South Africa: almost 1,000,000 people pray together – April 2017

South Africa: almost one million people pray together

Sth Africa
On 22 April a mass prayer session under the theme ‘It’s Time’ outside Bloemfontein, South Africa, drew nearly one million people.

Farmer-turned-preacher Angus Buchan and his team organised the event and Christians from all walks of life and different denominations attended the prayer meeting. Serious matters such as the current political climate and crime were addressed in united prayer.

“I believe what’s taking place today is going to spread from South Africa right over the border into Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia right up to the Congo, right up to the top,” said Buchan referring to the prayer meeting. For Buchan, unifying South Africans has to start at home. “There’s some people here today, you want to save the whole world but your own home is a mess,” he said. “You are not talking to your wife, your children have left home. I have a very stern word for you from God: Put your own house in order before you try and help somebody else.”

Sth Africa 2

Watch a video impression of the prayer event

Source: It’s Time
Joel News International, # 1035, April 29, 2017

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The 'Unqualified' Farmer

West Africa: The ‘unqualified’ farmer

“Church planting is the result of simply sowing Jesus,” says Canadian missionary Andy Rayner who blogs at The Invisible Humanitarian.

Rayner, a former ordained theologian and local church minister who “jumped off the steeple to live among the people” as he calls it, heads up Man Of Peace Development, a non-profit humanitarian organization. He lives two lives: in the drought season he does hands-on development field work in Mali, West Africa, while in the wet part of the year he captains a commercial lobster fishing vessel from Prince Edward Island at Canada’s East Coast.

‘My guiding philosophy is: Simple, economical, easily repeated.’

“My guiding philosophy for everything is: ‘Simple, economical, easily repeated’,” Rayner says. “In West Africa I learned the hard way that most approaches to community development are too complicated and expensive to be repeated by locals. I’m trained in theology, but God made it clear to me that our western style of leadership is not needed to advance the church. I have observed that the mass people movements taking place today have many common characteristics. The most interesting, and humbling, is that every one of them spread apart from theologically trained people or association with theological institutions.”  

In Mongola the Gospel was spread by young school girls. On weekends and school vacations one girl’s family would invite another friend home. And the young girls would tell their other friends the bible stories while they played. Not a planned thing. It just happened, as missionary Brian Hogan vividly described in ‘There’s a Sheep in my Bathtub’. The adults overheard them tell the stories in their yurts and listened. By this the Gospel spread in a region formerly impenetrable to foreign mission activity.

‘No gift qualifies or disqualifies anyone from sowing Jesus.’

“There is no talk about leadership or the five-fold ministry in these circles,” Rayner comments. “Old women of no apparent leadership attributes have planted more churches than I have. I’ve come to believe that no gift qualifies or disqualifies anyone from loving others, sharing Jesus, or planting a church. Church planting is the result of sowing Jesus.”

He illustrates his point with an anecdote from West Africa. “We turned over a new work of 18 communities of believers to a mission agency, and moved on to start another new work. The agency sent five mission families in… and the expansion of communities stopped instantly. Four years later the westerners asked me to come back and do something, anything, to get mission and church planting to begin again. I spent 30 days in the bush with the local men and listened and listened some more. After that I did the same with the westerners, and learned that they were very critical of one farmer.”

‘That farmer you criticized brought the Gospel to nine villages.’

“So I asked the five families how many church communities they had started here. ‘None’, they said. ‘How many communities have you started anywhere in your life?’ I asked. ‘None’, they said. I replied: ‘Well, that farmer you are criticizing has brought the Gospel to nine villages. With no pay, no salary, no expense money, no bible college training, and he did it without your fancy training programs designed to teach him how it’s done. This farmer has more Gospel living and church forming experience in his pinky fingernail, right now, than all five western families will ever have in a lifetime, combined. So why don’t we get out of the peoples way?’”

“The uneducated rural farmers were defaulting to the educated important people, as they always do in those cultures,” Rainer explains. “The farmers were submitting to all of the westerners meetings, classes, and training programs. But for four years the advancement of the Gospel slowed to a trickle, not one new community was started.”

The five family mission team agreed to step back. Rayner and his team went back to the bush, and all of the villages met. Within thirty days a new community sprung up, and by three months there were four new Jesus communities.

