Posts Tagged ‘missions’

For the past 2,000 years, every so often the expansion of Christianity and global missions takes a dramatic turn.  Many factors contribute to these shifts, and since I am no expert, I will just focus on observations as it pertains to my recent participation in the Every Nation World Conference, called EN 2010.

Nearly 20,000 were in attendance at this year’s conference, hosted in Manila, Philippines, and well attended and supported by the Filipino delegates.  An estimated 3,000 were from other countries, representing around 60 different nations.

It is interesting to note that 100 years prior to EN 2010, a similar event took place in Edinburgh, Scotland called the 1910 World Missionary Conference.  This event defined much of what has happened for global missions over the past 100 years. According to historians it was significant beyond measure. Of the 1,200 dedicated delegates, nearly 1,000 were from Britain or the US.

Something happened at Edinburgh that could have been the start of the present day Geo-Ethnic Church shift. They changed the old motto of missions from “West to the Rest” to “Everyone to Everywhere.” They saw what was coming which is exactly what I experienced at EN 2010. It is a radical shift in who we are as a people and what our future is going to look like.  It is as if the world has turned.

Our Keynote speakers at EN 2010, with the exception of two of our founders (Pastors Rice and Steve) were not American or white. They were Indian, Filipino, Chinese, Iranian, African and Australian (okay, Darlene is white too, but definitely not American).
This really is a new world for us. And no one is complaining.  Actually, many of us can say, it is a relief to feel the force of faith rising from the Southern Hemisphere and I expect this is only the beginning.

Recently I have been riveted reading a book called, The Future Church: How Ten Trends are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church, by John Allen.  Although it is a book written for Catholics, I really think the trends are very similar to what the Protestant churches are facing as well.

In essence, one of the key trends is how the demographics of the church have gone through a significant change from vastly Northern Hemisphere (Europe and N. America) to mostly Southern. Allen anticipates the real possibility of a “third world Pope” on the near horizon.

The Southern Hemisphere is on the rise in Christ while Europe is having a “crisis of faith” (p.60).  In one sentence it’s summed up like this:  “The center of gravity shifted from the North to the South.” (p.17)

Also of note is the 2002 Pew Global Attitudes Project which surveyed people around the world regarding the importance of their faith. Indonesia, Nigeria, India and the Philippines ranked highest, while the Czech Republic, France, Russia and Germany ranked lowest.  The USA was somewhere in the middle, sort of in the balance right now. European nations, once the cradle of the Reformation and Renewal, have gone astray. Scholars have called this trend in Great Britain “radioactive decay.” (p. 61). Fortunately, Asians, N. Americans and Africans are sending missionaries there.

So what are the key takeaways from all of this?

1. Southern Hemisphere, this is your hour. It is your destiny to have and spread revival. It is your hour to provide much needed leadership for much of the world ripened unto harvest. Your outward focus is critical to help the global church get our eyes off ourselves. Your commitment to preach, teach and live the Gospel in a biblical framework has brought about so much good fruit for the Lord. Your expansion in the world will continue to grow brighter and brighter so that all may hear and we may go where the light is seen dim and His voice is heard small.

2. Northern Hemisphere/Global North, God is not finished with us yet. As we return to the basics of prayer, preaching the Gospel, and faithfulness to the Bible we can be restored to our rightful place of massive kingdom expansion. With a renewed faithfulness to the Word of God, we will reject the prevalent theology of self-helps, “church-lite”, and bogus emergent church stuff that has spread like kudzu. Let us simply pick up our cross and follow Him into spreading the Gospel and planting churches.  It is this simple.  Less attachment to this world and our “parish” and more attachment and affection for the world to come, will make all the difference.

3.  Finally, let us keep learning from each other. In the spirit of helping one another, living in a global learning lab and “flat world” as Friedman calls it, let’s provoke one another to love and good deeds. We have all been so blessed by the excellence of the South Africans, the passion of Asia, the fire from Africa and South America, the prayers of the Koreans, the music from Australia, the supernatural faith from China, and in fairness, the support from the West.  Not to leave out any nationalities, but the point is we all learn from each other as our many cultures unavoidably bring forth different aspects of the glory of God.

For many of us at EN 2010, we saw the world turn in Manila. It was awesome to observe the favor and delight of God evident on so many humble heroes. At the same time, we are all standing together “shoulder to shoulder” (Zephaniah 3:9) pursuing God and reaching for the Harvest as never before. As a result we all rejoice together, praise together and honor Him together knowing our best days for the Gospel are still ahead.

“Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him shoulder to shoulder. Zeph. 3:9

Ron Lewis (“Pastor Ron”) is the founder and Senior Minister of KPIC. For more information, visit his official website at www.RonLewisMinistries.com.

Nathan Lewis is a KPIC missionary and assistant pastor at Centrepoint Church in Edinburgh, UK.

Since last summer’s outreach to Cables Wynd (a housing project community in Edinburgh) a group of children from this neighborhood have regularly attended our church.  After months of struggling to reach them with the regular Sunday service activities, we realized our conventional church service was simply not meeting their needs.

So a small team and I have started a Sunday afternoon service specifically targeting them.   This service is designed for the rough and rambunctious and each week draws a dozen children between 9 and 14 years old.

They typically show up early and smoke a cigarette before coming inside.  Week by week we preach the Gospel and tell them of God’s great love.  It seems that every time they look at us in disbelief, often expressing it, yet week after week they come back!

