Healing Souls in the Midst of War

When the war broke out in Ukraine, our team stayed in place—despite having the option to flee—and began to serve people displaced by the war. Their building became a hub for the distribution of tens of thousands of food parcels, hundreds of Discovery Bible Studies, and temporary accommodation to displaced people.

In addition to these humanitarian and spiritual projects, their leaders were trained by Novo to provide psychological support, trauma help, and emotional healing. The team in Ukraine is aware that rebuilding Ukraine when the war is over will take much more than reconstructing buildings and homes—it will mean rebuilding shattered lives. And the restoration from the emotional trauma will take much longer than the physical rebuilding. So they’ve decided to build a national trauma care center that will help people directly and train leaders in trauma care all over Ukraine. They are raising funds to purchase land and construct a building that will serve this purpose in Ukraine and anticipate at least 1 million Ukrainians being impacted through this work.

Learn more from the Ukraine team about the expansion project here.

Divine Provision in the Nick of Time

Novo’s missionary care branch, SentWell, is located in Malaga, Spain. Two years ago the team felt led to purchase a property that would enable them to better care for missionaries in crisis who come to them for healing, and also host trainings and retreats to keep them healthy in the first place (both essential to keeping missionaries on the field long-term). They would need to raise 1,500,000€ (more than 1.6 million dollars), which felt like an impossibly large goal. But they jumped into the steep fundraising campaign, and God provided over and over, more than they could ask or imagine.

The last payment for the property was due on July 1, 2023. About a week before the deadline, they still had $150,000 to raise. They watched as one gift after another came in. But the day before the deadline they still needed $74,444. The team continued to pray. They gathered together on a Zoom call to all pray together, and the team leader Alex Galloway started off by reading an email he’d just received: Dear Alex, we hope that you and your family are well. We are happy to let you know that our board has approved a second grant for the La Morada project, in the amount of $75,000.00. We pray along with you that other donors will provide the remaining funds that you need.

The exact amount needed was provided the day before the deadline! The SentWell team was overcome with joy at what the Lord had done. He had raised all the money needed in just 18 months! This facility is already serving as a blessing to many missionaries around the world, and all the glory goes to God for his guidance and provision.

A Growing Gospel Movement in the West

God moved Lee and Jana Price to Newcastle in Western Colorado to pursue a gospel movement. Through prayer, God highlighted the homeless community, and miraculously connected Lee with a woman who’d been praying for help to disciple the homeless people she ministered to. Over a few years, they saw the good news take off and a church emerge in the homeless community.

At the same time, Lee and Jana had a list of 40 people they were praying for daily. Within a year, 12 of those people had begun to follow Jesus through a Discovery Bible Study in their home. Two of those new believers were Kevin and Gina Long, who now serve with Novo. They continue the work of gospel movement in Western Colorado alongside the Novo team. In December, Kevin took over the leadership of a small church of 12 people, guiding them through trainings on spiritual warfare and inner healing prayer. The church has since swelled to 40 people, as God brings new people across their path weekly. This summer their small church baptized five people, from all different backgrounds, who had come to faith as a result of their ministry.

Learn more about this gospel movement here.

No Longer Disqualified to Follow Jesus

Lydiah was a gifted soccer player but lacked confidence because she’d never had anyone pour into her and build her up. Then she heard about a Novo InnerCHANGE program for sports coaches called Deep Coaching, which was a discipleship program. Lydiah longed to follow God but didn’t fit into the church structures in Kenya, so she felt disqualified. Through Deep Coaching she learned that she could have a real relationship with God just as she was—a soccer player.

Lydiah learned leadership and coaching skills, in addition to ministry tools like Discovery Bible Study (DBS) and activating prayer. She began praying for her neighborhood, a very marginalized community in Nairobi. God began to open ministry doors—a food and scripture distribution project, gathering up to 70 kids around a meal and DBS twice a month, and a new sports team for young women—jump rope—which was far less expensive and more accessible in this poor community than soccer. Lydiah has joined the Novo team and has become confident in her calling and skills as a missionary to her community. She’s investing in children, parents, and young women in order to make disciples, and is praying for a gospel movement.

