RCMI Newsletter June 2021
"Pastors' Wives' Camp" – The Role of the Minister's Wife
The Role of the Minister's Wife: Her Husband's Companion in Heart and Hand on the Heavenly Road
Dear Friends of RCMI, Pastors, Brothers and Sisters, RCMI is comprised of four core ministries: R - Resource Centre C - Church Development M - Mission Platform I - Bible Institute. In this newsletter we share two things: the first regarding RCMI's "M" (Mission Platform) aspect - "E-Country Hotspot“ - Persia and the Thousand-Year-Awaited Revival; the second regarding "C" (Church Development), under the topic "Development Follow-up," with the spotlight on Pastors' Wives' Camps - Camps serving Mainland Chinese pastors' wives.
Persia - the Thousand-Year-Awaited Revival: Reputedly the World's Fastest-growing Underground Church.
It's hard to be a pastor in China, but even harder to be a pastor's wife!
Mission Platform - "E-Country Hotspot“ - Persia and the Thousand-Year-Awaited Revival
Recent years have seen explosive growth in the number of E-Country's believers and churches. The Gospel first came to E-Country shortly after Jesus returned to heaven almost 2000 years ago, so this remarkable growth could be called a "Thousand-Year-Awaited Revival"! 'Persians' are the people of the historic Persian Empire; 'Persian' also refers to the language which was similar to the ancient languages of Sanskrit and Latin and is similar to modern Hindi, German, and English. The Persian Empire's heyday occurred during the time of the emperor Ahasuerus (Xerxes), recorded in the Old Testament book of Esther. The empire ruled from India to Ethiopia, spanning a large swath of Asia and part of Africa. At that time, the God who oversees History used the Persians to bless His people by allowing them to return to their homeland and build the Temple. "Who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure,' even saying of Jerusalem, 'She will be built;' and of the temple, 'Your foundation will be laid.'" Isaiah 44:28
the Persian Empire
Missionary to (Middle Eastern) E-Country, Brother Paul's Newsletter: A Murderer from E-Country Is Born Again
Thank you, Brothers and Sisters, for your prayers and support. We've just finished the Muslim month of Ramadan and have a whole week of vacation. Ramadan is their holy month and the beginning of the new year. Right now we are all celebrating and are very happy because here on the beach we are baptizing a brother from E-Country who was a murderer. After he was released from prison, Brother N took him in, gave him a job opportunity, and also shared the Good News with him. Brother N is a house church leader as well as a factory boss. He says his factory work is only his secondary job; his main work is sharing the Gospel and baptizing people into Christ. Brother N shared with us how he helps establish the house church: besides providing work for needy new believers in his factory, he is also taking an online Bachelor of Theology degree course so he can help brothers and sisters to know the Bible. He says, "We need more Bible teaching." Twelve years ago in the Philippines, after Brother N believed in the Lord, he realized teaching his children the Bible was very important. In E-Country, where Islam is the basis for all instruction, he sought out an international online curriculum based in the U.S., and ten years ago he registered his children to study in it. His children believed in the Lord and are now doing university studies in the Philippines. In E-Country, young men are drafted into the military at age 18, where they not only serve in the army but also study the tenets of Islam. For this reason, after leaving E-Country, Brother N.'s children could not return. Please pray for their family! May God bless their entire family in every way; may they be filled with the Holy Spirit and serve our Lord! This family's situation is an accurate portrait of the predicament of many believers in E-Country. May the Lord open doors for these families who put their trust in Him, Amen!
Brother Paul works in this factory.
The Five Loaves and Two Fishes Project continues to distribute food packets to needy families.
Please pray for Aka, a factory boss in E-Country who recently turned 70. The end of last year I shared the gospel and read the Bible with him, and he watched the "Jesus" film and gladly received Him. But at the beginning of this year when he returned from his hometown, I found he'd been dragged back into unbelief by his friends. Now he has returned to his hometown. May God protect the Gospel seed that was planted in his heart from disturbance by those around him so that he can receive eternal life. And please pray the Lord heals his daughter's heart condition.
The pandemic situation in E-Country is still severe.
