Young Adults' Group

The Hand Of The Lord

by Pastor Mark
August 22, 2024

Celebrating 51 years of the hand of the Lord

Over these last few months, we have been focusing on the theme of the hand of the Lord. The study of this theme has been most instructive, insightful and inspiring. We thank God for how He has led Bethany over all these five decades. The Lord has blessed us from strength to strength with the development of Bethany I to Bethany IV. He has helped us overcome many obstacles and difficulties we have encountered along this challenging journey. He has led us to develop new areas of work and ministries to better serve the needs of our fellow brethren and to reach out to those who have yet to know Christ. As we look forward to giving thanks and worship to our great God this Sunday, what are some of my thoughts?

The Bethany Diaspora Church

A recent and significant development in Bethany’s ministry has been the Bethany Diaspora Church. When our Manipur ministry had to shut down due to unrest in the area, our people were scattered to the surrounding areas. We cannot but make a comparison to the church at Jerusalem and how they were persecuted and scattered to the surrounding regions (Acts 8:1).

Last year, Pastor Charles started the Bethany Diaspora Church where our brethren at four centres (Imphal, Dimapur, Senapti and Shillong) would receive recorded messages given by him and translated by Pastor Steve to teach and encourage them. Since then, the church has slowly grown, with hundreds watching the online videos weekly. We also bought a piece of land in Dimapur to build a church where our brethren can worship in. Plans for the church building are being looked into. Pastor Steve and his team will join us for this anniversary, and we look forward to fellowshipping with them and encouraging their hearts.

The brethren in the Diaspora Church have endured many sufferings, and our hearts have gone out to them. They are part of our Bethany family. The Apostle Paul wrote, “And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.” (1 Corinthians 12:26) We should also have the same care for one another (1 Corinthians 12:25). Last Christmas, Bethany gave out hundreds of Christmas hampers to our brethren in the diaspora church, and it was our joy as a YAG to give a love gift in support of this work. We thank God for leading Bethany to minister to our brethren in the Diaspora Church. Let us continue to show concern, pray for and support this vital work.

Special Needs Ministry Saturday Programme

We thank God for a new development in the special needs ministry (SNM). Last Saturday, the SNM started a Saturday programme for our special needs children and their parents. The children are learning to do essential cleaning work with the possibility of being involved in the custodial ministry in time. The teachers also found this time useful for relating and fellowshipping with the children, which is not usually possible during SNM on Sundays.

This programme is also catered for parents, giving them time to study the Lord’s Word and share with each other their challenges in caring for their children. One parent shared that it was comforting to have a place to share with fellow parents who are facing similar challenges in life. It was a humble and exploratory start to this new development in the SNM, but we do not despise the days of small beginnings (Zechariah 4:10). Pastor Mitch and I are thankful that we can be involved with Milton and his team in this new SNM programme. Let us pray for the Lord’s hand in leading and blessing this programme as we enter another year of ministry.

Let us be grateful for the hand of the Lord in growing the ministries of Bethany and look forward to a joyful, enriching and uplifting time of worshipping and glorifying Him this Anniversary.

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