 2024, Issue 3
Table of Contents
Prayer Focus: Unreached People Groups in Marseille, France
Mercy Highlight: Prayer Walk at Hope Rising
Opportunity: Made to Multiply Training (Sharing the Gospel)
Opportunity: “I Am N” (Virtual event from Voice of the Martyrs) - March 8, 2024
Upcoming UBC Mission Trips: Planning for 2024
Prayer Focus
Unreached People Groups in Marseille, France
Our March unreached people groups (UPGs) are in Marseille, France. An UPG is defined as having less than 2% evangelical and less than 5% professing Christians. Frontier People Groups (FPG) are a subset of UPG with less than 0.1 Christian adherents and no known Christian movement. UBC prayerfully and financially supports C & R who live on mission in France with a focus of engaging and eventually reaching these UPGs.
Marseille became increasingly more diverse after WWII. Over the past 70 years, Muslims from North Africa countries previously under French rule have been migrating into Marseille to the current situation in which 20-25% of Marseille’s population is North African. The majority of these come from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Comoros.
The Joshua Project indicates that these 4 African countries have a very high percentage of UPGs. Therefore, most that immigrate to Marseille are likely to be part of one of these UPGs.
Algeria has 38 People groups (PGs), 34 which are UPG (20 are FPG)
Comoros has 13 PGs, 8 which are UPG (3 are FPG)
Morocco has 31 PGs, 27 which are UPG (2 are FPG)
Tunisia has 15 PGs, 12 which are UPG (7 are FPG)
These African countries are hostile to the Gospel and Christians. How amazing is it that GOD in His Sovereignty has brought these people to France. According to the US State Department regarding France: “The constitution and the law protect the right of individuals to choose, change, and practice religion. The Upholding Republican Values law, enacted in 2021, provides authorities with broad powers to monitor and dissolve religious organizations and groups they determine to be promoting ideas contrary to French values. The constitution included the concept of secularism, and the law prohibits wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in public spaces such as schools.” Thus, France is a semi open country to the Gospel.
Prayers
LORD, we pray for the UPGs in Marseille:
That hearts will be prepared to hear the Gospel of repentance and forgiveness of sins until HIS name is proclaimed by all nations. (Luke 24:47).
For the Holy Spirit to remove the veils over their eyes that they may see the Light of the Gospel, that the light will overcome their darkness and shine in their hearts until they come to the knowledge of Truth in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:3-6).
They will hear of Your Glory and Your wonderful deeds and come to worship and praise you as the One True GOD of all nations, that You are the Most High over all the earth, and that You are to be exalted over all gods (Psalm 96 and 97).
That they may come to know Jesus as the light of the world, not walking in the darkness, but having the light of life and walk in the light of the Lord. (Isaiah 5:2 and John 8:12).
Those that come to Know Jesus will be obedient to the Great Commission and share the Gospel with family friends back in their countries of origin until the whole world hears (Matthew 24:14 and 28:18-20).
Mercy Highlight
Prayer Walk at Hope Rising
Members of UBC’s Pro-life Ministry participated in a prayer walk at the Hope Rising, Xenia location on Friday, February 2nd. It was a wonderful experience and gave our team a lot of insight into the needs of the pregnancy center. Our team is hoping to get a group together to help clean the facility on Fridays. We also learned the value of advocates and why both males and females are needed. After talking with the director of the location, we were able to get a tour, learn more about the location, and go into each room and pray. We are fortunate to have a growing relationship with Hope Rising and look forward to more opportunities with them this year.
Opportunity
Made to Multiply Training (Sharing the Gospel)
Following up from our MULTIPLY series in January, the Mission and Mercy Ministries team will be offering training sessions. We will teach simple reproducible tools for identifying who to share the gospel with; how to share your story (testimony) in a powerful yet brief way; and a simple, clear tool to share the gospel. The next two training sessions are on Saturday, March 2, from 9:00-10:30 AM; and then Saturday, April 6, from 9:00 - 10:30 AM. You may sign-up by clicking on either date, or just showing up on either date. See how God will use you to reach your relationships with His message.
Opportunity
"I Am N" (Virtual event from Voice of Martyrs) - March 8, 2024
On Friday, March 8, 2024 (7:30 - 10:00 PM) the Missions and Mercy Ministries is hosting the upcoming Voice of the Martyrs virtual event, “I am N”. Ten years ago, ISIS began marking Christian homes and churches in Iraq with the Arabic letter “n” or “ن”. This served as a threat to all believers in the area. In this virtual event, we will hear updates on Iraq and firsthand stories from three Christians who have paid the price for advancing the gospel in other places dominated by Islam. There will also be a time of worship led by Steven Curtis Chapman. This event is FREE. Based on the subject matter of the stories, we are recommending that parents consider the age of children to bring.
Monthly Mission Quotes:
"Our God has boundless resources. The only limit is in us. Our asking, our thinking, our praying are too small. Our expectations are too limited.”
— A.B. Simpson (Mission Founder)
Upcoming Mission Trips
Planning for 2024
UBC has multiple mission trips available through 2024. There are local trips (prayer walking around the UBC neighborhoods), national (STUMIN is heading to Logan, Utah; Builders for Christ in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and other opportunities coming soon), and global. Some of the available trips are listed below. A full listing of trips may be found here. You may also reach out to Jim Corbin (jim.corbin@ubcbeavercreek.com) to get more details on any of the trips. If you do not see a trip to a place that is on your heart, please reach out. We would love the opportunity to hear and to help you find a trip.
Location/Date
May 8-19
Bangladesh
Teach English, help with computer skills, or work with children.
Contact: Jim CorbinMay 13-Aug 10
Builders For Christ
Come help the build in Eau Claire, Wisconsin (The Haven Church).
Contact: Dave GneiserJun 13-27
Uganda
Come help serve South Sudanese refugees as we share the gospel and start discipleship groups. More information may be found here.
Contact: Jim CorbinJun 16-23
STUMIN (Utah)
Come Come help a church plant in Logan, UT
Contact: Rob SlouffmanAug 2-11
Argentina
Work with Pastor Fabian Santillan and his church as they share the gospel and plant another church.
Contact: Jim CorbinContact to learn more:
Jim Corbin
jim.corbin@ubcbeavercreek.com
To read past Mission Updates or to get more information about UBC on Mission, visit
https://www.ubcbeavercreek.com/mission-and-mercy-ministries.