There is a Fountain filled with Living Water that is our Gateway to God! Serving the Christian Community with Love & Commitment.
A MINISTRY OF ACTION, COMMITMENT AND DISCIPLESHIP BASED ON THE WHOLE WORD OF GOD.
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There is a Fountain filled with Living Water that is our Gateway to God! Serving the Christian Community with Love & Commitment. A MINISTRY OF ACTION, COMMITMENT AND DISCIPLESHIP BASED ON THE WHOLE WORD OF GOD.
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Serving The Christian Community With Love and Commitment. Welcome to missions article page
3 of The Fountain Gateway. Below you will find recent articles concerning
missionaries or from missionaries around the world. Please read what they
have to say and "we ask" that you be in prayer about what they request!
This is as God would have us to do. Thank You from the webmaster Mark K.
Doty. If you have a missionary article or concern that you would like to
have posted here please contact the webmaster at the following email address:
tfg@fountaingateway.com. All Linked Scripture is courtesy of The Blue Letter Bible or the World Wide Study Bible!
The
Unfinished Task: Loving the Lost -- #1 When is our assignment as God's
people complete?
Task: a piece of work assigned to or demanded of a person; an undertaking involving labor or difficulty. Unfinished: Not completed or perfected; incomplete. What is our task as God's people? To love Him, obey Him -- and proclaim His blessed name among all peoples (Matt. 28:19). The church's primary task, then, is a God-given missionary assignment: Make disciples among all the nations. This task belongs to every Christian, not just missionaries. The ways we participate -- prayer, volunteer service, short-term or career missionary service, financial support -- may vary, but the task is for all. Until we join God in His task, we are modern-day Jonahs -- and modern-day Ninevehs remain lost in darkness. We have made great progress. When William Carey, "the father of modern missions," left for India more than 200 years ago, evangelical Christianity had penetrated only a few people groups outside Europe and North America. Today, Christian disciples among thousands of groups have the resources to evangelize their own people. More than 4,700 Southern Baptist missionaries and an army of short-term volunteers labor with millions of international partners to lift up Christ's name. But are we finishing the task? Not when more than 2,000 entire "nations" (ethnolinguistic groups) containing 1.7 billion people -- nearly a third of the human race -- have had virtually no chance to hear the gospel in any form. Not when another 4,000-plus groups totaling 1.3 billion people lack a self-sustaining church movement, and an additional 1.5 billion people may have "heard" the gospel -- but not clearly enough to understand it. Not when less than 3 percent of Southern Baptist church offerings reach beyond our own borders. Not when reaching all peoples remains the lowest priority in the majority of Southern Baptist churches -- when it is given any priority at all. Not when fewer than 5,000 of 15.7 million Southern Baptists currently take the task seriously enough to give their lives to long-term international missionary service. But imagine a day when tens of thousands of Southern Baptist churches become committed to God's mission, not their own programs. Imagine every church member becoming fully mobilized to reach the nations. Imagine all kinds of creative church-missionary partnerships, specifically tailored for individual congregations and designed to reach whole peoples overseas. Imagine 15,000 career missionaries (still fewer than one for every 1,000 Southern Baptists) targeting every unreached people group without ignoring responsive areas. Imagine 50,000 volunteers each year (little more than one per church). Imagine 1,000 Southern Baptist college graduates heading abroad every year for two years of mission service. Imagine even high school graduates serving for a year before they make decisions that will shape the rest of their lives. It could happen. It is happening in churches infected with God's vision. It will happen before Jesus returns in glory. But only we can decide whether it will happen among us, or if God will have to seek obedient servants elsewhere. Jesus' said, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come" (Matt. 24:14) His Word will come to pass -- when the task is finished!
The Unfinished
Task: Loving the Lost #2 How much do we care? How much do we love
Jesus?
