Dear Friend,

I don’t know where you live on the physical landscape, but I know where you live on the spiritual landscape: you live in a war zone.

Our world is enemy-occupied territory. As we reflect on the past year—the pandemic, natural disasters, racial injustice, riots and protests, the online culture of outrage, the election, and more—“war” feels painfully accurate. As followers of Jesus, we believe all of the turmoil and polarization of 2020 is only symptomatic of a greater divine battle, and our world is the territory under dispute.

We often refer to this battle as “the great controversy”—the war over God’s character. Everyone who claims the name of Jesus and works to spread the good news of God’s love is fighting in this battle, or, as C. S. Lewis puts it, the “great campaign of sabotage” against the devil.

At the beginning of the year, it quickly became clear that God’s work was entering a new kind of combat, as it were. Like other churches and ministries, and undoubtedly you, too, the unfolding crises left us stunned and scared.

And yet, in Matthew 16:18, Christ promised that “all the powers of hell will not conquer” His work. In fact, God is on the offensive in this battle, and we are too. This year, as you’ll read in the following pages, we have found this is, in fact, true. And, in a very real sense, it is true because of you.

Through your support, we masked up and continued to send out millions of gospel publications all over the world. You made it possible to change our strategy and take the gospel, through ARISE Online, to thousands sitting at home in quarantine that, any other year, wouldn’t have had the time or ability to join. We took Light Bearers Convocation online. And we started a weekly online Bible study, through which thousands have been reached.

We recognize that every dollar you’ve given this year took more courage than other years. For your generosity, sacrifice, and for fighting with us, we want to sincerely thank you.

Yes, it’s been a scary year, but not just for us. The devil is scared, too. He is scared because people like you are continuing to believe in the beauty of God’s character and in the work of spreading that good news as quickly and effectively as possible, in the good times and the bad.

On behalf of the entire Light Bearers team,

Ty Gibson

Claiming the Congo for Christ

“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” Luke 10:18

The great war between good and evil is in territorial dispute. Planet earth was created by God and given to the human race as their eternal home (Genesis 1-2). Lucifer, the fallen angel, who now bears the infamous name Satan, which means adversary, has laid claim to our world. Jesus rejects that claim as illegitimate (Luke 4:5-7). As the Savior of the world, Christ has triumphed over the devil and taken His position as the rightful king of the world (Colossians 2:15; 1 John 3:8). Our mission, as followers of Jesus, is to advance the claim of Christ as Lord and Savior of the world. Before departing from this world and promising that He would one day return, Jesus gave His followers their marching orders:

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

We exercise the authority Christ has given us by going to all nations and reclaiming human lives for the kingdom of God through the proclamation of the gospel. Each time a human being encounters and believes the good news of God’s saving grace, new territory is claimed and the kingdom of God is advanced.

One such territory is the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is the largest country by land mass in sub-Saharan Africa. With a population of 101 million, it is the largest French-speaking country in the world, and the world’s eleventh most populous country.

Kinshasa is the capital city of Congo, with a population of 14.5 million precious souls for whom Jesus died. In 2020, while Kinshasa was in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, you, as partners with Light Bearers, shipped a container load of gospel literature into the city.

The country may be in lockdown, but the gospel is not in lockdown!

Preparatory to the container arrival, 300 Bible workers were trained. When the literature arrived, they set up tents and booths around Kinshasa, offering Bible studies. More than 6,000 people have enrolled so far! The Bible workers organized the nine-week Bible study program in small groups, in homes, and even on the military base. After completion of the 26 studies, 5,000 Bible students graduated and received a French Bible and diploma. Because of the pandemic, the planned mass graduation couldn’t happen, but instead was organized into smaller graduation groups over the course of two months.

To date, 3,742 students have been baptized, with the last group graduating on August 15!

The trained Bible workers, together with church members, are doing follow-up with the recipients of the Bible study guides and Bibles and are planning an evangelistic campaign to be conducted once COVID restrictions are lifted.

The Bible workers decided they wanted to “take their country for Jesus,” so they distributed Bibles and Bible study guides to 500 members of the Congolese parliament, 109 senators, and 98 staff of the president’s office.

It is the Democratic Republic of Congo’s goal in 2021 to duplicate a similar plan in other French-speaking countries of Africa. Your prayers and support are greatly desired.