Missions Info
NEWSMAKERS
Trans World Radio Changes Its Name to TWR
Effective November 2009, international Christian ministry Trans World Radio, a pioneer in media missions, changed its name to TWR. TWR has also adopted the positioning statement "Speaking Hope to the World" to fortify its new identity. "While our commitment to radio broadcasting remains steadfast, the name Trans World Radio no longer fully conveys the scope of our organization," says TWR president Lauren Libby. "TWR is more than radio. It is a multifaceted media ministry. By changing the name to TWR, we will maintain radio as a keystone communication component, all the while employing a strategic integration of new media platforms. In fact, we will even seek to enlarge our broadcasting footprint." Libby explained that TWR is committed to leveraging digital advances such as the Internet, MP3 players, video, and other mobile-device formats. "In recent years, modern technology has enabled us to make significant strides in engaging with our global audience," he said. “Whether it's by radio or other new media means, TWR is dedicated to helping fulfill Christ's Great Commission."
The Preaching Movement in China
Although an estimated seventy million Christians live in China today, there are only twenty-three seminaries (which graduate one thousand people a year) in the entire country, leading to the potential for a weaker biblical foundation for pastors. To address this issue, the JSM-Langham Preaching program partnered with two organizations at work in Hong Kong to offer training seminars to forty-five pastors. There are plans to run a follow-up seminar in the near future with the group and an additional seminar with a new group of pastors.
10/40 Window Most “Gospel-Deprived”
Nations located between ten and forty degrees north of the equator fall into a span dubbed the "10/40 Window." Thousands of unreached people groups inhabit the 10/40 Window, and approximately half of these groups have no access to Christian literature. "It is the most gospel-deprived, gospel-needy area of the world," says David Shibley of Global Advance (GA). After nearly a decade of evangelistic focus and effort, Shibley says the region is producing a harvest. Churches planted throughout the 10/40 Window are now sending their own believers out to plant the word. GA’s Frontline Shepherds leadership conferences impart a vision in pastors' hearts to further the gospel in their region. According to GA’s website, each year the organization hosts and sponsors over one hundred of these conferences around the world. But as the gospel grows throughout the 10/40 Window, so does the resistance. Shibley adds, "There is a tremendous opposition against the gospel. I have met pastors this year who have been imprisoned, who live with constant threats against their lives for simply proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ."
CURE to Open Its Eleventh Clinic
In September 2010, Cure International (CURE) will open its eleventh clinic to provide diagnosis and treatment for disabled children and their families. Executive director in Niger, Leron Lehman, says early research into the project showed a generous community welcome. CURE doesn't expect any resistance or opposition to the new clinic, even from the Muslim community. In some locations, sharing the love of Christ through medical care raises hostility. "Early indications, based on some of the relationships we've developed there, are that they're welcoming us with open arms," Lehman says. "[It] appears that it's a little bit of a different flavor, so to speak, [in the Niger Muslim community] than maybe we've experienced in some of our other hospitals in the Middle East.”
Development Associates International Brings MA Program to French-Speaking Africa
Since 2004, Development Associates International’s (DAI) Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership program has grown to more than five hundred students from twenty-two countries. In addition to its English curriculum, DAI also offers the MA program to French-speaking students. With groups meeting in four countries, more than two hundred students travel from around French-speaking Africa to take part in the program. Both lay people and clergy use the educational experience to redefine their ministry. Although distance learning has challenges, many leaders have shown great interest in continuing their education through DAI’s part-time educational system, which partners with local academic institutions such as the Katanga Methodist University in Mulungwishi Town, Congo, and Faculte de Theologie Evangelique de Bangui in Central African Republic. The MA program’s approach allows participants to learn without having to give up their jobs.
Heart Language Translations Are Essential
Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH) is using technology to bring God’s word to the poorest regions of the earth, where misuse of scripture can result from the lack of understandable translations. International director Morgan Jackson said recently, "Half of the world's people are illiterate and too poor to afford a Bible.” Jackson added that another problem is misuse of scripture, sometimes accidental and sometimes intentional. Citing witchcraft and adultery, Jackson said, “People will hear and memorize one story or passage and build whole doctrines (or even denominations) on it, and leaders can mislead the people." Bringing scripture to people in their heart language is important in combating this problem. FCBH is therefore using the Proclaimer, a self-powered audio player that can be used in the most remote and rugged locations. The device has an embedded microchip pre-loaded with the Audio Drama New Testament in the heart languages of the world. Indigenous believers take these life-changing Audio Bibles into their villages and towns and start listening groups.
