"God is
opening doors in places that have been closed in the past," says Partners'
Carlos Calderon.

Despite widespread
talk of global economic downturn, Partners plans to overcome financial
shortage in 2010. Calderon stated doors have been opened beyond Partners'
current giving capabilities. With your help, Partners can overcome financial
barriers.

"For
years, we've been asking people to pray," Calderon says, "and I think
that what we are seeing today is the fact that God has answered those prayers."
 

He explains
that many ministries now are simply waiting at these opened doors, "waiting
for someone to come and (let me put it this way) be the
answers to our prayers."

Partners'
national ministry workers are ready and willing to serve in new projects, but training and funds are needed in order to move forward. Three ministries in focus are Dalit
and Sudanese education, and disaster relief in Sumatra .

You can help
Partners send workers forth in 2010.

"Just
get in touch with us. We have a special program for children, for women, for church planters — all kinds of places."

Click
here to help Partners overcome financial shortages in 2010. Find more ways to
get involved with Partners by clicking here.

"One of the important aims of any ministry is to see the leaders who
are developed in the field take initiative and continue the ministry without
financial assistance from outside sources," said CGAI Director Vasantharaj
Albert. "This unique characteristic signals the beginning of a movement –
it is a sign that God is at work."

In a recent 10-day seminar, 20 women of the Koya people group exhibited astounding
natural talent. Some of them were day laborers who sacrificed their wages to
attend.

"None of the women were literate, but their ability to retell the Bible
stories was amazing!" Albert continues. "They exhibited unbelievable
skills and talents in grasping the biblical narratives of several key stories.
Neither our staff nor their ministry leader was aware of their God-given
talents when we began the seminar."

When the training concluded and the women returned to their villages, they
immediately took action. Five crossed the nearby river and journeyed to meet a
neighboring ministry leader. They talked with the leader about arranging a
seminar to teach other women what they had learned.

"By God's grace, another group of 14 women attended an eight-day CGAI
leadership training seminar, which taught storytelling, small group formation,
and ministry outreach methods."

An Orissa ministry asked seminar-attendees to host a training seminar. The
team taught 50 Koya women singing, dancing, and dramatization of Bible stories.
Attendees were encouraged to start small groups, and then to reach the non-Christian
community through those small groups.

"The women are requesting additional training, as they are eager to
learn more and be discipled."

Ask God to bless these women who are eager to share the Gospel. You can send
a woman to ministry training and double her impact for Christ by clicking here .

Approximately 4.5
billion people, or 70 percent of the world's population, communicate their
values and culture orally through storytelling, drama and music. Evangelism and
long-term discipleship are challenging in these cultures because most
traditional methods are ineffective. 

Working with Scriptures
in Use (SIU), Partners connects their associate church planters with SIU's
Communication "Bridges to Oral Cultures" training course. This course teaches
church planters how to share their faith through storytelling, dramatic
presentations of the parables, cultural adaptations of Scripture to song,
memorization of Scripture, and systematic presentation of Bible stories.

"We were never
taught to look at the Bible as a storybook," said one of the trainees.
"We were never taught that Jesus was a storyteller. This is the first time
we have heard that storytelling is as powerful a communication tool as
preaching."

Church planters and
pastors in West Africa, Ethiopia, India and Indonesia who have already taken
the beginner course will move on to the advanced teachings this year. Funding
is needed to expand the ministry into North Africa, Bangladesh and Sudan.

A pastor in India said
the training reinvigorated his ministry

"We Yenadi people
are an oral culture, but I was using book culture methods," said the
pastor. "I am convinced that the method of storytelling in small groups will be
effective. When I heard these teachings, I wondered why on earth I used other
complicated ways when this simple strategy is available."  

Partners reports that because
stories are an easy way to transmit the Gospel, new interest in Christianity is
growing in many areas. Over the last two years, partners who were most impacted
by the program have now started their own storytelling-training courses.

You can help church planters
worldwide learn how to use story effectively for ministry. Click here if you'd
like to support this program.

Partners recently received an update from Cahaya Suku, a
church-planting group in the region. About 30 miles north of Padang lies a
remote area hit severely by the quakes; food and shelter remain key concerns.
Chaya Suku provided immediate relief aid in the form of blankets, money, mattresses
and gas for stoves.

"The wreckage seems so random; some homes are perfectly
fine and all the ones around it are reduced to rubble," says one team
member. "Fortunately we were able to coordinate the purchase of 25 large
rolls of tarps. These tarps will be cut to family size and distributed to those
in need of immediate shelter."

