Latvia
John and Margret Yeoman
“..every tongue, every tribe, every people, every land..”
When God speaks to His Church we can be sure of one thing, what He says He will do! We sometimes think that God operates reactively to situations; we fail to remember that He knows ALL things before they occur.
When the Soviet Communist regime was experiencing its perestroika and glasnost in an attempt to modernize and transition for the future, the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth was beginning to inform His Church of the events unfolding within the USSR and preparing His people for a new opportunity. “The sign of communism shall come down and be replaced with the sign of the cross!”
With this information Apostolic leaders ventured into the countries that made up the Soviet Union armed with photographs of formative days and pre-war contacts, fired with a passion for the lost to be found and the church to be equipped for a new day and with it, a new opportunity.
From these beginnings just prior to the crumbling of the Berlin Wall, and its symbolism, contacts were established in Latvija, and, over the next number of years visits were made and churches established through Apostolic and Prophetic ministries.
| Key Facts - Latvia | |
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Population: 2.3 million |
Alongside the spiritual was the practical. Mercy Mission teams visited the cities, towns and countryside villages bringing with the gospel much needed humanitarian aid. At the same time as the fellowship in the UK was being motivated by the Spirit, the same was happening in Denmark, where, a team of people began to provide humanitarian aid and come with and send Containers of aid into Latvija too, unaware of the existence of the Apostolic Church in Latvija!
As a result of this a coming together took place, and now in 2008 a Danish couple reside in our Centre in Platone co-ordinating aspects of aid, providing support to the church, developing contacts through personal work with children and senior citizens, and showing a willingness to minister in other churches as invited; they work with our own Missionaries who, since 2006, have been resident in Latvija seeking to develop indigenous leaders and ministries through the Apostolic Academy (recently opened). This will serve as a base for teaching in all aspects of church leadership, skills, and counselling, as well as specific ministry development, particularly the prophetic ministry.
One of the key factors in the growth spiritually and numerically of the Apostolic Church in the world has been the willingness of its’ Apostolic Leaders to believe in, encourage and develop the ministry of the prophetic.
Now, in Latvija, The Gateway to the North, there will be a ‘school for the prophetic’!
So, the work establishes an infrastructure for the future, not by outside imposition, but by the mentoring and counselling of local men and women to an understanding of a New Testament church which can still be the model for the 21st Century.
Therefore, our representatives are indeed;
On a Mission, with a Vision, for a Purpose,
Seeing in a practical way that
Together we can make a difference!