GLOMOS Program Uses Multiplication Effort
Today in Nepal, more than one million people claim Christ as their Savior, and the number of churches is growing. Global Action (GA) is helping facilitate that growth with their Global Module Studies program (GLOMOS). According to GA founder Lars Dunberg, GLOMOS trains pastors who hold some other occupation and can't come for a whole week or a whole month. Instead, they train for three days a month for ten months. This year, GLOMOS graduated sixty-nine students. Last year, it had sixty-five graduates. Dunberg says GLOMOS is a multiplication effort. "Each of them will in turn train a minimum of five other leaders using the same material, who will in turn start other churches. So we will see a chain reaction of new churches springing up in the villages, out in areas where there is no Christian witness." The demand for the program isn't diminishing for next year's GLOMOS program. Dunberg says, "We have about one hundred fifty on the waiting list. How can we pick seventy to seventy-five people out of one hundred fifty? These are the most needy and the ones who will benefit most. We need to pray that we have the finances to put them through the program." It costs about $900USD per year ($75 a month) to sponsor a pastor in training.
Pakistan Fellowship of Evangelical Students Cherishes Fellowship while Training Volunteers
Earlier this year, the president of Pakistani signed a bill introducing Sharia law to the northwest of the country. Some Christians fear increased Islamism in the whole country. In this context, fellowship is particularly meaningful to the Christian students who are part of Pakistan Fellowship of Evangelical Students (PFES), part of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) movement there. In July 2009, PFES held two national events: a conference for forty-five medical and engineering students, and a mission camp. Nearly one hundred students from twelve cities took part in the mission camp. PFES general secretary Huma Philip shared that PFES has a vision to strengthen the ministry from the grassroots, so staff are working to establish well-trained volunteer teams of student leaders and graduates who can lead Bible study groups. PFES currently has eighty Bible study groups across sixteen cities.
All God's Children International Appoints New President
John Blanchard was recently appointed president of All God's Children International (AGCI). With a background in business and education administration, Blanchard has filled roles such as director of operations for The Nature Conservancy of Oregon, vice president of the Oregon State University Foundation, and vice president of administrative services for Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. For the past six months Blanchard has acted as CEO for AGCI. Founded in 1991, the adoption and orphan care agency now serves thousands of orphans in nine nations.
Frontiers Begins New “Gap” Program
Frontiers will soon begin a new “Gap” program in the Arabian Gulf. In the past, the program, which prepares new overseas workers through on-the-job training, has been held in northern Iraq. The new program will operate in the Arabian Gulf where Muslims are less needy and the cost of living is higher. More than eighty Gap workers have been sent to Iraq in the last five years, and more than seventy percent of Gap graduates go on to long-term service with Frontiers or other agencies.
JAARS Gets New Wings
JAARS, established in 1948 by Wycliffe Bible Translators co-founder William Cameron Townsend, has acquired a new Kodiak aircraft. JAARS is the first mission or humanitarian organization to purchase and receive the new plane, which it will use in its mission to provide support to Bible translation efforts. The Kodiak comes at a time when JAARS’ primarily piston-driven fleet is aging to the point of affecting the group’s ability to carry out its work. The Kodiak seats ten, has a turboprop engine capable of short take-offs and landings, uses jet fuel, and can carry a 3,100-pound load.
Nokia Revival Gathers Thousands over the Years
Over the past eighteen years an estimated fifteen thousand people have come to Jesus through the “Nokia Revival,” a celebration that began when former Lutheran vicar Markku Koivisto was miraculously healed of terminal cancer in 1991. After Koivisto parted with the Lutheran Church, the revival continued and is now a denomination called Nokia Mission Church. The revival has reportedly helped heal many others and has been the starting point of numerous church cell groups. In the highly-secularized, sparsely-populated region of northern Europe, gatherings the size of the Nokia Revival are unusual. Finland has an estimated population of about five million people, with only ten percent attending church each month.
The Manga Messiah Comes to Japan
Operation Mobilization (OM) workers will be using a new tool, The Manga Messiah, to communicate the gospel in Japan. Published by New Life League, the 300-page comic book depicts Jesus’ life from birth to resurrection. Comics in Japan are enjoyed by all age groups, with Manga now a large part of the Japanese publishing industry. During the Christmas season, The Manga Messiah was passed out by volunteers to busy shoppers in the town of Karuizawa. One missionary stated, “For reaching the Japanese, this book is far more effective than showing the JESUS film.”
