OMF Millions May Aug 2012

May – Aug 2012

MILLIONS

Not One Forgotten

People

Places

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Lang Lang China’s neglected people

Japan Iwate one year on

Resource Mission DNA

Bringing hope to hard places

People

We serve the church and seek to bring the gospel to all the peoples of East Asia. We help place Christians with professional skills in China and other Asian countries, and share the love of Christ with East Asians worldwide.

Through God’s grace we aim to see an indigenous, biblical church planting movement in each people group of East Asia, evangelising their own people and reaching out in mission to other peoples.

AUSTRALIA 18-20 Oxford Street Epping New South Wales 2121 Tel +61 2 9868 4777 Fax +61 2 9868 5743 au@omfmail.com

UNITED STATES 10 West Dry Creek Circle Littleton CO 80120-4413 Tel 1 800 422 5330 (US) Tel +1 303 730 4160 Fax +1 303 730 4165 omfus@omf.org

MALAYSIA 3a Jalan Nipah Off Jalan Ampang 55000 Kuala Lumpur Tel +60 3 4257 4263 Fax +60 3 4251 4313 my.cd@omfmail.com

INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS 2 Cluny Road Singapore 259570 Tel +65 6319 4550 Fax +65 6472 2398 ihq@omfmail.com www.omf.org

SINGAPORE 2 Cluny Road Singapore 259570 Tel +65 6510 3130 Fax +65 6474 0727 sno@omfmail.com

Editor: Tony Waghorn Design: Sparks-Studio.com Print: www.printd.com.au Cover image: Zoë Barker

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People People

Places

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Lang Lang Hope in the Red Light District

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Japan Step by Step: Ippo Ippo

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Xu Wei Introducing the Good Shepherd

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12 Thailand Drowned Homes but Hopes Alive

Mie Mie God of the speechless

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Praying for Encouragement Resource

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16 Mission DNA Six ideas to transform your church

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People

China’s Neglected People Following our theme of ‘Not One Forgotten’, here are two accounts of neglected minorities from the new ‘China Stories’ prayer guide.

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Lang Lang had dropped out of school and had come to the city to find work.

Her friend, also a dropout from her home village, offered her an attractive opportunity; an easy job earning a good salary. It was too much for Lang Lang to pass up. She was 15 years old and so far her job search had been futile.

She was hungry and desperate, and so she went with her friend to work in the ‘massage parlour’ – a brothel.

Lang Lang soon realised her new job was not what her friend made it out to be. She and the other girls at the brothel did earn double what they would as salespersons, but by giving up their bodies. The money was earned at a great cost.

One day, she could stand it no longer, and ran out of the parlour and into the street shouting, ‘I’ve had enough!’

An angry customer and her boss followed, berating her and making threats.

Walking by at that moment was Sherry, who helps run a Christian shelter and jewellery-making business, employing girls and giving them a way out of prostitution.

Sherry hugged Lang Lang and whispered, ‘If you don’t want to work here, you have a choice. I can give you a job.’

Two months later, and despite some setbacks, Lang Lang was making beautiful jewellery at a table in the workroom, and feeling safe. She had already received counselling and medical treatment to help recover from a sexually-transmitted disease. She’s started studying the Bible daily, and is saving her money so she can go back to school one day.

The long-term goal of the shelter is to help girls recover mentally, physically and spiritually from the effects of prostitution. After two years in the shelter, the girls are encouraged to start a new life on their own, either using their jewellery-making skills or through finding another job. They may also go out with a new-found hope in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

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Prayer Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:17 • Ask for God’s favour and blessing on this shelter, that it would be used by him to rescue many girls from a life of prostitution.

• Pray for girls already involved in or considering prostitution. Help them see the dangers and long term effects and find hope in Jesus.

• Pray for those who benefit from prostitution and exploitation in China to repent and be changed by the gospel.

• Pray for more creative strategies, like the jewellery business, in reaching out to women and children at risk in China.

Now available: China Stories, A Prayer Guide.

A series of stories of hope and need in China, buy the guide and join God’s work in this Asian giant.

Contact your local OMF centre to order.

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‘The view from the mountain is beautiful, but the climb is difficult,’ Xu Wei reflected as he laboured up the mountainside to his home village.

The combined effects of old age and a childhood case of polio that left him lame in one leg made the journey especially arduous.

Xu Wei belongs to one of China’s minority people groups, and has lived all his life in a remote mountain village in western China. He is poor and illiterate, just like all the other adults in the village. Some of the children – who may attend school up to third grade in a nearby village – can read a little.

