100 People Network

Story by: Lori Richter
Photography by: Kim Ellis

Ryan, Ann and baby Henri are pioneers on the mission work frontier. Where they are going, there are no churches, no gatherings of believers. “We have confidence that God is going to save them,” Ryan states. “We may not see the fruit in our lifetime, but Jesus purchased them.

Ryan admits that “Frontier mission work is easy.” His boldness comes from Revelation 5:9, “By your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” This is the basis for Ryan and Ann’s confidence. God’s mission is to have worshipers from every people group around his throne. Therefore, Ryan declares, “We just have to go get them.” 

Scripture flows out of Ryan, “‘I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice’ (John 10:16 ESV). And so we go. As we talk about Jesus and share life together with them, he’s going to bring his sheep together and build his church.”

Two years ago, God began to reveal the plight of unreached people to Ryan and Ann. God tugged at their hearts as they learned that there are 2.5 billion people who have no access to the gospel. But for every 100 missionaries who go out, only one goes to an unreached people group.

Then about a year ago, Ryan’s heart once again stirred. He began to look into planting a church in the Austin area. However, he realized that anyone in the United States can drive to a good church. God once again brought his focus back to the 2.5 billion unreached of the world.

Through the process of an intense study of Abraham, God destroyed the comfort and security idols in Ryan’s heart showing him that when you follow his mission, there’s no such thing as a risk. Even if you lose everything, you still have everything in God. God freed him to consider planting a church overseas. Ryan came home to a sympathetic Ann and told her, “God is calling me to plant where there is no church.” 

Ryan wants to go where “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37). He and Ann hope to start a church planting movement in the midst of an unreached people group that will continue long after they’re gone.

When asked about the biggest change God has made in her heart through this process, Ann said, “God has increased my trust and reliance on him. It’s ok not to know what it’s going to look like a month or two from now. I’m just being able to let go of a sense of security with baby Henri. They can take our stuff, but not take our lives. But if we do lose our lives for Jesus, we can’t fail in the end. I know that my trust and reliance on God will continue to grow and flesh out more with time.”

With regard to Henri’s safety, Ryan says, “Here [in the States], there’s a sense that though you totally get God’s sovereignty, you still feel that you’re in control of your children. But over there, you know you’ve got nothing. It’s all God. He’s got to take care of our kids. In reality, the situation is exactly the same, but over there you’re forced to understand that it’s all in God’s control.

Ryan and Ann understand the anxiety that comes with leaving everything behind. They get that it will take time to adjust and that security and safety are a completely different experience in the Middle East. It won’t be easy. But the fact remains that Jesus is going to bring his sheep in. That brings comfort in the midst of knowing how hard it’s going to be.

Story by: Lori Richter
Photography by: Phillip Glickman

 “She’s not my child. I came to the realization that these beautiful daughters I call mine are not. Ashley belongs to God. If he’s ready to take her back to be with him, that’s fine,”  said Theresa Chandler  as she remembered her daughter’s brush with death in May 2011.

Tony, Theresa and their two teenage daughters, Ashley and Jane, are peaceful, hopeful, calm and confident. After talking with the Chandler’s for just a few minutes, it is obvious why they are so nice to be around: God is their source. Their relationship with God, their Father, runs deep and because of what He did for them.

In November 2010, God called the Chandlers to prepare to move tothe Middle East as part of the Austin Stone’s 100 People Network. Fundraising had started, their family was moving into a temporary home, and – after being laid off from his job – Tony began to work toward moving their family to the Middle East.

During Thanksgiving, Theresa and the girls spent the holiday with family while Tony traveled to the Middle East on an exploratory trip. One evening, without warning, Ashley got sick. This healthy, athletic young woman found herself exhausted when she simply walked across the room. God gently spoke to Theresa: Go to the ER. There they learned that Ashley was in heart failure, kidney failure and had fluid in her lungs.