MILESTONES
Muslims to Outnumber Traditional Churchgoers by 2020
Research shows that the number of Muslims worshipping at mosques in England and Wales will outstrip the numbers of Roman Catholics going to church in little more than a decade. The figures (based on government and academic sources and the latest edition of Christian Research's Religious Trends) show that if current trends continue, the number of Catholic worshippers at Sunday Mass will fall to 679,000 by 2020. By that time, statisticians predict, the number of Muslims praying in mosques on Fridays will have increased to 683,000. The Christian Research figures also suggest that, over the same period, the number of Muslims at mosques will overtake Church of England members at Sunday services. Church spokespersons point out, however, that a growing number of Anglicans worship at other times of the week.
IN MEMORY
Prominent Missiologist Dr. Ralph Winter Passes Away at Age 84
One of the most significant missiological thinkers of the twentieth century, Dr. Ralph Winter, passed away May 20, 2009 at his home in Pasadena, California, from complications of cancer. He was 84. Winter founded the U.S. Center for World Mission (USCWM) in 1976 and the William Carey International University a year later. His 1974 address to the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization created a seismic shift in mission strategy, with his call to evangelize people groups outside the focus of established mission efforts (unreached people groups). "He was constantly thinking outside the box," said Dr. Dale Kietzman, a professor at William Carey. "He did this to such an extent that you weren't sure what the box was anymore." As a missionary to Guatemala with his wife Roberta from 1956-1966, Winter became a key leader of the Theological Education by Extension (TEE) movement throughout Latin America. At Fuller Theological Seminary's School of World Mission, Winter taught mission history and leadership training. He also helped launch the American Society of Missiology and the International Society of Frontier Missiology. Many believe Dr. Winter's address to the Lausanne Congress in 1974 changed the face of missions. Building on the work of Donald McGavran, Cameron Townsend, and others, Winter's well-researched address awakened his audience to the thousands of people groups outside the reach of established churches and mission efforts. His Perspectives Course—first written at Fuller in 1973—was further developed at his new campus and proved a significant mobilization tool, with over seventy thousand graduates today. Other ministries launched under his leadership include the Global Prayer Digest and Missions Frontiers magazine, as well as World Christian Foundations, a curriculum for field missionaries. In September 2008, Winter received a Lifetime of Service Award from the North American Mission Leaders Conference in Denver. For more on Winter's life, visit www.uscwm.org or www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/memorial/Winter/winter01.htm.
CONFERENCES AND SPECIAL EVENTS
Tokyo 2010
Tokyo 2010 Global Mission Consultation and Celebration: A Gathering of Global Mission Leaders will be held May 11-14, 2010, in Tokyo. The theme, "Making Disciples of Every People in Our Generation," will include assessing the progress made over the last one hundred years in global missions, examining what remains to be done, making joint plans toward finishing the task, and facilitatinh the structures needed to ensure the global implementation of these plans. Tokyo 2010 was called for by missiologist Dr. Ralph Winter, organizer of Edinburgh 1980 as a follow up to that consultation. For more information visit www.tokyo2010.org.
The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization
The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization (Lausanne III) will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, October 16-25, 2010. The Congress, held in collaboration with the World Evangelical Alliance, will bring together four thousand leaders from more than two hundred countries to confront the critical issues of our time—other world faiths, poverty, HIV/AIDS, and persecution, among others—as they relate to the future of the Church and world evangelization. Cape Town 2010 (CT2010) is not just a one-time meeting, but God willing, will be a catalytic event in the life of the Church—drawing leaders together in purposeful prayer, humble repentance, strategic dialogue, and decisive action. For more information visit www.lausanne.org/cape-town-2010/about.html.
JOB OPENINGS
OMSC Seeks Director of Program and Community Life
The Overseas Ministries Study Center seeks a missiologically informed, academically competent, editorially proficient, and professionally respected team player for a new senior staff position—Director of Program and Community Life. The successful candidate will participate in general planning, program development, and administration; be responsible for publicity, recruitment, registration, and logistics for OMSC’s mission seminars; share in lecturing, tutorial instruction, planning and leading worship, and advising international missionary residents and church leaders; nurture relationships with churches, academic institutions, and community agencies; foster OMSC community life by helping to coordinate resident programs and social activities and by participating in them; represent OMSC at conferences and consultations concerned with world mission; conduct research on current trends and issues in the Christian world mission; and engage in research and writing projects for the purpose of publication.
Candidates interested in this position, which commences in mid-2011, are asked to send a résumé, a cover letter, and three references that provide opinions about their academic, administrative, and editorial skills and experience to Dr. Jonathan J. Bonk, Executive Director, either by e-mail (bonk@OMSC.org) or by regular mail (Overseas Ministries Study Center, 490 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511 USA). Deadline: September 1, 2010.
