God’s powerful hand in the Philippines
The Tidings Magazine recently featured a number of articles on the Philippines in the April 2022 issue.
New Year in Solo
Our brothers and sisters in Solo, Indonesia, enjoyed their Christmas Day get together at the hall. Christmas is a very special time for our brothers and sisters there. In a country where the majority religion is Islam, Christmas is really the only time of year when Christians can be open about their faith. Our love and prayers are with them.
Fiji update October ’21
The role of the ACBM is to support the spiritual and physical welfare of our brethren, sisters and youth through COVID-19 and beyond. Until recently the ecclesia in Fiji have been doing an amazing job of maintaining its members welfare, however they have all but exhausted their ability to do so going forward. The ACBM, in consultation with local serving brethren, has sent monetary welfare to be distributed as the ecclesia sees the need to their members.
The island nation had the COVID situation well under control using strict international travel bans and isolated lockdowns until February/March. The delta strain then hit hard and Fiji went into severe national lockdown that had a sustained severe impact on brethren and sisters that have a subsistence cultural approach to life. Many brethren and sisters lost incomes , transport was not available, getting to medical facilities became difficult , the price of food increased, the availability of food decreased and the anxiety of lockdowns on a close knit, family orientated was acutely felt by many.
eNews September ’21 – India
India is a vast country with a population of nearly 1.4 billion. There are also many local and tribal languages. This, of course, makes for challenges in preaching the Gospel. However the number and location of Christadelphians in India has increased. There are now 2,250 brothers and sisters in nearly 100 ecclesias in India. Of these ecclesias, only three use English for their meetings so it is now very much a local language country, just like the many ecclesias in Africa.
Indonesia Update Aug 2021
As you may be aware, Indonesia has recently been significantly hit with a new wave of COVID cases. Our brothers and sisters in Solo and Jakarta have been impacted, with a number contracting COVID and many more out of work due to lockdowns. We are glad that some are recovering well, but very concerned for…
Philippines: Isabela Ecclesia work
The Isabela Ecclesia in the Philippines have been busy working on their hall over recent weeks. Due to low numbers of Covid cases in that part of the country they are still able to meet in the hall and preach in the local area.
Philippines : Exhorts via zoom
Some ecclesias in the Philippines are still able to meet together depending on the COVID restrictions in their area but are not able to invite visiting speakers from other ecclesias. Last Sunday several ecclesias arranged for a visiting speaker to exhort via zoom.
EAST TIMOR FLOODING UPDATE
On April 5 and 6 East Timor was hit by the most severe flooding the country had experienced in over 50 years. Many homes flooded or destroyed by landslides and the ACBM provided support to some of our brothers and sisters whose homes had been flooded or damaged.
Sunday School restarts in Bayambang Philippines
The Bayambang Ecclesia in the Philippines has recently been able to restart several of their Sunday Schools due to changes in Covid-19 restrictions in their area. This picture is if students in the Bani Sunday School. Other parts of the Philippines are experiencing much higher numbers of cases and ecclesial activities can only happen online. Please remember our brothers and sisters in the Philippines and elsewhere in the world in your prayers.
Baptisms in Santa Barbara Philippines
Today was a special day for the Santa Barbara Ecclesia in the Philippines with the baptism of sisters Jannah and Maricel. There have not been many Covid cases in the area and so the whole ecclesia were able to join together for the baptisms