With Tony in the Middle East, the Chandler’s missional community sprang into action. They moved quickly to help Theresa and Ashley in whatever ways they could. They prayed, arranged for Skype calls, brought food, and spent an entire day in the hospital waiting room praying. Meanwhile, Tony’s team on the trip with him also began to pray and arrange for him to catch the next flight home. Remarkably, Theresa and Tony say that they knew God was in this situation with them. They never felt panicked. Theresa said, “I knew God had her.”
 

Tests revealed that Ashley had a rare disease causing inflammation of the arteries, a diagnosis that typically goes undetected until a catastrophic event occurs.It’s plain to see that God was involved in Ashley’s early illness and diagnosis. She was released from the hospital after a month-long stay and was home for Christmas.

Then, in May, Ashley’s blood pressure unexpectedly shot up again. Unable to bring it down, doctors at Dell Children’s Medical Center suggested that Ashley be flown to a nephrologist in Cleveland, Ohio.  Ashley underwent an angioplasty and renal artery bypass surgery. During the surgery, Ashley crashed and doctors administered CPR. Twice. After a grueling 12 hours of surgery, Tony and Theresa were finally told that their daughter was successfully out of surgery.

Again, the Chandler’s missional community sprang into action. People prayed and sent out the message to pray  and the word spread. A few members of their community even traveled to Cleveland to visit with the family while Ashley was hospitalized. They soon realized that Ashley was about to miss her high school graduation ceremony, so the community petitioned the school and creatively made arrangements for Ashley to participate via Skype with balloons, cake and, of course, a cap and gown. As her name was called to walk the stage during the ceremony, Ashley heard the Frank Irwin Center erupt into cheers as the hospital staff simultaneously broke out into applause.

During their stay in Cleveland with Ashley, the lease on the Chandler family’s house expired and they needed to move. Their community packed, moved and unpacked the family in their new house. Their furniture was placed in exactly the same place as their previous home, even down to the smallest detail. When the Chandlers came home, their dishes were in the kitchen cabinets and their clothes were in the closets. Their missional community also helped pay for the family’s return plane tickets and put together a fund to help with Ashley’s medical bills.

Sharing life together in this missional community went to the extreme. As hospital staff, friends and family watched people care for the Chandlers, Theresa and Tony made a point to be intentional about telling them what God was doing in their lives and the support their missional community gave them. They boldly told them, “This is the way Christ’s people act!”

Today, the Chandler’s have a story to tell; a story of God’s faithfulness and how He uses His people to meet the needs of his children. They said, “This is a story to God’s glory. When you’re living for Christ and not the world, you’re going to have trials. It’s going to happen. One way to prepare is to be in a missional community. We couldn’t have endured through this experience without the love and support of our missional communities.”

Tony, Theresa, Ashley and Jane Chandler are planning to leave for the Middle East in the summer of 2012.   

By: Mike Cosper (The Gospel Coalition)

The world waits anxiously as the leadership transition unfolds in North Korea. It's premature to suppose that the death of Kim Jong-il guarantees improvement or hope for the oppressed people of that totalitarian nation. Uncertainty and regime change inside a violent leadership culture could result in tragic consequences for ordinary citizens.

In a recent column for The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof gave us a glimpse into the world of North Korea. He describes "The Loudspeaker," a radio mounted on the wall of every North Korean home that randomly vomits propaganda on North Koreans. "In his first golf outing," it shrieks, "Comrade Kim Jong-il shoots five holes-in-one!" The speaker recounts robotic answers to questions from two North Korean schoolgirls and the horrific story of a husband asking and receiving permission to execute his wife, who raised questions about Kim Jong-il's womanizing.

By now, we've probably all seen the video and photos of North Korean citizens weeping and tearing at their clothes and hair in agony at news of their infallible leader's death. We ask what could possess people who suffer under such harsh conditions, such deep poverty, such rank abuse to mourn the death of their oppressor. But this is nothing new.