Read more of Lydiah’s story here.

A Gospel Movement Among Muslims

Faisal grew up as a Muslim in Uganda. But then he encountered Jesus in a vision. He began to follow Jesus, and told his family about the vision. But nothing like this had ever happened in his family before. He was rejected by his family and had to leave home. A local church took him in, but he found himself torn about his Muslim background and everything he was hearing in the church—there was such a long history of opposition against Muslims in the church.

Eventually Faisal was able to attend University. He longed for fellowship and to find answers to his questions about how to follow Jesus as a Muslim-background believer. So he invited other Muslim students to join him in studying the Bible. As they read scripture together, many of his Muslim friends committed their lives to Jesus. Their small group began to multiply because people were encountering Jesus. There weren’t other ministries in Uganda effectively reaching Muslims. The groups exploded like wildfire, and took off at other Universities and even in other countries.

Then Faisal had a divine encounter with Novo staff who were visiting Uganda. He learned about Discovery Bible Study and gospel movements, and knew this is what he’d been longing to be a part of. As they began to use gospel movement tools, their groups went from 150 to 209 in just eight months. Now there are 1052 groups in Uganda and Tanzania. Faisal realized he was in the midst of a gospel movement among Muslims in East Africa. He joined Novo and continues to find support through this partnership as he shepherds this move of God.

Read more of Faisal’s story here.

Hundreds of Refugees Baptized and Multiplying

In their efforts to reach refugees coming into Europe, Tommie and Jonas (part of Novo’s partner organization in Europe and the Middle East, NEO Leaders) began to pray over their base city of Thessalonica. They prayed that God would open new connections and networks to them amongst the refugees. During that season of prayer, Jonas was given the phone number of a refugee from Iran. They met together, and the refugee confessed that he needed a change in his life. “Let’s start to read the Bible together, like once a week,” Jonas said, “and if you have any friends who are interested, you can bring them as well.” The next week the refugee brought eight friends to read the Bible. Within three months, 30 refugees from Iran were baptized.

Tommie and Jonas now have a traveling ministry that extends across Europe, to all the places where the refugees have relocated. The good news is traveling along relational lines as the refugees share about the Kingdom of God and Jesus wherever they go. Several refugees are now part of the gospel movement team with Tommie and Jonas, including some of those initial Iranians, and Kurds, Syrians, and Iraqis who came to study the Bible. There have been about 400 Iranians baptized and many others of different nationalities were also baptized. It has been a great blessing to see how these refugees are also reaching nationals of the countries they are setting in. Tommie and Jonas’s team are actively engaged in ministry in Greece, Germany, France, England, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Iran, Syria, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans.

A Holy Spirit Fire in Young Adults

In the fall of 2021, a bunch of 20-somethings participated in Novo’s Spiritual Authority Cohort and embraced the mission of introducing everyone they knew to the abundant prayer life promised by Jesus. The next year, 70 young adults gathered for the Cohort every month, experiencing transformative prayers that rocked their world and lit a fire in them to follow Jesus wherever he would lead. In the summer of 2023, 10 of them traveled to the UK to visit Ffald-y-Brenin, a prayer retreat center in Wales, and join almost 3,000 other young adults at a prayer and worship event called the Wildfires Festival. They returned to Dallas enthusiastic about what God could do and about reaching their city for Jesus.

Since that trip, the young adults have taken over a retired chapel in Dallas and have turned it into a space for mission strategy, prayer, worship, and training more people in prayer and mission. Some are using all their free time to minister to others. Some are spreading what they’ve learned to other people in their home churches and college campuses. Some are pursuing full-time missionary roles with Novo. Others are relocating with vision to equip more young adults to live as passionately for Jesus as they are themselves. There are 130 young adults in this year’s Spiritual Authority Cohort as this move of God continues to expand. Seasoned Novo staff who have visited with these passionate young adults note the marks of revival on their lives and can’t wait to see how God is going to use them to bless their city and the world.

