"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood" (Ephesians 6:12) in this issue Second Quarter 2003, Vol. 7 No. 2
- A Missionary Was Most Impactful Figure of 20th Century
- Spiritual Warfare Demands Special Operations
- SARS Epidemic Rattles Chinese Spirits
- Violence Increases Against Colombian Christians
- Pakistani Christian Gets Life Sentence for Blasphemy
- Dubai Court Slaps Pastor for Proselytizing
- Iraqi Christians Face Rising Oppression
- Saudi Authorities Jail Men for Christian Activities
- Articles on Reaching Muslims
- Volunteer Teaching in Northern Iraq
- Pen-Pal Program Reaches Turkish Youth
Feature:
For Impact on the 20th Century, Linguist Missionary Eclipses All Contenders
by Peter Sidebotham
The most influential person of the Twentieth Century should be chosen for immediate effect, long-term influence, and extensive impact.
People who had an immediate effect will see results of their work within their own lifetime. Their goals will be well advanced before their death.
People with long-term influence will have started movements that continue altering the world long after their death.
To have had extensive impact, people must have changed lives economically, politically, and religiously on a vast scale, encompassing multiple cultures, countries, and even continents.
Famous people are often not very influential. Conversely, someone relatively unknown may have had tremendous impact. Though known throughout America and the world, President Bill Clinton did not significantly change or influence national policy, much less global trends. Fame is not the same as greatness.
According to these criteria, missionary and linguist W. Cameron Townsend is probably the most influential person of the twentieth century.
Townsend was born in 1896 and died in 1982. He studied linguistics and then traveled to Guatemala to sell Bibles. When Townsend discovered the native people could not read Spanish and that Bibles in their own tongue were unavailable, he was shocked. Townsend analyzed their language, created an alphabet, and translated the Bible.
After traveling to Mexico, Townsend established the Camp Wycliffe in Arkansas, which later grew into the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), and Wycliffe Bible Translators.
In the last half century, SIL has analyzed translated and published material in 1,724 languages and is working on 1,503 others. Largely through the work of Wycliffe and SIL, people can now read the Bible in nearly 3,000 languages.
As access to Scriptures increased worldwide, the proportion of evangelical Christians to world population grew exponentially. It doubled once from 2.5% to 5% in seventy years between 1900 and 1970, and it doubled again from 5% to over 10% in thirty years between 1970 and 2000.
Because Townsend founded the organizations responsible for this Bible translating that facilitated an accompanying explosion in world evangelism, one can largely credit the global effects of evangelism in the last century to the influence of Townsend. Those effects include religious changes, better living standards, and blocking the spread of Communism and Islam in countries that hold over seventy percent of the world's population.
Cameron Townsend got to see results of his work in his lifetime. In an article on the Wycliffe website, Calvin T. Hibbard quotes Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Kenneth Pike, as saying, "Not since the third century has there been a man like Cameron Townsend who attempted so much, and saw so many dreams realized in his lifetime." Hibbard writes, "One objective [of Townsend] was to stimulate the study of every single minority language in the world not yet analyzed or recorded. Another was to enable every people, wherever they were, to establish and control their own communal identities."
Townsend saw the cataloguing of 6,089 distinct languages, and saw great beginnings to an effort (that is still going today) to create a written form of each language and translate the Scriptures.
Not only were many of Townsend's linguistic goals met during his lifetime, since the 1930s the number of Christians in many parts of the world has been growing at incredible rates. For example, according to Patrick Johnstown in Operation World, the percent of Evangelicals in Asia has been doubling every ten years for the past sixty years.
The longevity of Townsend's work, perhaps more than anything else, sets him well above others in the twentieth century. People like Churchill, Hitler, and Stalin, affected vast numbers of people with great immediacy, but their ideas, at least related to them directly, are dead. History points out the good and evil things done by such men, and then moves on. In other words, they impacted their time, but, with the demise of Communism and Fascism, their influence in the twenty-first century has waned while the influence of others is increasing. However, Townsend's impact lives and grows in the dynamic he generated.