Source: Andy Rayner

Joel News International, # 1034 | April 18, 2017

Christians reach out to Muslims

3

UK: Christians reach out to Muslims in 40 cities

‘A Turkish imam’s daughter has inspired many by personally leading over 100 Muslims to Christ.’

We are currently presented with one of the greatest opportunities of our time: to unveil Jesus to Muslim people in the Western world and bring them to Christ.

The number of people identifying themselves as Muslim in the UK has grown by almost 70% in ten years, from 1.6 million in 2001 to 2.7 million in 2011. It is estimated to grow to 5.5 million by 2020. Across Europe, there are already 47 million Muslims. By the year 2030, there will be 58 million Muslims in Europe, 8% of the population. Islam has found a home in Europe.

To seize this opportunity a new network called ‘Mahabba’ (‘love’ in Arabic) is developing in the UK, networking both agencies and churches, and proving to be a catalyst to unity and prayer. Its emphasis is on motivating and mobilizing ‘ordinary’ Christians rather than just ‘specialists’ to reach their Muslim neighbours and help them grow in Christ.

‘A Turkish imam’s daughter has inspired many by personally leading over 100 Muslims to Christ.’

Director Gordon Hickson on the Mahabba Network reports the first fruits. “In Oxford, it took two years to break through in prayer, but then about 40 Muslim people came to Christ over the next five years, especially among the Iranian fellowship. They were joined by an imam sheikh from Uganda who was an expert in Sharia law: he had a radical conversion experience, and now spends hours witnessing to Arabic speaking Muslims studying in Oxford. A Turkish imam’s daughter came to Christ outside of Oxford and has inspired many by personally leading over 100 Muslims to Christ.”

Most of the networks are witnessing Muslims coming to Christ. In Manchester, in just a few days, a young man from Pakistan walked into the cathedral asking to convert; a Saudi woman walked into a church and asked to become a Christian; and a Somali man shared with his Christian friend that he wanted to become a Christian.

‘The goal is to have 75 Mahabba networks across the UK in 2019.’

Mahabba networks have now been launched in over 40 cities across the UK, as well as spreading across to France, Belgium, Norway, Austria, and even South Africa. They have been asked to help establish networks in India and Korea. One couple has moved across to Chicago (home to over 400,000 Muslims) and another to help set up in Australia. The goal over the next two years is to have 75 Mahabba networks across the UK, with strong relational networks with others across Europe and other Western nations.

Source: Gordon Hickson, Mahabba Network

Joel News International, # 1032 | April 05, 2017

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Our Mob, God's Story

Indigenous Christian artists from across Australia, representing 41 languages, celebrate the bicentenary of Bible Society Australia in a new publication, Our Mob, God’s Story.

Indigenous artists share faith through painting

Aboriginal 5000

Jesus Feeding the Five Thousand by Ellen Draper

In an age when knowledge of the Bible seems to be fading, many indigenous Australians claim it as an important game changer in their lives, reports Rachel Kohn for The Spirit of Things on Radio National.

 

Among the 73 per cent of indigenous Australians who claim Christianity as their faith — more than the general population — Max Conlon, artist and Christian minister from Murgon, Queensland, is not atypical.

“Somebody invited me to church one day, so I went along. That day was meant for me. It was ‘divine appointment’,” Conlon said. “The man was preaching that somebody loved me; my heart was popping — that he died on the cross. I had never heard that before.

“I gave my heart to Jesus that day, and a light switched on in my life.”

Conlon is one of 66 artists representing 41 language groups who have contributed their stories and their artwork to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Bible Society Australia.

The result is a large and lushly produced book, which Conlon has named Our Mob: God’s Story.

The book represents an important shift in the thinking of Bible Society, which since its early days has been primarily devoted to distributing copies of the Bible and “spreading the word”.

But as Bible Society Australia chief executive Greg Clarke admits, the languages of the heart are different for different people.

For indigenous Australians, he says, pictorial forms of communication are embedded in their traditional art.

“There’s been a real iconoclasm in Christianity that sees the picture as less valuable than the word,” Mr Clarke says. “Some of the metaphors for Jesus and God are word based, but we can’t limit ourselves to those things.

“There are just so many resources God’s given us to understand Him and the world, and a lot of those things are visual resources or audio resources.

