News from the Field

Our missionaries work in areas of the world where persecution against them and their families is always a real threat due to their Christian faith. We can share our stories, but we take out information that may place them at risk.

1. 27 new leaders were trained and sent out to serve among the unreached in multiple countries in West Africa.
 
 
2. One of the new believers through an ARA prison ministry helped lead his mother and brother to Christ!
 
 
3. In a country in West Africa, Hassane, an ARA missionary, shared the Gospel with an entire family. The whole family professed faith in Jesus and got baptized. They now have a house church meeting each week in their home.
 
 

4. A young man in West Africa was known in his village for being a thief and a drug addict. When ARA missionaries first entered his village to share the Bible and Jesus Film, he was angry. After watching the Jesus Film for himself, he felt convicted and trusted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He now shares the Gospel and his testimony with his friends and family.

1. One of our teams that conducts a Bible study each week in a prison led 5 men to the Lord!
 
 
2. After attending a 3 day training held by our missionaries, one of the attendees went home and put into practice what he learned about evangelism. He shared the Gospel with a young man that lives next to him, and the young man accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior.
 
 
3. Two of our missionary wives serving in a restricted country were recently approached by two teenage siblings. The siblings asked them why they were different as they had noticed a uniqueness about them. The missionary wives were able to share with them about the Bible.
 
 

4. Recently, a man met with our missionaries to tell them he wants to have his life changed by Jesus. He had noticed a radical change in the life of someone in his village that had become a believer a year ago. That man had been led to the Lord by our missionaries. After our missionaries met with this man, they were able to clearly explain the Gospel to him and lead him to Christ.

1. One of our missionaries encountered a man who was asking around his village for financial assistance for his wife to go to the hospital. The missionary felt led to assist the man. After that interaction, they became friends. Over time, the missionary had the opportunity to share the Gospel with this man, and he became a believer!

 

2. A man received an SD card from one of our missionaries that contained the Jesus Film and audio-Bible in his heart language. After listening carefully to the content, the man called the missionary and asked for more information about Jesus. Shortly after, this man confessed Jesus as Lord.

 

3. 12 new missionaries just completed a training to serve full-time among a restricted unreached people group.

 

4. A women who was led to the Lord last year by our missionaries has faithfully been sharing Christ with her family. Recently 3 of her siblings became believers!

1. We have had several new Bible studies started in a restricted country.

 

2. An ARA missionary led three men to Christ last month, and they all got baptized!

 

3. Our children’s clubs in various countries have been fruitful as many children gather each week to learn about Jesus!

 

4. An ARA team in a restricted country had the opportunity to share the Jesus Film to a group of over 400 people. Many people were exposed to the Gospel. Pray for the Lord to work on the hearts of those that heard the message of salvation.

1. Over 40 new missionary families were trained and sent out to work among unreached people groups over the past 3 months!

 

2. A new house church that was started by Morris and Louis has planted 3 other house fellowships in nearby villages.

 

3. Several of our teams have started weekly Bible studies in prisons. The inmates are excited to learn about the Bible and are discovering the truth about Jesus.

 

4. Tamba Albert and Daniel led Ismael to Christ. Since then, Ismael has led others to Jesus, and a house fellowship meets weekly in his home.

1. A prisoner became a Christian shortly after he was released from prison. He heard the Gospel through the Bible studies that Adama and Antoine did each week at the prison. After his release, he started meeting regularly with the missionaries.

 

2. An elderly chief in an unreached village accepted Jesus as His Lord and Savior and 7 others in his village became Christians as well.

 

3. Several new house fellowships have been started by Enoch in unreached villages.

 

4. Fatou is a young woman who wanted to know the truth about God. After searching for a Christian, she met Jude, an ARA missionary, who shared the Gospel with her. After accepting Jesus as her Lord and Savior, she was baptized and joined Jude’s house church.

1. Ali is an ARA missionary working in a restrictive country. After meeting weekly with 4 men to study the Bible, all 4 of them accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior and were baptized!

 

2. Tamba Albert started a new football outreach program among an unreached people group. He has about fifteen children who come to each game, and he shares a story from the Bible with them each time.

 

3. Morris and Raymond baptized 9 people in February who professed Jesus as Lord and Savior and completed a discipleship course. Pray for these brothers and sisters and that God will use them to share the Gospel within their communities.

 

4. Tamba and Joseph were teaching a group of new believers on the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  5 nonbelievers attended the group that day. During the teaching, those 5 people said they also wanted to make Jesus their Lord!

