Come to Houston, TX on September 22-23 at Woodridge Baptist Church.

Workers from the field and churches from US will be there to give the latest updates about the status of the work among the Zazas. Other Churches will be there to learn more and to see how they can best partner with us.

Together we will seek the Lord’s heart for the Zazas.

Following the Zaza Alliance Meeting, we will learn what the Lord is doing in the entire country of Turkey from September 23-25.

Learn more at www.Woodridge.org/ama

Contact us for more details [contact-form].

P4T: English (Med) from PRAY4TURKEY on Vimeo.

From the body of Christ in Turkey, to our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Greetings from the church in Turkey. From the land of Noah, of Abraham, of Paul, of Ararat and Harran, of Antioch, Ephesus, Galatia, of the Seven Churches of Revelation…

Yet today, the body of Christians in our land is less than 0.1% of the population of 72 million.

We are writing to you on behalf of the leaders of the church in Turkey to ask for your prayers. Prayer is, of course, the essential need of all Christians everywhere, so why pray for Turkey at this time? For the ground is hard and the battle in the heavenlies is tough and in recent years we have felt an added urgency and burden for prayer for our nation and its churches. In 2009 we asked the world to join us each year for a ‘Global Day of Prayer forTurkey’ on April 18, the day in 2007 when 3 of our brothers were tortured and brutally murdered in the town of Malatya.

We greatly desire that you would join the small congregations of Turkey along with many churches worldwide to pray for Turkey in your churches and homes on April 18. To pray that the church in Turkey is anointed and strengthened in the Holy Spirit to live for the glory of God; pray that the outcome of this will bring hope and blessing to the land and people of Turkey as hearts and eyes are opened to Jesus Christ and to the Kingdom of God. In this brief time of prayer you will be joining millions all over the world.

We have composed this letter in three parts: (a) an explanatory introduction; (b) a shortletter you may wish to read to your congregations; (c) a short list of prayer topics to help get  started.

You can find information on the church in Turkey including more prayer topics along with links for further information at www.prayforturkey.com. You will also have a 3 minute video available to download from this internet site to help you and your congregations. If you would like further information please write to prayforturkey@gmail.com.

Thank you so very much for your prayers. The God of peace be with you all.

Alliance of Protestant Churches (Turkey)

Two weeks ago a field worker engaged with the Zazas was able to spend the weekend with the Robinson’s and their church and give a full update on the work and progress among their people group.  It was a sweet time of encouragement for the field worker and praise for specific ways God had answered the faithful prayers of his people.  Praise God for partners like Art & Ruth who are willing to boldly stand with us in prayer to see God move mightily among the very lost, but very loved Zaza people.

Please pray this week for a very important day in Turkey’s history! This Sunday, September 12th, Turks will go to the poles to vote “yes” or “no” on changes to the Turkish Constitution. Twenty-six changes to the existing Constitution are being proposed. According to my conversations with Turkish friends and my research on the subject, it seems that some of these changes are good and some are not good. However, they are all being lumped into one vote–either “yes” or “no”. One thing is clear–the result of this referendum will shape Turkey for the future. Many of my Turkish friends are unsure on how to vote. However, God knows the ultimate best for Turkey’s future and He knows the best outcome for this referendum. PLEASE PRAY FOR GOD’S PERFECT WILL TO BE DONE ON SEPTEMBER 12th!

Thank you for your prayers for the strategic nation of Turkey–what happens in this vote is not only important for Turkey but for surrounding nations.

A Roman Catholic bishop was stabbed to death in eastern Turkey on Thursday, a day before he had planned to travel to Cyprus for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI.

The bishop, Luigi Padovese, 62, the apostolic vicar of Anatolia, or the Vatican’s representative to eastern Turkey, was found dead outside his home in the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun, officials said. The police arrested his driver, who officials said had psychological problems.

The officials said the killing was not believed to be politically or religiously motivated. It nevertheless raised tensions between the Vatican and Turkey ahead of the pope’s visit to Cyprus, where he was expected to discuss the challenges facing Christians as religious minorities in the Middle East.

“We have no reason to believe that the homicide had a political motivation, but an investigation will determine that,” Alessandro Azzoni, the second in command of Italy’s embassy to Turkey, said in a telephone interview. A Franciscan friar, Bishop Padovese had been outspoken about the challenges facing Christians in Turkey and had urged dialogue.

In Turkey, Christians represent less than 1 percent of the population of 70 million. In recent years, several priests have been attacked in Turkey; one was shot to death in 2006 amid widespread Muslim anger over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the Vatican was “deeply saddened” by Bishop Padovese’s death. He said that the Vatican understood that the killing did not have a “political” motivation, but that the assailant was a man of Kurdish origin who had worked as a driver for the bishop and of late had shown signs of “unbalance” and “depression.”

“His motives weren’t political,” Father Lombardi told Italian national television. The Turkish Foreign Ministry released a statement expressing dismay at the death and calling Bishop Padovese “a friend of Turkey.”