“We’re crazy if we limit ourselves to one form of communication. They all play different roles.”

Indigenous Christians Celebrate the Bible

The Word expressed through pictures.

Bible Society’s CEO, Greg Clarke, discusses the changes in communicating the Gospel with indigenous Christian minister and artist, Max Conlon, from Murgon, Queensland.

Includes the words of 14 contributing artists who speak about their faith, their indigenous identity and their art.

ABC Radio – Sunday, 12 March
About 50 minutes of pure, positive listening to something deeply good in Australia:
https://radio.abc.net.au/programitem/pgmlGmDNL7?play=true
Indigenous Christians Celebrate the Bible on The Spirit of Things

The Bible Society in Australia, 1817-2017, Bi-Centenary,
the oldest continuing organization in Australia.

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Power to Change – PNG

PP

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now
Philippians 1:3-5

Power to Change (formerly Student Life) from the University of Queensland (UQ) partnered with the University of PNG Student Life (UPNG) in Port Moresby.  Here’s their report.

Mission: To equip and empower the local students to own the local movement to reach the lost for Christ

Tharindu FERNANDO – Project Leader
On behalf of the Pacific Propulsion team, I just wanted to say thank you so much for supporting us both financially and prayerfully as we embarked on this project. It has been an incredible privilege partnering with you in the advancement of the Gospel. I hope and pray that you felt a part of the project and that you can see firsthand the fruits of your investment for the Kingdom. God was incredibly gracious towards our team (this being the first ever student led international team) and He was especially kind in how He worked everything out for His glory. We continued to build on existing friendships and relationships with Power to Change at the University of Papua New Guinea. The following pages are some of the testimonies of what God did in our time in PNG. I pray that you are encouraged greatly and may you ever be falling more in love with Jesus.

PNG team
The team (left to right): Bianca, Josh, Nathan, Tharindu, Stephen, Suzanne, Ebony

Nathan WOTI
Student Life, University of Papua New Guinea
I guess I’ll start by saying God is good. Because he is so good we were able to have PP this year, I thank God for that. I personally thought that we wouldn’t conduct PP or I might not attend it, for so many reasons. But again for he is a good God we had our PP and ended it successfully. I was blessed and changed by this PP 2017. The Aussie team that came this year really lift my spirit in witnessing and sharing my faith. Just by seeing them on campus everyday doing training inspired me to come out of my comfort zone and find that same passion that they have for Christ.
UPNG [University of PNG] Student Life see the vision more clearly now. And that I believe it’s through the PP. It gave us hope and motivation to never give up sharing our faith with others and Win, Build, and train souls for God’s Kingdom sake. I learned a lot of new and interesting topics throughout the PP. Topics such as Apologetics and Prayer were new, and I enjoyed it more. But other topics as well were awesome. It came with new revelation and was much more clear to me this time. The team that came, again was a blessing in itself. Seeing that some of them were so young, but still had to come for the sake of gospel really brought our ministry on campus to life because it challenged us to be more for Jesus and be passionate whilst doing it.

 
Baki Yapsie TVENGKOFA
Student Life, University of Papua New Guinea
PNG Baki
Baki on the far left, with some of the other guys embracing the mud