God is at work in unprecedented ways to win and disciple the nations and complete the unfinished task of the Great Commission. Nations and people groups previously unreached are being penetrated with the gospel. The spiritual darkness is being dispelled. As our witness extends to the ends of the earth, churches are planted with a passion that results in church-planting movements. But it begins with love for those who are lost. The cry of the people who don't yet know God has provided a Savior is that of the disciples on the storm-tossed sea, "Carest thou not that we perish?" Do we care that 1.7 billion people haven't yet heard the gospel? Do we care that multitudes locked in bondage to hopeless religious traditions are bound for hell? Before Jesus commanded us to "go," He commanded us to love the Lord our God and our neighbor as ourselves. Then He explained that our "neighbor" isn't necessarily someone like us, but includes those who are ethnically different. We cannot truly profess to love God without loving others. If we are to be faithful and obedient in reaching the nations, we must not be motivated by guilt or obligation, but by our love for the lost and desire for them to know our God, who alone is worthy of their praise and worship. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:14 (NIV), "Christ's love compels us." Loving the lost means a heart of sorrow for those who do not know Jesus. We must see them as God sees them -- alienated from God, without hope, wandering as sheep without a shepherd. Our hearts should be as broken and grieved as Gods heart is for a lost world. Loving the lost also means a life of sacrifice. John 3:16 (KJV) tells us that "God so loved the world, that he gave." Jesus said in John 15:13 (NASB), "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." Love means to devote yourself to the needs, the welfare and the happiness of the beloved. If we love the lost, we will give ourselves to them. The opposite of love is to live for yourself. All peoples of the world could hear the gospel if more of us were willing to give our lives in sacrificial service rather than hold onto our own plans and desires. If more Christians sacrifice time to pray for the nations and give sacrificially of their accumulated wealth, the Great Commission can be fulfilled. God gave His only Son as a sacrifice. What are we willing to give? Finally, loving the lost becomes a means of salvation for the multitudes. When we are motivated by a broken heart for the lost and are willing to sacrifice our money and our lives to share the gospel to the ends of the earth, we become the means through which the lost can find salvation in Jesus Christ. After His resurrection, Jesus asked Peter three times, "Do you love me?" When he said yes, Jesus responded, "Feed my sheep." Jesus is asking us, "Do you love me?" If we can say yes, surely He
is saying, "Then love the lost, feed them with the gospel; be My witnesses
... to the uttermost ends of the earth."
The Unfinished Task: Loving the Lost #3 Do you believe praying makes a difference? By Wanda Lee Do you believe that praying for Week of Prayer missionaries makes a difference? Consider Cheryl Derbyshire, who serves in Thailand. She was featured in the 1998 Week of Prayer for International Missions emphasis. She credits that prayer effort on her behalf with bringing 500 people to her annual Christmas program. She wrote in the September 1999 issue of "Missions Mosaic," "I want your prayer warriors to know what they did for me and the work here in Thailand." Cheryl's testimony is commonplace among missionaries. They always express appreciation for the prayer support of members of Woman's Missionary Union. A few years ago, an international missionary told the WMU Executive Board during a gathering, "If WMU ever stops praying for missionaries, I'm coming home." Praying for our missionaries and giving of our resources to aid in the work of overseas missions is at the heart of who we are in WMU. While it is a daily activity for most of our members, once a year we seek to draw the attention of our entire congregation to focus on international missions. We call it the Week of Prayer for International Missions and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. WMU's commitment to overseas missions began with their love for Lottie Moon, who served as a Southern Baptist missionary to China 1873-1912. When WMU was founded in 1888, one of its first actions was to establish an offering goal of $2000 to send two missionaries to help Lottie in China. Over $3000 was received in that first-ever Christmas offering; enough to send three missionaries. While money is vital for the ongoing work overseas, missionaries consistently say the thing they need most is prayer. Scripture supports their requests with the words of James: "The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective" (Ja. 5:16 NRSV). Mildred McMurray wrote in her book, Spiritual Life Development, "Informed women are inspired women who become influential Christians." WMU's magazine, Missions Mosaic, informs you about the needs of the unreached people groups in our world and those who are ministering among them. Praying "God bless the missionaries" once you are informed is not specific enough to open these dark places to the light of Jesus Christ. It will take informed, inspired praying to reach our world with the message of salvation. As you participate in the Week of Prayer events and personal prayer times, would you pray consistently for those working among the unreached people groups? Ask God to grant them an abundance of patience and creativity as they try to establish a credible witness with their group. Ask God to protect them and support them in the difficult places. Also pray for the people they are trying to reach. Ask God to create openness to the gospel in their hearts. Pray that the Bible and the "Jesus" film will be available in their language so they may know for themselves that God loves them and has a purpose for their lives. Your informed prayers for missions could be the inspiration you need
to give sacrificially this season.
