Dear Friends,
Below is a brief report of what happened in July and our plans for August. You are invited to pray and contribute financially, if you are moved to. We hope you are blessed by these communications. Please pray that God would work in hearts of the children and provide for all of the needs of Shining Stars. If you have any questions, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Peter Wiig for Shining Stars (SS)
Some highlights from June 2022
Vision Sharing: In July we went to 3 more places in the state of Telangana to share the vision for the importance of investing in the next/younger generation. A total of 121 people attended the programmes. Those who are attending these programmes have been very interested. Many have been asking for us to share in other areas as well. We are so encouraged by the response.
One retired teacher said, “I was working as a teacher, but I didn’t know how to share the gospel to the children and the importance of children. I didn’t know about this tuition method. If I knew before my retirement, I would have done more.”
A pastor named S. Yacob wrote, “With children ministry, the church will grow easily and that is my responsibility. Today I learned these things.”
S. Yacob
Soft Skills Training: These days children focus on their school studies so much, that other areas are neglected at times. We felt the need to equip our children with some soft skills, on a monthly basis. On the 9th of July we taught about the importance of goal setting in their day-to-day lives. About 150 children attended from 14 centre’s.
It was great to see the centre leaders make the arrangements in their respective places, and get the kids online.
Discipleship Training: We had two online discipleship training programmes for some of our centre leader’s and teacher’s, on July 16th and 30th. We want to stress on the importance of intentional, small group discipleship, as it tends to get neglected. An average of 25 participants from 16 centre’s joined. The first session covered an introduction to discipleship and the second one was a time the participants shared and prayed for one another in breakout rooms. They were encouraged
Elizabeth Setty, from Salure Centre at AP shared, “Dividing into breakouts and praying for one another is a good opportunity, so that we can build relationships with others. It’s a good idea to know one another and to pray.”
Elizabeth Setty
M. Srinivas, from Chinthaguda centre at Odisha, shared, “By sharing with one another, our struggles in the centre, and praying for one another, it gives us strength and encouragement to multiply, and to work for God in the expansion of the Kingdom of God. I am joyful for joining and praying with you all.”
M. Srinivas
Shining Stars Alumni Fellowship (SSAF): On July 23rd, 17 of us got together to enjoy some fellowship. We played a game, had a snack and discussed together the importance of fellowship (in general) and how Shining Stars can facilitate that more for them and other’s who would like to build and develop these friendships, and grow together
Centre Visits: It’s the beginning of the academic year, and we have been working on establishing new partnerships. In that effort, we strive to visit all of our centre’s as often as possible. Our staff and coordinator’s have been traveling around to meet many of our old and potentially new partners.
Plans for August 2022
August is a particularly busy month, so we would really appreciate your prayers, for God’s wisdom, provision and strength. Here is our schedule in a nutshell:
- 3 vision sharing programmes, on the 2nd, 3rd and 17th – (estimated cost is Rs. 21,700)
- A one day youth retreat in a church, focusing on boy/girl relationships, on the 9th
- Our Annual General Meeting, on the 11th – (estimated cost is Rs. 32,000)
- We need to train some more leaders and teachers who will be newly partnering with us, on the 12th and 13th – (estimated cost is Rs. 42,000)
- Our routine quarterly meeting with our centre leader’s in Telangana, on the 16th. This is an opportunity to fellowship, be trained and sharpen one another. A similar program will take place in Odisha (north of Telangana), on the 30th – (estimated cost is Rs. 19,000)
- Another time of fellowship with our Shining Stars Alumni Fellowship, on the 21st
- Two discipleship training programmes on Zoom for our partner leader’s/teacher’s, on the 11th and 20th
- One soft skills programme for our centre children, on the 13th
- Many, ongoing centre visits
