Gospel.com Blog

Pastor Eugene Cho of Quest Church out in Seattle has a heart for the impoverished. He cares about them so much that’s he’s giving away his entire 2009 salary.

It’s all part of the kick-off for the site One Day’s Wages, which is devoted to connecting donors with organizations who are actively involved in combating global poverty and injustice. The site frames giving in terms of what you earn in a day, which is about .4% of your salary for the year.

By now, you’ve all heard the statistic that billions of people are living off of less than 2 dollars a day, which—to be honest—is staggering in itself, but really hit home for me after I used ODW’s calculator to determine how much I made in a day. It’s sobering to think that in one week I’ll make more than many people do in an entire year. I absolutely can afford to give up one day’s wages, no matter how tight my budget might feel to me.

You can hear more about One Day’s Wages from Eugene in this introductory video:

The Movement of One Day’s Wages from One Day's Wages on Vimeo.

Ramadan begins tomorrow—are you ready?

Ramadan is, of course, an Islamic tradition, not a Christian one. For Muslims, it’s a month-long period of fasting and prayer. But some Christians are suggesting that we use the month of Ramadan as a time of special prayer for Muslims around the world.

Arab World Ministries has put together daily Ramadan prayer points for Christians, each of which highlights a specific prayer need “for Muslims, Muslim background believers or Christian workers based in the Arab world.” If you’d like to participate, just check back each day over the next month for a daily prayer point.

Mission Network News is also running a story about Ramadan if you’d like more background about it. If you know of other Christians or ministries who are using the month of Ramadan as an opportunity to pray for Muslims and Christians in the Arab world, please leave a comment below!

Gospel for Asia reports that missionaries in Orissa, India were arrested earlier this month after being confronted by anti-Christian extremists. The missionaries have been released, but the incident has raised concerns about the impending anniversary of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati’s murder in the region last year:

Christians are under constant scrutiny by other religious groups after the mass persecution that occurred in Orissa last fall. The death of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, who was a top leader of the VHP (World Hindu Council), ignited an outrageous persecution of Christians, even though Maoist rebels claimed responsibility for his murder.

As the anniversary of Saraswati’s death approaches on August 23, security has heightened. Followers of Saraswati plan to hold processions in observance of his death. No threats have been mentioned, but fear still lingers among some Christians because of past experiences.

Events like this are a good reminder to pray regularly for Christians who are called to ministry in parts of the world that are hostile to the Gospel. It’s tempting to imagine that religious persecution is a thing of the past, but it’s a present reality for Christians in Orissa and elsewhere. Read GFA’s report on the arrests for more, and if you want to get lend prayer support to specific missionary needs like this, consider getting involved as a member of their prayer team.

Adventures in Missions recently held a photography contest. Its goal: to find pictures that capture “a soul, a moment, a place and a ministry.”

The resulting photos are stunning slices of humanity from around the world. There are pictures of babies and baptisms; prayers and outstretched hands; landscapes and cityscapes; and moments of intense spirituality. The net effect provides a wonderful glimpse into the life of a missionary.

Here’s my favorite photo from the set:

You can see all the winners at the Mission Photo Contest Final Winners blog post or at the Adventures in Missions Flickr site.

A report that 170 Christian leaders and pastors recently viewed the Jesus Film in their mother tongue is already a noteworthy event, but what makes this story even better is that this was the first time any of those leaders had ever seen any movie in their own language. Read Clark Farley’s story about his recent missions trip to Nicaragua on the Jesus Film blog:

“… Back in January, at the very last minute, we contacted you about getting a copy of the “JESUS” film in the Miskito language. We were headed to the [Mosquito Coast] on the east coast of Nicaragua with a group of physicians and dentists and helpers to put on medical clinics and evangelical activities. … it was an unbelievable blessing to the native Indian population of Nicaragua. We held a pastors’ seminar for four days in Puerto Cabezas. We invited 100 pastors, and 170 showed up. Some traveled for over two days down the Rio Coco. Two came all the way from Honduras. These pastors were starved for some training. But the “JESUS” film in their native language was, by far, the hit of the conference. These men and women had never seen ANY movie in their native tongue. They watched the “JESUS” film with their mouths open. They did not move till it was over. We selected a pastor who had traveled the farthest, and we gave him a copy of the film and a Sony portable DVD player so he could take the film back to his village in the jungle. I just want to thank you for all you do. You are truly a wonderful blessing to this world.”

You can watch the film in the Miskito language, or watch it in the language of your choice here.

(HT: Mission Network News)

How would you go about planting a church where there are no churches and are no Christians?

For many Christians living in the Western world, this situation is almost inconceivable: we’re surrounded by churches on all sides. Even in the least churched areas of the country, there are still a few scattered across the landscape.

A recent Lausanne pulse article by Younoussa Djao details some of the philosophy that goes into planting new churches in new places. He identifies seven tenants that one can use as a guide for understanding where and how to plant a church:

I. Go Where Jesus Is about to Go
II. Make Sure to Pray!
III. Look for the Person of Peace (from Luke 10:5-8)
IV. Either Do Your Ministry through the Person of Peace or Leave
V. Respond to the Needs: Compassion Ministries
VI. Give the Word of God by Doing Discovery Bible Studies
VII. Start Churches that Multiply

Out of those seven ideas, the fourth is the most interesting to me and almost seems counterintiutive. Here are Djao’s comments:

When a person of peace is not found in a community or an area, Jesus said to not do anything—to just leave. It means that it is not a place where Jesus is about to visit; God is not at work there; it is not God’s time for that place. Leave, pray more, and plan to come back later.