'Death camps' need prayer, Burundi missionary says By Mark Kelly BUJUMBURA, Burundi (BP) -- A Southern Baptist missionary has issued an urgent call to prayer for hundreds of thousands of people in Burundi trapped in squalid camps without food, shelter or sanitation. As many as 800,000 Hutu civilians have been forced into the detention camps outside the capital, Bujumbura. Burundi's Tutsi-dominated government hopes the strategy will stymie attacks by Hutu rebels entrenched around the city. Southern Baptist missionary David Brandon says many observers consider the settlements to be little more than death camps. "Starvation is a reality, diseases are increasing and thousands of people are lying in a fetal position, waiting to die," Brandon said. "Humanitarian aid organizations are not doing anything because of the United Nations killings." Brandon referred to an Oct. 12 attack in which two U.N. aid officials were killed while visiting a detention camp southeast of the capital. While the government blamed the attack on Hutu rebels, others believe it was an assassination coordinated by the Tutsi-dominated military to force aid agencies to leave and put more pressure on the rebels. The United Nations drastically reduced its staff in Burundi after the attack and aid groups like Doctors Without Borders suspended their operations as well. Brandon found himself frustrated and helpless as multitudes of defenseless people starved to death in camps to which he had no access. "People have been surviving by selling anything they can to get food money and, more recently, by stealing from local fields or from others in the camps," said Brandon, who was appointed by the International Mission Board as an agricultural evangelist to Burundi in 1990. "Now the rainy season has started, which will drastically increase dysentery and cholera and weaken everyone, as most have no shelter whatsoever." With $5,000 from Southern Baptist hunger and relief resources, Brandon aided a few families suffering in the camps before he was forced to leave the country Nov. 12 because of unrelated visa complications. He and his family have taken up temporary residence in Nairobi, Kenya. Working through local Christians, some of whom were themselves detained in the camps, Brandon supplied food and malaria medicine to about 220 destitute families in three weeks before he and his wife, Cathy, were forced to leave the country. "We heard several stories about how people were praising God for delivering them from starvation. Some of them hadn't had any food in three days," Brandon said. "It wasn't easy to leave, knowing their situation was not improved, but it made a significant impression on hopeless people and gave newcomers enough food to live on for at least 10 days. "The greatest value, however, was in the empowerment of the local Christians to help," he added. "They were only a step above the families they helped in terms of food security. They often are faced with tough choices in helping others when they themselves have no surplus. They were very joyful to have the responsibility and ability to help." The current atrocity in Burundi recalls the 1994 genocide of 500,000 Tutsis in neighboring Rwanda. Fearing the domination of the minority Tutsi tribe and angered by the assassination of the country's Hutu president, Rwandan Hutus launched a genocidal campaign that ended only after a Tutsi military force drove the Hutu government into exile. Fearing retaliation for the genocide, more than 2 million Rwandan Hutus fled into neighboring countries. Now the Tutsi-led government and military in Burundi have placed hundreds of thousands of Hutu lives in danger as they try to counter the siege Hutu rebels have set against the capital city. The turmoil in both countries reflects a bitter, centuries-old rivalry between Nilotic tribes of northeastern Africa and Bantu tribes of southeastern Africa, says David Garrison, the International Missions Board's associate vice president for strategy coordination and mobilization. The same tribal rivalries also fuel the regional war boiling in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). More than 200,000 Burundian Hutus, many of them educated leaders, died in massacres in the early 1970s. A second genocide that claimed 150,000 Hutu lives swept the