Many organizations are presently working to translate the Bible and evangelize people of every language on the planet. At the current rate, their goal will be met within the twenty-first century. Not only is Townsend's work continuing, but it profoundly affected the global Cold War struggle with Communism and is affecting the current world War on Terrorism.
One aspect of religion neglected by many historians is that it changes peoples lives and, in doing so, changes the culture in which people live. Bruce Olson writes in his autobiography, Bruchko, about his work among the Motilone Indians of Colombia. He tells how they were evangelized and how the Bible was translated into their language.
After many conversions, the Motilone quality of living skyrocketed. They stopped headhunting and adopted modern education and medicine, all while retaining their native language and hence the core aspects of their culture.
The Motilone people became politically active and were largely responsible for preventing a Communist insurgency from succeeding in Colombia. While Colombia remains riddled with guerilla warfare today, it is better off than Communist Vietnam and North Korea.
This kind of story has been repeated in many areas. In fact, though Communism spread rapidly through many parts of the world, its influence usually stopped at the borders of countries in Africa and Asia that received missionaries following in the footsteps of Cameron Townsend.
Perhaps even more significant than the result of constraining Communism has been the role of Townsend's influence in confining Islam. Some of the primary hindrances to Islam spreading across Asia and Africa are Christian churches that might not exist without the efforts of Cameron Townsend.
Exponential Evangelical growth rates in some Muslim parts of the world indicate that spreading Christianity offers hope for an end to the current global war on terrorism. The Middle East will likely become evangelized. The number and influence of Fundamentalist Muslims will probably decrease. Eventually, those countries will have little reason to maintain Shari'a as their national law and Islam as their state religion. If that happens, then Cameron Townsend will have influenced, more or less directly, the collapse of two global crises.
Although Cameron Townsend is not mentioned in public school textbooks, and although many people have not heard his name, William Cameron Townsend in many ways has had a greater effect on global history than any other figure of the twentieth century.
Unlike Stalin who impacted Eastern Europe, Mao Zedong who altered the course of China, or Churchill who rallied Western Europe and America against Hitler, the international Evangelical movement undergirded by Scripture availability as it has been facilitated by Townsend has profoundly affected every continent and country, with the possible exceptions of North America, Australia, and Western Europe.
Feature:
Spiritual Warfare Requires Special Operations
by Dr. Bruce Sidebotham
In Indonesia our children suffered from recurring nightmares until we prayed for God to protect them from evil spirits. In our attic we found a charm which refused to catch fire until after we prayed that God would help us destroy it. Elsewhere a charm hung from the ceiling in a home where I spent a night. When I prayed the charm would spin. When I stopped it stopped too. Shortly after arriving in Indonesia our oldest son developed tuberculosis symptoms. He had a positive skin test and a worrisome chest X-Ray. Told we should leave Indonesia so he could recover, we and our friends prayed. Overnight, Peter recovered. Today his tine test for TB antibodies is negative.
While warring against terrorism, Christians must not forget that the most significant struggle is not against flesh and blood but against evil entities in a spiritual realm (Eph. 6:12). In America, this ongoing non-material fight between good and evil takes easily dismissed subtle forms. In the brutality of Saddam Hussein's recently overthrown regime, it appears more starkly. To many who still refuse to gaze beyond purely material matters, "Shock and Awe" has become "Shock and Disbelief."
In the Forward to a book by George Otis titled The Last of the Giants, David Aikman, once a correspondent for Time magazine, writes, "some of the world's most intractable problems may be due at least partly to spiritual forces behind the scenes rather than merely the obvious overt factors such as geography, history, and political conditions" (p. 16). George Otis observes that, in the struggle between good and evil, Satan tries to gain control of human lives by dominating humanly created political, economic, and religious systems (p. 88). He notes that "enemy strongholds" exist in places where Satan's presence is welcomed and sustained with allegiance to him through festivals, rites, and pilgrimages. What are the foundations of Satan's stronghold in Iraq? How will soldiers be affected? What elements will infiltrate America? How can Iraqis be freed and Americans protected?
