UBC Mission Update - 2022, Issue 6
Prayer Focus: False Religions in the United States
According to the Joshua Project*, approximately 76% of Americans identify as Christian (where Christianity includes Protestant and Catholic denominations and other smaller segments), and about 26% of those are Evangelicals. The sad news is that, in the U.S., those who are of an Evangelical understanding of the gospel are only growing at a rate of 0.8% while the rest of the world is growing at a rate of 2.6%.
In light of this, we will focus this month on praying for those in the United States who are following religions that provide empty promises and no hope. Instead of God’s truth, these religions are passing on false doctrine. These religions include but are not limited to: Islam, Mormonism (LDS), Judaism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Unitarianism, Buddhism and Hinduism. We also include in our prayers those who profess no religious beliefs such as agnostics and atheists.
“Religion is man’s attempt to get to GOD…Christianity is GOD reaching man.
Religion says DO; Christianity says DONE”.
– Greg Laurie, pastor & author
We know that it is not our words that save anyone, but God’s work in a person’s heart. Pray for the United States, that God will:
Speak His Truth into the lies that are taught
Prepare hearts to seek and hear the Gospel
Raise up laborers here in this country (and not just internationally)
*The Joshua Project, is a Christian organization based in Colorado that seeks to coordinate the efforts of missionary organizations in reaching all people with the Gospel by tracking ethnic groups globally and the percentage of each that have been reached or engaged with the Gospel. To learn more, visit https://joshuaproject.net/
Spotlight:
Juli Mazzone, MVWC Center Outreach Department
Juli Mazzone is a member at UBC and has worked with the Miami Valley Women's Center in the Student Outreach Department since the fall of 2018. In this position, she has the wonderful opportunity to go into middle and high school classrooms to speak directly with students. Juli and her team discuss relationships and what can happen if students choose to be sexually active. They talk about physical consequences such as pregnancy and STDs, but also how the students are ultimately impacted mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually. They also stress that students can make new choices and that past sexual decisions do not need to define who they are as human beings.
“It is definitely a challenge in our sexually charged culture to be a voice rooted in an understanding of biblical sexuality in this setting,“ Juli said. “The greatest challenge is not being able to directly point students to Jesus while in the classroom. My hope is that students will see Jesus in me and come to one of our Centers and be part of a gospel conversation. It is also my hope that I will have moments that I get to speak one-on-one with students between classes to have the chance to minister to them in their specific situations.”
“When people think of pro-life ministry, they typically think of sitting in a room with a young woman who is awaiting the results of her pregnancy test. But pro-life ministry is so diverse, and what I do is on the preventative and education side to hopefully help students choose healthy decisions.” Juli has personally spoken to over 2,700 students this past school year.
Pray for the Student Outreach team to have opportunities to share the love and truth of Jesus with students.
Pray for more volunteers so the team can engage with more students.
Pray for students the team interacts with. You can stay in-the-know by following @worthwaitingfor937.
Pray that the Team doesn’t just give head knowledge, but that they ultimately impact students’ hearts.
Recent Highlight: MVWC Walk for Life
Though individuals at UBC, like Juli Mazzone, work for or support the Miami Valley Women’s Center, this is the first time in recent years that UBC has promoted an MVWC event like the Walk for Life to the whole church. Elizabeth and Chelsea Hunter served as our church liaisons and coordinated this effort. They, along with others from our church Body, participated in the Walk on May 14th. During the opening ceremony, walkers were introduced to a girl named Kelly who came to the Women’s Center thinking it was the abortion clinic. The staff met with her and at the end of their conversations, Kelly chose to put up the child for adoption versus having an abortion. They walked her through the entire process. She gave birth to a little girl (Hannah) and she was successfully adopted. Her adoptive Mom now works for the MVWC doing ultrasounds for expectant mothers. It was a special event and we are so glad that UBC was represented by walkers and financial donors.
Recent Highlight & Opportunity:
Dayton Soccer & Jesus Loves You Soccer Balls
Dayton Soccer had a successful spring season. Two highlights for the team this spring were the Mayfest soccer tournament and the Street Soccer tournament. At Mayfest, the kids were very excited to play in a “real tournament.” However, they were quickly met with adversity playing against tough teams and got discouraged. The coaches were proud to see how they responded over the rest of the weekend and saw a lot of growth in how they dealt with adversity. At the Street Soccer tournament, 80-100 people attended despite the sub-freezing temperatures that day. At least 12 different countries were represented right here in Dayton! The multicultural environment was a fun experience for everyone. Dayton Soccer coaches shared the Gospel during the middle of the event and there were several encouraging conversations between some of their volunteers and people at the event. All in all, it was definitely a highlight of the spring season and there are plans to do more of these events in the future.
UBC provided each of the teams in the spring season with a Jesus Love You ball for their use. This soccer ball has Jesus Loves You on it in over 70 languages. The Jesus Loves You ball https://jesuslovesyouball.com/) is being used around the world as a way to share the Gospel by ministering in communities. Recently, they joined with the Jesus Film Project in Ukraine. If you would like to help donate a ball to a team in the fall, or to purchase a ball for your favorite little person at home, stop by the Mission Table to provide your information. The balls can be purchased for $20 each.
To read past Mission Updates or to get more information about UBC on Mission, visit www.ubcbeavercreek.com/mission.