Along with providing immediate relief, Chaya Suku is
developing long-term strategies for church-planting in the area. In giving his
perspective on the tragedy, Partners' Southeast Asia Director said open doors
are the silver lining.

"Could God turn this horrific tragedy in the history of
this people into a turning point…where they learn to express their love for God
through Jesus? It would be just like Him to turn something so bad into
something so incredible."

He explains that the 9 million nomadic Minang people of West
Sumatra are key to the spiritual shift in Indonesia. Only 100-300 of the 9
million Minang people believe in Jesus and confess Him as their Savior.

"The Minang are staunchly Muslim," he says.
"They take pride in the fact that during colonization they did not give
ground to the West and become Christian."

Chaya Suku's other long-term goals include recruiting and
training additional church planters, relocating current church planters into
this region, and engaging in long-term development projects such as building
schools.

You can help meet these goals by clicking here.

"Every day in the news, on the Internet, even in our
neighborhoods, we are overwhelmed by the stories of people in need," says
Partners President/CEO John Lewis.

Suffering in Sri Lanka has produced an urgent need you can
help meet. In May, 25 years of civil war in Sri Lanka ended, but
thousands of victims still remain displaced from their homes. You can read more
about them by clicking here.

Disease and hopelessness is widespread in camps for the displaced. At
last note, 35,000 kids and around 1,800 orphans were left to wander around
these camps. To help the families
in need, Partners provides a relief pack with two weeks of provisions. If you'd
like to give a pack in the name of Christ, click here.

"Harvest of Hope" is a ministry developed by
Partners for believers to help meet these great needs. Lewis explains the
two-way dynamic. "It's a national leader with a vision to impact his
community, and it's people like you and me that can help that vision become a
reality."

Professional writer and speaker Kay Marshall Strom recently
wrote a book about the ministry's mission based upon her observations in the
field. "Harvest of Hope" details what happens when families around
the world receive gifts through catalogs like the Harvest of Hope gift catalog.

"Our gifts really are making a difference," Strom
says. "We as donors are changing this generation, and we are providing hope
for the generation of tomorrow."

A gift of $20 USD can provide hope for many around
the world. Undernourished children in Senegal can receive food and medical care
for a month; persecuted believers can receive care packages. School children in
India could receive new uniforms and textbooks. Or your gift could help build
the church in underprivileged nations: young believers can learn new worship
songs from songbooks, pastors could receive biblical materials, or you can
provide Bibles for believers in India or China.

You can read stories about this ministry's impact or
give to a need by clicking here. Pray that many lives will be impacted and
changed through Harvest of Hope. 

Inter-Senegal Mission, a partner of Partners International, hosted a seminar on Christian radio broadcasting for 12 eager participants to provide training as they launch a new radio station.

A radio frequency has been acquired, and many participants are willing to serve. All that is needed now are your prayers for their success. The station is strategically located halfway between the capital city and Thies, where ISM is headquartered.

This Partners-sponsored seminar was a follow-up to the October 2008 training, where 28 people attended. This year, only 12 were able to return, but the training encouraged and strengthened many.

Victor, an editor at the oldest newspaper in Senegal, said, "I believe that the Church in Senegal needs to have a voice. My experience is that Christian opinion is not always accepted in the local press. Because we are a 95 percent Muslim country, certain Christian beliefs are censored. If we want the populations to hear our voices, we need to work in order to put a Christian press group in place."

Victor added, "The advantage of a Christian press group is obvious. In other press, they bring up the topic — say, for example, rape. The advantage we have is that while we talk about the same subjects, we bring a supplement: God's way of seeing things and His solution. People need that, and they don't find it in the actual press."

Another attendee, Pastor Camille, said he wants to plead with and encourage church leaders to support the ministry because radio broadcasts go where other ministries can't. "It helps prepare the ground before we get there physically."

The seminar helped the pastors with interview techniques, producing radio reports, and tips for oral expression while recording a program. There was also emphasis on making programs communicate to all ages and all religions.

Many expressed regret that the seminar couldn't be longer, since there is so much to learn to successfully produce radio broadcasts. Charles, the facilitator for the seminar, said that in previous trainings in other countries, the people at the seminar started with lesser capabilities than the people who attended this seminar. "When I think of what they could be doing in the future , I'd say they have a range of people with real talent and abilities."

One of the radio follow-up committee members, Ruth, emphasized the benefits and needs. "For the people who cannot go to church, who are afraid of giving their lives to Christ, or are afraid of rejection by their family members or society, radio ministry will be an outreach for them to know Jesus and grow in their faith. We need your prayers to make this successful."