country in 1993 after Tutsi paratroopers assassinated the country's first democratically elected president, a Hutu. The 400,000 Hutus who then fled into Rwanda set the stage for the Rwanda genocide the next year. "This is an African race war between Bantu and Nilotic races," Garrison said. "The atrocities in the region reveal the depravity that lurks just below the surface of us all." The conflicts also reveal the destructive power of Satan and the futility of cultural Christianity to change people's lives, Garrison said. "The wife of the former Rwandan Hutu president reportedly was practicing black magic and many believe she stimulated much of the genocide there," Garrison said. "And the vast majority of the people involved on both sides of the conflict are nominal Christians. They were baptized as infants but never have experienced the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. "The frightening thing is that we've seen atrocities like this all over the world in the 20th century," he added. "The overwhelming lesson I see is that the people who do things like this are just like us. We're all only a step or two away from this insanity." The fact that Western governments and the mass media largely are ignoring these people's plight means large-scale public pressure won't be brought to bear on the Burundi government - and the people will continue to suffer, Brandon said. "It's just obvious that the whole situation is too evil for the West to get involved in," he said. "Plus, they have no political or economic reason to get involved. The media look the other way in disgust." The concerted prayers of God's people may be the only hope for people suffering in the camps, Brandon said. "Donations are not the solution here," he said. "Even if we were in the country, there is no access to the camps. "Pray that God will intervene in the political quagmire that is creating the situation. Pray that the Christians in the camps would be strong in their faith. Pray for unrelenting peace and security in the Lord to enter the hearts of true believers who face the enormous pressure of fear. "And pray for the Lord's direction in our future work in Burundi. Our legal ability to return is not guaranteed and work decisions are difficult. "We have been sustained by prayer and we depend on it."
The Unfinished Task: Loving the Lost #4 By Kay Moore - Time is short for West Africans lost in darkness ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (BP) -- The West African pastor and his family were frantic at a nephew's disappearance. Finally, after much searching for him, the young man was found to be dead. His throat had been slit, and all of his internal organs had been cut out -- offered as a sacrifice to the practice of animism. This tragic story of lostness is not uncommon among West Africans -- even in Abidjan, considered to be one of the most modern cities in the area, says Leah McGuire (not her real name), a Baptist missionary who works in the region. Although most of the people in Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Liberia -- the area on which McGuire and her husband, Tom, concentrate -- claim to be Muslim, they are actually practicing folk Islam, a mix of Islamic and animistic beliefs, she says. Animism is the practice of worshiping inanimate objects, such as rocks, trees or statues, rather than the true and living God. "Unless God's love penetrates into the hearts and lives of these people, they will go on living in fear," she says. "They believe that they either must be good enough to earn their way to heaven (Islam) or sacrifice to unknown gods (animism)." Animists exist in the some 130 unreached people groups that the McGuires live among in West Africa. These people have never had the opportunity to hear the gospel in their own language and do not have the Bible nor the "Jesus" film in their native tongue. For example, says Leah, the Bozo are a group of nomadic fishermen numbering more than 180,000 and living along the Niger River in Mali. Only 23 known Christians live among this group. In Mankono, a small village in the northern Ivory Coast, there are 45 mosques and no churches. The McGuires travel throughout this area, researching these people groups, so outreach strategies can be developed and needed materials can be