School of Christ students in Rakhine State, Myanmar.
In April, 2018, I traveled to Rakhine State, in Myanmar, where the Rohingya people, one of the world’s most persecuted minorities, live. A civil war has been going on for decades in this hate-filled corner of the world. News agencies are calling it the worst humanitarian crisis since WW2. It has outpaced the Syrian crisis, yet with little media coverage from the West, there are few who know about these forgotten people. But it doesn’t matter, our God knows exactly who and where they are.
It has taken us four years to develop a relationship with the local people and gain enough trust to be able to run the SOC. Many different Christian ministries in the country working together made this possible. Even after we had scheduled the School we still faced difficulties and had to move the location of the School at the last minute due to the fighting. Fifteen pastors were unable to attend because their villages were caught up in the violence and all roads in and out were closed.
We had eighteen full-time students and the School grew to twenty five as we progressed. The Lord moved in a mighty way during our time together. The prayer meetings were very sober with many tears and cries of repentance. We taught the School with a white-board, drawing diagrams to illustrate many of the spiritual truths of the Word. The students came alive as we went through the nature and the process of sanctification and the work of the Spirit in the life of the believer.
The joy of the Lord began to bubble out of them as we went through the “Blood Series” and we all danced and shouted at the close of the day. Legalism and bondage to denominationalism also began to melt away as we covered the Grace of God, the One New Man, the formation of the Bride of Christ and who they are in the earth.
The change on their faces was awesome to watch as the Lord moved deeper and deeper, day by day. Many were hard people because of what they have experienced in such a terrible environment. However, the Lord knows how to melt the hardest hearts and His gentleness know no bounds. On Friday afternoon we laid hands on two students and sent them down the road to an English school to share the Gospel. They came back two hours later rejoicing that ten souls had prayed the prayer of repentance and had received Jesus. Hallelujah!
At the graduation the students testified for almost an hour of what the Lord had spoken to them during the lessons and prayer times. Three young men who had attended the School stood at the close of the graduation and made public confessions of Christ, sharing how they had been Born Again during the School. We went out rejoicing and praising God for all that He had done during our time together.
We were also able to provide three MegaVoice units with the teachings of the School of Christ to one evangelist, one church planter, and one superintendent. These men were very blessed with the ability to go back over the lessons to keep the Word from being stolen away by the wicked one. We have already received many more invitations in the region, and have fallen in love with these dear people. It was an incredible time in the Spirit of God.
Praise the Lord! Thirteen people were baptized in water on Sunday following the School of Christ. Glory to His name!
SOC Field-Worker – Brother N.