He Is Alive!

 

The Easter music and message reminds us that the Saviour has conquered sin and death and brought hope into our dark world. Because of the cross and resurrection, lives are still being changed by God’s power and truth. We recently received the following two testimonies as additional proof rejoice in what God is doing.

VOICE Africa: Earlier this month we received word that after being taught the Module of Truth, a Ugandan student testified “I used to tell lies to my parents when I had done something wrong because I feared being punished. After the second lesson, I always told the truth and they forgave me. I know this makes God, my parents, and me happy. The truth sets you free.”  

 

VOICE Philippines: After a Philippine local church taught Values in a nearby school, they visited their Values students' homes and shared the Gospel. The church then invited the students to come to their Church Youth Fellowship. The parents encouraged the youth to attend and they were joined by siblings and cousins! Now a significant number are coming to Worship services and it all started with teaching Values in a nearby school.

 

100% Victory!!

 

 

In my limited experience, it is almost unheard of to be able to claim 100% victory in any aspect of God’s work. Of course, the day is coming when 100% of the human race will bow before Christ and acknowledge Him as Lord of all...but that day has not yet come.

However, as of this moment (or at least at the moment when VOICE Philippines wrote this) 100% of their written requests to the various Departments of Education for permission for trained VOICE volunteer teachers to conduct Biblical Values Classes in the schools throughout the nation had been granted!!!! That has never been true before! Rejoice with them and praise our God.

In our last blog we were rejoicing that the Bulacan Department of Education, the province directly to the north of Metro Manila, finally said YES after repeatedly denying such permission for more than 15 years! 

Now, a story from the Department of Education in Quezon City, especially regarding Krus na Ligas Elementary School...which you prayed for after our previous blog. All of the VOICE modules were test taught in this school, the nearest school to the VOICE office, and values classes have been taught consistently there except for when schools were closed for COVID. However, the current principal seemed determined that they would not start again. He successfully caused some “underlings” of the Quezon City Department of Education office to demand a profile of all volunteer teachers. As difficult as it was to fulfill, the volunteers obliged. AND in answer to your prayers...when that document was taken to the Quezon City Department of Education, they met with the Division Secretary herself...and she shed tears of gratitude that there was such a program as VOICE!! She immediately gave permission with a request that they include grade 2 (VOICE classes are designed to start with grade 3 in the Philippines).  

Rejoice...God has His people sprinkled around in strategic places! Would you pray that God will open the eyes of the Krus na Ligas principal to see lasting fruit from the teaching of Biblical values, and use His Word to draw many of those precious students to Himself. Pray also that God will richly bless those volunteers who submitted their profiles and now have an open door to return to doing what they love doing for the Lord. We understand that many of them are already teaching godly values in another nearby elementary school and so this will double their teaching load.

* * * * * * * *

The following, coming from VOICE Africa, is also very exciting and will encourage you as you continue to pray. Here's a few testimonies coming from the Upper Primary test teachers after they taught the newly developed VOICE Africa module on Respect:

• “As a Values teacher, the material also convicted me. It was hard for me to use polite words like “excuse me,” “please,” etc. but now I have changed.”

• "A classroom teacher said 'Thank you for emphasizing what we have told them to do.' He also thanked Scripture Union for developing the Respect module."

• “The administrator was so welcoming. He told me as the volunteer teacher that the community where the children live is a slum and full of social evils, which explains why the children were very stubborn in the first two lessons. But things kept on changing as time went by. At first, the kids didn't know that even property should be respected. The class teacher said that after lesson 5, he observed the students piling their books and pens properly.”

• “The children confessed that it was difficult to respect people younger than them, but a turning point came after Lesson 3 which challenged them to respect people regardless of their age.”

• “The students used to segregate themselves according to their tribes but later change was seen. The Principal requested that the material be taught to other classes or during the assembly so that all learn.”

• “I as the Values Teacher was challenged to be respectful as I was teaching, especially in my actions and words.”

• “Lesson 3 is outstanding as it tackles the issue of tribalism. Sudanese used to sit in one row and refused to mix with the rest, but after that lesson, there was no more segregation.”

• “It's life transforming material. The children started respecting the cooks and cleaners which wasn’t happening before.”

• “The Principal asked if the material for Lower Primary is available yet.” (It is being worked on but not yet ready for test teaching.)

   

  As you rejoice in what God has done, please pray for the VOICE Africa team as they prepare this module for publishing, and continue to develop the Lower Primary and Secondary levels for test teaching. Finances are also needed once they are ready to print.
  
  

 

God’s Specialty – Bringing Good from What We Consider Bad

VOICE Philippines sent us a Christmas greeting, including a video of a group gathering saying in unison “Merry Christmas from VOICE Philippines”! One part of the greeting included three praises coming from 2023 and three prayer requests as we head into 2024. What really caught my attention were the 2^nd and 3^rd praise items:

 

“Great interest and enthusiasm of churches to teach Godly values after the lockdown. Average attendance in teachers’ training jumped from 33 (2019) to 55 post pandemic. The second highest number of churches were also trained.”

 

“Per reports, 4 churches were planted during the pandemic, values students came to know the Lord, dozens of them were baptized, at least two values students became pastors and some became values volunteer teachers.”

 

Wow! Not one or two...but four churches planted...only God! God certainly deserves our praise and our continued trust even when what we consider unfortunate or bad things happen...He is at work!

Biblical Values Impacting Students and Teachers Alike

 The September VOICE Africa Report had several news items that made our heart rejoice and perhaps will do that for you too, as our prayer partners:

• VOICE Africa has a new Scripture Union Uganda volunteers on their team—Jackline!