As another ordinary Papua New Guinean, the word ‘Christian’, is a normal thing, like a normal regular expression where I used when asked what sort of religion I fall under. But I didn’t really know how or what it felt like to be a Christian. I didn’t even know how to have a relationship Him.
When I was in grade 6 back in 2008, I sort of left the Church I was attending, I really stopped myself from attending the church services and youth programs. This was the time that I broke my connection with God. And between 2009 and 2016 was a hell for me. I’ve come across many things that could have really taken my life away. I was so focused with what the world has to offer that I fall short of God’s Glorious standards. Even though I knew that God exists, I never really made it known that He Exists, I always took His grace and compassion for granted and never really believed that Jesus Christ took my place to take the punishment for my sin. His story was like another tale or story to tell.
But I am really thankful that God has a plan for my life and has called me back. Thanks to Dianne’s follow up, I’ve come across to meet you guys. Throughout the last two weeks of the Pacific propulsion, I would say, it has been a life changing moment for me. I have learnt a lot from what you guys have imparted to us. Going through the KGP (the Knowing God Personally booklet that shares what the gospel is) made me realize how I’ve grown away from God and how to mend this broken relationship. Going through the training has changed my perspective of being a Christian, and has taught me a lot about having Personal time with God. It’s an awesome experience to once again,
Baki on the far left, with some of the other guys embracing the mud
come to know that God never forgets His own Creation. I’ve been praying every day, asking the Lord to help me grow closer to Him and experience His Love and Grace every day. What I really learnt from the Team is the Passion that you guys have for the Christ and the confidence to spread His Gospel. Throughout my entire life, I don’t even know how to read my bible. Saying a word of prayer is a really hard thing for me to do, it’s like I don’t even have time for God, every minute of my life was wasted doing other unworthy things. But through attending Pacific Propulsion, I learnt some of the ways which can help me to manage my time and how to find and understand my spiritual gift. Also your testimonies about how each of you have found Christ in your life and have accepted Him as your personal Lord and Saviour has really influenced me to build a relationship with God.
So yeah, I would like to say thank you to you guys and most of all, I would like to thank the Lord for helping me to find the confidence and courage to spread the Gospel. Now I am looking forward to knowing more about God and I want Him to come and take the first place in My Life.

 

Nathan RAASCH
3rd year Engineering student at the University of Queensland
PNG Nathan
Nathan & Baki

My time in PNG can’t really be summed up in words but alas I will try my best to provide you with just a glimpse of what God was and is still doing over in the land of the unexpected. On the 4th day there, I lead a training session on how to do effective follow up. Nathan, who is one of the local movement builders, asked if I could come with him to sit in on a follow up that he had with a guy called Baki. So Nathan, Baki and I had a really great chat where I got to watch Nathan apply the training I had just taught and also hear about Baki and how he saw Dianne (one of the missionaries who is actually his cousin) do a complete 180. He told us about how she became 100% sold out for Jesus and with her constant encouragement and nagging he started to want that for himself. I got the privilege to walk alongside Baki the rest of the time we were there. Myself and a few of the lads from our team got to go through assurance of salvation, how to study the bible, and a bunch of other things to help him in his faith. My highlight was going out sharing with him on the last day we were at campus. Baki was really shy so all I asked him to do was to initiate the conversation and I would do the rest. I was absolutely blown away after our first conversation where Baki initiated the conversation and just as I was about to step in and share the gospel Baki just started going through the gospel and the KGP (Knowing God Personally) with his friend. I was blown away by his courage and confidence in sharing, I barely had to step in or help him out at all. The thing that amazes me is how much he had grown in just a week and a half. From a new Christian who wanted to turn his life around, to a man who is 100% sure of his salvation, knows how to not just read the bible but to actually study it, and is equipped to share the gospel. That’s what truly blew my mind. I have never seen growth like that anywhere before.

 

Jessica JOSEPH
1st year student, University of Papua New Guinea
PNG Jess
Jess & Beautlyn (one of the student leaders in the movement)

I just want to thank God for his grace, love and blessings. During the two weeks of Pacific Propulsion, I have learnt a lot of things. One of the main things that stood out for me is evangelism (how to share my faith with others). I learned to be bold and brave about my faith and share it using evangelism tools. I also learned how to use this amazing evangelism tool called KGP and how to apply analogies while sharing! It makes it more fun and easy to share my faith. To share KGP and my faith with strangers is easy but with friends is challenging and I thank God that it was his Holy Spirit that empowered me to have the courage to speak to my friends. During evangelism time, I took the initiative to speak to my friends and four of them prayed to receive Jesus Christ and accept him as their Lord and Saviour. I am following up and meeting up with them. I am blessed to be equipped on how to evangelize to others, being the light in the dark so others can see and come to know God personally. My testimony is to live for God and not for myself.