Iraqis have lived for generations without any political, economic, or religious freedom. In ancient Palestine, Jesus confronted similar conditions in which religious elites ruled powerless legalistically bound masses. Jesus also brought freedom in forms of sight to the blind, release to the captives, and good news to the poor (Luke 4:18-19). How did Jesus and his followers assault spiritual strongholds? Paul said he used weapons that were not of this world (2 Cor. 10:4).
Jericho's wall is a metaphor for human bondage. It's stones are the ideas behind systems which paralyze people in ignorance, poverty, and fear. Spiritual reality holds the stones together. Like Joshua, we desire to "go up and take the city" with operations to bring security, enlightenment, and prosperity, but first we must destroy the wall, not by attacking people but by pulling down the undergirding spiritual "strongholds" with weapons that are effective against unseen spiritual evil.
Prayer
George Otis calls prayer "the single most important weapon in the believer's arsenal" (p. 246). In a Sojourners (Oct ‘90) article titled "History Belongs to the Intercessors" Walter Wink calls it "spiritual defiance of what is, in the name of what God has promised."
Seeing, hearing, tasting, and touching present agonies fated by current momentum, Christian soldiers can visualize and pray into being the alternative reality which God desires. Walter says such prayer "breathes the air of a time yet to be into the suf-focating atmosphere of present reality."
Jesus said, "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."And he also said, "If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Matt. 18:18-20).
Faith
Faith is divinely granted spiritual sight which allows us to make spiritual decisions, and interact with unseen things (Heb. 11:6) that affect both the visible and invisible worlds with eternal consequences. We cannot spiritually function without it. Fortunately, its effectiveness does not depend upon us, but upon the one in whom it is placed.
Hope
In Christ and his resurrection (1Cor. 15:14), our faith will never be vain or dishonored (Rom. 5:5). Living and giving this gospel creates hope where none is otherwise possible. People become suicidal and communities self destruct from despair. Relief and development organizations have found they cannot improve human physical conditions without offering hope. Living and giving hope wins spiritual battles.
Love
Faith that can move mountains may undergird effective prayer, but without love it is nothing (1Cor. 13:1-3). Love proves faith's presence and quality. Those with faith and hope will forgive as they have been forgiven, love as they have been loved, and sacrifice for others as they have been sacrificed for (1Jn. 4:7-11). The love of God displayed through his people is more persuasive than a strong argument and more powerful than our enemy.
Fruits and Power of the Holy Spirit
Jesus told his followers they would be his witnesses and that the Holy Spirit would give them power (Acts 1:8). Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control (Gal. 5:22-23) are traits in transformed lives. They demonstrate victory over addictions to sinful impulses. They testify to the power of our faith.
Unity
Unity among Christians comes from oneness with Christ, and it is necessary for spiritual victory (John 17:21). If Christ holds our primary allegiance, then diversity in the body of Christ gives flexibility and strength. If, however, we elevate allegiance to traditions above allegiance to Christ, then the resulting diversity divides us and storming spiritual strongholds becomes difficult.
Humility, Sacrifice, and Perseverance
Tertullian said, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." Jesus emptied himself and triumphed on a cross. He said, "Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds" (John 12:24). Perseverance through persecution showcases the gospel's truth by most ultimately revealing the character and commitment of its followers.
Obedience and Truth
Truth undermines demonic strongholds by setting people free. It becomes known through obedience to Jesus Christ. Jesus said we would know the truth and be set free if we held to his teaching and were really his disciples (John 8:31-32). Truth is not what leads people to Christ. Christ is who leads people to truth, and we are the ones who lead people to Christ.
