Pray for Pastor H.

Pray for Pastor “H.”, a youth and young adults pastor at a local Burmese church. Every week, H. comes to visit me to practice his English. Over time though, the focus of our conversations have turned to deeper topics. H. is concerned that his church is valuing his ministry only because his programs are ‘successful’, and not because people are increasingly following after Jesus. So we are focusing our attention on what Jesus taught us about making disciples. Specifically, we are studying how the Great Commission is not just about making followers, but making obedient disciples (an obedient disciples also make the same kind of disciples!). It is not about programs or numbers, but about simple replication as disciple-makers. This is the true calling of all followers of Jesus, is it not?

Just as we are making some progress in our understanding of what this might look like, H. learned about some awful things that have been taking place back home in Myanmar. Specifically, his hometown has been under fire from the Burmese military. In fact, his uncle’s house which H. helped to build last summer has burned to the ground. On top of this, H.’s parents are both in the hospital in remote Myanmar suffering from COVID-19. Sitting across from me, he was in tears trying to press forward with his vision for ministry while his family is suffering back home.

Will you pray for H.? That God would renew his strength to keep fighting? And that his father, mother, sister and cousin would recover from this disease as an encouragement to him? Also pray for wisdom and courage as he envisions how to make disciples in a world, and even a church culture, that often prioritizes the wrong things.