Prayers for Our JV Missionaries During a Season of COVID-19
With the rising threat of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Europe, there has been unavoidable impact on Josiah Venture’s ministries. Large group gatherings have been suspended, country borders and schools have been closed. Yet JV has continued to press on with innovative ways to maintain communication and relationships even in this difficult season of social isolation. Below is a brief update from Claire, Heidi, and Tyler & Lara including ways we can continue to pray for them.
Update from Claire Patty - JV Kids (JVK) Ministry Specialist
The JVK and their families are spread across the 16 countries that JV missionaries now serve in! Nothing beats face-to-face connections with them, but we are also grateful for technology and the ways God can bring us together when we are far apart. On March 23rd, we are hosting our first ever Child Development Webinar for JV Parents and JVK Camp Staffwith a special guest, my former professor from Moody Bible Institute.
Additionally, while we cannot turn the tides of a global virus, we can bow before the Creator of the heavens and earth and come to him freely in Christ Jesus with our confession, requests and praises.
Prayers for Claire:
Would you take some time to pray for these JV families who are serving on the frontlines, and who are also now adjusting to all of the changes in ministry plans due to COVID-19?
Many of JV's events this March/April are being cancelled across Central and Eastern Europe due to precautions being taken by governments to prevent the spread of the virus. The future is uncertain, indeed. Pray that God uses this time for His purposes and His glory...and that even more young people come to know Christ through conversations that can happen while school is cancelled.
Update from Heidi Ansiel - JV Missionary to Slovenia
Greetings to you, from Slovenia, on this day that the Lord has made! Here's the latest on what I'm seeing God do in Slovenia and what we're asking him to accomplish for the sake of his name.
God is bringing our church community together! It's exciting to see God calling and empowering us together, to live life on-mission in "everyday life" activities. Doors continue to open for us to partner and to support one another in prayer, encouragement, and in the Word!
Praise God! We had an amazing winter camp. We have a group of girls who expressed interest in continuing to meet! (We are now meeting online.)
Prayers for Heidi:
Please pray with us for creative insight to continue on in the call God has given us. Pray that God would work out his plans and purposes in our hearts, churches, communities, and in the hearts of youth in Slovenia.
Pray that God would continue to open our eyes to the opportunity for the gospel to advance. Pray that we would step into these opportunities in faith. I am praying this for you as well, in the unique situations and opportunities to minister that you find yourselves in. To God be the glory!
Pray that God would give me wisdom and insight to equip and empower young people to use their social media presence for the sake of God's Kingdom.
Update from Tyler & Lara Patty - JV Missionaries to the Czech Republic
Our 12 students have completed their first semester at our ForMission College campus, and have moved into a new semester with new modules on Christian Theology, Culture and Sociology, and Missional Ministry. We are really proud of how they are growing in their knowledge of God, relationship with him, and skills in ministry.
Recruitment for next year has been going well. We are adding another class alongside the existing one, and are praying for a similar class size of 12-15. The current class will move to Year Two, so we will run them both simultaneously. We are especially excited about some potential students from Hungary, who visited our campus during January.
Unfortunately, with the Czech Republic declaring a state of emergency we have canceled classes for the time being. It's very hard to know what things will look like in the next few days, let alone weeks or months. What we do know is that God has called us to love our neighbor, share the hope of Christ, and remain steadfast no matter the storm.
Prayers for Tyler, Lara, Judah & Asher:
Due to quarantine restrictions, our local church in Ostrava has switched to streaming our Sunday services for the foreseeable future. Pray for our church "in exile", that we would still be a disciple-making community that is reaching out to the lost during this time.
The students from our college have all returned home, and will be facing similar ministry challenges. Pray they would be creative in showing Christ's love tangibly to people, even with restrictions on their regular ministry events. We will continue meeting with our students over the internet for teaching and small groups. Pray that our campus team, and especially Lara and I, would lead them well.
The Czech government has stopped accepting visa applications. This affects Lara's visa renewal coming up (we were supposed to do this in March), our plans to visit the US in May for home assignment, and the arrival of a new missionary family from the US to join our team. Pray for wisdom as we navigate this.
If you would like to commit to an hour of prayer for Josiah Venture ministry, you can follow this link.