Infected By Covid-19 The pandemic in E-Country is severe: more than 200 people are dying every day. The factory boss who took us in and his wife contracted the virus in turn after a coworker's younger brother who translates Chinese for our boss visited from the big city, unwittingly bringing the virus with him. Because the translator wasn't feeling well, I laid hands on him and prayed for him ... but I wasn't wearing a mask. In less than an hour the translator was feeling much better, but the boss talked with him once, and two days later the boss got sick. Thank you, Brothers and Sisters, for praying for us continually! ...because very soon, both of them were back to complete health. The boss's wife testified about this in her online Bible study group and said that when her sickness was at its worst, when she was hurting the most, she proclaimed "By His stripes we healed" (Isaiah 53:5), and her pain faded away. She experienced God's protection and healing and was then able to cheer up and recover completely. It didn't occur to me at the time that the virus was so close to me, but just as Psalm 91 says, "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest under the shadow of the Almighty ... He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge ... His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart"! Returning to Hong Kong: I will return to Hong Kong in mid-July before my E-Country visa expires, and I will see you all and share with you how God has given me grace and led me. As for how I will be able to get a suitable visa to return to serve in E-Country in the future, I'm still praying about it; but thank God! We may not know what the road ahead is like, but a prayer warrior gave me this Scripture which solidified my faith: (2 Timothy 4:2) "Preach the Word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with all patience and teaching." I believe this is God's command to me, and I will obey it until I die! Sincerely, Brother Paul Missionary to E-Country
Pastor's wife serving pastors' wives
"Development Follow-up": Spotlight on "C" (Church Development) - Pastors' Wives' Camp - A Camp Serving Mainland Chinese Pastors' Wives
Pastor Sharon Lau grew up in Hong Kong, and from the time she was small, she accompanied her father Pastor Dennis Balcombe to China for ministry. She has rich experience in serving the Chinese church and is a good pastor, an experienced and well-known pastor of RCMI. Ministry focus: Pastors' Wives in the Chinese church - working quietly, pillars of the church, devoting their lives to revival in the Church of China. Pastors' Wives' Camp - a camp held to serve mainland Chinese pastors' wives and women preachers
Pastor's wives in the Church of China serve their families, their churches, and their husbands.
Pastor Sharon Lau, a pastor's wife serving pastors' wives, says that the duty of a pastor's wife is to be her husband's companion on the Heavenly Road in both heart and action. My husband (Pastor Samuel Lau) and I, in our many encounters with different preachers' families while ministering in mainland China, had many opportunities to see the needs of preachers' families, especially those of pastors' wives. Many of these ministered in their churches, supporting their husbands who were preachers and pastors and also assuming home duties taking care of family and children; and many even had the additional burden of an outside job supporting the family's financial needs. The pressure and warfare they had to bear was by no means less than anything their husband-preachers were facing! But I also saw that most resources for serving the Chinese church were invested in training and helping preachers build the church, while caring for the needs of pastor's wives and providing pastoring and training for them was largely neglected. The Beginning of the Pastors' Wives' Camp Five years ago we began to pray and prepare for the Pastors' Wives' Camp with the purpose of ministering to wives of pastors of the Chinese church. Thank God! In 2017 we held our first three-day, two-night Pastors' Wives' Camp in mainland China, ministering to pastors' wives from churches in different areas. Because all participants were pastors' wives or women preachers, they could all empathize with one another and felt able to share frankly all kinds of ministry and family difficulties and challenges they were facing. Thank God! In that atmosphere of sharing, encouragement, and prayer, many pastor's wives and women preachers experienced the comfort and healing of the Lord, and everyone gained deeply felt connections with partners God was providing for them on this Heavenly Road, so they would no longer fight their spiritual battles alone! Since this first camp we've conducted more Pastors' Wives' Camps in different areas for pastor's wives and women preachers in China. In every camp, we've seen our Heavenly Father move mightily and give renewed strength to His dear daughters to enable them to continue their path of service.
Pastors' Wives' Camp
The pandemic is still going on:
Due to the pandemic, in the past year and a half we've not been able to go to mainland China to hold any Pastors' Wives' Camps; but we thank God that nevertheless, we've been able to care for the needs of pastor's wives and women preachers individually by meeting online or on the telephone, sharing and praying together, so that they feel supported and loved! And in the process of ministering to them we ourselves are often encouraged and excited by their thirst and zeal for the Lord! We appeal to willing brothers and sisters everywhere to remember these pastor's wives and women preachers in prayer! They are people who are paying the price to do God's will in the mainland Chinese church; each of them is a blessing for the Church of China! Heavenly Father, please keep E-Country and the Church of China; raise them up to shine Your Light because You are the Source of never-ending Love! And we earnestly invite you, dear Reader, to participate with us in serving China and E-Country, in this final generation, so we can drive out the darkness! Your prayers, partnership, and offerings make it possible for us to prepare diligently for the Return of the Lord. Amen! Pastor Sharon Lau RCMI
