One day there will be no more children on the streets. One day this will all pass.”
-Luis, former street kid in Lima, Peru
Happy New Year!
We look toward this New Year with great anticipation for what the Lord will do for the fatherless, the orphan, and the widow. Like Luis, we look forward to the day when children won't have to live on the streets, a day when all pain and suffering will pass away. Luis' hope comes from his faith in Christ. He's been given new eyes to see what is in store for us. One day, God's Kingdom will be fully revealed among us! God will make all things new!
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. -Revelation 21:1 & 4
Until that day, we labor for this Kingdom that is now and not yet. We have its fullness to look forward to, and we have its reality to live in today. We do not sit idly by, resigned to passively wait for God's Kingdom to come. Rather, we live in its truth and by its standards and values in the here and now, offering hope to the hopeless and watching Christ transform all of our lives – preparing us for eternal life.
God's Word tells us that He is a defender of the oppressed, a father to the fatherless, and a restorer of the broken. What an honor that He uses you and me to extend His love and care to the hurting!
Thank you for partnering with Chris and me in ministry among the poor. Time and again you have been the encouragement and strength that we've needed. This work can be overwhelming at times, but knowing that we are not alone, rather supported by you in so many ways enables us to keep going!
This fall, Chris and I spent most of our time in Wilmore. This afforded us some much-needed rest. In November we were able to take a vacation. It had been two years since we got away alone like that. It was so good for us! The Lord really refreshed us!
For Christmas we spent time with the street kids and Word Made Flesh staff in Peru. It was a privilege for us to be with our staff who were away from family during the holidays and to share the celebration of the birth of Jesus with the street children. I've been struck this season by how much the street kids have in common with Jesus. Jesus was born into a poor family; street children are born and live in poverty. Jesus had no where to lay His head, neither do the street kids. Jesus was despised and rejected by men, so are the children of the streets… It's my prayer that the kids would come to fully know how much Jesus identifies with them and understands them and makes a better way for them.
As we begin the new year, please keep Chris in your prayers as he has numerous speaking engagements in January, including a 4-week he will be teaching at the Ministry Skills Institute in Wilmore on “Poverty Issues and the Church.”
In February and March of this year we will return to Asia. It will be so good to be reunited with Patrick and Victoria and the children in Madras, India after more than a year. Chris will teach once again at Lakeview Bible College (formerly the Madras College of Evangelism) located on the outskirts of Madras. We will then attend a Word Made Flesh Director's Forum in Kathmandu, Nepal and are happy to report WMF is now officially recognized as an NGO (Non-government Organization) in this Asian country. At present the focus for ministry is elderly abandoned women. While we're in this part of the world, we have tentative plans to stop in Thailand where WMF will be expanding the Servant Team program in the near future, and Cambodia, visiting Innerchange – a Christian mission rescuing child prostitutes. We're also hoping to visit friends working with Food for the Hungry there.
We have much to look toward in 2001 and are more than ever dependent on your prayers and support. With trips planned to South America where WMF is expanding its work from Peru into Bolivia and Brasil; back to Eastern Europe where WMF's work with street kids in Romania continues to grow; and tentative plans to travel to Sierra Leone in West Africa and the Sudan in northern Africa to explore possible WMF responses to the refugee crises in these war-torn nations.
We have a full year ahead of us and we take you with us! Thank you for your love and prayers. We will be in touch.
In Christ,
Chris and Phileena