UBC Mission Update - 2022, Issue 12

Spotlight & Prayer Focus:

The Weavers, Missionaries in the Philippines

The month of December’s missionary focus is David and Joy Weaver. They are UBC- supported missionaries who are part of TEAM serving in the Philippines. TEAM is a global alliance of churches and missionaries whose mission is to partner with the global Church in sending disciples who make disciples and establish missional churches to the glory of God. The Philippines has a population of ~115,500,000 million people. Christianity, mainly Catholicism, is the largest religion there; however, only 13.9% are considered evangelical. There are an estimated 5,755,000 unreached people.

The Weavers first went to the Philippines in 1991. As church planters, their goal was to engage in evangelism and discipleship ministries in order to establish self-governing, reproducing churches. In the city of Tarlac, they helped establish the Tarlac Bible Christian Church. In 1996, they moved to Dagupan in the Pangasinan province. They started two centers for Theological Education by Extension and helped establish the Faith Bible Christian Church. They also formed the Church Planting Institute (CPI), a church-based program for training church planters.

Since 2001, the Weavers have continued to train church planters in the CPI program while helping the Faith Bible Christian Church to become a self-supporting and reproducing church. CPI now has graduates serving as pastors, missionaries, church leaders, and church planters. They are also training the graduates of CPI to train the next generation of church planters, mentoring them as they help their disciples start new churches. David has shared this update about the country:

“The Philippines has a high regard for clergy of any kind. God has used this respect to open doors for the gospel that otherwise would not be available to us. Town mayors openly ask for prayer. They offer to let us take the first hour of every week to lead Bible studies among government workers. They call for the help of pastors to implement pandemic policies in their communities. During the tightest travel restrictions, our pastors were considered essential workers, and were able to travel more freely to do ministry, and to deliver aid where needed.”

Ministry goals for 2023 and beyond:

  • Strengthen the alliance that has been developing with local government officials and law enforcement; helping them provide community oversight (still COVID-related) in exchange for freedom to gather groups together in communities for Bible studies. A Bible study among the police officers is also being developed.

  • Strengthen new relationships with independent church planters who have come seeking doctrinal and church planting training. In addition, they plan to coordinate inter-church fellowship and ministry between these newer church planters and existing churches.

  • Strengthen CPI Tarlac (province), which is led entirely by CPI graduates.

Prayer Requests:

For the ministry:

  • That the Lord will provide the Malasiqui, Pangasinan church the funds they need for land and building for their growing church. Current need is $55,000.

  • That the new church plant in Danzo, Tarlac will be able to build their new church building in 2023. (They had a ground groundbreaking ceremony in September.)

  • For wisdom in developing next year's church planter training workshops to meet the needs of new church planters, as well as more experienced church planters.

Personal Requests:

  • That Joy's hips and knees (osteoarthritis) will not prevent her from joining the next Philippine training in February.

  • Pray with us for healthy deliveries for UBC members, Daniel and Miriam Weaver's first child in December, and daughter Rebekah and Gunner Barnett's second child in January.

Recent Highlight:

Prolife Ministry “Adopts” Xenia Center for Month of November

UBC’s Prolife Ministry devoted the month of November to supporting the Xenia Center location of Hope Rising (formerly Miami Valley Women’s Center). Members of the group delivered meals for the staff and volunteers, they engaged in daily prayer for the Center using a prayer calendar provided by the Center’s Director, and they visited the Center on a Tuesday evening to pray through every room in the building. This was an especially impactful time for all as the Staff Assistant explained the functions of each space so that specific and targeted prayers could be offered. The focused time this month provided insight into specific client needs as well as the spiritual warfare being experienced by staff and volunteers. Please continue to pray with us for this vital ministry.

Opportunity:

Perspectives Classes Coming in 2023

Perspectives is a 15-week discipleship class that helps believers from all walks of life discover their role in God’s grand story of redeeming people from every tribe, tongue, and nation to Himself. From Genesis to the prophets, from Jesus Christ to the early church, and from Constantine to today, you will see how God has been moving, how the global Church has responded, and what are the greatest needs in world evangelization that remain today. It isn’t a class about missions but a course on how every believer can be intimately woven into the story of God blessing His people so they can be a blessing to all the peoples of the earth.

Classes begin in January at the following locations and times:

Emmanuel Baptist Church, Xenia ◆ Sundays, 6:00pm - 9:00pm

Fellowship Church, Springfield ◆ Thursdays, 6:30pm - 9:15pm

Stop by the Mission table at Main for more information or contact Sharon at skerestes4@gmail.com

To read past Mission Updates or to get more information about UBC on Mission, visit www.ubcbeavercreek.com/mission.

Jarrin Bradshaw