Paul’s epistle to the Philippian church is an inspired missionary prayer letter. He has received a financial gift from the Philippian church, but he realizes the gift is also from his Heavenly Father, who supplies all his needs.

Paul thanked God and the Philippian church (4:10, 14).

Paul begins thanking God: “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly.” He regularly thanked God for working in hearts and for the provision of his needs (cf. 1:3–5).However, Paul quickly acknowledges his thanks to the Philippians for their gift—the church actually gave him the money. To the church at Philippi, hearing this letter read for the first time, this would have echoed Paul’s repeated encouragement to be united in service (1:5, 19, 27; 2:5, 17, 30; 3:17; 4:1–3). Paul and the Philippians had been united in service from the very beginning (4:15), and their financial support for him had flourished once again. Could God have miraculously created food? Could he have providentially directed Paul to money, say in the mouth of a fish? Certainly. But in God’s providence, he used brothers and sisters in Christ to meet Paul’s needs, so Paul thanks God and the Philippian believers.

We thank God and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We are thankful for God’s provision for our needs (and more!) and enabling us to serve him. God continues to meet our financial needs, our physical needs (we certainly haven’t gone hungry!), and our emotional needs as we trust him. We know that God’s good gifts stream down continually like the rays of the sun (Jas 1:17). We are constantly mindful of his goodness and seek to give thanks accordingly. At the same time, God providentially uses his people to meet our needs. We are thankful for the churches and individuals who regularly give to support our needs. This past month, another church and another family joined our support team, and others increased their support. God has used his people to bring our current monthly support total to 48%!

This past month we have been closer to home, giving us opportunities to serve at our sending church, Westerville Bible Church. Mark preached one Sunday morning, taught a ladies’ Bible study, and has been filling in as the secretary. He also helped out a few days at Peniel Bible Camp getting ready for the camp season and then “camped out” in a tent with the teen guys for a weekend retreat. Bekah has served in the nursery, met with several ladies for fellowship and encouragement, and organized a garage sale to begin getting rid of our accumulated things. We also ministered at several churches in Ohio.

This coming month we will be traveling to Chile for ten days, taking five young ladies from our church along with us. We look forward to returning to Antofagasta, seeing the Flincks, and serving them and our team. We would appreciate your prayers for us as we travel and minister.

• May 22: Bucyrus Bible Church, Bucyrus, OH
• June 2–14: Mission Trip to Antofagasta, Chile

We are thankful for God’s provision of new teammates this past month, bringing our support total to 48%! We encourage you to follow our weekly travels on our Facebook page, “Perrys to Chile,” check out our website, perrys2chile.com, and continue to pray for us!

We look forward to worshiping with the church plant in Antofagasta in just two weeks along with five young ladies from Westerville Bible Church. Pray that we will be servants like Jesus and see how Jesus is building his church.

 Thank God with us:

• for adding new partners to our support team, with others increasing their support.
• for much needed rest and time to catch up at home.
• for many opportunities to serve our home church.

Pray to God with us:

• for God’s continued provision of teammates in prayer and finances.
• for God’s wisdom in leading a mission team from our church to Antofagasta June 2–14.
• for God’s grace to have a servant’s heart like Jesus and to see how he is building his church in Chile.

This is our May 2016 email update. You can sign up to receive our updates in your inbox here. You can download a printable PDF here.