News:
SARS Epidemic Rattles Chinese Spirits
Hysteria is sweeping through China. People familiar with discounting propaganda are more uncertain than ever. Businesses are closed. Restaurants are deserted. Classrooms are empty. Flights have been grounded. Borders have been shut down. Residents stay indoors in fear of contracting Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Many Christian organizations with people in China have recalled their workers. Some have canceled short-term summer missions programs.
From November of last year until this past March, the Chinese government denied that there were any serious problems. By May 12th over 5000 cases had been reported with over 250 of those resulting in death. International concern and the possible illness of some top government officials appear to be changing Beijing's callous attitude.
The SARS epidemic may be rocking Chinese bureaucracy the way the Chernobyl disaster altered political conditions in the former Soviet Union.
Many Chinese Christians suspect the epidemic is a judgement or a sign from God.
The city in Guangdong Province which hosted the first outbreak is a stronghold of Buddhism. Its name, "Fo - Shan," literally means "Buddha - Mountain." Hundreds of thousands from throughout the Far East travel there annually to visit ancient Buddhist temples and monasteries.
Furthermore, for the past several years government authorities have been clamping down trying to stop the spread of Christianity. One official document actually called the problem "jidujiao-re" which translated means "Christianity fever."
Churches in China are producing materials for introducing frightened souls to the "Great Physician." Christian leaders report heightened interest in the gospel. They say that tens of thousands are committing themselves to Jesus Christ daily.
News:
Violence Increases Against Colombian Christians
by Deann Alford, COMPASS DIRECT
Military leaders in Colombia report that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has stepped up attacks against clergy.
Despite developments, both Catholic and Protestant church leaders say that more security from the police or army would place them in greater danger. Instead, they are asking for a peace accord to end the conflict.
Hector Pardo, president of the Evangelical Council of Colombia, said that increasing troop presence in churches would likely make them even bigger targets.
Monsignor Fabian Marulanda agrees. "More than protecting us, it would put us somewhat under scrutiny," said Marulanda, who is general secretary of the Roman Catholic Episcopal Conference in Bogotá. When a bishop is threatened, Marulanda said, the church does allow the state to provide discreet security measures.
A recent army report said that violence from armed groups has killed 56 Catholic clergy and religious leaders in the past 19 years. Of those murders, 14 occurred in the last four years, including 11 by the FARC, two by the National Liberation Army (ELN) and one by right-wing paramilitary groups.
Additionally, the report says, these groups have killed 39 Protestant pastors since 1984. That figure is almost certainly low due to the difficulty of tracking crime statistics in Colombia, which suffers the highest homicide rate in the Americas. Pardo told Compass that around 30 evangelical ministers were killed in 2002 alone.
Is violence against Christians rising?
"We believe it is," said Major José Espejo, director of the Colombian army's press office. He thinks it is because the church rejects violence and has spoken out against murders, extortion, kidnappings and attacks on communities carried out by the armed groups and their involvement in drug trafficking.
"They have a policy of remaining neutral in the conflict," Espejo said about evangelical Christians.
He said that persecution of evangelicals is high in the area designated a demilitarized zone for five years. Former President Andres Pastrana ceded the zone to the FARC in order to coax its leaders to peace talks.
In February 2002, peace talks broke down, and Pastrana ordered the army to reoccupy the demilitarized zone, sparking renewed violence against the civilian population. Guerrillas feared the peasant farmers they sought to control would join the church and refuse to support them, Espejo said.
A FARC attack on a Good Friday procession in Dolores, a town 125 miles south of Bogota, underscored the findings of the report. A soldier and two civilians, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed when some 15 assailants fired into the crowd.
The rise in anti-church violence comes amid a general increase in guerrilla activity.
"The church is practically the only institution with a presence all over the country, especially in the zones of greatest conflict," Marulanda said. He added that other sectors of society such as journalists and government leaders, "have paid their quota of deaths in this war."