1. Adama and Antoine started a new prison ministry this month. They have the liberty to do Bible studies with the inmates on a regular basis.

 

2. A man named Mousa came to Christ after our missionaries shared the Gospel with him. People in his community have started to pressure his wife to divorce him. Pray for him to stay firm in his new faith in Jesus.

 

3. Aby is a teenage girl who recently accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. She is the first believer in her family or community. Her parents have started to attend a Discovery Bible Study. Pray for them to continue to seek the truth.

 

4. Several of our missionaries have had the opportunity to start new children’s clubs. Pray for these children to be receptive to the Gospel and to share the truths they are learning with their parents.

1. We had several new house fellowships launch over the last month!

2. We just completed a new missionary training in a new country and added 13 more laborers to the field!

3. Raymond and Morris started an evangelism program at a hospital where they have the liberty to share the Gospel and pray with patients.

4. Daniel and Tamba Albert led 14 people to the Lord this month including a 75-year-old man and an 80-year-old man who both got baptized last week.

1. In one of the countries where we work, our missionaries hosted a Timothy training to train some of their disciples to lead Bible studies and house fellowships.

2. Interviews are underway for the upcoming missionary trainings in the summer!

3. Last month we hosted a refresh conference in one of our countries with our largest missionary team!  Praise the Lord for a time of refreshment and encouragement for all that attended.

  1. Michel who volunteers as a professor for medical students as a way to build relationships had two of the students accept Christ!
  2. We just launched a new team of missionaries into a new country that is unreached.
  3. One of our teams shared the Jesus film with 350 people in one village!  Pray for them as they return there this week to follow up on people who are interested in learning more.
  1. Throughout this year, there have been 112 people that accepted Christ and are currently getting discipled!
  2. A woman was faithfully attending a Bible study started by Israel several months ago, and after hearing the Word of God for several months, she put her faith in Christ!
  3. There are 27 active Discovery Bible studies that were started this year where unbelievers can meet weekly to study the Bible and learn about their Creator and how a Savior came to earth to save them. There have been many people that came to Christ through these Bible studies this year.
  1. An excerpt from a report from Micheal: “Just this Friday, I was doing a prayer on the road. I met the guy who was walking behind me and after greeting him, I continued walking down the road. But the Holy Spirit pushed me to go back and talk with him. His name is Dramane. I obeyed. When I was sharing the Testimony of Christ, I saw a second guy who was near the wall, and he joined us. Both of them gave their lives to Jesus, and I began the first step to disciple them. Yesterday,  Dramane called me to say that his friends would also like to hear the testimony of Christ. After sharing the testimony of Christ with them, his brother and friend also gave their lives to Christ. The following Sunday, 3 of the 4 came to church with me.”
  2. At a showing of the Jesus Film to over 100 people in a village that is completely unreached, 12 people came to Christ. The two missionaries that oversee that outreach have started a discipleship group with those new followers of Jesus.
  3. After two missionaries played the audio Bible in a local dialect in the waiting room of a clinic, a man heard the Bible for the first time in his heart language. He was moved by what he heard and approached the missionaries to ask more questions about the Bible. After sharing the Gospel with this man, he put his faith in Jesus Christ and now is part of a weekly discipleship group.
  1. Israel and Manese started a new Bible study in a village with no church or group of believers.  Over 10 people have started attending and they meet weekly.
  2. Jean Paul has a friend who is a teacher. Through that relationship, he has been able to start a Bible study with other teachers from that school that meet once a week to study the Bible. These are not believers but they are interested in learning more about the Bible.
  3. Several children that Priscill and Esther work with have accepted Christ (these children all com from families with no known believers). They now go to church where our missionaries have the opportunity to teach them and encourage them as they grow in Christ.
  1. While James and Jude were visiting a village, they met two men who said that they were interested in Christianity. The next day the men came to their church and they had the joy of leading them to the Lord. Pray for these new belivers to grow in Christ.
  2. One man whose been in contact with some of our missionaries told them, “I know Christianity is better than the other religions, its testemonies are ture, but it is not easy for me to leave my religion”. Pray for God to work on his heart.
  3. Enoch and Morris hosted an open air evangelism in an unreached village and 150 people attended.  Please pray for continued open doors there and that people would follow Jesus.
  1. Jerry, one of our missionaries, has been building a relationship with his daughter’s elementary teacher. The man has now requested for a Bible study to be started in his home.
  2. Timothy and Sylvester, one missionary team, showed the Jesus Film in a village of 250 people last month, and another team showed it in front of 200 people. Please pray as they continue to follow up in those villages for people to come to know the love of Jesus Christ.
  3. Enoch led a couple to the Lord a couple of months prior and is currently doing discipleship classes with this couple, and they regularly attend his house church.
  1. In the year 2020, there were over 100 people that came to Christ through the ministry and missionaries of ARA.
  2. Multiple Bible studies and house churches were started in the regions where our teams work.
  3. Doors have been opened over the past year to start Bible studies in villages that have no known Christians.
  1. For months a young lady frequently visited our missionaries and watched the Jesus film on their tablet and asked questions about Jesus. Last month, she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior!
  2. Morris and Linda who serve as our team leaders in the Gambia have been praying for a baby for 10 years. Baby Allen was born on November 17th. There were complications over the first week after an emergency c-section. He was on antibiotics, oxygen, NG tube for feedings, and had a blood transfusion. The Lord healed him and he is now home with his parents and doing well!
  3. There was a new convert in a community where we have a house church and he is now attending regularly as part of that community of believers.
  1. One of our missionaries who works in a very restrictive country led someone to the Lord last month after multiple visits with them and they were baptized this past month! For someone in that country to profess Christ and get baptized is a huge step of faith given the very high likelihood of persecution in that country which could even result in death.  Pray that the Lord will protect and grow this new believer.
  2. One of our missionary teams has been working with a group of people regularly for the past few months doing discovery Bible studies with nonbelievers teaching and sharing the Word of God. Over the past month, 7 of those people who had been attending the Bible study professed Jesus as Lord. Pray for continued spiritual growth and that this Bible study along with the others we have will grow to become local house churches.
  3. One of our missionaries had the opportunity last month to share the Gospel with the head representative of their region’s district as well as with the representative of the largest mosque in their region. Pray for these men to come to Christ.