There were similar levels of unimaginable cruelty in Germany during the Third Reich, as well as in China under Mao and the Soviet Union under Stalin. The 20th century learned the lessons of the industrial revolution and created vast government machines of oppression. Ordinary citizens terrorized their friends and neighbors, buying into propaganda that told them such cruelty served of the invincible demi-gods who led their state.

Unfortunately, the collapse of North Korea would not be the end of totalitarianism. Many other nations, such as Cuba, hover near the border of this description. As political philosopher Hannah Arendt has said, "It is in the very nature of things human that every act that has once made its appearance and has been recorded in the history of mankind stays with mankind as a potentiality long after its actuality has become a thing of the past." Dictators and despots will continue to learn from their predecessors and build bureaucratic machines of terror and oppression.

But only for a time.

Oppression Will Cease

The fact remains that a day is coming when in Jesus' name, "all oppression will cease." Even the oppression of totalitarians in North Korea.

North Korea is a glaring reminder of the brokenness of the world and the great evil that we are capable of carrying out. Machinized terror, systematic oppression, gulags, prison camps, and propaganda are all the product of a God-given imagination running horribly awry. Under the weight of that corrupted imagination the world groans in weariness. North Korea's rulers have drained the resources of a starving nation, pouring every dollar they could into the military, which stands as both a tool of oppression against their people and as bared fangs to the world that looks on in disgust. Yet that power is somehow cosmically undone by the birth of a child in a stable in Bethlehem.

As Placide de Cappeau de Roquemaure phrased it so brilliantly in his hymn "O Holy Night":

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
As yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Sin's entrance sent the world careening towards destruction, creating a rift between heaven and earth that required sacrifices, temples, and veils to protect us from the furious heat of God's holiness. The Christ child's entrance into the world set the two on a collision course once again, with the promise that the babe in the straw would reconcile them all, destroying death and sin in the process.

Cannot Defeat the Gospel

I can't help but think of Herod as we imagine North Korea at Christmas. The isolation of their people and the brutal persecution of Christians is like the murderous response of that other king when he heard of the birth of the Messiah. Like the later attempts by Roman emperors---indeed, all those made by despots throughout history---every attempt to crush the gospel has and will continue to fail. Christians in North Korea need our prayers and whatever help we can provide.

Jesus taught us to pray "on earth as in heaven," inviting us to look at the world through the hope-filled promise of reconciliation. It's through those eyes that we should look to North Korea, or Iran, or any other populace suffering under the crushing thumb of dictators. There is nothing so liberating as the news that we have a better King and an eternal hope. In spite of their screeching protestations, every tyrant's days are numbered. A King was born in Bethlehem who will one day bring justice and peace.

Merry Christmas, North Korea. We love you and we're praying for you. May the wondrous announcement of the birth of the One True King take root in your people, spreading a fearless hope in your hearts as you face the uncertain days ahead.

To learn more about N. Korea & the gospel, watch Michael Oh's sermon at Desiring God's National Conference: "Finish the Mission" here

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By: Collin Hansen

We're tempted to view the so-called 10/40 window as entirely closed to Christian witness. But God has been working here in remarkable ways.

When Drs. Pat and Marian Kennedy first arrived at this Arabian desert oasis in 1960, they confronted a dire situation. Half the children died during childbirth. The maternal mortality rate wasn't much better: 35 percent. They had no electricity and no air conditioning in this region where temperatures approach 120 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. Yet they persevered to build Oasis Hospital, nothing more than a simple cinder-block structure at first, and demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ for a needy people.

Today Al Ain boasts about 550,000 residents in the prosperous United Arab Emirates (UAE). The city is overshadowed by two world-class cities, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. But if not for the faithfulness of the Kennedys and many others who followed them to Oasis Hospital, there might be little Christian witness in these influential cities. Indeed, the story of this spiritual oasis highlights the providential wisdom of God, who works in us and through us to accomplish purposes we can scarcely fathom.