provided. As Ivory Coast mission administrator, Tom supports and encourages the area missionaries, who have left their "city" homes in Africa to move closer to the people and demonstrate God's love to them on a daily basis. The McGuires see West Africans responding most readily to oral presentation of the gospel, known as "storying." In one village, where missionaries shared the Bible story by story in a way that the people understand, 10 of the 13 village chiefs accepted Jesus as Savior, Leah says. "This is important because in the Muslim context, if an individual converts to Christianity, he is disowned. However, if the majority of a people group accept Jesus at the same time, this would not happen," she says. The missionaries' goal is to train Africans to story as well. "Africans are very intelligent people," Leah says. "They speak fluently many languages and memorize easily. If they can tell the Bible stories in their own language to their families and friends, imagine how the gospel can spread." In another instance where a high total of decisions for Christ made simultaneously brought security in numbers, more than 100 U.S. volunteers witnessed one-on-one to the people in Abidjan. As they went out together and shared their testimonies, more than 10,000 people accepted Jesus -- another group response that hopefully will eliminate some of the persecution, Leah says. Follow-up becomes the responsibility of the local churches. The McGuires regularly sacrifice permanency and creature comforts in an effort to get close to the animist people. Although they live in Abidjan in a concrete-block, three-bedroom home that has running water and electricity (not always common among West Africans), the McGuires choose to travel throughout the region, staying in West African homes, among missionaries, or in other temporary housing to perform their tasks. Their two children are in one of their country's boarding schools. "Our children tell their dorm parents that 'home is wherever our parents are,'" Leah says. The McGuires must make themselves available to share with animists who otherwise "will die and go to hell never having heard the message of God's love," she says. Their greatest physical need at this point is more missionaries to work among these 130-plus unreached people groups. A high priority is for medical helpers in hope that the people's average life span will increase. For example, among one unreached people group -- the Dyula in Ivory Coast -- almost half the population is under age 15, with only about 13 percent living beyond age 45. With such a low life expectancy, the period of opportunity for hearing the gospel is limited. To meet physical needs in other ways, wells are being dug, films are being shown, cassettes are being made in local languages and radio programs are being developed, Leah says. All these projects cost money -- and represent highly tangible needs as U.S. churches give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. The McGuires see God moving in a mighty way among the animists and expect whole people groups to come to Jesus. Recently they visited a village that needed rain. Seeing clouds all around, Tom told a villager that God would soon send His blessings. The African man replied, "No, the clouds are going to turn, and the rain will not come to our village." That evening, as the McGuires visited with the missionary couple who worked in the area, Tom asked everyone to pray for rain. Rain fell all night long. The next morning, Tom said (to the man), "God sent His blessing." The man replied: "He sure did! Now you can pray that He will send electricity to our village." The McGuires want to have all the people groups in their area researched by December 2000 and hope to see many more missionaries working there so that all people would have at least an opportunity to hear the gospel message. Although the McGuires and their missionary colleagues now journey from village to village, they want to see more and more African Christians soon traveling among their own people to share the good news. Despite discouraging stories that signify lostness in this sun-scorched
land, the McGuires long to see the day that each animist, through Christ,
will have "no worries in a year of drought and never fail to bear fruit"
(Jer. 17:8).