Read more about what’s been happening in Dallas here.

Launched into Disciplemaking in Unconventional Places

Greg and Jeannie live in Nevada. They first encountered Novo at an event, and shortly thereafter traveled with Novo to the Middle East. Greg shares that Novo has changed his life as a believer. He’s been a believer for many years, but always thought of evangelism and disciple-making as the job of the pastor. While in the Middle East, he learned a lot about Discovery Bible Study (DBS) and how they’re training leaders. Immediately after returning home, Greg started two DBSs. He continued to stay connected to Novo, and participated in an online training course called The Movement Pathway. The training lit a fire under him, and his DBSs started more DBSs and now there are 13 in total! Greg has become an intentional Kingdom ambassador in his business and at his motocross group, where he regularly preaches, teaches, and leads DBSs. Greg and Jeannie have seen many people come to Jesus and be baptized, and now Greg’s exploring what it would look like to form a church.

Hear more from Greg about what God’s been doing in Nevada.

Pizzachurch: A Church By Kids and For Kids

As Adam and Charlotte got their microchurch started, they asked their two kids what they wanted church to look like for them. “We’d like to eat pizza. We’d like to learn about Jesus. And we’d like to be able to invite our friends.” Pizzachurch was born.

The kids would invite their friends to come eat pizza and learn about Jesus. They began two kids’ Discovery Bible Studies in their home—one for older kids, and one for younger. It was all kid-led, though Adam and Charlotte were always there to keep kids more or less on topic and stop them swinging on the light fixtures.

As kids learned about Jesus, their lives began to change. So much so that the parents got curious and expressed a desire to learn what their kids were learning. So a “grown-up” Discovery Bible Study was the result. Many believing families have expressed interest in attending Pizzachurch, and Adam and Charlotte are now multiplying this gospel movement among kids by coaching these families to start their own Pizzachurches. They’re about to launch five new Pizzachurches across Glasgow.

Read more about the Pizzachurch ministry here.

Planting Seeds of the Gospel in Afghan Refugees

Monica (name changed) felt called to one of the hardest places in Central Asia, and was finally able to visit in 2009. However, her passport was flagged and she couldn’t return. She began a group to pray for Afghans in her home of Mexico City. In 2021, they learned that Afghan refugees would be arriving in Mexico City. Monica formed an NGO to help them. Unlike other NGOs in their area, Monica understood the Afghan culture and was careful to always respect it. This won her favor with the refugees.

At Christmas, Monica’s team put together a special dinner to bless the refugees and 200 people came. They served Afghan food, followed Afghan customs like refilling empty plates, and even played the national anthem. Afghans were deeply touched and felt like they were home in Afghanistan again. Then two Afghan believers shared about the meaning of Christmas and Jesus with the group. They offered Bibles in the Afghan language to anyone who wanted one, and everyone picked one up. There was a follow-up time the next day for those who wanted to learn more about Jesus, and 40 people came and paid close attention to everything shared about Jesus for four hours.

Many refugees who come through Mexico City don’t stay very long, but Monica’s team continues to plant seeds of the good news and hand out Bibles to those they have opportunity to care for.

100 Microchurches Strong and Still Growing

In Kansas City, KC Underground has a whopping 100 microchurches in all different pockets of the city, from high schools, to jails, to suburban neighborhoods. They also have 11 hubs—teams that are equipping and coaching everyday disciplemakers to start and sustain these microchurches. There are Discovery Bible Studies taking place all over the city, including 20-30 in local high schools, all led by high school students who have been trained as disciplemakers.

Cory, a Novo staff member who helped to form KC Underground, runs one of these microchurches in his own home. When their oldest child began kindergarten, he and his wife recognized that they were now a natural part of a network of people who weren’t following Christ. They began to intentionally prayer-walk, initiate spiritual conversations, and host community-forming events like a parents’ softball league in this network. Eventually three families began to meet together on Sundays in their home to learn about Jesus, and that has now grown to eight. Few of these families had an active relationship with Christ beforehand. Cory and his wife Suz have been faithfully ministering and loving these families through real difficulties, and seen God miraculously answering prayers and bringing real transformation to tough situations in their friends’ lives.

