Children of Abraham
NEYBA, Dominican Republic — Her name is Milagro, Spanish for…
Around the World: Bible studies in Nepal, a Christian camp in Russia and more quick takes
Around the World is our monthly rundown of news briefs, links and quotes from Churches of Christ all over the globe. Got an idea for this column? Email Erik Tryggestad at [email protected].
Featured image (above): Pramod Dhakal conducts a Bible study with a family in rural Nepal.
After more than a year of lessons via Zoom and social media, the minister said he’s thankful to be able to do in-person visits thanks to declining COVID-19 infections. Dhakal hosts a gospel radio program with support from One Kingdom, a nonprofit supported by Churches of Christ.
He recently traveled to eastern Nepal and helped plant a church in the hillside town of Dhankuta. The minister then got an invitation to visit far western Nepal, homeland of the indigenous Tharu people. A radio listener there became a Christian and organized a Bible study program.
“We spent a week bringing good tidings to the far west, which resulted in planting two churches,” Dhakal said. “May God be exalted in this region.” Read the full report at onekingdom.org.
ECUADOR
QUITO — For the first time in its 24-year history, the Quito School of Biblical Studies has a native Ecuadoran as its director.
Oswaldo Albarracín, from Cuenca, Ecuador, officially took the reins from Joshua Marcum during the school’s recent graduation cermony. Marcum had directed the school since 2014, taking on the role from his father, founding director Kent Marcum.
Oswaldo and Lourdes Albarracín
Albarracín, a graduate of Baxter Institute in Honduras, has served on the Quito school’s faculty for 18 years. He was one of the first elders of the Colón Church of Christ and helped plant two additional churches in metropolitan Quito. His wife, Lourdes, is involved with the women’s program at the school.
Joshua Marcum will continue to serve as director of development for Operation Ecuador, which includes the school, its mission teams, a Christian camp and medical missions.
LITHUANIA
KAUNAS — Minister Vladimir Rancev uses Zoom to host lessons using curriculum from Let’s Start Talking, a ministry that helps non-native speakers improve their English using the Bible. Four students attend regularly, as do three Bible teachers from Texas and Connecticut.
RUSSIA
Altai — The camp “Footprints in the Sand” drew 115 participants to the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia. Five campers were baptized.
Alexander Metso
Alexander Metso, minister for a Church of Christ in Almaty, Kazakhstan, described the experience as an opportunity to build relationships with other believers and prepare ministries for the following year.
“Children receive Christ in baptism, build relationships with believers, memorize lessons and songs that remain with them after the camp,” Metso wrote in a testimonial. “Unity is built between the churches, and there is an exchange of resources that are used in … ministry of the churches throughout the year.”
SPOTLIGHT
A harvest of corn, cassava and souls
OBUDU, Nigeria — A preacher training school in this West African nation started a farm to provide sustenance for students in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic
A year later, the farm is producing bumper crops of cassava yams, corn and rice — and a harvest of souls.
Prince Ugbe shows off some crops from the institute’s farm.
“God is causing growth,” said Prince Ugbe, director of the Darrell Memorial Bible Institute in Obudu. The farm is about 25 miles from the campus, near the village of Bebi. Students and workers with the institute have harvested the staple crops twice and also have planted long-term “cash crops,” Ugbe said, including cocoa, palm trees, plantains and bananas.
More importantly, Ugbe said, “persistence in teaching the gospel everywhere” has resulted in new converts near the farm — and a donation of a plot of land nearby “so we can build a sanctuary to enable those we teach and baptize there to worship, since it is far from the campus church location for travel by peasant farmers.”
Workers with the institute have cleared the land and prepared it for construction, thanks to a donation by members of the Mt. Hope Church of Christ in Webb City, Mo. Ugbe seeks additional funds to construct the church building.
For more information, contact the Mt. Hope church or call (417) 624-1795.
Milagro Morillo, 15, has been sponsored through Christian Relief Fund for three years. The support has helped her family through the pandemic, her mother said.
Quote of the month
“We pray for God to increase our faith. Whatever we receive, whatever God decides, we hold on to it.” — Belkis Montero, whose daughter is sponsored through Christian Relief Fund. Read the full story.
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