INTERNATIONAL UPDATE NOVEMBER 2007OM InternationalDownload as PDF (~215KB)By Peter Maiden, International Coordinator Dear partners in prayer, I am writing this from the city of Khartoum, Sudan. I have had the privilege of ministering at our retreat for OM and also preaching at the Anglican Cathedral, the International Church and at a further workers' retreat. world faithsSudan: Darfur is home to over four million Muslims who, apart from a shared religion, have been marginalized in all other aspects of life. OM regularly sent outreach teams to Darfur during the last 30 years, sowing the seed of the Gospel through friendship, the Jesus film and distribution of literature. There has never been a year where our teams visited Darfur without arrest or imprisonment and some times deportation by force. In 1988 our team 'visited' prison several times. An angry mob came out of the mosque to stone team members who had set up a book table by the public theatre. The police intervened, expelling the team from Darfur. Books were confiscated and Bibles burnt. In 1993 a small team returned to minister and pray. Many Bibles and other literature were distributed. 1998 saw more openness among the Fur people. Christians generally are gaining acceptance by local people. A few Christian teachers and doctors took work with the government in Darfur-a place of little interest to professionals because of its poor living conditions. A small group of believers, together with our team started small Bible study group-the first cell of the only evangelical group in Darfur. Today there are four churches in the region, and the number of new believers has grown amidst the crises. We are beginning to see the move of God on the indigenous people. God is honouring the prayers of His people for Darfur. We held a leaders/pastors training conference in Nyala in 2006. 75 leaders were trained among which new believers from Darfur were present. One is a prominent secondary school teacher who told his father about his newly found faith. His father said, "My son, I am illiterate; you are educated. If you have finally discovered that Christianity is the true religion, follow it-but don't forget we are a family. Nothing should separate us; maybe one day I will also follow this Jesus." All were baptized early in 2006. Open-air Gospel meetings were held at the same public theatre where our team in 1988 was stoned by an angry crowd. This time we received appreciation and applause from the crowds for preaching the Gospel! More than 2700 people attended the meetings on three nights; 287 people accepted Christ as Lord. A young new believer told us. "We thank Christians for loving the people of Darfur. While others killed and raped our women and burn down our villages, you came to our aid-that is why today I am a Christian. My thanks is for the team that brought us the word of God which is more important than food. Please come again and teach us more about Christ." In a Bible Exhibition in Khartoum, a Muslim asked for a copy of the Injil (Gospel) but spoke whispering so that nobody can hear. When a Bible was brought to him, he again whispered, "I need 20 copies for my friends." Myanmar: In early November my wife and I along with Rodney Hui, East Asia Pacific Coordinator, are due to celebrate of the tenth anniversary of our work. With the present circumstances, we will seek to minister to our team and the church as they go through this extremely difficult period. A team from Japan is also due to visit in November and would appreciate your prayers. ResourcingAustralia: Thank God that Field Leader Jonathan Rodwell continues to gain strength after his major operation to remove his oesophagus. Please pray for a complete restoration and that Jonathan will be able to adjust to restrictions necessary post his operation. I am looking forward to welcoming Jonathan to our International Leaders Meetings in Germany. Please pray for his full recovery. UK: OM recently started a new charity called Freedom Network International, part of the growing family of ministries within OM UK but with a degree of independence as it seeks to highlight issues of justice and human rights. Although not set up exclusively to support the cause of Dalits in India, this major issue will be the initial focus of FNI's activities. International Executive Committee meetings were a very encouraging time. There is a great sense of unity in the work even though we face major issues in the near future. We will have to take significant steps to tighten the corporate governance of OM internationally. Please do thank God with us for this unity and pray that it will continue, as I'm sure Satan will not be content whilst unity is maintained. In March 2008 our next International Leaders Meetings will be held in Mosbach, Germany and will be very crucial as we address some of the governance issues. Various groups are considering these issues in preparation. Pray particularly for Corporate Services Director, Mike Lyth, and International Finance Officer, Keith Mallon, who will play major roles in assembling documents to present at the meetings. Elke Hanssmann writes of International Personnel Services: Next generationPlans are in place for the third TeenStreet in Malaysia in December. The venue has been secured and the organising team are in place. Please pray that many will attend and will be blessed by the congress and then that many will continue on teams with Teens in Mission. We are also planning our first TeenStreet in South Africa in December. Please pray again for preparations there and for Dan and Suzie Potter who will be leading that event. Emerging mission movementsUruguay: Earlier this year, the city of Durazno was hit by the worst flooding in its history. More than one-quarter of the population was evacuated (11,000 out of 40,000) and hundreds of homes were badly damaged. From 20-25 September, OM recruited 550 people from over ten nations to demonstrate God's love to this city by renovating 50 homes. The teams also provided medical aid, clothing, literature and other supplies to help families. Eighty-five families received basic food items. Latin America: Many of OM's exciting ministries grew out of ship visits to the region. Today ministries across the continent are sending workers to serve around the world as well as running dynamic outreach programmes such as the Adventure Teams in Chile. Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking workers are needed to support the ministry in a number of countries. Pray for God to raise up mature people to use their skills in administration, finance, communications and evangelism. Papua New Guinea: OM is preparing for a partnership weekend and 50th anniversary celebration at the end of this month. Around 100 people are expected to attend this special event in Port Moresby. PNG is one of the most diverse countries on Earth, with over 850 indigenous languages and tribal cultures out of a population of just under six million. It is also one of the most rural countries with only 18% living in urban centres. Please pray that many more from Papua New Guinea will be mobilised for world missions. EuropeSweden: This autumn OM launched a new outreach focusing on immigrant teens in Hovslätt, a suburb of Jönköping. Two girls who work for a year to help run a youth centre and build friendships with local teens. The centre had been closed for some time owing to lack of personnel. It will now provide a safe haven for young people. Caught between two cultures, young people from immigrant communities in Europe often feel isolated. Please pray that this new team will have a positive impact in the lives of teenagers. Spain: We are in the process of finding the next leader for OM and will be having important meetings in December and would appreciate prayer for this process. We also need to sell the former office property or part of it to lift considerable financial pressure from the field. Again, prayer would be appreciated. Denmark: The visit of Logos II to Iceland this summer created new opportunities for Andrew Berghamar (new leader) to build relationships with local churches. Andrew shared, "Many Christians in Iceland knew very little of OM and were open and positive. We challenged them to send people into missions. Our prayer is that a long-lasting relationship between OM and Icelandic Christians will be established." Romania: Preparations are underway for the Bus4Life to visit at the end of November. This unique ministry (developed by OM Finland to serve countries in Eastern Europe) will spend up to four days in five different cities, where local churches will work together with the team to share the Gospel. Please pray for preparations and for creative ideas for outreach. Switzerland: For a long time, Nuwan* from Sri Lanka has been in contact with the Netz4 Youth work in Zürich. A Hindu, he showed little interest in the Gospel. Recently he was putting together job applications with their help. Suddenly, Nuwan prayed loudly, "Lord Jesus, please help me get this job". This came as a shock to OMer Matthias, who was with him! Please pray that Nuwan will come to know Jesus, not just seek Him as a last resort. UK: A new European research centre in Redcliffe Bible College called NOVA opened October 1. OM and three other groups are the main partners with Redcliffe in this development. The centre will look at trends throughout Europe addressing issues relevant to the mission community. UK Director Gary Sloan explained, "The European church is in decline. Europeans and their everyday concerns and challenges are changing. We need new ways of bridging the gap of relevance. We need extensive research on how to re-connect with Europeans and get that research into the hands of Christians working throughout the continent." Slovakia: OM Greater Europe helped local partners in Kosice to equip a wood workshop with machines and tools. Located in one of the biggest Roma ghettos in Central Europe, the workshop operates carpentry training courses. After graduating, four students recently found permanent jobs. Along with valuable skills, the course also teaches moral and Christian values and behaviour to men from the Roma community. Pray for the next course which starts this month. Once again, my sincere thanks to you for your prayers and support during the past month. We appreciate your fellowship with us greatly.
Think AgainLooking for evidence of God's graceOur theme in recent Think Again columns has been 'appropriate Christianity'. How are we to make disciples, not carbon copies? (1) Teaching a class along these lines in South Asia last month, my students and I asked what unnecessary barriers of culture and tradition, erected by churches, dampen the interest some might have in Jesus. Put another way, we asked if some do not seriously consider becoming followers of Jesus because the only way to do that, or so it seems, is to become a 'Christian'. Before you brand me a heretic, let me explain. In Antioch, Jesus' followers were first called Christians (Acts 11:26), a name identifying them with the one they followed. Today that term is often merely a reference to ethnicity, tradition, diet and patterns of marriage. People see the externals, not faith expressing itself in love for one another (Galatians 5:6, John 13:34,35). Whether among unchurched teenagers in ZŸrich or Buddhist villagers of South Asia, biblically grounded innovation may be needed to get past church-erected barriers. But with innovation, we also need evaluation. Such was the response of the Jerusalem church to the startling news that Greeks of Antioch had come to faith-and in large numbers (Acts 11:21). Appropriate evaluationOne danger in our evaluation is an uncritical, 'anything goes' approach to innovation in mission. We, like the early church, must be graciously on our guard. When news of the new movement in Antioch reached the church in Jerusalem the leaders, having a healthy concern for false teachers (Matthew 7:15), sent Barnabas to investigate (Acts 11:19-26). Can you imagine what would have happened to the young movement at Antioch if the apostles had sent some of the believing Pharisees who later spoke up at the Jerusalem council (Acts 15:5)? Barnabas was an encourager. A man of discernment, he did not simply pose a doctrinal exam but looked for "evidence of the grace of God" in Antioch (Acts 11:23). By comparison, some Christians seem more like the Jerusalem council Pharisees (believers, but still Pharisees) in their response to some new things God is doing today. Experiencing, listening, learning How and why do we respond like the Pharisee believers? First, we are often afraid of what we do not know. Second, there is the danger of unfair judgment. Can a European or North American truly understand the issues of Indian social life-or the other way around? Can a Brahmin (high caste) background Indian know in depth the concerns and values of a Dalit (untouchable)? Can a Westerner raised in an environment stressing individualism comprehend the social pressures of a villager of Southeast Asia? In part, yes: we can know and understand; cultures are not incommensurate. We can at least partially understand if we listen. But judgment is often premature because, as outsiders, we do not understand sufficiently. Third, we run the risk of assuming that we are "Jerusalem," the ones with a special role of determining orthodoxy. I believe that the apostles and the leadership of the church in Jerusalem had a special responsibility in those early days. Today, though, while godly leaders are to be respected, biblically grounded theologians given a hearing, and the lessons learned by the global and historic church not to be ignored, we must humbly admit that none of us has a pope-like prerogative of judgment over the beliefs and practices of other followers of Jesus. Great numbers Great numbers of Greeks had responded in Antioch. Fortunately, it was Barnabas who went to check things out. Through his ministry a great number more people were brought to the Lord. Seeing the need, he brought Saul, and great numbers were taught the way of the Lord (Acts 11:21-26).
OM International – Peter Maiden, International Co-ordinator Credit: OM International
|
Missions Gallery
|
|
|