He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.   Luke 10:2

Clyde VIIA
Student Life, University of Papua New Guinea
The Pacific Propulsion Project 2017 for me personally was truly a blessing. Being my first one to attend, it was an amazing experience getting to work with the team from Australia as well as my friends from PNG. I have learnt a lot that has really helped me grow in my faith over the two weeks and just being able to spend some time with people who share the same passion as me was really encouraging.
The Project has really opened my eyes to a lot of things that we still lack on campus here at UPNG and what I’ve really come to see is the importance of the movement of God that we are all a part of and how it cannot see itself through because it needs our cooperation, invested time and support to see it through.
For me personally as a leader with Student Life here at UPNG, this has really taught me a great deal and that I need to improve and fully take on the responsibilities that come with this position in order to see this movement grow from where it is now to where we want it to be.
I thank God for the opportunity that me and my friends have had in attending this year’s Pacific Propulsion Project and also in being a part of this Movement here at UPNG. I know that the Project has also taught my friends a lot and it is my prayer that we all will fully utilize what we have learned over the course of this two weeks and be practical in carrying it out.
I would also like to thank God for the team of students from Australia who we were able to work together with during this year’s project. Your coming here to PNG was timely and I know God will continue to use you all in amazing and powerful ways.
2017 is going to be a big year for all of us, let’s continue to go hard for Jesus this year.
Let GO and let GOD!

 

Ebony HUNT
3rd year student at the University of Queensland
PNG Cynthia
Cynthia, Ebony & Tracy

One highlight of my time in PNG was seeing how God appointed and used our time there to influence Tracy and Cynthia. I met Tracy on our very first day on campus and she was the first person I approached in Evangelism. She had walked away from the Lord due to a family tragedy four years ago, but said through tears that she wanted to hear the gospel! After going through the gospel together and talking about suffering, Tracy expressed that the desire of her heart was to be in personal relationship with Jesus, and she received Jesus as her personal Lord and Saviour. She was concerned however, that she would be mocked and misunderstood by her friends who knew her for her old life. She brought her closest friend Cynthia to our trainings at the Uni chapel and God touched Cynthia’s heart in a really big way! Especially through a follow-up study on assurance of salvation! By the end of our time together the two girls had come to join us almost every day at the chapel and came out to do evangelism with me on our last campus day. They have both contacted me via email and facebook multiple times since to express how much our time there impacted their relationships with the Lord. Even to walk away from such a short mission trip and have impacted one person for Christ is all worth it and most certainly a work of the Holy Spirit! How amazing that He asks us to tag along for the ride.

Salome BILL
3rd year student, University of Papua New Guinea
After attending Pacific Propulsion 2017, I have learnt a lot of things which have helped me to grow my faith in Christ. I have learnt on how to manage my time, how to share my faith with others using KGP, how to do Bible study and how to have quiet time. PP2017, has moulded and shaped me into becoming a new and good person. I have seen changes in my life and I really thank the Lord for what he has done in my life. To God be the glory!

 

Elton MATAVIA
Student Life Missionary, Papua New Guinea
PNG Elton
Elton and Tharindu

It’s been very busy weeks heading towards PPP. Winding down with Fiji ministry and Switching gears back to PNG ministry and PPP coming up was what I was caught up with. I did not spend much time planning the PPP but I did spend time praying for a life changing project which God did honor. We expected 10 local students for the PPP but God provided us more than 10. I was so encouraged to see students catching the vision of Student Life to win souls and to build Spiritual movements everywhere. One thing I Was happy about is the commitment that students showed attending training during class time. They sacrificed some of their classes just to sit in for the training. This shows the passion they have for the gospel to reach the unreached. By the power of the Holy Spirit l am looking at doubling the movement builders from last year.
Thank you Power to Change for the partnership we have in building people up in their faith in Jesus Christ.
PNG all
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:18-20


Power to Change – Brisbane

Power to Change, Australia

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Sheikh sent to assassinate pastor is converted

Uganda: Sheikh sent to assassinate pastor experiences Saul-type conversion.

A Muslim sheikh, trained in Islamic proselytization, went to a church service to kill a Ugandan bishop. Like Saul of Tarsus persecuting the earliest Christians, God had other plans for his life.

In Amuria, about 170 miles northeast of Kampala, on December 4, Bishop George Edweu of the Pentecostal Upright Church, was preaching about hearing and understanding the voice of God. A 24-year-old sheikh who had come with murderous intent was sitting calmly among the congregation of 200 people. But as he listened to the bishop’s message, the power of the Gospel began to convict him of sin.

‘I was sent to kill you and destroy the church’

The Word and the Spirit broke through the stony places in the sheikh’s heart, causing him to rush up to the podium and fall headlong at the bishop’s feet. Bishop Edweu’s eyes widened when he saw the young man approach, he stopped preaching and began to question him. “I was sent to come and attack, to kill you and destroy the church,” he told the shocked bishop, as tears rolled down the sheikh’s face. He repented of his sins as the shaken congregation looked on as Bishop Edweu prayed for him. Then the would-be assassin put his faith in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and was born again.