I recently visited Al Ain with a team organized by Training Leaders International to teach pastors from the nearly 30 churches that meet on the hospital campus. Our team, including TGC executive director Ben Peays, lectured and led discussion for a diverse group of pastors and laypeople committed to growing in their knowledge of God and his Word. Mindful of objections to Christianity in this part of the world, we talked about the formation of the biblical canon, doctrine of Scripture, Trinity, and the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The promise of jobs both skilled and unskilled in this wealthy nation attracts workers from all over the world, including the Philippines, India, and Pakistan. Many of these immigrants claim at least nominal Christian faith, but it's no small miracle that the UAE allows them to worship openly. Neighboring Saudi Arabia, officially closed to Christianity, looms large in the region, as does Iran, a short trip away across the gulf. Yet Christians left a good impression on Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, founding father of the UAE. Though deceased, he continues to hold sway over the nation with his likeness posted on everything from motorcycles to billboards. Sheikh Zayed appreciated the care of a pioneering missionary hospital in Bahrain, so he invited Christians to start a similar work in Al Ain...

To continue reading, click through to The Gospel Coalition Article - "Spiritual Oasis in the Middle East"

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No Christians, No Scripture, No Missionaries: Update to the List by Ted Bergman and Bill Morrison [from Lausanne World Pulse]

It is imperative for those of us who follow Christ to disciple all peoples. Of the many peoples that need missionaries, which are highest priority? We believe it is the groups which, so far as we know, have no Christ-followers among them, no books of the Bible, and no missionaries with the intent of bringing the gospel to them.

In an earlier article we listed languages some missionaries must learn in order to witness to these highest priority peoples.

This article is an update of that list based on further research. The result is a reduction of the number to only 112 languages! These peoples are found in 21 countries.

The largest number, 25, are in China; 16 are in Nepal, and 15 in Iran. The previous list was a combination of data from the World Christian Database (WCD) and SIL’s Ethnologue. The WCD was chosen because it could be consistently correlated with SIL information about scripture availability for nearly every people group in its database. The WCD gives corroborating information about data that a people group has no Christians (though we don’t know for certain how accurate and current this is).

But other databases have information and sources we can use to improve our list. For instance, Joshua Project data often relies on Paul Hattaway (author of Operation China), Patrick Johnstone (former editor of Operation World), Omid (for data on South Asia)¹, and others. The IMB’s Church Planting Progress Indicators (CPPI) is informed by IMB field workers. In fact, researchers from all four of the global databases work together. There is value in having these different perspectives on the situation.

The biggest difference is in whether a list includes only those with fewer than 2% evangelicals, or no Christians of which we know. The “evangelical or Christian” distinction is important to understand. Joshua Project takes both into consideration. To be designated “unreached,” the group must be less than 2% evangelical Christian and less than 5% Christian adherents. An evangelical is a subset of Christian adherents and is defined on their website.

To continue reading the article: http://bit.ly/sWvNGE

To download the list of People Groups with little or no Christian witness: http://bit.ly/uBpLJh

Story by: Brian Lundin
Photo by: Scott Wade

With its current population of over 1.21 billion people, India is on track to become the world’s most populous country by 2025. Greg wants to see a church planting explosion there that would rival what has taken place in China. For someone with such high hopes, washing the feet of the poor in the countryside might seem like too meager of a beginning. But Greg is following the example of humility that Christ displayed for us: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14).

Greg was raised in church, but by the time he started school at The University of Texas, he realized he was not living in obedience to God. Originally, his goals were to obtain a degree in computer science, find a good job and pursue what this world has to offer. But at the invitation of a good friend, Greg started attending The Austin Stone and going to a campus Bible study. At that point, God made some remarkable changes in his life.

When asked about the change, Greg states, “I started living in response to grace.”

