UBC Mission Update - 2021, Issue 5
Judson First Baptist Church in Mawlamyine in eastern Myanmar
Prayer Focus: Myanmar / Burma
This month’s prayer focus is the country of Myanmar, located in south-east Asia. It shares a border with Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh, China, and India. The country is primarily made up of the Burmese, at 32 million people. The Burmese are the political, economic, and religious leaders of the country over all the other ethnic minorities (100+). In February 2021 the military took over the government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Burmese people are Buddhists, but also practice animism. Buddhists do not believe in God, but rather, through their own efforts, work to achieve inner enlightenment and wisdom, and reincarnation as another human being to continue the struggle and learning. When one has attained this they are said to be in a state of Nirvana. Buddhism is a very works-based religion that is antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Burmese are also animists, where they believe that evil spirits called nats are present in everyday life. They believe that if the nats are properly appeased and worshipped appropriately the worshipper will gain good luck and prosperity in this life, whereas to not respect them properly or ignore them is to place oneself in danger of possible misfortune.
Missionary biographies worth reading
- To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson by Courtney Anderson.
- Ann Judson, A Missionary Life For Burma by Sharon James.
Adoniram and Ann Judson were missionaries to the Burmese in the early to mid 19th century and their work in planting the gospel in a very hostile culture.
- Unknown Yet Greatly Used: The Lives of George and Sarah Boardman https://www.sonofcarey.com/?p=2754 The Boardmans had a fruitful ministry among a people group called the Karens. A 50 something year old Ko Tha Byu becomes one of George’s ministry partners.
Prayer points:
- For the Burmese who as the ruling class are very harsh toward other non-Buddhist minority groups living within the country. There is strong resistance to the gospel among the Buddhists. Pray for gospel in-roads in hard places.
- There has been much political unrest and protests with the military taking over the government and jailing elected officials. Pray for the citizens who are naturally upset that they would find their true hope and rest in God and His eternal kingdom.
- Persecuted religious minorities, like the Muslim Rohingya, are in refugee camps in places like Thailand. Pray that God would use their desperation to turn to the true God and father of us all.
- Pray that Christian missionaries and churches in Myanmar will proclaim the gospel to their own countrymen with boldness.
Recent Highlight: Honduras Missions Trip
In late May, a member of the UBC Mission team, Jim Corbin, participated in a trip to La Ceiba, Honduras where the team served the local church to reach the lost near their city. During the week, the team went into 5 areas around La Ceiba where they shared the gospel, trained brothers and sisters on how to go into the harvest, and started discipleship groups that have the potential to grow into healthy house churches. Over the course of the week, the team engaged 212 local Hondurans, and were blessed to see God call 81 new brothers and sisters to Himself. Each of these new believers were also introduced to a local believer who will continue the process of discipleship. The team also participated in baptizing 6 of the new believers. In addition, there were 2 houses of peace identified, places where believers will meet to study the Word together. We ask for prayers for the new believers to continue to engage in discipleship, and to seek after the Lord.
Spotlight: The Cabildo Family (Phil, Paula, Rebeka, and Sarah)
We are the Cabildo’s, Phil, Paula, and our two daughters Rebeka (5) and Sarah (1). We serve in Puebla, Mexico through Ambassadors Football as national directors of Ambassadors in Mexico. We have been missionaries with Ambassadors for over 15 years, the last 8 have been in Mexico starting the ministry from the ground up. We run several programs, although most of our programs are focused in the state of Puebla, we have done some other things in different states, mainly in the central part of Mexico.
There are four main programs that we organize and oversee:
1) Football Club (soccer) - currently, we have 150 players between the ages of 4-18 years. We focus on developing the players technically, tactically, and spiritually. 80% of the players come from non-Christian homes.
2) We teach PE at two Christian schools
3) We run two Community Football programs where we partner with local churches by training their volunteers and help them reach their community for Christ.
4) We host summer camps and organize playing/missions tours.
We also oversee five full-time staff, ten part time coaches, and five volunteers. Our heart is to reach all of Mexico with the Gospel through football ministry by running Ambassadors programs and training others to run similar programs. We are looking to expand our programs to provide a better future for our athletes and integrate education into the football programs.
Prayer requests:
- Raise full support
- More full time workers (Community Football director, Future director, Faith director)
- Damian, a player in the club who is from an orphanage to get full scholarship at a local university
- Family vacation
- Phil’s mother who is having health issues
Opportunity: Operation Christmas Child - School Supply Drive (July 18 - August 29)
The Missions Team will be collecting school supplies in preparation for the upcoming Operation Christmas Child season. As you are out shopping, please consider buying some school supplies (pencils, pens, crayons, markers, notebooks, erasers, pencil sharpeners, notecards, etc) while they are on back-to-school sales. This is also a great way to get your kids involved in thinking and serving other children around the world. Drop off the supplies at the missions table and they will be used to help UBC build more boxes to reach the children of the world. You can also donate towards the school supply drive through online giving under Operation Christmas Child [https://ubc.churchcenter.com/giving].
To learn more, please stop by the Mission Table or email us at missions@ubcbeavercreek.com.