The Unfinished Task: Loving the Lost #5 - Kui's lostness seen in eyes full of despair By Kay Moore BHUBANESWAR, India (BP) -- As Calvin Fox surveys his surroundings among the Kui people of India, he sees reddish-purple paint smeared on the heads of cattle, a sign that that those animals have undergone a temple ritual to protect them and make them more productive. He sees sacrifices left alongside a road or under a tree where a worshiper believes a spirit lives. He sees spirit-guard pouches tied around the waists of small children. He sees Hindu temples everywhere he looks -- in the towns, in the forest and even in the fields. All these things tell Calvin that these people belong to a different god. But none of these signs connotes the effects of lostness to him quite as much as the despair he sees in the face of the Kui, who have long practiced Hinduism. "The people see no way out of a very bad situation, either in this life or in the life to come," he says. "This causes them to give up and simply exist from one day to the next, devoid of the joy that Christ could give." Physically, the Kui have real cause for hopelessness, Fox says. Outsiders who once ruled the Kui's homeland in eastern India cut their forest and devastated much of their best land. "The Kui are left with much of their ecology in ruin. Most of the forest is gone now," he says. "The animals and fish the Kui depend on for food are gone. The people, the livestock and the land are in poor condition. The housing is bad, sanitation is terrible, infant mortality is very high, 85 percent of the people carry the malaria virus in their blood. In short, things have gone from bad to worse for the last 50 years." The 1.5 million Kui "are some of the poorest people in the world, and there is no way for them to go except down unless God steps in," he says. Among Kui who are part of the Father's family, however, Fox notices a radical attitude shift about their living conditions. "They begin to believe that their lives are going to improve," he explains. "Often Christians suffer more than the lost, but it is the way the Christians bear their suffering that makes the difference. The most striking difference is that Christians do not fear death." Fox serves among the Kui to provide them tangible reason for optimism. As a farmer trained in agriculture, he is a consultant to the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation training center in India's Khond Hills in the state of Orissa. He teaches the Kui the basics in agriculture because of their low farm production. "The Kui have named one season of the year 'hunger,'" he says. "Hunger has been a part of the Kui's life and history from as far back as their ancient stories go." The Kui's greatest physical need is for more and better-quality food. "A balanced diet would take care of most of the physical problems the Kui face," he says. Diarrhea and dysentery are the biggest killers of the children; 318 out of every 1,000 children born die before they reach age 5. To help the people, Fox teaches them a new way to plant tree seedlings and to germinate bamboo that is easy and inexpensive. As a result, the government has recognized his institute at all levels as a scientific agricultural institution that contributes significantly to the Indian economy. Two years ago, some government people wanted his group out of the country. Today, because of his group's work with pulpwood trees, bamboo and land restoration, the same people are "taking steps to make sure that we feel welcome in India and that they want us to stay for as long as we like," he says. Because the Kui often hesitate to act once a concept is presented, Fox is challenged to move at their slower pace. "The Kui have many problems, physical and spiritual, that I know how to solve, but it takes a long time to introduce new ideas," he says. Trainees at the center also learn the Bible from Khond Baptist teachers -- and how to teach it effectively in the Kui's story-loving culture through the chronological Bible storying method. About 88 percent of the Kui women and 65 percent of the men cannot read, so the storying method is invaluable. "When people realize who God is and what He is doing in this world, they are impressed. When they realize that they are separated from God because of their sin and that God hates sin, they become concerned. When they learn that God will accept Jesus' death as a substitute for their death, they usually accept Christ," he says. An average of six new groups of God's people are being started every month, a trend that has occurred for the past three years, with no sign of it slowing, Fox says. Several priests of the majority religion have come into the family. Fox may not speak to anyone about Jesus directly unless asked, because of a law prohibiting non-Indians from doing anything to cause the conversion of any person. However, the state permits Indians to teach other Indians about God. "Kui do a very good job of evangelizing their own people," he says. Recently several thousand Kui families queried Baptist representatives in the area about how to become Baptist Christians. Fox said the Kui gave three reasons for their interest. First, they said, "we are a very low-caste people but the Baptists always treat us with respect even if they are of a higher caste. Second, "the Baptist people always dress with dignity and conduct themselves with good manners." Third, "when there are Baptists in a village, the village is always more progressive economically. This is especially true if the majority of the people are believers." Goals for the near future include to finish production of cassette tapes containing 60 of the most important stories from the Bible, training 2,000 church members to tell nine more stories and training 200 farmers in pulpwood and bamboo production and summer gardens. Another goal the Holy Spirit has led Fox to claim: the need for about 10 more acres of land -- six acres to set up a nursery system to mass-produce fruit trees, timber trees and vegetable seedlings and four acres to enlarge the training center to double the number of people who can be trained. Without these seedlings, it will be difficult for the Kui to make their hilly areas productive, he says. The respectful nature of the Kui "softens many of the hard places" of living in India, Fox says. "They are not content with just respecting us; they want to take us into their family." He longs for the day when the generosity of every member of this giving, magnanimous people group stems from hearts that know Christ's love.
