Through your prayers and giving, you are our partners in proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray that we would continue to do so with all boldness and without hindrance!
We can spend our whole life not knowing the people who live around us, even next door! This is a problem, especially when it is true of Christians, but within it is potential: sometimes it is easier to evangelise the people you don't actually know! How many of us can genuinely say that we have actively been in touch with our neighbours about their need for salvation? Sonny Simak, with his wife Sarita, thinks about this question a lot, and is determined that so far as he is concerned, he can answer “yes”.
November 2020 marked 10 years since Grace Church Southall was planted. It has been an eventful decade and recent years have seen substantial challenges and difficulties. Sonny devotedly serves as pastor to the church and evangelist to the community, which is home to the largest South Asian community in London, and one of the largest Punjabi communities outside of India. The church has seen fluctuation in the number of church members in recent years, but while they may be fewer at present, the needs of the community around them have not in any way lessened. Southall is a desperately dark and needy place, and Grace Church is doing what it can with what it has to let its light shine. Faced by the needs of their neighbours, the reality of mortality, and anxious for many passing into eternity without a right relationship with God in Christ, Grace Church has been enabled to physically gather every Sunday, despite restrictions. Some have opted to tune in via video link, and this has also been blessed as new people have attended via this medium. The work of Grace Cafe, a weekly drop-in that has been a haven for the needy, isolated, and vulnerable, continues. Sonny also runs a podcast - Masihi Jeewan (The Christian Life) - to spread Christian teaching in Punjabi and English.
And of course, there is the constant effort to personally engage neighbours with the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. Everyone who knows and believes in the good news of salvation in Christ alone heard about Jesus from someone else. If we have been so richly blessed in Christ, why can we be so sluggish to tell other people around us about him?
Pray that Grace Church Southall would grow in their love for God and concern for their neighbours, and would know God’s help to be loving, unashamed, and bold in their day-to-day witness to their neighbours, friends, and families.
Pray that the church will be united in worship and witness, that they would grow in number, and that God would raise up someone to serve alongside Sonny as an elder.
Pray that God would help Sonny and Sarita in all ways, giving them strength and wisdom, and provide for their every need.
You can make a gift to Grace Baptist Partnership and the ongoing work of leadership training, church planting and revitalisation, using this link: Donate | Grace Baptist Partnership.
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