In our last newsletter we reported that we are working to build strong support networks among I-61 team members and ministry recipients. We call this network “Covenant Community” based on the Greek word Koinonia, which means intimate fellowship. Several covenant communities have been launched in Vietnam and the USA. Here is a report from one in South East Asia:
Our I-61 covenant community is based on 3 P's. Isaiah 61 gives us the promise (captives can be set free), we have a process (how we relate and minister to each other to stay and get freer) and His purpose (get active in ministry to help other captives find Jesus and get free!) Every time we meet we also have two more P’s: praise reports and prayer requests. Everybody must participate; if someone cannot testify about something good Jesus has done for them since we last met, then they will share their prayer needs. We have NO passive observers! We all know well the verse "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour," (1 Peter 5:8.) The author of this verse was speaking to believers, reminding them to be on guard and prepared to defend themselves against the enemy. Our Isaiah 61 covenant community helps us do that. We are people who stand with each other in battle and encourage each other to keep our guard up.
When we first began to meet it was a challenge, but we remembered the promise, "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners," (Isaiah 61:1) and we decided to take that scripture literally! We have learned to share our burdens, confess our sins and test for spirits together so that we can walk out the freedom that we proclaim.
As we began to learn how to walk in covenant community we began receiving more freedom. Friends (believers and unbelievers) started noticing and asking what it was that made us "different." When we recently led a dear friend through the I-61 process to freedom I had never experienced such unity in any other ministry team in my life. I-61 partners in other countries were praying for us that day and we knew it. As the session ended our friend, now free, joined our I-61 community and took her testimony and Jesus’ promise of captives set free to her home country. From an I-61 partner in South East Asia.
I-61 Covenant Communities Update
During the past three months I-61 Covenant Communities have been developing in both the USA and overseas. It has been a time of experimenting and on-the-job training as these groups sought the LORD to re-discover the power of the Gospel as it was experienced in the 1st Century church (see Acts 3:2-16.)
Roger and Holly met with I-61 small groups in various cities during the summer. Each meeting brought exciting new discoveries and lessons-learned about how such house groups might function. A small group booklet, titled, “Walking In Covenant Community,” was prepared, which will soon be available for anyone interested in becoming part of an Isaiah 61 small group.
Jeff, Gayle and Anna Claflin moved overseas in late July and quickly settled in to their new home and jobs. When they arrived they found the I-61 community waiting to help them. A small I-61 group meets in their home and together they are growing in knowledge of the authority believers have in the Name of Jesus.
During a meeting Jeff shared that he had been struggling three days with a painful earache. A young group member gently rebuked him by asking, “Uncle Jeff, why didn’t you send us a text message so we could pray for you the first day?” She then stood up, laid her hand on Jeff’s ear and began to pray for healing in the Name of Jesus.Jeff felt better immediately and the next day woke to discover he was completely healed! “Let us consider how we may spur one another on…” (Hebrews 10:24.)