The Unfinished
Task: Loving the Lost #6 Russia's "lost generation" breaks missionary's
heart
KHABAROVSK, Russia (BP) -- The orchestra members are highly skilled in musical knowledge -- trained to use their instruments to stir their Russian listeners. But for at least one of them, the most crucial knowledge in all the world -- the awareness of Jesus as Savior -- eludes her. "I have to believe in myself, because there is no one else to believe in," the woman tells Connie Robbins, who plays flute in the Russian folk orchestra. The woman's statement rips at Robbins's heart, since Robbins is not only an orchestra member but also a Southern Baptist missionary in Khabarovsk, in the far eastern reaches of Russia. Daily, Robbins hears statements like this repeated in the world of secular atheism in which she has planted her life for the past six years. Many of her neighbors in Khabarovsk are involved in the ritualism of the Russian Orthodox church -- which to them is synonymous with being Russian. Some even think of themselves as Christian, since they were baptized Russian Orthodox as infants. But if Robbins mentions the need for a personal relationship with Christ, they dismiss it. "They see no need for Christ and think Christianity is for the weak. When they face a big problem or need help, they may go to the Orthodox church and light a candle," Robbins says. A rigorous lifestyle with time constraints at every turn is also a major barrier to Russians' receiving the gospel, she says. "Many don't have time (for a relationship with Christ), or don't want to take time. It is not important to them. People will say that they work all day and get home at 7 p.m. or so and are tired. On Saturday and Sunday, they need to do work around the house, or in summer they plant and harvest their gardens." When these secular Russians do recognize a need for a personal belief system, it is sometimes filled by teachings of the Jehovah's Witnesses, which are growing rapidly in the region surrounding Khabarovsk. "They have filled a lot of the void with more lies," Robbins says. Her greatest concern is for the "lost generation" -- the 40- and 50-year-old Russians who were reared without Christ before communism fell in the former Soviet Union. Robbins says these are the most heavily indoctrinated and represent the age gap that is missing in Russian Baptist churches. These individuals often remember their parents being Orthodox Christians and remember their having Bibles and going to church, before political oppression forced them to renounce their religion, but usually do not own Bibles themselves now. The children of this 40- and 50-year-old category represent the group with whom Robbins works most frequently in her women's ministry in churches throughout the Far East. She ministers to young women who have nonbelieving husbands or nonbelieving parents, a concern that "weighs most heavily on their hearts." she says. The women in churches began a program they call "women of prayer," where they meet regularly to pray for their children and for the schools they attend -- especially about the influence of drugs and alcohol from their peers. In one instance, a set of parents in the "lost-generation" age group made life difficult for their daughter after she trusted Christ and was baptized, Robbins says. "Baptism is a big step here and is the point where families turn their backs on those being baptized -- locking the newly baptized believer in the house and taking away Bibles. It is seen as turning their back on the Orthodox church and sometimes their country," she says. Robbins's Russian teacher -- a woman in her 40s -- was baptized Orthodox but has attended her church infrequently, only for her own baptism and for family funerals. She has studied the Bible as an astute student of the Russian language but sees it only as rich literature, Robbins says. Playing her flute with the folk orchestra in Khabarovsk is one way Robbins strives to build relationships with hopes of gaining a witness. "Russians are very emotional people, when you get through the hard exterior. A lot of this is expressed through their music and arts," she says. Fellow orchestra members first knew that Robbins was American, then Christian, then Baptist. "I'm not sure which word scared them the most. After six months of trying to build relationships, one young lady told me that everyone was scared of me. "I am a small person (5-foot-3-inches tall), so it can't be my size," she laughs. "With those that I meet through other friends, the trust comes more automatically. If their friends trust you, you must be trustworthy. However, in starting from scratch, it takes time." The distrust that runs rampant in this former communist stronghold is exemplified by the high security in her 14-story apartment building. Her floor is separated from the stairway by a metal gate, with seven apartments inside. Beyond that, her apartment has a thick metal door, even though she knows her neighbors, many of whom are grandmothers. She looks for situations -- even awkward ones -- that provide brief chances for