Many of these kids are from abusive homes; few have whole families.  Though young, they are familiar with alcohol, sex, and violence.  Often our service borders on chaos, but this is what it takes to reach children from this background.

Over the past few months we have seen dramatic and noted changes occur in many young lives. They are starting to understand God’s love starting to ask questions, and there is opportunity to pray and have real conversations about life and God.  A 14 year old named Bret came to our leaders with many questions about God and the pain in his life including multiple suicides in his family and a recent murder.  We were able to pray with him and counsel him.  Bret is very close to having a full understanding and faith in Jesus, please keep him in your prayers.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”  As we minister and reach out I am confident we are interacting with the very heart of God.  Please pray these children come to know Jesus and are delivered from the situations they face.

Thank you for supporting this work in Edinburgh!  Our church continues to grow, as does this new afternoon service for children.  I know God desires to do an amazing work through this humble effort.  Thank you for your prayers, they are effective and powerful in touching many lives!

Many blessings,

Nathan

This is the first of four videos posted on YouTube. To view the full version, click here.

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King’s Park is partnering on the ground with international and Haitian-based relief efforts. We believe that partnering with local, reliable sources will be our best effort to resource long-term rebuilding efforts in this country.

Please contact Missions Pastor Wayne Graham at wayne.graham@kpic.org with questions or more on how you can be involved.

Update: Jamaica’s March mission is a continued success!

Rollan Fisher, Youth Pastor and Triangle Campus Director, just returned from two days of reconnecting with all the activity that began last March at the University of the West Indies (UWI). (Read the original blog here.)

Alongside Lyndon Allen, Gregg Tipton and Michael “Verbs” Boyer (performer), Rollan and these men spent time reengaging the students who were saved in March, pulling together a group of initial students leaders for UWI.

Read more >

Every time I leave America’s borders to visit another nation, I am always thankful of the blessings our country offers. It also affords me the opportunity to gain a broader perspective of the sea of humanity in other cultures that carry the beautiful image of God. Having ministered in thirty nations over the years, my latest trip to Uganda was a life changing one.

I am always amazed when in a third world context how the human spirit can be so effervescent, alive, joyful, and engaging in the midst of great hardship, disease, and poverty. Uganda is such a place. Coined the “Pearl of Africa” by Winston Churchill due to it’s lush green foliage surrounding beautiful Lake Victoria, Uganda is at the same time slammed with a poverty and AIDS epidemic that needs supernatural intervention. God’s community, the Church, has been granted His perspective of compassion for the nations. Jesus modeled this compassion as He looked upon the masses as “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd”. He graciously fed their hungry and healed their sick.

Read more >

Coming up with the title for this column was the only challenging part of writing this. It also could have been titled, “You’ll Never Need a Passport Again to Do the Great Commission,” or “An Idiot’s Guide to World Missions: Step Outside.” Is it the creative strategy of God that has brought the nations of the world to us, or is it the mercy of God because so many of us would rather barbecue in the backyard than suffer through a degrading coach class ticket to Swaziland? Whatever it is, God has brought the world to us and “expanding our tent pegs” has never been easier.

The demographics shaping our cities today are ever changing. Census data released in the middle of 2008 shows that within one generation from now, America’s traditional white majority will comprise less than 50% of the total US population. This shift may make some uncomfortable, but for those of us who carry the nations in our hearts, it is our golden opportunity. We can fire up the grill in our backyard and do world missions at the same time. I have one word for this, “Hallelujah!”

Consider the Hispanic influx. US Census data predict that this population is going to more than double in the next 30 years. I believe that every evangelical church in America should have a plan to reach this demographic for Jesus. At KPIC in Durham, NC, we responded by partnering with one of my good friends who is a great Hispanic pastor from another State. Now every Sunday night, Hispanic and Hispanic-American people are being changed. It’s now a full-blown church plant called Celebracion Hispana. It doesn’t even resemble our church name, but honestly, who cares? People are joining us and most importantly names are being written in the Book of Life. Names like Jose, Carlos, Juanita and other beautiful names that come from the South (yes, further SOUTH than Alabama).

The US college and university systems are a huge attraction to the nations. Increasingly, the world’s parents are making major sacrifices to send their young men and women to America to get a better start. I happened to cross paths with one such student from Taiwan. At first he liked our people a lot more than our God. Eventually he came to a real faith in Jesus. While taking a scouting trip to China together in the late 90s, we “accidentally” led several Chinese to Christ. Right in our hotel room we held meetings and then did baptisms in the bathtub. Disciples were being made and a need for leadership arose. Eventually this man and his wife left behind their prestigious professorships in Taiwan to start churches in many cities of China. With the thousands of Chinese who have since been reached, it stuns me to think how effective this couple has become in Asia. Yet all I did was show him love and answer his questions about the Bible when he was a student in the US.

Finally, more and more the Western Church is being called to engage in global social justice issues. I sometimes feel embarrassed that Bono, and even Madonna, are more up on these issues that we seem to be. AIDS, orphans, and child trafficking are major global crises that can be addressed by even the smallest church with limited resources.

For me it began a few years ago as I received an impression to help the well-known African Children’s Choir find a base home in North Carolina. After a year of rallying our church and city, we now have six acres and two large homes where 25 orphans and multiple chaperones live and take refuge from a busy touring schedule. These children have touched our city and continue to remind us of the plight of millions who have lost their parents to HIV and disease.

The days of associating world missions as a two-month voyage on a ship crossing the Atlantic are long gone. Today’s church is able to impact the world right from where we are. So fire up the grill… the world is waiting.