Prayers, Healing, and How God Is Moving Among High Schoolers

MacArthur Park in Los Angeles is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods West of the Mississippi. A Novo InnerCHANGE team has been investing there for some time, prayer-walking, pouring into children, teens, and relationships with neighbors, and developing leaders in the community. During Covid they leaned into activating prayer, and as restrictions began to lift, felt an invitation to engage more with high schoolers. They began focused prayer-walks around one campus in particular, which led to a meeting with the YoungLife area director and an invitation to volunteer at the high school. They also received an invitation to volunteer with recently arrived immigrant youth who were showing great leadership potential.

One of the students at the high school who they had a long-term relationship with was Anna. Anna had chosen to be baptized despite pushback, and had some powerful encounters with God. She began having dreams and visions, and one of those visions was of her aunt, who suffered from advanced diabetes to the point of not being able to walk. She had a vision of her aunt becoming healed in the presence of Jesus, and so she went to pray for her. As she prayed, she felt heat radiating out of her hands, and told her aunt that Jesus was healing her. The aunt knew it was true. This healing has launched Anna’s aunt, uncle, and cousins into lives more filled with the freedom of Jesus. It’s just one glimpse of how God is at work among high school students and in their neighborhood as a result of their prayers.

Anna has since started college, and the high school approved a student-initiated Christian club on campus this fall. Pray for God to move among the kids and families in MacArthur Park!

Raising Up Disciples and Leaders in the Disabled Community

With disability in Egypt seen as a shame, many times both the individual and the family are shunned by the community. Sometimes the family tries to hide the family member with disability out of fear and preservation to keep jobs, get marriage offers, and be a part of the community. This is very isolating for the individual with the disability as well as the family. Novo’s partner in the Middle East, NEO Leaders staff and volunteers, pursue families and create a space for community among other families who have individuals with disabilities.

Along with the weekly Bible study gatherings, NEO Leaders hold regular events for individuals with disabilities and their families to gather, hear the gospel, worship, and fellowship. Each gathering accommodates 2000-2500 people. Each attendee receives transport from their village, a warm meal, and clothes (or other giveaways). The NEO Leaders team sees these events as a place of community, acceptance, and learning among the disabled and their families. Many of these individuals do not leave their village, so to be taken for a gathering they are personally invited to and provided with physical and spiritual nourishment is something many look forward to.

NEO Leaders in Egypt have a team of leaders—some of whom have disabilities themselves—who are each leading several Discovery Bible Study (DBS) groups. As these leaders grow in their ministry and disciple making, they are seeing the community around them react in remarkable ways. Staff and volunteers are now serving close to 16,000 disabled people as well as their families.

A Healed Water Buffalo and a Gospel Movement

Taral (name changed) grew up in a remote Nepali village. He was the son of a Hindu priest, and began studying to become a priest himself. But then he heard about Jesus, and became convinced it was the truth. He was the first follower of Jesus in his village. Taral went to medical college and Bible school, and then began trekking through the Himalayas on his motorbike, helping people and telling them about Jesus.

After meeting a Novo missionary, Taral learned about Discovery Bible Study (DBS) and gospel movements. He gathered a team of 13 people together to meet with Novo and be trained in simple gospel movement tools. They are simple villagers, but have become convinced that God can use them to reach Nepal. Now they have 15 microchurches in remote parts of Nepal, and continue to lead people to Jesus through DBS, prayer, and one-on-one sharing.

There are many beautiful “God stories” emerging as people begin to boldly follow Christ. For example, Batsa, who began following Jesus after one of Taral’s team shared the good news with him, became an evangelist himself. He went to a village he’d never visited before, and found himself in the middle of a healing ceremony for a very sick water buffalo that the whole community depended upon. He offered to pray for the animal in Jesus’s name, and within 15 minutes the buffalo was clearly doing better. Several people began to follow Jesus that day as a result.

Learn more about this gospel movement here.