George is in Rwanda being trained in how to help communities find peace and reconciliation following ethnic conflict. He posted on Facebook today the following prayer request:
Praying friends, the participants of the International School of Reconciliation have been divided into four teams and tomorrow we head out to four different communities to lead two-day seminars on “Healing the Wounds of Ethnic Conflict”. Please bathe us in prayer as we are all doing this for the first time, we are in Rwanda and many of the people we will be ministering to carry the deep wounds of the 1994 genocide. Pray that the Spirit would move mightily and that whatever wounds people bring will be left at the feet of Jesus.
George returned today from the east. For the past 4 days he has been 25 kilometers from the frontline of the war in the east. He was surrounded by defensive military positions and warned not to take a walk because the fields were mined. Faint sounds of shelling could be heard in the distance.
Whereas this was as close as we wanted to get to the war, many other pastors are living in the occupied territory of Donetsk where lawlessness and human suffering govern the land. They live in the midst of the war that has claimed over 6,000 lives and left 1.2 million people displaced. These pastors lost their homes and belongings to shelling. Yet they stay and minister to their congregations.
Pastors and church leaders came across the frontline and from the regions just outside the conflict zone where the spread of war is an ever-present fear. They gathered together in this “safe place” for Timothy Leadership Training on pastoral care. God blessed the training and 23 church leaders left with action plans to care for the communities living in crisis.
Pray that God would bless these plans and continue to build His Kingdom in a land broken and destroyed by war. May God bring peace and comfort in the midst of suffering, and may His will triumph over the evil plans of the adversary.
across the frontline and from the regions just outside the conflict zone where the spread of war is an ever-present fear. They gathered together in this “safe place” for Timothy Leadership Training on pastoral care. God blessed the training and 23 church leaders left with action plans to care for the communities living in crisis.