Missions
At First Baptist Church of Maricopa we support two missionary groups, Japan Bible Academy (JBA) and HeartCry Missionary Society. We are so thankful that we have the opportunity to support them as they are committed to fulfilling the Great Commission by training indigenous church leaders to be approved pastor-teachers, able to equip their churches to make biblically sound disciples.
Matthew 28:19-20
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Japan Bible Academy
A Season of Preparation
Many TMAI training centers began their courses in the winter and spring, but JBA in Tokyo’s academic year begins this year in May. And as spring turns to summer, JBA is in a season of intense preparation. A website redesign is underway and revamped classes (Systematic Theology, Old Testament Survey, and Bible History) are being prepared. It is exciting and daunting, with only one more month of preparation before the students start.
In a nation and culture where less than 1% of the population identifies as evangelical, JBA recognizes the need for strengthening and maturing the Christians who are faithful, but isolated. To assist the pastors and encourage the church, many translations efforts are underway to translate solid, Biblical resources into Japanese, including Biblical Doctrine, MacArthur’s Anxious for Nothing, Tripp’s Dangerous Calling, and Lawson’s Famine in the Land, and many more.
In a nation and culture where less than 1% of the population identifies as evangelical, JBA recognizes the need for strengthening and maturing the Christians who are faithful, but isolated. To assist the pastors and encourage the church, many translations efforts are underway to translate solid, Biblical resources into Japanese, including Biblical Doctrine, MacArthur’s Anxious for Nothing, Tripp’s Dangerous Calling, and Lawson’s Famine in the Land, and many more.
PRAYER REQUESTS
- Pray for the preparation of the coming academic year for JBA. Pray that the Lord would give wisdom and energy to the professors, and prepare the hearts of the incoming students.
- Pray for all those working toward the translation efforts. Pray that the Lord would guide and sustain the editors, and that if it is His will, the Japanese version of Biblical Doctrine would be completed by this Fall.
HeartCry Missionary Society
Pure & Undefiled is a three-part documentary on the church in Cambodia, through the stories of three missionaries.
At HeartCry it is our great desire to exalt the name of Christ among the nations (Mal. 1:11).
But this demands that His gospel be not only proclaimed, but also exemplified by our love for His people—love that is demonstrated “not with word or tongue only, but in deed and truth” (I John 3:18).
“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27).