Timothy Leadership Training Program

“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6)
Blessings to you and your family on Christmas!

Let's celebrate what God has done this year!!! All 3 programs of Raise Up Global have good news to share! https://www.raiseupglobal.org/stories

📖Read some stories like this one from our sister program Educational Care at our website: https://www.raiseupglobal.org/stories/educational-care

📖Read more stories like this one on our website: https://www.raiseupglobal.org/stories/timothy-leadership-program

📖Read some stories like this one from our sister program: Coffee Break Groups on our website: www.RaiseUpGlobal.org/stories/global-coffee-break

Recently 17 pastors and church leaders were able to participate in the Timothy Leadership Training in person in Central Asia on the topic of Preaching. It was facilitated via zoom from the US! We are amazed by this testimony of creativity and faithfulness.

This group from All Churches Leadership Training in Malawi contributes song and dance during a TLT lesson. They report that "this helps us stay energized in the extreme Malawi heat." Tiredness, be gone!
https://youtu.be/h1fhqUYtliM

Malawi TLT manual 3 singing

Meet Pastor Solomon O. Davis from Liberia, a friend and TLT trainer. Listen to Anthony Systma's, Resonate Global Mission, interview.
https://africanpastor.podbean.com/e/solomon-o-davis/

Solomon O. Davis This interview is with Pastor Solomon O. Davis from Monrovia, Liberia. He is the national leader for the Christian Reformed Church in Liberia. In our discussion we talked about the challenges pastors face in ministry, the challenge of the prosperity gospel...

Meet Pastor Sophon from Cambodia. Pastor Sophon and his wife, Mrs. Thach, have 3 daughters. Pastor Sophon attended TLT training to become a better pastor. Through the TLT manuals, he created action plans to apply his learning and impact his community. One Action Plan led him to visit and listen to the people in his neighborhood. As a result, Mr. Pay's heart opened to accept Jesus as his own Savior.
Another Action Plan that Pastor Sophon and his family practiced was to plant 400 banana trees. They can feed themselves and help others in the community too. In fact recently, their farm has expanded to 500 banana trees !
We thank God for leaders like Pastor Sophon, Mrs. Thach, and their TLT trainers Navy Chann-Chhay and Ly Chhay from Resonate Global Mission !

We are praying for our partners in India, Nepal and Bangladesh as they are impacted by severe flooding. The church pictured below was covered during a mudslide near Siliguri, India. Reports of village rice paddies flooding cause concern over hunger for next year. We lift our brothers and sisters to the LORD, Lord hear our prayer.

Part 2:
Remember the Rwandan community that was impacted by an Action Plan around harm and violence within families? Read how their story continues.
The pastor started separate men's and women's groups dealing with family life, including spousal concerns. "...Eventually, he instructed people in both classes to write anonymous respectful letters to their spouses addressing problems in their homes. Again, they were instructed to omit identifying details. These letters were then handed in and read publicly in both classes. The effect was electric. People realized what a big problem family harm and violence is and realized that they are not alone. They also realized they could repent and deal with their problems without feeling that they were somehow worse than everyone else. Many couples were able to create greater health in their marriages as a result. Also, harm and violence in families became a subject that could be talked about. This creative approach enabled families to deal with difficult subjects while minimizing their sense of shame. Eventually, there were several who testified publicly about what God has done in their family life."

Manual 3 of TLT is titled, "From Harm to Harmony - Overcoming Violence in the Family," which can be a challenging topic to address. Here is a testimony from Rwanda that led to change in the whole community.
Part 1:
"One pastor planned to confront harm and violence in his church family and went about it in a creative way. He wanted to discover more of what is happening in his church families so he asked his youth group to write him anonymous letters describing their home life but omitting any identifying details. These descriptions led him to realize he needed to address this issue. He suggested that his youth group then write respectful letters to their parents asking them to please deal with issues of harm and even violence in their homes. Some responded positively and the pastor then launched separate men’s and women’s classes dealing with family life. Soon others joined and the classes grew." Check back next week to read the conclusion to this story.

Hello good people of God 😇
Together with Timothy Leadership Training Program, we were able to have a workshop for Christian leaders in the Apostolic Church in Togo. It was the first of six workshops that are scheduled to take place over the next two years.
Participants were chosen amongst the pastors of the church, who in turn will set up their own groups and share what they learned with their colleagues.
The coordinator on ground, pastor Dodzi, explains: "This first workshop was called 'Caring for God's People' and was facilitated by trainers from Burkina Faso and Benin. The participants actively participated in the training. They all left with joy and promised to fulfill the action plan".

Please remember the pastors in Togo in your prayers, as they are carrying out their action plans.

Timothy Leadership Training Program

God bless!

We praise God for our partnership with Relay Trust!

