== Send in your own Prayer requests! Click on contact us ==

The Jerusalem Alliance Church
-----------------------------------------
Dear friends, brother and sisters all over the world,

Greetings to you in the mighty name of our Lord Jesus. We apologize for not writing before, we did have some problems with our computer and the email program. We really almost lost all of your email addresses, so we appreciate if you know of a friend that didn't receive this to forward it to him/her, because we still are lacking many addresses we had before.

Anyway, we just want to share with you some of our news and prayer requests, so kindly read them and pray for us as you read our prayer requests and we do appreciate sharing it with your friends and churches that pray for our country.

Family news:
- Nathaniel our son just turned one year now, he is just a joyful boy, he is now running around the house making it busy. He is certainly a smart boy, praise the Lord for him.
- Both Madleine and I are doing good, busy though with the many responsibilities we have, but praise the Lord for he keeps strengthening us in his power and Mighty Spirit.

Church & Ministry News,
- We praise the Lord for the baptismal of six people last 28th of October. It was a great day for us, seeing these men and women dedicating their lives more and more to the Lord.

- We told you once about the expansion project we were going to do in the church. The good news is that we began this week working in the church, it's a three months project after which the church will be able to seat at least 130 people.

We are meeting at the moment at the Nazarene church in Jaffa Gate a very small church that barely fits us, but praise the Lord for this, other wise we could have had hard time finding a good place.

Again our prayer requests are:
1. Wisdom and strength in raising Nathaniel for the Lord
2. The time and energy to follow up our responsibilities.
3. Pray for our different needs.
4. Please pray for the expansion project at the church, the Lord provided an amount to start with but we are still in lack of $40000 for continuing it, this is an urgent need, So please pray for it.
5. Pray for growth and maturity among the believers in our congregation.

Finally we want to praise the Lord for all of you who stand with us in prayer and support, please consider praying for us and lifting before the Lord. In Him,

Jack & Madleine & Nathaniel

Chinese Churchplanters have serious problem obtaining Residence Permit in The Netherlands
 
Dear prayer partners,
The Executive Director of the Dutch Christian and Missionary Alliance came with Christina and I as we went down to the Office of the Foreigner Police yesterday for our interview. After the officer accepted all the statements and proofs that we brought, she said she could not grant us the ??temporary (i.e. for one year) residence permit?? because we do not have ??working permits??. We said our situation was unique and that was why we applied under the ??for a special reason?? category. We simply did not have a Dutch employer. Our employer was the Canadian Christian and Missionary Alliance. We said granting us the permits would not violate the spirit of their law on ??work permits??. If they turned us down and we left Netherlands, no Dutch citizen would gain an employment. If they granted us the permits, no Dutch citizen would lose her job. She said that was true but she must follow the rule book. She brought the rule book out but could not find the relevant section. Our case was truly rare.
In the end, she did not grant us the ??temporary residence permit??. She just accepted our application. She gave us three choices.
(1)   Submit the application as it is. That means we stand firm on saying that a ??work permit?? is not required. She would speak in favor of this. But, if her supervisors do not think so, Christina and I would have to leave in 4 weeks or appeal. 

(2)   Submit a modified application. That means we agree that a ??work permit?? is required. The Executive Director of the Dutch Christian and Missionary Alliance would work on that right away. But we might not get one.

(3)   Do both. That means we stand firm on saying that a ??work permit?? is not required. She would speak in favor of this. But, if her supervisors do not think so, Christina and I would say the Executive Director of the Dutch Christian and Missionary Alliance has helped us apply and we have indeed applied for ??work permits??. That way, we do not have to leave in 4 weeks or appeal.

In the end, we all thought we should go for (3). The Executive Director of the Dutch Christian and Missionary Alliance has started working on the ??work permit?? just in case it is needed.
Thank you very much for praying for this in the past. Please keep on praying until you hear from us.
The Lord bless you.
Manjohn Wong

Germany, Berlin

By the grace of God, the churchplanting of Berlin International Church is advancing strongly.  Sunday attendance is at the 200-people mark, with most of those attending being Germans. 
Of two Sunday services, the morning one is in English and the evening one is in German. 
The Paasonens are in the missionary pastorate for both Sunday congregations.  Conversions are averaging 20 new believers every year, most of them Germans.  Seven baptismal services in three years have seen 46 people baptized, most of them Germans.  Sunday attendance is setting a growth rate of yearly doubling.  Cell groups and other home groups are multiplying regularly, and are backed by a program of cell leadership training, including the development and publication of our own cell leadership materials.  A book is also being planned.