Violence
also continues within the country, as Hamas and Fatah struggle for control and
the right to "save" the Gaza Strip from the devastation of war. In the meantime, Partners International is
helping needy families. 

Over
4,000 homes have been destroyed, and over 38,000 have been damaged. Some live in homes with large holes in the
walls or broken windows — inadequate shelter for families with children. On a regular basis, even more families are
displaced.

Since
most of the region's infrastructure — such as sanitation, electricity,
and water — is gone, many live in fear of disease. Others face unemployment and a lack of access
to medical care or education. Cars were
also destroyed in the violence. 

Over
a thousand people died in the conflict, and over 5,000 received injuries, so a
lot of people are mourning the loss of family members. Christian families face all of the same
losses and hardships that other residents face. 

Through
a local ministry, Partners has been distributing packages of food to Christian
families and Muslim families. You can
support the ministry, and pray for the church as it continues to bear witness
for the Gospel under difficult circumstances. 

42 tons of toxic methyl isocyanine (MIC) leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India on December 3, 1984. Over 500,000 people were exposed to it and 8,000-10,000 died in the first 72 hours.

Since then, over 25,000 people have died of related diseases, and many suffer from blindness, lung diseases, and cancer. Union Carbide left the region without cleaning up the chemical waste and the poisoned water.

Today, Bhopal's 1.5 million residents not only live with the environmental fallout of the tragedy, they also live with religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims. The different religions fling accusations back and forth, and spreading the Gospel is forbidden.

Nevertheless, one of Partners International's indigenous partners is making a difference in the area. Pastor Ravi of Evangelism Mission Outreach Service (EMOS) leads church-planting, micro-enterprise, and children's ministries in Bhopal.

The ministry has planted nine churches in the area, and seven other areas have shown interest in the church – among them two slums. Women benefit from EMOS's sewing groups, handicrafts, and literacy ministries.

EMOS is an indigenous church-planting movement that works to bring the gospel to the unreached peoples of India – to the poor and rich, oppressed and oppressor. Its goal is to bring both spiritual transformation and social reformation to India.

You can support Partners' ministries in India.

42 tons of toxic methyl
isocyanine (MIC) leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India
on December 3, 1984. Over 500,000 people
were exposed to it, and 8,000-10,000 died in the first 72 hours. 

Since then, over 25,000 people
have died of related diseases, and many suffer from blindness, lung diseases,
and cancer. Union Carbide left the
region without cleaning up the chemical waste and the poisoned water. 

Today, Bhopal's 1.5 million
residents not only live with the environmental fallout of the tragedy, they
also live with religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims. The different religions fling accusations
back and forth, and spreading the Gospel is forbidden. 

Nevertheless, an indigenous partner of Partners
International is making a difference in the area. Pastor Ravi of Evangelism Mission Outreach
Service (EMOS) leads church-planting, micro-enterprise, and children's
ministries in Bhopal. 

The ministry has planted nine
churches in the area, and seven other areas have shown interest in the church–among them two slums.  Women benefit from
EMOS's sewing groups, handicrafts, and literacy ministries. 

EMOS is an indigenous
church-planting movement that works to bring the Gospel to the unreached
peoples of India: to the poor and rich, oppressed and oppressor. Its goal is to bring both spiritual
transformation and social reformation to India.

You can support Partners'
ministries in India. 

"I strongly believed my [family goddess] would help me throughout my life," said the believer. "All of the pujas we had performed did not help me or my husband in that hour of our utter need. I did not know where to turn."

Partners says the woman's husband was actively involved in political affairs; one day he was pierced by a poisoned arrow. After rushing him to the hospital, the woman says, her house and family were attacked by the opposing political party.

"They beat my mother and threw out our kitchen vessels," she said. "My husband's condition grew worse by the hour."

A Christian neighbor told the woman about Jesus' healing power, and a CGAI group prayed over her. The woman tells of an overwhelming peace after their prayers and says she returned to the hospital containing her husband on the next day.

"Amazingly, my husband's condition had improved, and he continued to get better over the next few weeks," said the believer. "When I explained who had healed him, my husband took great interest in attending church service."

The pair now serves God in their community. CGAI is a frontline training center for evangelism among India's unreached people groups. Their women's ministry gathers women into self-help groups where they learn how to save money, build friendships, and find self-value. Some of the women come to faith as they experience God's love for them.

If you want to support God's work through Partners International, click here.