A beloved member of the TLT community, Mary Chama, who is one of the leaders featured in this short film, lost her life to COVID this summer. Along with countless other leaders around the world, hers and others' impact for the kingdom of God - as portrayed here - is of eternal value! To God be the glory!
https://youtu.be/JP8FWvgRlrI

TLT Stories of Impact

Two church leaders in Zambia created an Action Plan to care for prisoners in their local police post. Read their story below:
"We paid four visits to the local Police Post in which we encouraged those under police custody and provided them with some food hampers in order to show them God’s love despite the charges they might have had.
In the first visits we reached out to 12 prisoners, in the second we reached out to 10 prisoners, in the third visit we reached out to 14 prisoners, and on the final visit 16 prisoners were visited.
Apart from giving those under police custody food, we also preached to and shared about Jesus Christ and some became born again!"

We partner with Global Training Network in several locations. Currently, one group is meeting from multiple countries via Zoom. Here is the testimony from the GTN trainer: "The foster-care and adoption system in the Philippines has tremendous challenges. Christine from the Philippines took part in our class, “Harm to Harmony: Overcoming Violence in the Family." She carried out her Action Plan by working with her church to get them involved in the Foster Care System and to encourage individual Christian Families to become Foster Parents. This work is ongoing."

After attending his very first TLT manual, "Caring for God's People", Pastor K wrote an Action Plan to form a team and identify 5 people within their community that they would visit with, listen to, and pray for. He learned that one of the ladies he planned to visit had moved quite a distance away. Pastor K felt the visit was even more important and also recognized the distance and pandemic lockdowns created a challenge. But God provided a way! Pastor K was able to make the visit, encourage and pray for her, and even take her daughter to a VBS program!

Sukumar in Bangladesh completed “Caring for God’s People'', the first of the TLT manuals. Hear his report of what happened after the training, as he was working in his vegetable field: "A farmer next to my field mistakenly cut his hands. I ran to him to help him and then took him back to his home and cleaned the wound with antiseptic salve. Then I prayed for him as he was in great pain. The following day he came to work with a bandage and explained the pain was much less and he felt like the wound was healing fast. So I shared about Jesus and love for His Children with him. He was surprised at my willingness to quickly help him. It changed his view about Christian people. He realized Christian people care for other people as well. He is very enthusiastic to listen more about Jesus."

Saimon from Bangladesh shares how God gave him compassion for youth in his community.
"As I finished the first TLT manual (Caring for God's People) I made my Action Plan. I know many youth of our village area are addicted to drugs. It's ruining our community and future generations. I decided that I will give more time to at least four of the youth I know so that they can turn back from the wrong path. As I started to give them time and also showed them about the bad sides of drugs and how life can be more beautiful without drugs, three of them showed great enthusiasm to change themselves. I shared with them about the power of Jesus to change them. As they started to learn about life of Jesus they found strength to give up drugs." Thanks be to God!

Bilia Nakhumicha Wambulwa is 73 years old but a punctual Church attendant and a consistent student of TLT. She is among the women counselors and advisors in the church and has been with the local church since its inception 10 years ago. After studying the TLT manual "Caring for God’s People", her Action Plan was to visit 10 aged persons in the village, encouraging and praying with them. According to her report, she was able to visit all 10 and challenged them to join the church.

During her visits, she is a light to those she sees. She is never moved by any false teachings that people come up with, believes that the God who preserved her to this day will always stand with her, and always testifies of the goodness of God. She is known for her favorite saying from Romans 8:35-39, “Who can separate me from the love of Christ….” Though she is a widow and has endured hardship, she has never given up in life. She is always hopeful for tomorrow.

Crispinus Nyongesa Namisi is 79 years old and still strong and hardworking. He is the treasurer of his local church in Kitale, Uganda. One reason he holds this position at 79 years is because of his faithfulness. He started a scrap business after studying the TLT manual on Christian Stewardship. His Action Plan was how to be self-sufficient in ministry. The course provided him with new management skills and knowledge which he applied. He used a bicycle for a long time in this business but now he rides a motorcycle. Because of this small business, he is able to provide for his wife and grandchildren. He is also a cheerful giver in the church.

During a TLT training in Rwanda, one participant experienced a personal crisis. Hear how his fellow participants responded quickly in love:
"One of the students had to return home after criminals invaded his house, locking his wife and family in a small room while they ransacked the rest of the house and took virtually everything. This brother received a spontaneous offering from several other students so that he returned home with almost 200,000 Rwandan Franks in his pocket. This is enough to replace most of what was stolen and more than enough to reassure him and his wife that God had not abandoned them."

Here's what Prashant Rai shared about his experience with TLT.
“I had many desires and ideas that I wanted to introduce among the believers, but I really did not know how to make all the ideas and the desires work. Making a SMART Action Plan was the game changer for me."
S-Sustainable, M - Measurable, A - Appropriate, R - Realistic, T - Time-Bound