• Upon the invitation of a church/school in Nsambya, southern Kampala, some of the VOICE Africa team went to conduct a one-day conference focused on Moral Purity attended by 150 teens. The administration explained that their community was particularly wracked by immorality. Using the Purity Module, the team shared God’s loving and wise plan for sex as well as His warnings of dire consequences if ignored. The Gospel was also shared to which 87 teens responded by making a profession to trust Christ as Savior. The VOICE team is asking prayer for the administration as they followup these professions and also plan/prepare for ongoing/weekly Biblical values instruction.

• (During our time in Uganda, without doubt, the most memorable testimonies of impact came following the teaching of the Forgiveness Module. Here’s one that happened recently.)
  
  Joy, one of 25 participants in the early September VOICE Training which focused on the module of forgiveness, was assigned, as are all participants, a lesson to demonstrate the following/second day of the training. As she was sharing the content of that lesson, she broke down in tears and loud wails, confessing to those in her small group, “I have long held a bitter grudge against my stepmother for her cruel treatment of me and my siblings during childhood.” She was now choosing to obey God’s command to forgive. As evidence of change, she promised to visit her stepmother the following weekend and reconcile with her.

“Nuggets” from Communication with VOICE Philippines and Africa

VOICE Philippines

• One school in southern Philippines asked VOICE to address their students, 14 of whom were pregnant, in the area of morality. VOICE staff/volunteers taught the module “True Love” which covers God’s standard of sex/morality and it was well received!

• A good number of churches indicated they are planning to either continue, restart, or start for the first time to teach Biblical Values in schools. One (Quezon City) in three schools, another (also Quezon City) to grades 8-10, another (Samar Island) is targeting 10 schools and reports that many area pastors want to be involved!

• One church in Negros Occidental completed their first year of teaching Godly Values in a high school and reported that during the Closing Recognition Ceremony, the Principal also awarded the VOICE Certificates of Completion to qualifying students! The pastor added a prayer request for more volunteers since many other area schools want Godly Values to be taught to their students!

VOICE Africa

• The Biblical value of Honesty is being taught in a Primary School and the teacher reported that 3 Muslim students had given their lives to Jesus!

• Comments/remarks (paraphrased) from some who have recently attended a VOICE Training:

  • "The training really changed the way I teach children both in my school and church."

  • "During the training, I was convicted of my low view of children and wrong attitude and so I asked for God’s forgiveness. I also need His help to develop a Christ-honoring view of children as I continue to teach."

  • "I now realize that it is my God-given duty to teach the young generation about the good values."

  • “I love the fact that I have been challenged not only to reach out to children that come to church but also children in my neighborhood."

 

Scripture Union South Sudan

When Ruth and I lived in Uganda, we had the privilege of welcoming into our home the Scripture Union South Sudan National Director, Manese and his wife, on one or two occasions. What a blessing to meet them and hear their humble servant hearts as they faithfully serve God in difficult circumstances.

Although we know the VOICE curriculum is continuously being used in that nation in spite of on-going conflict and violence, we seldom hear actual details or receive pictures. So...what a treat last month to receive his May, 2023, report. Amid lots of other great ministry among schools, street children, etc., that Scripture Union is so well known for doing, we, of course were particularly interested to learn that 630 students were reached through Values Classes in five schools. Plus, more recently, 300+ students were reached through Values classes in Kojokeji, a town somewhat close to the eastern Uganda/South Sudan border. And then we also received this picture

Students showing the Forgiveness Bookmark they received
for completing the Activity Sheets of that module.

taken in the “interior,” of a class that had just finished the Forgiveness Module. Wow, we “hit the jackpot!” His report also listed several goals with one of them being to train 20 new volunteers to teach the Values Curriculum.  

Only God knows the full extend of how the VOICE curriculum is being used of God among these East African nations. It is humbling to know that we—you included—have had a small part in what the Lord of the Harvest is doing. Praise Him...and keep praying.

VOICE Africa Up Close And Personal

 Beth and me with a Filipino friend who helped prepare a
"merienda"/refreshments for some of
my Filipino contacts.

For 10 busy days in mid-March, VOICE Africa took front center stage among our friends in the Sussex/Saint John/Moncton area, NB. Beth Baleke, the VOICE Africa coordinator for East Africa, stayed with me and together we made several visits to individuals and small groups. Five New Brunswick churches also gladly gave Beth an opportunity to share a first-hand up-to-date report, complete with recent pictures, on the continued expansion in Uganda, including the South Sudanese Refugee camps, plus Tanzania and Ethiopia. In each of those nations, there is an urgent need for the teaching of godly values to children and youth. And...praise God, opportunities to do just that are also abundant...but the laborers are few. Please pray with Beth and the VOICE Africa staff that many more of Christians who have been or are being trained to teach the VOICE curriculum will take the next step to implement what they have learned for the sake of God’s kingdom.

South Sudanese refugee children at the recent
Easter Camp doing the actions for the definition
of Values.

Toward the end of her visit, Beth mentioned that her highlight was the warm welcome she received from God’s people and their interest in the opportunity in East Africa for exposing children and youth to Biblical values and the Gospel. Another highlight, also close to my heart, was the serious interest/consideration shown by two churches to add at least one of the two VOICE projects to their budgets: 1) strengthening the ongoing growth of VOICE Africa in Uganda ($15,000+) and 2) translation/printing of another VOICE Africa module of curriculum: Self-Control in Swahili and/or Purity in Amharic ($25,000).

God is at work!