Nepal, Tibet: flooding

Over 1,000 people have died and over 4,000 more are missing following flash flooding at the Nepal-Tibet border. Pray for Asia-CMS as they coordinate with local partners and churches who are responding to the crisis on the ground. Please stand with Asia-CMS in prayer for those who have lost loved ones, homes and livelihoods, and for the churches and partners working to bring relief and hope to affected communities.

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Philippines: loss of a valued team member

Some of the poorest families in Metro Manila are receiving practical support and discovering abundant life in Jesus through the work of Jigsaw Kids Ministries, supported by mission partner Tim Lee from his base in Cumbria. Pray for Tim and the team, currently all together in Manila, as they come to terms with the recent death of Salhee, a team member who has served with Jigsaw since the beginning in 2003. Pray also for the team as they support communities to deal with recent flooding.

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Thailand: landmark decision for children

Children from slums are sometimes needlessly taken from their families and placed in institutionalised care, but many people, including CMS partners Elise and Jon Fletcher, are working to support families to stay together where this is in the children’s best interest. It was announced this week that the Thai government has officially declared that institutional care should be a last resort for orphans and vulnerable children. Praise God for this landmark decision, and pray for more children to be able stay with their families as a result.

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Asia: significant events happening

Pray for the team at our sister organisation Asia-CMS, as they have gathered together in region for some significant events, including the commissioning of Stephen Edison as executive team leader, a board meeting, a retreat for local partners and a South Asia Christian Youth Network gathering. Pray for stamina for the team and for this to be a wonderful, inspiring and meaningful time for everyone attending.

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South Asia: church plant making an impact

A family’s lives were changed recently when a neighbour shared her faith with them and took them to her church – a church plant led by Asia-CMS partners Deepak and Kareena (hear more of this story in our August Hope from the Edges update [https://churchmissionsociety.org/blog/news/hope-from-the-edges-august-2026/]). Praise God for the way Deepak and Kareena’s church supported this family to work through deep-seated issues and commit their lives to Jesus. Pray for this church to continue to be a witness to the community around them and for more people to find Jesus.

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In a modest neighbourhood in South Asia lived a young family: S and V and their two children. To many people, they looked like a happy family.

But this “happy” family was not happy at all. S and her husband V fought every day.

Beneath the surface of all the arguing lay a wound that had never been addressed: S had been unfaithful. Her affair had caused a kind of damage that couldn’t just be swept under the rug. But even so, S’s affair quietly continued. Much of the fighting happened in front of the children, and it was bad enough that the police were called almost every week. But no one could see a way out – this was a household in gridlock.

Finding new hope through new friends

Even though S and V couldn’t see a way forward, everything was about to change. They had a neighbour called Sister Nitu. Sister Nitu was a Christian and belonged to a church planted and led by Asia-CMS partners Deepak and Kareena. As well as sharing the gospel and building a Jesus-centred community, Deepak and Kareena support local families through an after-school education programme designed to help children improve their future prospects.

Sister Nitu had been praying for this family, and soon enough, she invited S to her church and began sharing the good news of Christ with her. S didn’t come every week at first, but the team at church were determined to support her and share God’s love with her. They sat with her in her home, opened the Scriptures with her, listened to her pain and prayed for her family. Her new friends didn’t share Jesus’ love with S as an abstract concept – she saw it and felt it in action.

Suddenly, V became very ill. People from Sister Nitu’s church visited him in hospital and he shared openly about the years of struggle, about the betrayal, about the weariness that had settled deep in his bones. As the team listened, V’s heart began to soften. As the team grew closer to both S and V, they began a careful process of counselling. They taught about the sanctity of marriage – how God designed it to be a covenant, not a contract. They unpacked the vows: what faithfulness truly means, to God and to each other. For S, much of this was entirely new. No one had ever explained the meaning of the promises she had made.

A big surprise

In the midst of this season of counselling and fragile hope, S became pregnant. This should have made her happy, but all she felt was despair. She had helped create a world of fighting, instability and shame. How could she bring a baby into all this? Surely she couldn’t keep this baby.

She confided in her new friends from church, who spoke gently about the sacred value of the life growing within her. They prayed. They wept with her. And by the grace of God, S decided to keep the baby.

Several months later, a healthy, bright-eyed baby boy was born. Today, he is an active toddler, always smiling, a living testimony that God can redeem any situation.

Starting something new on a solid foundation

Earlier this year, S and V took the most significant step of their lives together — they were baptised. Standing in the water as a couple, publicly declaring their faith in Jesus Christ, they buried their old life and started something new.

Today, their home is completely different – it is a place of peace. Their neighbours can see it, and are curious about what could have caused such a transformation.

S, who once spent her days in bitterness and strife, now lives a life of peace and takes her Bible to work with her every day. In her work as a nanny, she shares the gospel – not just with words, but through living a changed life. New people have come to church because of her testimony. V has found stability in his work, selling toys to provide for his family. Their two elder children attend Deepak and Kareena’s after-school programme, where they receive an education and the love of a caring community. And little Ashish – that smiling, energetic boy who almost wasn’t born – is a daily reminder of what God can do when a family surrenders to him.