One day a group of Chinese and foreign visitors came to Xu Wei’s village and offered help. With one of the greatest needs being literacy, the Chinese – at the request of the village’s leader – started a weekly class teaching the villagers how to read Mandarin. Every weekend, the team traversed up the mountain to teach these classes, spending the night in the village.

The team also started a sheep loan project for the village. As the people in the village raised the sheep, they could keep any lambs born and sell them for income.

Xu Wei and the other villagers began caring for the sheep on the plentiful grazing land around them.

The bond between the villagers and team grew, and the quality of life in the village improved. Over time, the team shared why they wanted to help the people of the village. They were compelled to do good to others because of God’s love for them, and all people. They shared stories from their holy book, the Bible, about a Saviour named Jesus. They sometimes prayed to Jesus for Xu Wei and other sick or ailing members of the village.

Amazingly, Xu Wei’s leg began feeling better.

Xu Wei found the message intriguing. The visitors gave him a copy of the Jesus film, which he watched intently, and repeatedly, memorising large portions of it.

He even wondered if the movie’s message was true – that Jesus really was God and the Saviour of the world.

Prayer “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”

Matthew 25:40 • Ask for God to grant those involved in community development in China compassion, creativity and wisdom in providing long-term viable aid.

• Pray for open doors to share the gospel in impoverished and overlooked communities. May people’s hearts be soft toward the life-giving message of God’s grace.

• Pray for development and relief efforts on the part of Christian workers to be effective in alleviating poverty and improving the quality of life for those they serve.

People

God of the speechless ‘If I stay at home and care for her, we won’t eat. And if I go out to find work, who will look after her?’ A tearful mother and her only child sat on the bamboo platform outside their one-roomed shack in a village in the central plains.

At nine years old, Mie Mie should have been in school, but she was so disabled she could not even move her arms and legs, or make any sound.

The whole team felt the sense of helplessness, as the cause of her disability was unknown and unlikely to respond to physical therapy or medication. With heavy hearts we moved on, with a promise to return after a few months.

Yet He sees. He remembers. He hears speech never uttered, prayers made with no sound.

Returning a few months later, we couldn’t find Mie Mie at first. Having expected to see her on her bamboo platform, we were amazed to find her walking – unsteadily, but with purpose. Her mother came rushing across, her eyes flowing with tears. ‘I have got my daughter back,’ she exclaimed. When I asked the staff what they had done, they shrugged and said ‘well we did some exercises, and set up some parallel bars… And we prayed for her as well’. This time we moved on with joy – all amazed at what we had just seen.

In our country, there are over a quarter of a million children with disabilities, and very few facilities where they can get help. Over the past few years, we have been able to open a network of rehabilitation centres where disabled children and adults can receive physical therapy, wheelchairs and crutches, and help with education and job skills, as well as being linked with other people with disabilities in their area. But big gaps remain; there are no trained speech and language therapists, no occupational therapists, no special needs teachers, and no programmes to help people with mental health problems. There are so many who cannot express their desires and needs, their hopes and dreams.

We need more who will hear the song of the speechless, who can offer voice, hope and dignity – and good news to those living in shadow.

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People

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By Laura-Jane Meas

Places

Step by Step: Ippo Ippo Iwate one year on On 11 March 2011, eight hundred of Yamada’s residents lost their lives. The town centre was gutted by water, then fire. The impact is still obvious: its 49 temporary housing areas now accommodate around 6000 of its 17,000 residents.

The OMF Iwate Relief Project’s focus has recently shifted to the town of Yamada which is a 30-minute drive south from the base originally established in Miyako last summer.

During the past months the OMF team have made many visits to the temporary housing areas, bringing encouragement through community activities – crafts, Christmas parties and hot meals. They have delivered small electric blankets and cushioned hand-made chairs which add a touch of homeliness to the rather spartan interior of the tiny prefabricated houses. Thinking beyond material comfort, the team also produced a leaflet about the ‘God of Hope’, which many survivors have now received.

‘Ippo Ippo Yamada’ is the name chosen for a soon-tobe-built prefabricated building which will be a centre for the OMF Iwate Relief Team’s ministry.

A year on, day-by-day and ‘ippo-ippo’ – step by step, the journey through loss, trauma and grief toward restoration continues. US OMFers Mike and Rowena McGinty are working in the area with with Japanese coworkers Hidetaka Hidetaka and Sanae Honma.

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The Lord has also recently moved Pastor and Mrs Takahashi to join the team and work in Kamaishi, a 45 minute drive further south from Yamada. At some point it is hoped that a ‘Step by Step Kamaishi’ can also come into being there.

