Mission- India and recent Ministry Report
Mike and I are looking forward to the next mission trip, to Andhra Pradesh, India, which begins on Feb 6th when we fly out from London England bound for Hyderabad. We will arrive back on the 24th Feb. Please pray for us, requesting the Lord to empower and protect. You can find the itinerary here on this website.
This time we are taking an international team made up from members of the ministry team from England, USA and India. This is in obedience to the Lord’s direction in order to reflect the international, mixed gendre and inter-cultural, inter racial DNA of the Church. One day soon we want also to reflect its inter generational character by taking with us children and youth who carry the ‘Elijah Generation’ anointing. Information about each member of this team is included on the previous post.
These are very exciting days that we are in and the opportunities opening to us at TOM are increasing. We are re visiting Kenya/Uganda in April/May and September, Benin/Nigeria/Niger in July. Also we are planning a long weekend visit to Paphos, Cyprus, at the invitation of the Churches Together in Paphos (CTP) for some time this year. We plan to hold a seminar/conference for the church leaders there on Church unity, Corporate Territorial Leadership, Kingdom building and strategy and Societal Transformation. This is so exciting. To see the Church of Paphos, that which St Paul founded so long ago, come to a place of unity, corporate identity and mission planning, servant-hood leadership relationships and so engage effectively in island transformation, would be so exciting. I believe that God has a special mandate for His Churches on the ‘islands’ especially those that are tourist attractions. He showed me that they are like ‘Corridor Churches’ as well as being a local church family. He wants to touch the lives of those thousands of holiday makers who flock to the islands every year and encounter them by His Spirit as they ‘pass through the corridor of His presence’. This is His desire and so He wants to unify, restore and empower His Church there and so position Her for that destiny. It would be such a privilege to play a part in the work of Church restoration in Cyprus.
In October we will be in Chile, S America to minister there and to see if God is calling us to open the ministry of TOM in that nation.
Pray for Pat Torok, who is part of the India team this time, as she represents Tom in the USA and serves as Head of Women’s Ministry there.
Our last mission in Nov/Dec to Benin and Liberia has resulted in presenting us both with enormous challenges and wonderful further opportunity 1) for the restoration of Church in those nations and 2) the transformation of their societies. In Benin we spoke at the West African Regional Conference on ‘Transformation of the Nation through the capture of the Seven Mountains of Society. I also was privileged to spend some time with His Excellency Yayi Boni, the Christian President of Benin. (See Website Homepage Photo) In Liberia we are seeking to purchase a 400 bedroom derelict Hotel and restore it as the nations 24/7 House of Prayer, Conference Centre, Hotel and HQs of Christian Ministries and Churches in Monrovia and the nation. We were able to prayer walk around it with some of the denominational Church leaders in the land and claim it in the spirit. (See Website Photos) By the end of the week TOM has been given 250 acres of prime mining land in the Liberian interior and has now begun the process of setting up the systems that will bring in the finance to build the Kingdom and support many such projects. Other businesses and organisations might plunder these nations for personal profit but we at TOM have pledged to 1) reinvest in the source nation in order to transform that nation and 2) in other international Kingdom projects so that TOM in other nations can also realise the capital to enable them to journey on the road to self sufficiency in ministry.
We have only just begun 2010 and yet the favour of God upon this ministry is awesome. Recently on Jan 22/23rd/24th, Mike Pike and I were ministering in the northern English city of Barnsley with the Rev David and Jill Munby, our UK Director and Head of Women’s ministry in the UK respectively. It was Unity Sunday in the nation’s churches and the weekend climaxed with a united service in the large and newly built Methodist Church. After I had preached and the Lord had presenced Himself so powerfully amongst us, the hosting Pastor stood and declared “ Tonight the Bride of Barnsley has been awakened!” Hallelujah! May the Bride of Christ not only be awakened but ‘Rise Up and make Herself ready!’ Church….its time to know who we are and get ourselves dressed ready for the Bridegroom. Rev 22 v 19 “ The Spirit and the Bride say Come!”
Thank you so much for your continual prayer support. We depend on that prayer. Its the incense rising up to Heaven. Little is achieved without it. It protects us when out on the mission field, ushers us into His presence at all times so that we dwell in intimacy and causes the anointing to flow upon us.
God bless you so much
Howard Barnes and Michael Pike
Co Directors of Time Out Mission International