Dear Friends,
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all your persecutions and trials you are enduring. – 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 (NIV)
At this season of thanksgiving in the US, Paul’s opening words to the Thessalonians resonate in our hearts as we think of all of you in the ScholarLeaders community. We praise God for how He is working out His redemptive purposes for our world through you. Please pray with us as we participate in His work together.
2021 has given us many reasons to be on our knees in prayer. The global ScholarLeaders community has endured many challenges: the ongoing COVID pandemic and its medical, social, political, and economic effects; deaths among family and friends; uncertainty about the future; ongoing violence and oppression in some contexts. Amid these afflictions, we acknowledge and give thanks for God’s sustaining grace.
As we look back on 2021, we thank God for:
- Persevering LeaderStudies scholars and Vital SustainAbility school leaders who are, respectively, continuing their studies and guiding their schools through the pandemic.
- Generous donors who have sponsored our ministry and even given more to help schools and individuals to survive pandemic shocks.
- Flexibility as we and many VSI schools continue work online.
- Technology that enables us to stay in touch across the globe.
- Some travel beginning to reopen for scholars (to reach in-person programs, access libraries, conduct field research, etc.) and for our VSI teams.
- Changed lives as our Lord Jesus continues to draw women and men into the family of God.
We continue to pray for:
- Comfort for those who have lost loved ones.
- Healing for those who have contracted COVID or who struggle with other medical needs that are not being met because of overburdened healthcare systems.
- Provision for scholars, schools, and churches as we navigate the pandemic’s lasting repercussions.
- God’s people to continue to be agents of reconciliation in times of turmoil.
- A new president and a new fundraising director for ScholarLeaders.
- Travel to continue to reopen so that scholars can reach programs and so that our VSI team can resume full in-person visits.
In this season, we join Paul’s benediction to his friends in Thessalonica:
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. – 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (ESV)
We praise the God who hears our prayers and whose love abounds through Christ Jesus.
Thankful for you,
The SCHOLARLEADERS Team