Rowena McGinty visits tsunami survivors on an almost-daily basis. As the anniversary of 11 March 2011 approached, she says, people needed to retell their survival stories: ‘Last week one grandmother told me that her grandson carried her on his back. Today they look at each other and wonder how they ever had the strength to do that. If it was today he could never carry her. People speak of a strange strength to escape the water or fires on that day. I think they are wondering why they survived.

For me, I wonder, if God allowed them to be saved from that freezing water – (several have talked about water up to their necks), and ensuing fires - he also wants them to be saved spiritually.’

OMF’s relief focus in Iwate has been about helping rebuild people’s lives and communities through community cafés, which continue to provide survivors with a safe place to unburden.

Often there is a word of encouragement, a conversation with a Christian volunteer, a book taken from the bookstall, a hymn sung together. Some ask about God.

Places

Profile: Ho, Laura-Jane & Joseph Meas Returned for summer 2011 to help set up the OMF work in Miyako.

‘The forests are longing for the sea; the sea is longing for the forest.’

One lady who first met Christian volunteers last summer recently talked with Rowena about why Jesus had to die. Another grandmother and daughter who prayed to receive Christ last summer have been studying the Bible with Rowena and Sanae every week.

Although the 9.0 earthquake last year caused most damage along the north-east coast of Japan, the impact on the whole nation has been monumental.

For the Japanese church nation-wide, what has changed during the past year? Pastor Takahashi recently noted some ways the Lord has been obviously at work.

Walls have come down between brothers and sisters in Christ, as churches have worked together to bring relief.

Until recently, many Japanese Christians had also felt unable to cross barriers to engage meaningfully with local communities, but over the past year, many Japanese Christians have volunteered to serve the people of Iwate – a region which is seriously under-represented in terms of Christian witness.

A further touch of God has been experienced by the Japanese church, which has often felt rather isolated, as they have seen how the body of Christ worldwide responded to Japan with real demonstrations of Christian love.

An Iwate aquaculture farmer and conservationist, Hatakeyama, has a rather poetic catchphrase: ‘The forests are longing for the sea; the sea is longing for the forest.’

Believing that good upstream forest management is key to the revival of the ocean, he sees this time of rebuilding from scratch as an unprecedented window of ecological opportunity for restoration in Japan.

OMF Japan workers: 131

OMF Workers in Iwate:

2 (plus 4 Japanese coworkers)

This time in Japan’s history is crucial for the ocean and forests, but this is also true for the kingdom of God in Japan. Whilst responding urgently to the crisis, OMF recognises that recovery needs to be sustainable and integrated with God’s work across the nation. As we pray for the tsunami victims and ‘downstream’ churches in the devastated areas, it is also important to remember to keep praying for healthy church developments ‘upstream’.

Can you hear it? ‘Ippo, Ippo’. A step at a time. It is the sound of Japanese footsteps on the road to recovery and to Christ.

Prayer • We can be thankful that God is placing his people along the Iwate coastline as representatives and witnesses of His grace, love, and salvation.

• Praise him for the positive, active response of God’s people to the crisis so far.

• Watch go.omf.org/iwatevideo and pray for the team.

• Let’s also pray that God will continue to call people to work with the OMF Iwate team, with heart and hands ready for practical relief, and a vision to bring the hope and light of the gospel to spiritually needy people.

• Don’t forget to pray for God’s work in church fellowships the length and breadth of Japan – for spiritual life that will result in streams of living water flowing out to people and places desperately in need of the Lord.

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People PLACES

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Drowned Homes but Hopes Alive in Bangkok

By Jeff Callow

My wife Belinda and I followed the news of the recent Bangkok floods closely, feeling especially horrified by the pictures we saw posted on Facebook by friends. I felt that God was calling me to get involved, but couldn’t see what I could do. We live in South Thailand, such a long way from Bangkok. Early in November one of our close missionary friends, Marten Visser, shared photos and stories on Facebook about the flood relief he and his co-workers were doing.

‘Is there anything we can do to help?’ Belinda asked him.

‘Yes, come and help us!’ came his reply.

Marten, we learned, had been receiving donations from his home country, the Netherlands, and needed help to deliver this relief to the people affected. He was already doing this on the east side of Bangkok, but had no one to work with on the west side. I discussed my desire to go and help with our team in Pak Phanang (Nakhon Si Thammarat province in South Thailand) and discovered that two other team members - Sue Ambler and Steve McCallum - were having similar thoughts. So after a few days of deliberation and preparation, the three of us set off for Bangkok.