Our God remains faithful in the mountains and the valleys. We have seen that over the past couple of months with our team as we have seen God demonstrate his faithfulness through both the good and challenging times. Below are some recent prayer requests and praises from our ARA missionaries.
Praises:

  1. One of our teams had the opportunity to share the Jesus Film to over 100 people in a completely unreached village. As a result of that interaction, they now have invitations to do discovery Bible studies in that village with people interested in learning about the Bible.
  2. One of our missionary families moved to the North region which is the most unreached area of that country. They have already been well received by their Musl*m neighbors in the community.
  3. One of the new teams have been continuing to build relationships, have several people that they are doing Biblical storytelling with, and are continuing to acquire the local dialect of the region.

Prayer requests:

  1. We have had several of our missionaries who have lost their mother or father in the past few months. Please pray for them as they grieve that they would feel the comfort of our Heavenly Father.
  2. There has been increased unrest in one of the countries where we have a team. Please pray for stability in that country and for God to open the eyes of the people there to the truth of the Gospel.
  3. We have several Bible studies that have started among unreached people groups over the last few months. Please pray that the Lord will grow these into cell groups and house churches eventually.

Let’s give praise to the Lord for what He is doing among the unreached in Africa! Please continue to pray for the requests above and for all of our missionaries to persevere as they work in difficult circumstances.

We had an evangelization campaign in a village. We communicated with the villagers on the importance of our coming to their home, and helping them understand salvation in Jesus Christ. We had a day of prayer for the village that souls would be saved, Discovery Bible studies would be established, and that the devil’s plan to prevent the salvation of souls would be destroyed. We projected the Jesus Film in the village. Over 100 people gathered to listen to the Word of God. We are praying for the seeds sown in this village to sprout through the power of Jesus Christ. We returned to the village to visit those who had converted. We had a time of teaching with them and exhortation. We have encouraged these new converts to remain attached to the Lord and to always rejoice in Christ according to Philippians 4:4. The head chief of this village said he is happy to allow us to replay the Jesus Film and that we can set up Discovery Bible studies where people can study and learn the Word of God.

-Excerpt from ARA missionary field report

After the sport’s fellowship ministry in the village, the Jesus Film Show was shown that night for the very first time in the history of the village and was in their local dialect. That night, the Villagers saw Jesus Christ, His Life, Ministry, Miracles and  His Resurrection Power from the grave. More than 10 women waited to be prayed for after the Jesus Film Show. We then instructed them to come to our host compound Sunday Morning, by 8:30 AM, and they did. On Sunday morning, in the Village where the team spent the night,  both men and women came to our host compound.  Together, we did an opening prayer, and asked them for their views of the Jesus Film they saw. That day the House Church Fellowship was planted within a village that is 65Km from the main city in that region.

-Excerpt from ARA missionary field report