Two years ago, while at a ministry on campus, Greg saw a flyer about a rural foot washing ceremony performed by Christian workers in India for the Dalit–the “untouchables” or those who are “broken to pieces.” On this flyer, Greg saw Christians going to these broken and outcast people at the bottom of the caste system, kneeling before them, and humbly serving them.

According to Hindu teachings on caste, only through good karma and the cycle of reincarnation can one escape poverty and desperation. Greg desired to bring the message of grace into this culture, to bring the good news that Christ has delivered us from death regardless of caste, society and our very own sin. He wanted to show the Indian people that the gospel saves and that their value does not lie in which caste their society places them, but rather in what Christ has accomplished for them. Eager to watch God restore the Dalit and transform the nation of India with the same grace that is transforming him, Greg pursued the opportunity on the flyer and went to India to wash the feet of the poor and broken.

After that trip, Greg’s longing to serve the Indian people, the poor, the broken and the outcast, continued to grow. When The Stone launched the 100 People Network, Greg saw a direct path to pursue his calling. “I think it is biblical to be sent by your home church,” he says. Upon joining the network, Greg found more than support and camaraderie. “It didn't take long for me to understand that God put me in the 100 People Network because he understood that I knew nothing about being a goer, and they were prepared to train people like me,” Greg states. “I learned so much about God, serving him and loving him more. Not just that I'm loving him more, but that I'm inviting people to love him.”

In a few weeks, Greg will be back in India. However, this time, after the foot washing and preaching events have concluded and the teams have moved on, Greg will remain, serving the people of the town and showing them a life lived in response to grace. He will focus on building relationships, making disciples and planting a church—a church that Greg hopes will be one of many.

Greg has the support of his friends and family. Understandably, his parents are worried, but their joy in Greg’s role in God’s mission to the unreached overshadows their fears. Greg’s concerns about moving to India--how much he may miss country music and fishing—do not compare to his desire to follow Christ’s example to take the gospel to the broken. He’s excited to see their response to God’s grace.

Story by Allicia Garza
Photo by Tiffany Palmer

In a few days, Maddie Pearson will leave her life in Austin and move to the Middle East. Despite the fact that she is leaving everything she’s ever known, the hardest part has been giving away her Calphalon pots and pans. “That was a big deal,” she said, “even bigger than selling my car."

Maddie first considered international missions as a high school student, but like many students, she assumed she would first get her college degree and then go. With her plan set, she headed off to Texas State to pursue her studies. But college wasn’t all she thought it would be.

“I never really liked school. I just went because that’s what you do. I loved learning, but hated college, and I think there was a reason for that,” Maddie explained.

After getting involved with The Austin Stone, she was asked to go on a vision trip to a country in the Middle East.

“I had the worst time ever. Everything went wrong. But I knew I wanted to go back because I fell in love with the place.”

The next summer, she had the opportunity to return to that same country, and it was on this trip that God confirmed where Maddie’s mission field would be.

“When I was there, it felt like two magnets finding each other. It just instantly fit. I loved it more than Texas, which was a lot. That was a really weird and new feeling for me,” Maddie recalled.

After returning home to Austin, Maddie felt God calling her to pursue the mission field as soon as possible.

One spring day in 2010, she was too distracted to even read her Bible.

“My disobedience was so convicting. I just set down my Bible right there and said, ‘Okay. Let’s do this.’ I wasn’t super amped about it, but I knew it was obedience.”

The next Sunday, she received confirmation through a sermon at The Austin Stone.

“It was crazy because he was preaching and said verbatim, ‘If God wants you to drop out of school and move to the Middle East, you do it.’ That next week I called and told my parents that’s what I was doing,” Maddie said.

It’s been a little over a year since that day, and Maddie is ready to see what God is going to do while she’s there. Although her team has made a two-year commitment, Maddie is prepared to stay indefinitely. But if she must leave someday, she knows the legacy she wants to leave behind.