Sometimes a missionary will spend years in one place without seeing anyone interested in what he or she has to say or do. We spiritualize that by saying he or she is sowing and someone else will come and harvest.

The article is filled with insights and if you’re interested in global missions, it’s well worth your time to give it a read.

Some good news on the missionary front from Nepal: after serving 9 years in a Nepali prison, Manja Tamang, a Gospel for Asia native missionary, has been released! Manja was sent to prison in 2000 after being falsely accused of murder.

Here’s some of his story, from the Gospel for Asia website:

Manja’s saga began one day as he was out sharing the Gospel. As he walked along a river path, he saw a dead body and immediately contacted the police.

An anti-Christian extremist group who had opposed Manja’s ministry seized the opportunity to stop his work. They arranged for several false witnesses to testify against him, “framing” him for the murder. Manja was arrested, charged with the crime that he did not commit and beaten to near death.

Even though the widow of the deceased man testified to Manja’s innocence, the missionary was sentenced to 20 years in prison. His case was appealed all the way to the Nepali Supreme Court, where, citing the “evidence,” it was upheld.

According to the article, persecution of this sort was not uncommon under the Hindu government of the time. The political situation in Nepal is more open now and Christians have more freedom to worship openly, although challenges and dangers still remain.

It’s a cause for thanksgiving and rejoicing, and certainly the answer to many long years of prayer from around the world. Gospel for Asia has been tracking Manja’s case for years; to see the full story as it unfolded over the last decade, scroll to the bottom of the Gospel for Asia article and look through the list of archived stories, videos, and other information about Manja.

Missionary stories are almost always encouraging. They’re the tales of men and women making intentional choices to challenge themselves, to stretch themselves and to honor God’s calling. Missionaries are a lot who often find life to be difficult, but often find it to be joyful. Few find themselves regretting their decisions.

I personally like reading missionary stories because they remind me that missionaries are real people who have real fears and real successes.

The Beigerts are missionaries with BCM International who were recently featured in the the Spring edition of BCM World. They’re a young couple who have been in Peru just a few short months but have hit the ground running.

Here’s an excerpt from their article, Not My Home:

Still, landing in Peru was again a shock, physically and mentally. We’d flown from Florida where it was 45 degrees Fahrenheit to arrive in Lima at almost midnight to about 80 degrees and humid. We’d left English speakers to be surrounded by thousands of people jabbering what seemed to be the world’s fastest language, Spanish. As we left the airport, I looked at my husband to see his eyes opened wide, looking more lost than I ever thought he could be. As we went to bed in our new home at 1:30 AM, we looked at each other, and said, “What in the world are we getting ourselves into?”

But now that the initial shock has worn off, we are so content to be here. Everyone here has accepted us and made us feel welcome. And we’re excited to begin our new ministry.

My favorite verses recently have been Hebrews 11:13-16 (NIV). The author is speaking of the heroes of faith who died without ever receiving in their lifetime the promises from God. They realized they were “aliens and strangers” here on earth. “If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return” (vs.15). But they were longing for something better—a heavenly homeland. Verse 16 says, “Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

Read their whole BCM international account here. You can also keep up with the Biegerts over at their regularly updated blog.

The Digital Evangelism blog has a post up today about understanding followers of Islam. The Christian witness to Muslims is complicated these days by a huge array of challenges—political and cultural as much as theological—but Christians can be more effective in sharing their faith if they take the time to understand exactly what Muslims believe and what is important to them.

Of the various articles linked to in that blog post, I found this one about understanding “shame-based” cultures the most interesting. It illustrates how important it is to consider local culture and beliefs when presenting the Gospel—in this case, the importance of ritual cleanliness in Muslim culture—and how failing to respect non-Western cultural values can sometimes put additional roadblocks in between Muslims and the Gospel message. And it also challenges us to consider whether we can’t learn something from the Islamic emphasis on ritual purity and defilement; the essay’s author, Bruce Thomas, suggests that those concepts aren’t as foreign to a Christian worldview as you might think.

It’s an interesting set of articles for anyone interested in cross-cultural evangelism.

Short-term service trips are a common feature of youth groups in churches around the country. But do they accomplish the goals they set out to accomplish—helping others while giving students a chance to grow spiritually?

Kara Powell of the Fuller Youth Institute is promoting a new type of short-term missions curriculum meant to avoid the common problem of mission trips that have little or no impact on the participants’ lives:

In describing the new curriculum, Kara highlights some of the negative aspects of short-term mission trips as they’re commonly carried out: most of the advance preparation for the trip is focused on obtaining funds and parental permission; and whatever they experience on the mission trip itself, few kids seem to experience any long-term, meaningful spiritual growth afterward.

I’ve seen this topic circulating on blogs more frequently over the last year—see a Washington Post article on the challenge of creating short-term missions projects that actually do good, and very good ensuing commentary on the Tall Skinny Kiwi blog. See also an article at the Center for Student Missions about why most short-term missions trip isn’t a waste of time.

What has been your experience with short-term missions trips—positive or negative? The Youth Specialties blog is inviting comments on the topic, so head over there to discuss it, or share your thoughts below.