News of the former sheikh’s conversion from Islam to Christianity spread swiftly, and the young sheikh knew he had to go into hiding because of death threats. His wife and two children, ages 2 and 4, took refuge with him at an undisclosed location.  …

On January 2nd, when Bishop Edweu was on his way to his church at 5 a.m. for a morning devotion, he saw a young man on the ground, apparently in trouble. As a Good Samaritan, he got out of his car to attend to him. As he approached, six masked men suddenly appeared and grabbed Bishop Edweu, demanding that he reveal the whereabouts of the sheikh. Some of the men began slapping and kicking the bishop; others hit him with sticks.

“As I fell down, a vehicle with bright lights flashed, which scared them away, and they disappeared into the nearby bush,” Bishop Edweu said. “The vehicle arrived and took me into the church compound. Inside the church building we found a letter with a threatening message: ‘We are going to destroy your church unless you show us where [name withheld] is.’” …

‘More persecution could be imminent’

The bishop and his congregation fear more persecution could be imminent. The incident was the latest in a series of anti-Christian attacks in eastern Uganda.
About 85 percent of the people in Uganda are Christian and 11 percent Muslim, with some eastern areas having large Muslim populations. The country’s constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith to another, but Christians in eastern Uganda are suffering continual attacks by non-state figures.

Source: Morning Star News
Joel News International, #1027, February 20, 2017

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Outstanding Christian medical missionary

The prize money will be used to create the country’s first postgraduate medical training, add 48 new beds to the 172 at Kibuye Hope Hospital, and improve lower-limb fracture care – a crucial need in a country that travels by foot. “Literally hundreds of people will walk because of this prize,” Fader said. “Thousands of people will be cared for. And tens of thousands will be helped by the doctors we train here.”

Burundi: Outstanding Christian medical missionary

A missionary surgeon to Burundi has won the first-ever $500,000 Gerson L’Chaim prize for outstanding Christian medical service. Jason Fader, whose parents were also medical missionaries, is 1 of 13 surgeons serving the 10 million people in the sub-Saharan African country. Three-quarters of the population is malnourished, making Burundi the hungriest country in the world.

Fader, who grew up in Kenya, has been in Burundi since 2013. In addition to caring for about 25,000 patients a year with his team, he trains local doctors. “Jason is doing surgeries that no one else has done before in Burundi,” fellow doctor Rachel McLaughlin said. “He’s teaching medical students surgical skills and management.”

The prize money will be used to create the country’s first postgraduate medical training, add 48 new beds to the 172 at Kibuye Hope Hospital, and improve lower-limb fracture care – a crucial need in a country that travels by foot. “Literally hundreds of people will walk because of this prize,” Fader said. “Thousands of people will be cared for. And tens of thousands will be helped by the doctors we train here.”

Fader is part of a recent resurgence of medical missionaries. Attendance at the Global Missions Health Conference has ballooned more than tenfold over the past 10 years. Attendance at the Christian Community Health Fellowship conference has quadrupled. And the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board reported an all-time high of 300 medical missionaries on the field in 2013.

The African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF), co-founder of the Gerson Prize, was created in 2010 to promote health care in Africa, where Christian mission hospitals provide about a third of all medical work.

Source: AMHF
Joel News International, # 1025 | Feb 6, 2017

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Iraq: Bravery and beauty in the midst of disruption

‘They could destroy our church, but they can’t destroy the small church inside us.’

In today’s world there are almost 60 million refugees. One in every 122 people is a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum. But these people are more than just numbers. They are some of the most incredible people on earth, as World Vision writer Kari Costanza found in Iraq.

Meet Ibtihal, Huda, and May. They are artists. In the summer of 2014, armed groups drove them from Mosul. They joined 3.4 million Iraqis who have had to flee their homes, often leaving everything behind – 120,000 of them Christians. These women now live with 5,500 others in a camp in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Ibtihal, Huda and May started a small business in their refugee camp
A year ago, Ibtihal, Huda, and May started a small business – making mosaic tiles with a group of women from the camp. The tiles depict the letter “N” for Nazara – the Arabic symbol for Jesus of Nazareth. “They marked our houses with the letter N for Nazara,” says Ibtihal, speaking of the armed groups. “The N means these houses belonged to them. They stole our houses. Our furniture. Everything,” says Ibtihal.