“I hope if I leave [the Middle East], I’m just a glimmer of what my friends [there] remember. I hope they remember the way that God worked through me.”

With her departure day approaching quickly, Maddie is learning to rely on God.

“I’ve been learning that while I’m there, [I’ll have to] trust Jesus with my money, my words, my friendships, and the souls of my Middle Eastern friends. I’m realizing that it’s going to be hard knowing that I have to trust Jesus to save their souls, that I can’t do anything.”

Maddie is encouraged daily by the words of Matthew 5:14 and Jesus’ vision for the church: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.”

Maddie is excited to see God fulfill his promises. With a heart full of hope and her bags packed, she is ready to leave her life in Austin and her Calphalon cooking set behind.

“I want the church to see the need for Jesus in the world. This is so much more important than an education, career, friendship or comfort. It’s about being a light in such a dark place. There is just such a big need. We need more workers.”

One of our Austin Stone partners recently traveled to the Horn of Africa to share the hope of the gospel with the people there. She worked with orphans and distributed food to entire communities, but says her favorite part of the trip was using the specific gifts God has given her:

"Although I cherished every moment of my time in Africa, I felt especially at home during our time working in a small clinic in rural East Africa. Since the town is so far removed from any major city, hospital or source of clean water, the clinic sees a lot of gastrointestinal disorders and malnutrition. I recently graduated from nursing school and had always envisioned myself in this exact position, administering antibiotics and nutritional supplements to starving families for the sake of the gospel.

But this wasn’t as glamorous as I had pictured it in my head.

No matter how many times I’ve watched commercials asking me to sponsor a child in need, I was not prepared for the heartache of seeing a severely malnourished three-year-old little girl crumpled in her aunt’s lap because her mother had abandoned her.

However, it did feel like God was allowing me to use the gifts he’s given me to be a part of what he was already doing to glorify himself among his children in Africa. This is what Paul talked about in Ephesians when he said, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:10-11).

We began our adventure with a tour of one of the holiest cities in Islam. The town is rich in history and culture, but spiritually dark and desperate for the Savior. 

We worked with a group that conducts a weekly clinic for the people of the village. It was such an incredible opportunity to serve those in need.

The day after we arrived, our team had the opportunity to hand out food to the African community.

On the final day of our trip, our team traveled to a remote village to teach English and crafts to group of orphans in a school. 

[from The Gospel Coalition]

Earlier this week, William Carey’s 250th birthday arrived. Born on August 17, 1761, he was the son of a poor school teacher in the tiny village of Paulersbury. Taught to patch shoes in a cobbler’s shop, he was converted to Christ as a teenager. Soon he was gripped with a passion for sharing the gospel with those who had never heard the name of Christ.

In those days, missions was a naughty word, something obsolescent, restricted to the days of the apostles long ago. But Carey read the Great Commission differently. “Go ye,” he said, “means you and me, here and now.” He challenged his fellow Baptists to respond to this call, to “expect great things from God, and attempt great things for God.” The result was the first missionary society organized by evangelical Christians with the aim of carrying the Good News of Christ to all parts of the world.

So on June 13, 1793, William Carey, his wife, Dorothy, and their four children—including a nursing infant—sailed from England on a Danish ship headed for India. Carey never saw his homeland again. He spent the rest of his life in India as a pastor, teacher, linguist, agriculturalist, journalist, botanist, social activist, and statesman of the world Christian movement. He died in India in 1834 with the words of a hymn by Isaac Watts on his lips: “A wretched, poor, and helpless worm, on thy kind arms I fall.”

Carey Today

Now, two and one-half centuries after his birth, what can we learn from Carey today? There are many lessons to be gleaned from the life of the father of modern missions, but I place these seven principles at the top of the list:

1. The sovereignty of God. Carey knew that true missionary work is rooted in the gracious, eternal purpose of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Today, more than a new program of missionary training or another strategy for world evangelization, the church of Jesus Christ needs a fresh vision of a full-size God—eternal, transcendent, holy, filled with compassion, sovereignly working by his Holy Spirit to call unto himself a people out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and language group on earth. Only such a vision, born of repentance, prayer, and self-denial, can inspire a Carey-like faith in a new generation of Christian heralds.