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Japan: earthquake

Pray for people in Japan, where an earthquake has caused major damage and killed at least 30 people. More than 100 aftershocks have followed the initial earthquake and the country is also experiencing a heatwave. Thousands of displaced people are now staying in evacuation centres, over 30,000 households have been left without electricity, and search-and-rescue teams are still looking for survivors amid rubble. Pray for peace for all those feeling unsafe after the earthquake and so many aftershocks, and for the nation as they rebuild.

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Sri Lanka: dengue fever

This year, dengue fever has killed 56 people and infected close to 80,000 more in Sri Lanka, making this the country’s worst dengue outbreak in nearly a decade. Military drones are being used to detect stagnant pools of water and other breeding sites in efforts to stop the virus in its tracks. Pray for these and other efforts to help stop the virus spreading, and for stamina for health workers.

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Elise and Jon Fletcher live in a slum community in Thailand where they are sharing Jesus with their neighbours through daily life. This reflection invites us to pay attention to what Jesus is saying to us through the people and places around us.

Elise and Jon Fletcher live in Khlong Toei, Thailand’s biggest slum community, where 100,000 people are living in material poverty, unaware of their God-given worth.

Elise and Jon have immersed themselves in the life of this vibrant community and share Jesus’ love for people living on the margins through everyday life. They turn up and show up for people living and working alongside them.

Elise writes:

When we first moved to Thailand, we inherited a collection of odd plates. They were perfectly functional, if slightly garish, but we made do. After a year or so we found ourselves feeling homesick in IKEA and caved in to buying a matching set – plain blue, not plastic!

Once we were more settled into the community, we began to receive gifts of food. If a neighbour was cooking something good, they would bring over a plateful so we could enjoy it too! Though we didn’t dare compete with samples of our Thai cooking, we soon learned who appreciated our occasional baked offerings! One thing niggled. People didn’t return the plates… and they seemed shifty when I returned theirs! I bought a stack of paper plates to get around this problem and let the donated plates stack up by the front door for neighbours to take back if they wanted them. We still had eight of the 12 matching plates so all was well…

Then, one day I handed a plate back to a friend who feigned shock that it was empty… it was a lightbulb moment as I realised where I had been going wrong. I had underestimated the reciprocal nature of community life. Not that people wanted anything in return, but that it was natural to give out of whatever we had, whether that be a few bananas from a bunch or the excess rice that would go to waste. This could be an everyday thing, not just a grand gesture when we baked brownies.

A few weeks ago, I commented on the delicious smell of a soup cooking in a clay pot outside the home of a new neighbour. We hadn’t talked before but I learned that she had moved here from the countryside to cook and clean for two grown-up sons. As I drove away, I suspected I’d be tasting that soup later in the day. Sure enough, my new neighbour appeared at the door with a bowl later that morning. She wasn’t home when I returned it filled it with lamyan fruit so I left it on her outdoor cabinet.

That bowl has moved back and forth every few days (changing colour occasionally, as I’ve learned that the specific plate is not what matters!) Though we’ve not exchanged many words, my new neighbour and I have bonded over shared food. As I passed her house the other day she had a suitcase packed and told me that she is going to care for her sister who is very sick. Every time I see her plate in our cupboard, I am reminded to pray.

We are now down to four matching plates that get used most days. But they are mixed in with ten or so randoms, which I’ve learned is exactly how it should be; we are right back where we started! As plates circulate between houses, I’m reminded of how much we need others and how diversity makes life richer. Though there are certainly members of our community excluded from the circle of reciprocity, by participating we can help to expand its scope and reach.

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South Asia: theological education

Please pray for a residential camp being held next week for around 90 theological students at various levels. Three courses will be taught: Christian Family Life, Asian Church History and a new course, Biblical Mission. Please pray for the students and facilitators as they travel from different parts of the country, and for their safety and good health throughout the week. Pray that this may be a time of great learning, fellowship and blessing for all who will take part. Pray also for the ‘Christian Education Curriculum for Teenagers’ teacher training taking place this weekend; that more people may be equipped to help young people live out their Christian faith more effectively.

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Philippines: new farming practices and new connections

Mission partners Eric and Sandra Read report that Eric did a presentation for the Philippine Department of Agriculture on syntropic (regenerative and sustainable) farming. Pray for farmers or cooperatives who have heard the presentation to be enthusiastic and interested to know more about how they could benefit from using syntropic farming methods. Additionally, Sandra is starting a mothers’ group next week. Pray for God to prepare mothers’ hearts for connection and even to be introduced to Jesus. 

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UK: settling in at university on the other side of the world

Mission partner Tim Lee is based in Cumbria and supports the work of Jigsaw Ministries (working with children and young people living in extreme need and hardship) in Manila, Philippines. Jigsaw works with over 1,500 children a week in four deprived areas of Manila. Pray for Tim as he guides his Filipino colleagues from afar to become a sustainable, locally led ministry.

Tim and his wife Kate ask for prayer for their daughter Grace who has just arrived in Sydney, Australia, for a year at university. Pray for her to make friends and settle in quickly, and enjoy her cross-cultural experience.

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