May joined the group of women at the camp with her daughters Rita, 20, and Sally, 17. Being forced from her home wasn’t her first loss. May lost two brothers in a 2010 church bombing in Mosul. Four years later, she lost her home and her every possession. Her acceptance of such tragedy is dumbfounding. “It is written that we will be displaced,” says May. “This is our faith.” The women say the mosaic “N” symbolizes their unshakeable faith. “They could destroy our church,” says May’s friend, Gaydaa, “but they can’t destroy the small church inside us.”

‘A cross amid the rubble, which leads to a place of peace, brotherhood and comfort.’

Ibrahim is a painter. His family escaped from Mosul on August 6, 2014. Ibrahim had just built a beautiful home for his family. He had a good job with the government. His wife was a nurse and his children were in school. Overnight, they became homeless in their own country – internally displaced people unable to go home.

Ibrahim’s paintings express his hope in Christ in the midst of terror
Ibrahim paints his feelings. With beautiful colors and haunting imagery, he’s recreated the frightful night his family had to flee. In the reds and the blacks you can feel the terror of that night. But there is hope: a cross amid the rubble, which leads to a place of “peace, brotherhood, and comfort,” he says. That’s where Ibrahim and his family live now in northern Iraq. It may be temporary. It may be longer. They don’t know.

Another painting shows a man lying in the street. Ibrahim says the man is disheartened and displaced, hoping to return home, but not knowing when. He worked in blues to create a stormy sea. “Looking at the sea gives you mixed feelings of beauty and fear for the people who want to travel outside, seeking a better future,” he says. But this sea is deadly. Ibrahim knew of two families from a nearby village who drowned like so many others, trying to escape.

Ibrahim has lost his home and his occupation but it cannot quash the creative spark in his soul. “The Christian people in Iraq are creative,” he says. “They were artists – music and drama. If the Middle East loses its Christians, it will be a disaster.” Ibrahim wants to stay in Iraq. He wants to continue to be salt and light in a troubled place.

‘When Jesus comes I will be happy to translate for the rest of us.’

Father Daniel is a Chaldean priest. Old beyond his years, he turned 26 this week. With another priest, Father Douglas, Father Daniel oversees a camp for more than 700 Iraqi Christians, most who fled their villages on August 6, 2014.

Father Daniel is faithful and funny. Before becoming a priest, he studied to become a doctor with Muslim classmates in Ukraine. His classmates bombarded him with questions about his faith. To answer them thoughtfully and thoroughly, Daniel took online courses in theology. Through that study he decided, “to become a spiritual doctor instead of a regular doctor.”

Father Daniel knows every child in the camp – all 200 – by name. When he walks through the camp, they gravitate toward him, holding his hand, basking in his smile. He preaches in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. Father Daniel says when Jesus comes, he will be happy to translate for the rest of us. “When I am with him, I feel there is no place I’d rather be on that glorious day,” says Costanza.

Father Daniel knows all 200 children in the refugee camp by name
World Vision works with Father Daniel to provide the internally displaced people with what they need – food vouchers to buy things they can’t otherwise buy: protein like meat and cheese, and supporting small businesses such as hairdressing, cooking, and tailoring, even a playground for kids who used to play outside in their villages. The children live in cramped quarters with no privacy. They need a place to play.

‘Now draw your dream, I said. I saw pictures of doctors, teachers, singers, and dancers.’

Father Daniel’s new congregation is hungry for healing. “What happened to them was a big trauma,” he says. “They need to be educated on how to deal with this loss. It’s really big. They worked for so many years. They have nothing.” But they need more than just handouts, he says. They need hope. “We are trying to help them be creative,” he says. “Iraqi Christians – when they are persecuted, they become creative. We opened a Child-Friendly Space. We did classes in music, flute, guitar, violin, dancing, drama, and drawing.”

When the children first came to the camp, Father Daniel had them draw their feelings. They drew guns and bombs and war.  “I hosted the same drawing exercise after six months,” he says “‘Now draw your dream,’ I said. I saw pictures of doctors, teachers, singers, and dancers.”