2. The finality of Jesus Christ. Sadly the message Carey preached—Jesus Christ and him crucified, risen, coming again—has become marginalized even within large sectors of the Christian community. The uniquely divine nature of Jesus Christ and the cruciality of Christian conversion have both been called into question. Carey’s life and witness encourage us to resist the seductive power of cynicism, relativism, and syncretism, and to remain faithful to the only gospel that can deliver lost men and women from the power of sin and death.

3. The authority of Holy Scripture. Like Wycliffe, Luther, and Tyndale before him, Carey believed that everyone should be able to read the Scriptures in their own native language. He poured his life into mastering the difficult languages of India and the East until he had either translated or personally supervised the translation of the Bible into some 40 distinct tongues. Carey’s plan to evangelize India included a three-pronged approach: preach the gospel, translate the Bible, and establish schools. Proclamation, translation, education. Carey knew that, as the letter to the Hebrews (4:12) puts it, the Word of God is “alive and powerful.” He knew firsthand the transformative effect the Bible had on those who read, cherished, and obeyed it. Today Carey’s legacy goes forward through the work of the Wycliffe Bible Translators and many others committed to sharing the life-giving Scriptures with all peoples everywhere.

4. Contextualization. Contextualization refers to the need to communicate the gospel in such a way that it speaks to the total context of the people to whom it is addressed. Carey knew the countercultural pull of biblical faith. He had great respect for the antiquity and beauty of the cultural legacy he encountered in India. Indeed, his translations and critical editions of the ancient Hindu classics contributed to what has been called an “Indian Renaissance.” At the same time, he was quite sure that devotion to those writings and the religions they had spawned could never lead to eternal life anymore than being born in England or America automatically made one a Christian. Carey’s ability to contextualize the gospel without compromising the nonnegotiable essentials of biblical faith provides a balanced model for a truly evangelical missiology in our own age of social upheaval and cultural disillusion.

5. Holistic missions. Carey knew that the gospel had both a propositional and an incarnational dimension. He refused to divorce conversion from discipleship. He knew that Jesus had given food to hungry people on the same occasion that he presented himself to them as the Bread of Life. Undoubtedly, he would have been in hearty agreement with the great Methodist missionary E. Stanley Jones: “A soul without a body is a ghost; a body without a soul is a corpse.” The gospel is addressed to living persons, soul and body, in all of their broken humanity and need for wholeness.

6. Christian unity. The modern quest for Christian unity was born on the mission field. Carey pointed the way by working closely with believers of many denominations in India and by calling for an international conference of missionaries to develop a common strategy for evangelism and witness. What would Carey think of contemporary ecumenical efforts today? He would likely be wary of an uncritical ecumenism which would sacrifice the distinctiveness of the Gospel in the interests of a bland togetherness. But he would surely rejoice in the coming together of Great Commission believers throughout the body of Christ in the task of world evangelization. Carey is a model for this kind of cooperation among Christian believers, one rooted in Richard Baxter’s great maxim: In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.

7. Faithfulness. Carey’s work in India was a catalyst for a great missionary awakening throughout the church. Today, 250 years after the birth of William Carey, the mandate for world evangelization still looms before us. The best lesson we can learn from Carey is the principle by which he lived and died: “You should think of us as Christ’s servants, who have been put in charge of God’s secret truths. The one thing required of such a servant is that he be faithful to his Master” (1 Cor. 4:1-2).

Timothy George is founding dean of Beeson Divinity School and general editor of the Reformation Commentary on Scripture. He was a consultant to the dramatic filmCandle in the Dark about Carey’s life and work. He is also the author of the full-length biography Faithful Witness: The Life and Mission of William Carey.

