{"id":27741,"date":"2025-01-29T12:38:36","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T18:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/?p=27741"},"modified":"2025-01-29T15:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T21:36:09","slug":"ivans-monthly-newsletter-january-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/news\/ivans-monthly-newsletter-january-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Ivan\u2019s Monthly Newsletter | January 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \u00a0At the beginning of the year, I made the move to Fullerton, California, to begin my disciple-making apprenticeship with Orange County Project. I\u2019ve become involved with a number of local ministries in my time thus far and have begun my training and application of Bible dialogues, prayer walks, Disciple-Making Communities (DMCs), and more! I have become connected and involved with a local church, Friends Church Fullerton, and am continuing to find more ways of serving in this local body of believers. Here are a few glimpses into the work we have been doing in Orange County, as well as some of the trainings I have been doing!<\/p>\n

\"\"Bible Dialogues<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starting in week one, I joined Nick, my apprenticeship coordinator, in Bible dialogues with people he has already been ministering to and discussing scripture with. There were three dialogues that we had the first week, and I was able to see different ways this tool can be used to engage very different groups of people with the text of scripture. The picture to the upper left is the first Bible dialogue I was a part of (Nick is on the left, and Zack is on the right). This dialogue was uniquely focused on the significance of the local church in a believer\u2019s life as a disciple of\u00a0 Jesus. The picture to the upper right is of my first solo Bible dialogue with high school friends over Facetime. This was an awesome opportunity to practice the dialogue skills I had been learning and observing with people that I know personally! In this dialogue, we explored the first eight verses of the Gospel of Mark and discussed what the Gospel is, who John the Baptist was, and who Jesus is. We had a great meeting, and I was able to learn experientially some of what I had observed and heard prior. We\u2019ve had so many great Bible dialogues with people exploring huge questions about who Jesus was and what salvation is, as well as less official dialogues with people we meet as we go! Some of the most dynamic conversations we\u2019ve had are with people we \u201chappen\u201d to run into. Discipleship is such a wonderful way of viewing everyday life, and I\u2019m excited to become more and more fluent in this unique dialect!<\/p>\n

\"\"City Lights<\/strong><\/p>\n

City Lights is an apartment complex for people moving out of homeless situations that provides more affordable housing and additional resources to assist the resident community. In the photo to the left, Vee (another apprentice), myself, Brandy (a volunteer at City Lights), and Nick are delivering food to a few residents. We do various things while at City Lights but are always blessed to serve and pray with the residents. We were recently invited to lunch with the other volunteers where we had a wonderful conversation involving Brandy sharing her testimony of God\u2019s work in her life and the power of Jesus! It was truly amazing how our conversation became a beautiful witness to the nonbelievers present as well as a wonderful encouragement to the rest of us who are already disciples of Jesus! This past week, Brandy
\ninvited us to hold a Bible dialogue with her and a group of the residents! We are stoked to begin exploring this and pray that God will raise up leaders within the residents for us to help equip, and that he cultivates curiosity among the nonbelieving residents!<\/p>\n

\"\"Counter Cult Ministry<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are also engaged in counter-cult ministries. On the campus of Cal State Fullerton, there are at least eight different high-control religious groups with various names and severities. These groups are actively recruiting students through pressure and, in some cases, deception. Not only is there serious social harm done to members of the groups, but there are also various demonic doctrines taught under the name of Christianity. This causes intellectual dissonance from the teachings as well as additional social distaste towards religious groups in general. We had a Bible dialogue with someone freshly leaving the Shincheonji cult that had been tricked into joining their antichrist group through an invitation to a \u201cBible study.\u201d They teach many extreme false doctrines, but through legislated lies and deception, they target Christians and slowly guide their members further away from true doctrine. This is very dangerous socially and theologically as individuals are not only hurt but additionally hurt by those claiming to be Christians.
\nThis is such a small glimpse of all the things I\u2019ve learned and experienced this past month, but I am so excited for the ways God is, and will continue, to use us as sowers, waterers, and harvesters in his world!<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Please pray for the above areas of ministry as we continue to engage with new people daily and walk with those we meet into the discipleship of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Please pray for the protection of the new ministries, especially in the early phases, that they would be seeds falling on good soil, taking root, and multiplying the harvest far beyond what was sown.<\/p>\n

Partnering<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you so much for both the prayer and financial support that you are investing in this ministry and training! I am currently 78% financially funded and have 162 prayer partners! As I continue support raising, I ask that you join me in <\/em>prayer<\/em> as I look for those God wants to have join me in financial and support<\/em><\/strong>. If you, or someone you know, would like to partner with me, you can sign up here<\/a><\/strong> to become a prayer partner and sign up as a financial partner through the options below!<\/p>\n

For additional updates beyond the monthly newsletters, you can visit https:\/\/sites.google.com\/view\/ivanpenrose-ncp\/home<\/a><\/strong> to read more about what I\u2019m up to throughout the month. Feel free to share this update website with those you may know who are interested!<\/p>\n

With love and peace, Ivan Penrose<\/p>\n

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There are four ways to partner with me:<\/span><\/p>\n