 The congregation is moving on November 3 to new meeting facilities which can seat over 300 people.  It also has seven large rooms for Bible training classes, etc. This rental facility will be for our daily use during the week. Check: http://www.berlinchurch.org

Spain, Almería, Manuel Ruiz:

Pray for Adelina, wife of Manuel Ruiz, who is in a hospital with thrombosis and lung problems. In his own words in French:
Priez pour Adelina, mon épouse. Elle est hospitalisée à Grenade depuis le 12 septembre. Elle a crée des trombes (cailloux de sang) qui lui ont bouché les poumons et cela lui provoque une hypertension pulmonaire. Les médecins sont en train de lui faire des divers examens et par la suite ils lui appliqueront un traitement  pour l'aider. Je vous remercie pour vos  prières Priez aussi pour le ministère ici à Almería.

Spain, Madrid, Tim Westergren:

Sunday September 8 God Showed His grace.  We welcomed three new families and one old family into the church.  At the same time God has brought another elder level couple into the church, Luis and Lilia Villavicencio, who will be teaching Bible, another old friend to the congregation and her four daughters, as well as a single man who is a Bible scholar.  So in one summer it seems that God has brought us five families, five quality families to boost us.
If you add that to the seven new believers who were baptized in July, and we have entered a phase of green leaf buds on this tired bush!!   Now we want it to burn with the very presence of God!!!
We have some heavy duty pastoral discipline with three families: an ilicit relationship, a failing marriage and an emotionally wrecked single woman.
Pray for us as you pray for your elders.

The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Manjohn and Christina, Chinese C&MA Churchplanting

 We thank God for (1) giving us the privilege of taking part in an in-depth sharing and prayer meeting of eight local (Chinese) pastoral workers, (2) Manjohn preaching his first sermon in Holland, (3) successful installation of a HP printer even though the manual is in Dutch, (4) purchase and delivery of a desk, a dining table and several chairs even though we do not have a car, and (5) discovery of cereals with high fibre content at a supermarket.

    Please pray that (1) God will help the pastoral workers here help one another, (2) our influence on our fellow workers will be positive and edifying, (3) God will lead us to those he wants to reach, and (4) God will provide a suitable place for the new church to meet. Thank you very much for you support. May God bless you and use you to exert a good influence on those around you.

Israel, Howard Bass:

I have a fairly active month in October, and would appreciate your prayers, as the Lord brings to mind:
Oct 5   The congregation will be going up the Nazareth Village.  This is modeled to be a depiction of Nazareth as in the time of Yeshua, with people in costume and doing work as in those days.

Oct 1-14   A sister in the Lord for many years will be visiting us from Germany.  Hannah used to live in Beer Sheva for a time, but this will be the first visit  from her in many years.

Oct 14-17   The fifth semi-annual desert prayer retreat, SAYF (Sitting at Yeshua's Feet), will take place at Sde Boker.  With so many conferences of so many kinds competing for everyone's time and commitments, the number of attendees could be  down.  Also, the strains of the issue of the deity of Yeshua actually demand that we come together at His feet together, but the tendency, of course, is the opposite.

Oct 18-22   I will be in Finland at the Iso-Kirja ("Big Book") Pentecostal Bible School in Keuruu, taking part in a seminar/symposium on the subject of Isaac and  Ishmael.  This is part of a year-long course at the college.  They invited me to speak on the subjects of "What Do Messianic Jews Think About Muslims and Arabs?" and Messianic Identity & Its Difficulties. I will also be part of a panel discussion.  Please pray that whatever and however the Spirit grants me to speak, that it will be helpful and in the Spirit of Truth.  God's Word has much to say on both issues, whatever our own leanings in these matters.

Oct 23-26   I will be in Amman, Jordan as an invited observer for a regional European - Middle East World Alliance Fellowship gathering.  After being assured that the Arab brethren from the countries round about wanted me to come despite risks of  meeting with an Israeli, I have happily agreed to go (using my U.S. passport at the hotel) as a testimony of the peace and reconciliation we have in and through Messiah Jesus.  Please pray for everyone's protection during and following the conference especially.

"There was a rainbow around the throne,
in appearance like an emerald." Rev. 4:3
The rainbow indicates that this precious stone reflects more than one color.
It is like the diversity of peoples within "our" region.
Let it be our desire to see all these peoples together may shine as a rainbow,
a colorful emerald, around the throne of God, with just one desire: to magnify our Creator and Savior!