News:
Pakistani Christian Gets Life Sentence for Blasphemy
by Barbara G. Baker, COMPASS DIRECT
A Pakistani Christian in his fifties has been sentenced to life in prison for committing blasphemy, allegedly by damaging a Muslim signboard during a funeral procession five years ago.
Although the final defense arguments for Masih had been completed before the court in the last week of March, Judge Rafique had postponed the verdict several times. When the judgment was finally announced on April 26th, the courtroom was reportedly filled with local Muslim activists and journalists.
The prosecution accused Masih of participating in a "violent Christian procession" and smashing a neon sign bearing the Muslim statement of faith on 8 May 1998, during funeral processions for Bishop John Joseph. Then Catholic bishop of Faisalabad, Bishop John committed suicide in front of the Faisalabad courthouse to protest the victimization of Christians under Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws.
According to defense attorney Tahir, Masih conducted himself "very boldly" at his trial, declaring confidently to the court, "I am innocent. I never did that."
Masih was tried under Section 295-C of the blasphemy law, which carries a mandatory death sentence for anyone convicted. Inexplicably, Judge Rafique instead handed down a life-sentence.
Now 55, Masih has been jailed without bail since his arrest nearly five years ago. "We have been keeping regular contact with Ranjha, to keep up his spirits," Catholic Bishop Joseph Coutts confirmed on April 28th from Faisalabad, where Masih is incarcerated in the Faisalabad Central Jail.
A simple bus hawker by occupation, Masih was a long-time personal friend of Bishop John. He and his wife, Rashidaan Bibi, have five sons, one daughter and several grandchildren.
In addition to Ranjha Masih, seven other Christians are currently jailed on blasphemy charges in Pakistan.
Three Pakistani Christians have been acquitted of false blasphemy charges in the past year, but all served long years in prison before their release. Ayub Masih spent nearly six years in jail, four of them on death row, before the Supreme Court overturned his conviction last August. Two brothers, Saleem and Rasheed Masih, were imprisoned nearly four years until the Lahore High Court announced their acquittal and release in March.
News:
Dubai Court Slaps Pastor for Proselytizing
by Barbara G. Baker, Compass Direct
Five months after the Rev. Fernando Alconga was arrested for giving a Bible and Christian literature to an Arab Muslim at a Dubai shopping center, a criminal court in the United Arab Emirates has declared the Filipino pastor guilty of "abusing Islam" and conducting Christian missionary activity.
However, in the verdict handed down on April 27, Chief Judge Mahmood Fahmi Sultan of the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance suspended Alconga's punishment, including a one-year prison sentence followed by mandatory deportation.
According to an article in the April 30 Gulf News, "the leniency was shown" because the court believed that "the 54-year-old would not repeat his crime."
An ordained Conservative Baptist minister, Alconga has pastored congregations in the UAE for the past nine years. He was arrested at the parking lot of Dubai's Al Bustan shopping center by plainclothes police on November 12th, one day after he had given a packet of Christian materials to a passerby in the same parking lot.
In formal charges filed against him, the prosecution declared that Alconga had committed a felony by "preaching other than the Islamic religion," as forbidden in Articles 121, 319 and 325 of the Federal Criminal Code.
The sole prosecution witness was an Egyptian Muslim who had accepted a Bible and packet of Christian materials from Alconga the day before his arrest. Although the witness had filed a complaint against Alconga to the local police, he testified at a February 16 hearing that he had known the materials were Christian in content and had accepted them willingly when Alconga offered them to him.
The UAE's penal code strictly prohibits non-Muslim missionary activities, including possession of any materials which oppose the "fundamental principles" of Islam among its citizens. But resident expatriates, who comprise eighty percent of the population, have been granted land and de facto recognition by the government to establish numerous Christian churches throughout the seven wealthy sheikhdoms.
