Gateway Newsletter
October 18, 2009
“Turkey and Armenia signed an accord Saturday to establish diplomatic relations after a century of enmity,…” [1]
As Turkey and Armenia were planning historical steps for their future relations and discussing the possibilities of opening the borders, Gateway was at work in Armenia making spiritual steps towards reconciliation, peace and strategic planning of how the Armenian/Georgian Christians along with the Kurdish Churches in their respective countries can work together with Beytel churches in ministry.
We thank all of those who prayed for this trip and help financially support this endeavor. I believe that by doing this you were a part of fulfilling these passages:
Matthew 5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Ephesians 4:2-3, “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
(To see pictures of the trip please go to Gateway’s facebook page and become a friend of Gateway Educational) http://www.facebook.com/gatewayeducationalservices
Highlights of the trip:
1. E. to ask for forgiveness on behalf of the Turks: Below I will recount one of the moving moments of reconciliation as recorded in my journal.
Wednesday, October 7:
“E. said that he was privileged to one of the first Turks to be able taste the love and acceptance of his Armenian brothers and sisters in Christ. E. asked for forgiveness for what the Turks did to the Armenians. He said, “I cannot keep from wondering how many brothers and sisters in Christ I would have if we would have not killed them.” He broke down and wept. He could not go on speaking. The translator, church and I did not know what to do. It was very moving. Then all of the sudden an older, white haired, Armenian man in a suit walked on to the platform, hugged and cried with E. This continued for what seemed like hours, then E. walked off the stage. The pastor of the church encouraged those who wanted to reconcile with E. in person to come up and hug him. A line began to form and from young to old the church hugged and cried with E. An old Armenian widow came up to E. When E. saw her he broke down again, she hugged him and told him how they lost their homes and family members during the genocide. She said they never were able to find their son but she told him you are now my new son in place of him! J.
2. Kurdish pastor asked forgiveness from E.:
Here is an account of what heppened while visiting one of the Kurdish pastors and his church.
Thursday, October 8:
This was the first Kurdish services E. and I had ever attended. We met at 1:30pm with the Kurdish church and I was asked to say a few words in Kurmanji. I explained who we were, what our ministry was and asked them to pray for our work. E. also greeted the church and we sang hymns of praise in Kurmanji. After this I said in Kurmanji, “Xwedêyê me Hêja ye, Xwedêyê me Aştî ye û Xwedêyê me Hez kirin e.” Our God is great, our God is peace and our God is love. The Kurdish pastor looked at us and said, “Only by Jesus Christ could we have such love and unity for each other. Just look at this. Here present us Kurds, then Turkish E. and their Armenian friend H., and an American all of us together, all of us at one time enemies but now brothers and sisters!” He began to cry and said to E., “please forgive us Kurds for what we have done to you Turks!” They embraced and we all clapped! J.
3. Challenge for the Armenia church to pray for Turkey:
Whenever we had the opportunity to speak or preach we emphasized the need for the Armenian and Kurdish Churches to pray for Turkey. The best reminder was Mt. Ararat that is clearly seen from the Erivan the capital of Armenia. I explained that the lights on the mountain they can see at night are villages where our ministry is working and that is called Twin Mountain Province. I explained specifically the village of the two girls with the skin disease. I said that those girls in that village look down every night and see Erivan clearly and that when they, the church, look up and see Mt. Ararat I asked if they would please pray for that village and for God’s mercy in Turkey. I challenged them to pray with us Mat. 9:37-38, Col. 4:2-4 and II Thes. 3:1-2. J.
4. Teaching at a missions school:
The church in Armenia has been challenged to reach its Muslim neighbors. A missions school asked E. and J. to speak on how to effectively reach Muslims. J. and E. spoke on potential obstacles and how to overcome these, the importance of Ambassadorship, along with inviting the Muslim into the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ.
5. Prayer walk with Armenian church leaders and members:
One morning J. and E. met early with over 20 Christian leaders and members of churches and headed to the Armenian/Turkish border. There we prayed together for Turkey, we had communion together and prayer walked along the border for around 2 hours! Praise God for the heart of the Armenian Christians who are concerned for the welfare of Turkey. The Armenian Christian leaders drew in the dirt a map of Turkey, anointed the map with oil and wine and laid hands on the map asking God to bless and have mercy on the country!
6. Connecting with the three Kurdish fellowships:
Because of our work with Kurds we were excited to meet with the two Kurdish fellowships in Armenia and the main Kurdish fellowship in Georgia. This week one of the Kurdish leaders from Georgia will be joining us in Turkey! Other Kurdish leaders will come and help us with training! These meetings were invaluable for the future work with the Kurds in Turkey! There was one Kurdish woman at one of the Kurdish churches at Armenia that when she met us and heard us speak she was in tears as she told us that she had been praying for 20 years for the other Kurds in Turkey, and now the Lord was answering her prayers. Two Kurdish leaders from Georgia told E. and J. “I feel like I am meeting with two angels, because we thought no one else was trying to reach the Kurds in Turkey and now we can partner with you!”.
Follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gatewayeducationalservices?ref=profile
Follow us on Twitter: “E.” and “J.” will be giving daily updates via twitter.
After you create a twitter account http://twitter.com/ Follow us, our name is: gatewayedu
Website: www.gatewayeducation.org
Thank you all for your support and prayers!
J. of G.E.S.
If you feel led to support Gateway’s ministries please send your donations to:
Donations can be made online through New Horizons Foundation: http://newhorizonsfoundation.net/index.php?option=com_dtdonate&Itemid=5
More detailed information about EFT transfers:
EFT Bank transfer Credit/Debit Card Donations. The 15th of every month donations to Gateway can be electronically withdrawn. One can decide in giving if their electronic gift will be a one time gift or monthly. The transaction date for monthly gifts is on the 15th of every month. What is needed is the credit/debit card information (Name, Expiration date, Card Number). If the transfer will be made from a Bank account; a routing number and account number will be needed. Remember the project of the donation is Gateway Missions.
Checks can be made out to:
New Horizons Foundation Inc. (FBO Gateway Missions)
Send to:
New Horizons Foundation, Inc.4570 Hilton Parkway, Suite 203Colorado Springs, CO 80907
-To check out the latest pictures and info please go to our Face book page.-
Face book: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=1376664116&ref=profile
Website: www.gatewayeducation.org
Twitter: @gatewayedu
[1] http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/mobile.do?load=wapDetay&link=189541
No comments:
Post a Comment