Hello Christ Journey Church Family,

As another school year comes to a close, it is my privilege to share with you
some of the amazing things God is doing here, as well as some of the ways you can be lifting us up in prayer. This has been a year of growth for us, both personally and in terms of our ministry. First, we have to thank God for all He is doing, as we have been constantly reminded of how important it is to lift Him up in the midst of the business. That a busy, ministry or church event filled life is no replacement for the deep intimacy that He calls us to have with Him. While this is something that we all know in our hearts, it is vital that we remind ourselves of this truth and make spending time growing in our walk with Him a priority. This week I read an excerpt from the shorter Catechism that says “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” I think this sums up the attitude that I need to have every day.

We also want to thank God for the faithful team of students we had the privilege to lead this year. Our students continue to grow in their knowledge of God and in their passion for serving Him. Of course, this growth includes growing pains and struggles, and there were some tough moments this semester. As I look back though, I feel it is well worth it.

Three weeks ago we held a mini-retreat with our students. At this retreat we were able to talk through what it means to forgive others as Christ
forgives us, about how God calls us all and equips us with different gifts and about how to set our minds on things above. It was a rich experience because we found our students were very eager to share about some of their struggles and some of the ways God has been at work in their hearts.
As part of one of the sessions, we asked them to make crowns that represented themselves, and then read the passage in Revelations 4 about how we lay down our crowns before Christ. In some ways, I think this symbolizes the fact that when we follow Christ, we commit our very lives to Him. We aren’t just committing to living a certain way or to give into some of God’s demands, we are trusting Him with our full lives and surrendering. So we took the crowns we made and prayed that we would renew ourcommitment to surrendering and following Christ.

Another exciting development has been that Maggie gave multiple presentations in some of the schools we work with about the sanctity of life. For some time, Maggie has been convicted to increase education and awareness about why Christians seek to protect the lives of unborn babies. She has begun by making presentations that promote abstinence and alternatives to abortion. A girl approached Maggie that said that she was pregnant but was afraid that her parents would reject her or force her to abort the baby. Maggie counseled her and our leaders offered to help and support her to keep the baby. We are grieved to say that this girl still chose to abort the baby in the end. We pray that the Holy Spirit will convict her but also show her the wonderful riches of grace and forgiveness in Christ. Maggie feels more convicted than ever that she should do more work in this field and hopes to get more support from our local church to start a pregnancy help center that teaches about the sanctity of life and partners with women to help them make the choice to keep the baby.

Please be praying for us as we consider how God is calling us. I continue to feel most called toward the ministry of the word among college students. In this regard I will continue in the current work I’m doing, seeking to follow up with our Christians students as well as students whom we are reaching out to. The new small group that we started in our house has been going really well. We have been blessed to have this group in our lives and we see that it is also having a positive impact on the other members. One of the members, his English name is Daniel, of the group has started serving alongside us with the college students. It’s always great to see strong local leaders getting more involved and we think he is a great role model and teacher to the students.

As the year ends, I have to stop to thank God and count the many blessings. Students came to Christ, hearts were rekindled and we have grown so much. However in some ways I am still haunted by the fact that so many still do not know Him. So we ask that you keep praying for us, praying for the
lost, and praying that Maggie and I, our church and our students, will be filled with boldness and a passion for sharing His gospel here in Asia.

Sincerely,
Lukas & Maggie Moon