The suspect’s full name and age were not immediately known, but Archbishop Antonio Lucibello, the Vatican’s nunzio, or ambassador to Turkey, said the man was called Murat and had confessed to the crime.

Reached at his office in Ankara, Archbishop Lucibello said that Bishop Padovese had been close with his driver. “The bishop treated him almost like a son,” he said. He said the driver, who was a Muslim, had always seemed “devoted” to the bishop, while the bishop had shown “great attention and preoccupation” to the man’s depression. Archbishop Lucibello described Bishop Padovese’s relationship with the driver as “the same relationship he had with everyone: he was a very sensitive man, very attentive, very kind.”

The driver had accompanied Bishop Padovese on several visits to Rome, sometimes driving him from Turkey to Rome by car “for practical reasons,” like carrying books, Archbishop Lucibello said. The two had come to dinner together in Rome at the residence of the Turkish ambassador to the Holy See in recent weeks, according to a person at the Turkish Embassy to the Holy See who requested anonymity, citing embassy practice.

The apostolic vicar in Anatolia since 2004, Bishop Padovese was a scholar of the history of the church fathers. He was interested in efforts “to resuscitate the roots of Christianity, which spread to Europe from Asia Minor,” Archbishop Lucibello said. In recent years, he had been working with the Turkish authorities to try to make it easier for Christian pilgrims to visit Tarsus, the ancient home of the Apostle Paul, the person at the Turkish Embassy to the Holy See said.

Bishop Padovese had been expected to travel to Cyprus for the visit of Benedict, who on Sunday was expected to deliver the working paper for a monthlong meeting of bishops in Rome this fall to discuss the Middle East.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/world/europe/04bishop.html?pagewanted=print

Goals & Objectives: Per Dr. K’s suggestion, we aimed to do discipleship teaching with young believers/seekers in these 2 towns where Dr. K frequents. He has been doing medical ministry, EV and gathering in both places for 5 or more years, though he admits that he is not a pastor/teacher. Because we have experience teaching the bible, he asked us to prepare some lessons and teach from the scriptures every night. We arrived not really knowing exactly what we were going to find. Dr. K was going to come with us, but he was not able to come at the last minute.

Town 1: Dr. K prepared his people well. In both locations, they arranged a dinner and a meeting at someone’s house for every night we were there. The first night in Town 1, we took it easy and just got to know everyone for the first two hours. Okan, who seems to be a leader of the group finally said, “Dr. K told us that there was a very talented teacher in your group and so we are ready to here some teaching now.

The next night, we arrived more prepared. Most of us shared verses from the bible, Jimmy taught a lesson, and Ergun (An experienced Turkish believer) performed beautifully as a translator/cultural filter, even adding his own thoughts and examples to several of the topics. Ergun and I agreed that most of these people really seemed like dedicated believers (They shared several stories of persecution including not being able to meet much more without the police coming, and most had paid a price w/ family, friends, or jobs) so we decided to go ahead and do the Lord’s supper that night.

Town 2: The first night we were packed into a hot living room of about 30 people. Praise God that that many people came knowing that we were going to teach from the Bible. I did a creation to Christ presentation and Rod shared some. We opened it up for questions and they had many. We answered questions like why did Jesus have to die for sins to be forgiven? Banu asked questions about miracles she had read about herself in the gospels. The next night, w/ fewer people, we watched the entire J film and answered questions about until 12.30 am. The last night there were probably 30 people again. We shared 4 passages that Dr. K had emailed us. I had Ergun just go ahead and do it himself. I translated most of the evening to our American guests. Everyone seemed to listen intently. After those 4 passages, they began to ask questions. How did the virgin birth happen? What is the old covenant and the new covenant? We answered these questions with chapter of scripture. We ended the night early (10.00), but you got the feeling that we could have kept on fielding questions and answering them from the scripture. The tone of the meetings was unlike anything I have seen here w/ non-believers. Was it cause they are of a different M-slim sect? Or they were respecting us because we are friends w/ Kemal? Or is God really doing something in their hearts? I think (and hope) it’s the last one.

During the days, we visited people’s homes from the group who invited us for tea (most ended up being full meals). We prayed in every home and shared at least one bible story (sometimes more) with each host. Banu, 24 yr old girl, seemed one of the most interested. She teared up when we described what forgiveness is in light of Christ’s sacrifice. We gave her a bible as she had had one in Istanbul but didn’t have one here.

Praise God

The damage appeared worst in the village of Okçular, which was almost razed. At least 15 of the village’s 900 residents were killed, Elazığ’s governor’s office said Monday, and the air was thick with dust from crumpled homes and barns.

The pre-dawn earthquake caught many residents in their sleep, shaking the area’s poorly made buildings into piles of rubble. Panicked survivors fled into the narrow streets of this village perched on a hill in front of snow-covered mountains, with some people climbing out of windows to escape.

Read full article here.