Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Matthew 19:14 ESV
For the past four years, a small Hispanic church in Anthony, New Mexico, has been ministering to immigrant children awaiting relocation. With three immigration centers nearby, each housing 70 children ages 12-16, Comunidad Cristiana Betesda Church offers a sense of love and community to these youth who have immigrated without their parents, mostly from countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti. They stay at the centers until all is in place for them to move to their sponsor homes (usually friends or relatives who invited them to the US to live with them.)
Pastor Oscar Perez said, due to the pandemic, church attendance had dwindled to only 20 members not long ago, but as they prayed for the community, and then called on families to invite them in, attendance has now grown to about 80. Their vibrant children’s ministry and a heart for prayer and loving well are powerful draws. Over the past few months, they have baptized more than a dozen people, about half of them immigrant youth. (Read the full story here.)
Lord, thank You for the loving example this church gives and for the lives that have been transformed through Your love in them. As these immigrant children adapt to a new living situation far from family, please meet them in powerful ways. Step in as Father and cover them with Your love. Let them feel You close, hear Your voice and respond to Your call to believe in You and enjoy Your love all the days of their lives. Give them a hunger to read Your Word and ask Christians questions to know more about You. Touch their hearts with Your healing hand, comforting them and pulling them up into Your arms to hold them when they feel alone, angry or afraid. Draw them into this loving church, where they can be discipled and grow with families who love them. And prepare even now loving, truth-filled churches who will joyfully receive them in each of the places where they will relocate. Give their sponsor families a hunger for You and guide them even now into churches and relationships where they will receive Your salvation and grow in faith. Bless Comunidad Cristiana Betesda Church abundantly. Provide for all their needs, grow them in Your truth and love, and use them all the more for Your glory. May Your Kingdom come to the hearts of these children and spread throughout the United States and the world.
For the heart-warming beginning reader (ages 3-8), I Want to See Jesus!, and the Spanish version, ¡Quiero Ver a Jesús!, visit MoreThanAConquerorBooks.com.
Dare to Become a Kingdom Culture Leader, a deep devotional Bible study for pastors, missionaries and leaders on walking in oneness with Christ and others is also available at MoreThanAConquerorBooks.com.
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PRAYER WALL 