[from 30-days.net]

World-wide Celebrations End Ramadan with a Feast

From Abu Dhabi to Zanzibar, Muslims end their 29 or 30 days of fasting with a celebration called Eid al-Fitr. This feast comes at the end of Ramadan and in many places begins a three-day holiday.

In Jakarta, businesses and shops are closed and the usually gridlocked streets are nearly empty as about half the capital’s 12 million people leave the city for their hometowns.

The word Eid means recurring happiness or festivity in Arabic and Al-Fitr literally means the breaking the fast. Muslims celebrate the end of the month of Ramadan, when Muslims are required to abstain from food, drink and sex during daylight hours. Eid also ushers in the beginning of Shawwal or the tenth month in the Muslim calendar.

In the USA many Muslim organizations are asking the American Muslims to tone down their celebrations which will continue into 9/11, the 9th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. Indeed, tensions are high around the world after a small church in Florida called for a “Burn the Qur’an Day” on the 11th. There is concern across the Christian world that a significant backlash could occur against Christians, especially in Muslim majority countries. Most Christians are calling this action by Dove Church dangerous, outrageous and foolish. We at 30-Days are very concerned about the possible consequences of this.

Another US-based issue has caught global attention, that of a proposed mosque near Ground Zero in New York City. As one Christian organization says, “We’d prefer to share the good news that Jesus is the Christ than to focus on Islam or mosques. Muslims in New York City need to hear this truth so that they might worship Him. For us, this is the primary issue.”

Muslims are encouraged to dress in their best clothes (new if possible) and to attend a special Eid prayer that is performed in congregation at mosques or open areas like fields, squares etc. When Muslims finish their fast at the last day (29th or 30th Ramadan), they recite Takbir.

Both Jews and Muslims will be celebrating on Thursday when Jews mark Rosh Hashanah and Muslims celebrate Eid ul-Fitr.

There is a fair bit of disagreement on the day Eid is celebrated due to moon sighting difficulties and interpretation. Confusion can come for individuals living in the western world, who, for example, may need to request vacation days in advance.

Many Christians have taken the opportunity to greet Muslims in friendship. Instead of focusing on differences, they have been telling their Muslim neighbors how they too as Christians fast and pray because they are “people of the book”. In some cases, this time of celebration among Muslims is used as an opportunity to witness to them. One young person said, “Muslims are so open right now and in a good mood, I can explain my faith to them without stirring tempers.” But the focus needs to be on building relationships. From these relationships God can open doors to speaking about the Good News.

Although Ramadan is over, the necessity for prayer and action towards Muslim’s continues.

Pray for Muslims that you know personally during this holiday. If Muslims invite you to participate in the festivities it is actually a great honour and usually a sure sign of their esteem, respect and friendship. Pray for wisdom and for the door to open so that relationships can be built. While it is easy to get into discussions about political and cultural issues, being a good neighbour is what you are called to be.

Recipe

Here is a recipe for Vermicelli Payasam, which is the name for a dessert often served at Eid ul-Fitr in India. Perhaps you can make a dessert for your Muslim neighbours.

• 250 gms vermicelli (very thin pasta), broken into smaller piece)

• 1 Cup of sugar

• 6 Cups of milk

• 2 Tablespoons broken cashews

• 2 Tablespoons of raisins

• ¼ Teaspoon of nutmeg

• ¼ Teaspoon of vanilla

• 5 Tablespoons of ghee or melted butter

Heat 3 tablespoons of ghee or butter in a frying pan to melt. Add the vermicelli and fry until golden. Add the milk and heat for 5 minutes. Add sugar, vanilla and nutmeg. Stir well and cook until the vermicelli is soft, but do not allow to boil. Heat remaining ghee or butter in another pan and fry the cashew nuts for 1 minute until golden. Add the raisins and sprinkle onto the payasam. Serve warm in small bowls.