News:
Iraqi Christians Face Rising Opposition
by Barbara G. Baker, Compass Direct
As the war began, Iraq's Christian minority feared more than bombs. They expected to become targets of a
growing tide of Islamic militancy.
Numbering less than 400,000, Iraq's Christian community is facing increasing discrimination by Islamist elements. The attacks have ranged from verbal abuse and graffiti campaigns to stone-throwing and even brutal assassinations.
Although Saddam Hussein initially kept religion out of Iraq's political life, he began encouraging devotion to Islam after the 1991 Gulf War, emblazoning the Muslim slogan "God is great" on the flag and claiming descent from the prophet's family. Four years ago, he launched a "faith campaign" revival, building mosques and religious schools.
In early March, local church leaders reported that anti-Christian rhetoric dominated Friday sermons in Baghdad's mosques. "Mohammed said to fight the infidels with everything you have," Abu Bakr al-Sammerai declared at the Abdel Qadr al-Gaylani mosque on March 7th.
Ignoring the government's previous rules on religious tolerance, other Muslim preachers urged their listeners to "fight the followers of the devil," openly labeling Christians (known locally as "Nazarenes") as "infidels."
The second week in March, Bishop Shlemon Warduni of the largest Christian denomination, the Chaldean Catholic Church, spoke with a New York Times reporter. The bishop had lodged an official objection with the Ministry of Religious Affairs over this blatant threat against the local Christian community.
"You have some mullahs denouncing the Crusaders and the infidels from the minaret, meaning us as the Christians here," Bishop Warduni protested. "The fanatics in Iraq are using it as an excuse to act against the Christians."
Dominated by Wahhabi zealots linked to Saudi Arabia's intolerant sect of Islam, the new breed of Iraqi Islamists has been blamed for a number of violent incidents across Iraq in the past year.
A Chaldean Catholic nun murdered on August 15th in her convent in central Baghdad had been executed in what local church sources described as "an Algerian-style Islamist killing." According to the medical examiner, the 70-year-old nun had been stripped naked and cruelly tortured for five hours before her throat was cut and she was beheaded.
In the northern city of Mosul, now a Wahhabi stronghold, local Christians have also reported growing harassment of their clergy and church communities. Some fifteen Christians were wounded in September when Islamist zealots stoned them coming out of church. Bishops and leading Christian families in the northern city have received letters telling them to convert to Islam, sometimes ith accompanying threats, other times offering them cash rewards.
Local nuns have been subjected to such abuse that some have stopped wearing their habits and many report that strangers on the street have ordered them to remove their crosses.
In mid February, a Kurdish Christian was publicly assassinated in Northern Iraq by a fanatical Muslim who claimed he was "fulfilling the will of Allah" by killing an apostate from Islam.
Iraq's Christian community, one of world's oldest, has shrunk from ten percent of the population twenty years ago to about 1.5 percent of the country's 24 million people today. The majority are Catholic or Orthodox, with several dozen evangelical congregations located mostly in larger urban areas.
News:
Saudi Authorities Jail Men for Christian Activities
by Barbara G. Baker, Compass Direct
Two African men jailed in Saudi Arabia's port city of Jeddah for "Christian activities" were told on May 12th that they would be deported back to their homelands of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Eritrean Girmaye Ambaye, 44, was arrested at his sponsor's office on March 25th. Ethiopian Endeshawe Adana Yizengaw, 32, was taken into custody on the street near his home on April 27th.
The two Christians have been jailed at the Bremen deportation center at Terhil, in the old sector of Jeddah. Both were active in the ministry of Jeddah's Ethiopian-Eritrean Christian congregation until their residence permits were revoked by the Saudi police, who then hunted them down and put them under arrest.
"The reason they are sending us back is that we are Christians," Yizengaw said. "We have been serving Jesus Christ here in Saudi Arabia."