One of the first things we A report of our involvement discovered was the extent of false in flood relief in Bangkok information and rumours that were in November 2011. circulating about the situation in Bangkok. ‘There’s hardly any drinking water and food available,’ and ‘Buy a boat in South Thailand, because there’s none available here,’

were some of the things we had heard. Having suitably equipped ourselves with food, water and a boat, we arrived in Bangkok to discover that only half the city was under water and life was going on as usual in the dry parts of town.

We were put in contact with Bang Mot Church on the western side of the city. This church had received donations of vegetables and rice, and were cooking meals and delivering them into flooded communities. They had just run out of cash and the supplies to continue this ministry when we contacted them. Pastor Ponlawat of Bang Mot Church, had not even had a vehicle and had been asking other churches for assistance to help deliver this food. All of us marvelled at God’s timing of our arrival.

The flood relief packages arrived within 24 hours of our arrival in Bangkok, in the form of a truck loaded with ‘care bags’. Each bag contained rice, cooking oil, dry and tinned foods, as well as other daily necessities such as tissues and toothpaste.

With the help of the Bang Mot Church, the truck was unloaded and the bottom floor of the little church was filled with the evidence of God’s love which was to be poured out on the people of western Bangkok.

Pastor Ponlawat had spent hours on the phone, talking with churches in flooded communities on the western side of Bangkok, in order to find which places had the greatest need, and which churches could help with the distribution.

After a time of worship on Sunday morning, more meals were made with the final remnants of rice and vegetables, and we were ready to head out on Monday morning.

We travelled through the communities in my pickup truck and another belonging to a church member. At each place we discovered that other charities had been in the area, using army trucks to distribute assistance. However, these big trucks couldn’t fit down the long, narrow laneways and thus stopped at the mouth of each lane to distribute goods. (Some of these lanes, called “sois”, were over 2 kilometres long.) Those who lived down the end of the soi weren’t reached, and those who lived near the main roads often received multiple packages and hoarded them.

Very quickly we stumbled on an important strategy that we were to follow all that week - to drive as far as possible

into these areas and then, if the water became too deep, to load up the boats we had with us with goods and wade or paddle further into the flooded communities.

The appreciation and excitement shown by the recipients was very evident. Many of these people had been out of work for a month due to the flooding and some were finding it hard to get just one decent meal per day. At each place we would simply say we were Christians and had brought the bags as God’s blessing to the local people.

After an intense week, we enjoyed a last wonderful meal with the rest of the church team and then headed back south, in need of sleep, but with many good memories and some new friends to keep in touch with.

We had learned some valuable lessons as well. We learned that collecting information is just as important as collecting supplies. The better informed we were, the more effectively we could distribute the goods we had.

We also learned the importance of flexibility.

Our plans changed every few hours, and I was particularly impressed with my co-workers in the way they gracefully responded to all these changes.

The third lesson was the value of intentional, anticipatory prayer.

Every day we met with many situations that could have had serious repercussions towards the team and our equipment. Instead of worrying about these, we covered every known risk and danger with prayer, and the Lord didn’t let us down.

We distributed care bags to around 800 families, which represented only a small part of their needs. We ourselves played only a small part in an enormous task being carried out by many different organisations and government agencies. But the real help we gave was much greater than the physical assistance. We hope we showed each family that they weren’t suffering alone – that God really cared for them. Most of those communities are dry now, and they are cleaning up and rebuilding their homes.

My prayer is that, through our care and help, they will remember the God that cares for them and that doors will be open to the ministry of each local church in each of those communities.

Many thanks go to those from around the world who gave generously to the flood relief work in Central Thailand and Bangkok.

‘Many of these people had been out of work for a month due to the flooding.’

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participate

Prayers as Encouragement Idea: Encourage your Mission partners by praying for them, and telling them what you prayed for.

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‘We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.’

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 ‘One of the remarkable characteristics of Paul’s prayers is the large proportion of space devoted to praying for others’ says Don Carson in A Call to Spiritual Reformation.

Carson goes on to outline the different types of Paul’s prayers. There are prayers, prayer wishes (such as ‘May the God of all peace do ...’), exhortations to pray and another that we sometimes neglect - prayer reports (telling people what he is praying for them).

We listen carefully to the missionaries’ letter, read the prayer points and pray earnestly that God’s kingdom may be established, but then skip over something that may have a wonderful added impact.

