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Joyeux Noel, Bonne et Heureuse Année from Togo!


In America, New Year’s Day seems to be more like an afterthought compared to celebrating Christmas. In West Africa, it is often the other way around. Christmas is celebrated, particularly in the Christian community, although it is much more subdued than its American counterpart. The real celebration comes with the New Year. As one pastor explained, “Everyone wants to celebrate the fact that God has given them another year of life!”
However you celebrate this holiday season, we would like to wish you a very joyful Christmas and a happy and blessed New Year! 
It's fun to see a snowman as a Christmas window display in a country where there has never been snow – 70 degrees is considered cold here.

Sunday School Shelter Project
 
Last month we were able to help Temple El Shadai, in Lomé, Temple El Shadai is a small church with a big heart for kids. This congregation has been running a Sunday school for around 100 kids in lean-to shelters and they asked for some help to grow their capacity for children’s ministry. 
We helped them put up a larger and more permanent structure for children’s classes. A donation provided the tin roofing, wood roof beams and support poles. The church themselves provided a concrete floor. We all worked together to put it up in one day!
The following day, we helped the church host a children’s outreach event. About 150 children, many of whom do not attend any other church, came to hear the Gospel message. In the three Sundays that followed, the children’s ministry at Temple El Shadai grew from 100 kids to around 175 kids!
One of the existing lean-tos the church had built using reclaimed wood and cast-off tin roofing.
The finished structure gives 3 times the space for their kids. This picture was taken the very next day and you can see that they are already pouring the cement floor.
This is Robin telling a story at the kids outreach we did following the construction.
The Sunday School Shelter Project addresses three basic needs of local churches in ministry to children: meeting space, trained teachers, and curriculum. In the coming weeks we will be scheduling a training seminar and providing teacher resources to help this church, and thousands of others like it, increase their ministry to children. 
Are you interested in learning more about the Sunday School Shelter Project and how you can help? Read more about it here on our blog!

What else have we been up to?

We landed in Togo in October and have hit the ground running. So far, we’ve had the opportunity to meet with the Togolese A/G Children’s Ministry department leaders and to hear a bit of their vision and their needs. We’ve visited Ghana to honor the retiring children’s ministry director- a man who started the children’s ministries department in Ghana and has ministered to children for years even before there was a concept of a children’s pastor. We’ve preached in several local churches and we’ve also participated in a few strategy meetings for children’s ministries on the continent of Africa, and for general ministry in Togo. It’s been a busy eight weeks! 

Prayer Needs

Thank you so much for partnering with us in prayer! Here are a few specific ways you can pray for us:
  • Pray for strategic partnerships. Sometimes the key to starting a movement is to connect with the right person at the right time.
  • Pray for our national leadership. The Togolese Assemblies of God Children’s Department is made up of four strong ministers with a passion for children’s ministry. Pray for these men and women to have wisdom to know how to help their congregations.
  • Pray for health and safety. While we don’t consider ourselves at high risk, illness and crime are still a daily possibility.
  • Pray for our family during this time of transition. We returned to Togo in October and our children both stayed in the U.S. Our nest is empty and this is a big transition for all of us. 
Learn More & Take Action
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Phil & Robin Malcolm are appointed Assemblies of God missionaries to the children of Africa. Contact them via email at philip.malcolm@agmd.org or by phone at (971) 533-7669