On May 6th an official in the Ethiopian Consulate in Jeddah told the Christian advocacy group Middle East Concern (MEC) that Yizengaw had been arrested "because of his Christian activities."
Ambaye was approached on the morning of March 25th by two Eritrean men, who told him his sponsor wanted to speak with him. He accompanied them back to the sponsor's office, only to be arrested and taken to prison.
According to MEC, a month before his arrest, local police forced Ambaye to fingerprint and sign a document in Arabic. Although Ambaye has lived in Saudi Arabia for some twelve years, he does not read Arabic.
When Yizengaw managed to visit Ambaye in prison, Ambaye warned him that the Saudi authorities were asking about him. Shortly afterwards, a car dealer refused to transfer a car into Yizengaw's name, saying he had a "problem" with his residence permit. The Ethiopian checked with his sponsor's secretary, who confirmed that the police had cancelled Yizengaw's residence permit and were looking for him.
Police reportedly told Yizengaw's sponsor that the Ethiopian Christian was "suspected of involvement" in prostitution, selling alcohol and drugs, helping the U.S. government spread Christianity and trying to convert Muslims. However, none of the alleged charges are known to have been filed officially against Yizengaw.
According to Yizengaw himself, he was returning home from Orthodox Easter celebrations about 3 p.m. on the afternoon of April 27th when about fourteen Saudi policemen surrounded him on the street near his home. He said he was punched and hit during the arrest, and they searched his home and collected some of his books and cassettes before taking him away.
Authorities have kept Jeddah's Ethiopian-Eritrean congregation under surveillance since eleven of its members were among fourteen expatriate Christians jailed in the fall of 2001. At least a dozen members have been warned to stop participating.
Resource:
Evangelical Missions Information Service Offers Collection of Articles on Reaching Muslims in North America
This book titled The Gospel for Islam: Reaching Muslims in North America reveals the insights and experiences of leaders who gathered together last year to explore issues in witnessing to Muslims. These leaders wanted to:
- understand Islam better
- network ideas, resources, and people
- examine working outreach models
- identify strengths and needs
- the state of Islam in North America
- Islam's agenda in North America
- issues of Muslim background believers
- presenting the gospel to Muslims
- use of hospitality
- ministry to refugees
- role of friendship
- ministry to international students
- place of interfaith dialog
phone: 1-630-752-7158
fax: 1-630-752-7155
e-mail: emis@wheaton.edu
Opportunity:
Volunteer Teachers Needed in Northern Iraq
A special chance to serve the people of Iraq exists in teaching at Christian schools that have both Muslim and Christian students. The students include children of top leaders who are influential in the society.
Needed are mature Christians with a college degree, flexibility, and a heart for the people, willing to stay for one year. Teaching experience is helpful but not required. The educational system will be taught to those who go.
Volunteers need to raise personal support, as well as attend an extensive six to eight week training program. Visas to enter northern Iraq are difficult to obtain; therefore people should be prepared to enter as soon as visas are granted.
For more information contact:
1-800-966-5515
info@partnersintl.org
Opportunity:
Pen-Pal Program Reaches Turkish Youth
Most Turks misunderstand the gospel because they've never even known a single Christian in their entire lives.
Through letters to teachers in Turkish schools, Pen Friends recruits students who want to correspond in English. Most are between the ages of thirteen and twenty and are eager to hear from adults and teens in other lands. Pen Friends occasionally has interested Turkish teachers and university students as well.
Pen Friends tries to match Turkish students with Christians who have similar interests. They often have more Turkish students to assign than Christian youth, so adults are also welcome to join the program.
Volunteers must be at least eleven years old to participate, unless they are assisted by an adult. Males are assigned to males, and females are assigned to females. Correspondence may be by post or by e-mail.
For More Information:
Pen Friend Coordinator
508 Fruitvale Court
Grand Junction, CO 81504
e-mail: postalfriends@cs.com
phone: 1-970-434-1942