“I came home from Iraq feeling ashamed but inspired,” says Costanza. “Would my faith be so strong under so much pressure? Would I still write and take pictures? Would I still appreciate beauty – in people, in music, in art, and in nature? Would persecution pique my creativity? I hope so. When that day comes, I hope I can be like an Iraqi Christian, finding beauty and bravery, being my best – God’s best version of me – in the very worst of times.”

Source: Kari Costanza, World Vision

PS: One way you can make a difference is to support a refugee project with an end of year donation.

Donate to World Vision here or to Syrious Love here.

Joel News – # 1020 , December 20, 2016

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Discovering Aslan: High King above all Kings in Narnia

Discovering ASLAN: High King above all Kings in Narnia
A devotional commentary on The Lion of Judah

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a-aslan-cover-new-1Discovering ASLAN:

High King above all Kings in Narnia

A devotional commentary on The Chronicles of Narnia.

7 chapters – each chapter explores one of the 7 Narnia books.

Available now.

eBook immediately available

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This is a remarkable work and something quite unique that I’ve not come across before (and believe me I’ve seen most ideas). There is a huge appetite for devotional type books and I’m sure that this one will appeal to many people.

The triumphant Lion of Judah features this way in these stories:

  • Creator and Sustainer in The Magician’s Nephew.
  • Saviour and Redeemer in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
  • The Way, the Truth and the Life in The Horse and His Boy.
  • Restorer and Commander in Prince Caspian.
  • Guide and Guardian in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
  • Revealer and Victor in The Silver Chair.
  • Judge and Conqueror in The Last Battle

C. S. Lewis wrote:
The whole Narnian story is about Christ …
The whole series works out like this.
The Magician’s Nephew
tells the Creation and how evil entered Narnia.
The Lion, the Witch and the wardrobe, the Crucifixion and Resurrection.
Prince Caspian, restoration of the true religion after corruption.
The Horse and His Boy, the calling and conversion of a heathen.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the spiritual life.
The Silver Chair, the continuing war with the powers of darkness.
The Last Battle, the coming of the Antichrist, the end of the world and the Last Judgment.

Type Discovering Aslan in Amazon & Kindle and The Book Depository (free airmail worldwide) to find the books.

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Middle East: God protects new believers

Middle East: God brings dust storm to protect new believers from terrorist attack

At least 50 Christians in the Middle East directly experienced God’s mighty hand of protection from Islamist militants when He caused a giant dust storm to hide them from their attackers.

The story of divine protection began with a baptism held in secret. “By the ever loving grace of God, 24 believers of Jesus Christ from Islam received baptism in the Arabian Sea,” says Pastor Paul, founder of missions organization Bibles for Mideast. About 50 people, including the baptism candidates, boarded a bus that took them to the appointed spot. They had been instructed to keep their plans secret. “After the baptism service and prayers, we all entered the bus to return back to our house church for a worship service and the Lord’s Supper,” Pastor Paul recounts.

duststorm

The bus started moving. Suddenly three cars filled with Islamic militants came speeding up behind the bus and started shooting at them. “We don’t know how it was leaked to the militants,” says Pastor Paul. He believes it was their plan to kill them during the baptism service. But somehow, they misjudged the timing of their arrival.

A wild chase began, as the bus driver and the cars picked up speed on the two-lane road. “We really did not know what to do, but started praying to the Lord for His protection.” Then something very unusual happened. “Suddenly we saw a giant dust storm form behind our bus,” Pastor Paul says. At first they were afraid that the dust storm would envelop the bus and they would be forced to stop, which would cause the terrorists to overtake them. But, the dust storm surrounded the militants’ cars, not the bus. “We again heard the gunshots towards us. But we didn’t see their vehicles behind us any more.”

As some looked back at the dense cloud, they saw a beautiful vision of the Lord Jesus Christ in the dust storm. With gratitude to God they arrived at the house church and lifted up praise to the Lord.

Source: Pastor Paul, via Mark Ellis

Joel News  # 1019 | 12/14/2016

http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=5138667adad5222600bae0e66&id=f52f312df1&e=621a152865

Call to me and I will answer you and shew you great and mighty things you do not know.

(Jeremiah 3:33)

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