Paul continues in his prayer ministry, after he’s finished praying for the Thessalonians, by writing and telling them exactly what he’s been praying for. It must have been a great blessing for them to hear that Paul’s prayers for them had been frequent, and that he is encouraged by their faith, growth and work in Christ.

This prayer time idea gets you doing this work of encouragement as a group, spurring mission workers on with our ‘prayer reports’ to them.

You’ll need • Post-it notes, pens • Bibles • A map of the country you are praying for (ask your OMF office) • A large envelope and stamps • Millions magazine • Video clips: www.vimeo.com/omfmedia • Prayer letters and prayer guides • Coffee and cakes (optional, but important!)

Profile: Chris & Sarah Keiller 2nd year language learners and part of the Thai church-planting team in Singburi.

OMF Workers in Singburi: 5

Christians in Thailand: 0.56%

From the prayer group’s perspective

Can you tell us how any of those prayers have been answered?

'So ….today we met at 11am. We had coffee on arrival and an opportunity to see some video clips. Then we separated to go wherever we felt comfortable to pray privately.

The Millions magazine was available, as was the Thai Tempo, the latest prayer letter from the OMF workers, Bibles, post-it notes and pens.

We asked if people would like to write a word of encouragement, a verse or a prayer for our workers, whatever we felt God was saying.

The post-its were then placed on the map of Thailand.

The map and notes have since been posted to Thailand …hopefully our workers there will be encouraged.'

Some of these prayers were reminders of God’s promises to give His peace and strength, particularly as we have been going through the transition from language school into a ministry-setting where everything is done in Thai; we have known God’s faithfulness in answering these prayers, in what has been quite a big adjustment for us.

We would love to see more and more people praying for Thailand and for God to move among the people here.

So these prayer notes themselves are an answer to prayer!

From the missionaries’ perspective How did it feel when you received the prayer time notes?

We often find it hard to be in touch with prayer partners personally, so to receive this very personal demonstration of prayer support was a special blessing. It was an extra treat to receive something in the post!

Is there anything you would say to encourage prayer supporters to keep going?

We would like to encourage prayer supporters that even if you only hear news through more general updates, your prayer support is extremely precious to those you are praying for. Even just a short message to say you are remembering someone or a specific situation in prayer, can be a real encouragement and blessing to those working away from friends and family.

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Profile: Global Connections

People participate

Global Connections are a UK based network who seek to serve, equip and develop churches in their mission in order to fulfil our shared vision of ‘Mission at the heart of the Church, the Church at the heart of mission’.

Mission DNA

www.globalconnections.co.uk

Six ideas to transform your church 1

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The world starts here

Affirm existing links

Find out about local communities

Regardless of where we live or what our occupation is, all Christians are full-time mission workers. So why not celebrate and emphasise this? Also avoid the common barrier of the secular/spiritual divide – what belongs to God and what is ours?

The Great Divide, produced by the LICC, is an excellent booklet on this subject and includes study questions for home groups.

See: www.licc.org.uk/the-great-divide

Find out more about places church members are going with their jobs, longterm mission, short-term mission trips or while studying. This could include interviewing members of the congregation with connection to the area. The Global Connectors World Prayer Map website www.worldprayermap.co.uk is regularly updated with prayer points for countries around the world and Operation World is an excellent prayer resource.

What different communities are there in your area? Why not find out more about these groups with a view to future outreach or at least informed prayer?

Your research might include interviewing members of the congregation with links to particular communities, contacting other churches or mission agencies with experience of working with similar people groups, or simply encouraging the congregation to get to know their neighbours.

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Integrate!

Invest in partnerships

Equip the congregation

Ensure that the world is central to church life and mission is not marginalised: • Involve the church leadership – the world needs to be part of the church’s vision.

• Include world prayer in other prayer opportunities rather than just having separate mission prayer meetings.

• Avoid a separate world mission budget that only enthusiasts give to.

• Ensure that special mission events are not the only way mission is promoted as that can cause mission issues to be put off until the next mission event.

Partnerships can often be developed naturally out of existing connections within the congregation. Alternatively, why not ‘twin’ your church with a church in another part of the world? You could hold a twinning event to launch the partnership and pray for them regularly and encourage people in the congregation to write – especially if they know the language. Eventually this could lead to each church planning a team visit to the other.

Teaching programmes need to include world and mission issues and celebrate what God is doing. More specifically, Kairos (www.kairoscourse.org) is a really helpful tool, both for broadening people’s view of mission and helping them discern their own place in the mission of God. This article first appeared in the Deceber 2011 issue of Sphere, a publication of Global Connections