witnessing. Being stopped by traffic police can prompt their question to her of "Why are you living in Russia?" -- and thus her explanation. A disabled car allows Robbins to open a conversation with the repair-shop owner about her work as a missionary. Jehovah's Witnesses who run the lot where she parks her car try to engage her in debate about their beliefs. "Instead of debating, 'I try to focus on what Jesus did and His Godness,'" Robbins says. (Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe that Jesus is God.) A car for her ministry and copies of Bible studies for use with women -- as well as the salary that lets her give her full attention to witness and ministry -- are some tangible benefits Robbins experiences from the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. A continuing need is a Russian-language publishing house in the Far East, since pastors and churches are "begging for materials" often available in the Western part of Russia but not where she ministers, she says. Her main challenges in working with women include maintaining the high degree of interest about Christianity that swept Russia initially after communism fell. In those first few years, Russians told Robbins, "'I've heard about the Bible, but we want to know more about it.' They were really, really excited. It was a big mystery book to them." She prays she'll inspire the Russian women toward vitality in worship, so worship does not succumb to habit, and can see believers truly exhibit the joy of their salvation. Above all, she prays she'll be able
to encourage women to catch a wider vision of the lostness around them,
not only for their husbands and parents, but for all their fellow Russians,
so that these former secular atheists can help spread the gospel to all
the world.
DHAKA, Bangladesh (BP) -- "God is love." It's a message Christians sing from their earliest years. We sense His activity all around us. We acknowledge His presence in every aspect of our lives. But Asian Muslims, such as those in the people group that Jay East lives among, are astounded when East shares with them these concepts about God. They see God as one who is far off, vengeful, and capricious. "To hear that He is loving, concerned and that He desires a close, personal relationship with each of us is an amazing, new concept that truly excites them," East says. East (not his real name) looks in the face of lostness each day as he works among Bengali Muslims, who represent one of the largest people groups in the world and live in southern Asia. The vast majority of Bengali are found in Bangladesh and northeast India, although significant communities of Bengali exist in other parts of India as well. Here's how East describes what he encounters: "The Bengali Muslim believes that Jesus Christ was a great prophet, but not the Son of God," he says. These Asian Muslims "believe that Christians are evil because they worship more than one God. They do not understand the Trinity as one." Most of the people live without hope because few are able to maintain the rituals Muslims must enact in order to be right with God, in their estimation. "They all have a great desire to go to heaven but don't know how it is possible for them," East says. Among these people without hope, East finds many admirable traits. Bengali Muslims value family togetherness and are hospitable. Even when they are needy, they will give their best to a guest. They constantly think of God. "If they tell you they will see you tomorrow, they will always say, 'If God wills,'" East says. Yet their concept of God sadly misses the mark. To help them understand God, East tries to overcome misunderstandings Bengali Muslims have about Christianity and its beliefs. "They have been taught for so long that Christianity is bad. To start (witnessing) by saying,'I want to tell you about Christ,' will get an immediate rejection," he explains. East counters this, first, by relationship building, in their surroundings. Most of the Bengali live in villages containing between 100 and 1,000 people, with approximately 100,000 villages across the Bengali region. "They are pleased when I use their language, especially the special Muslim terms, as opposed to regular Bengali words. "When I go to the village and live in their homes, and eat their food with my hands, and wear their style of clothes, they open their arms and hearts to me. When they see that I do not think more highly of myself than I do of them, they are surprised and wonder why I can care for them. "Because I am a sinner saved by grace, I know that they have the same needs that I have and because of that, I am not better than they are." To avoid offending his Bengali Muslim neighbors, East has taken such steps as eliminating pork from his diet during his two years of living with the Bengali. Dwelling among the Bengali requires struggling against a tropical climate with high heat and humidity, which can sap the energy. East's apartment has ceiling fans but no air conditioning. Mosquitoes and malaria are a constant threat. "We must always be aware of the cleanliness of food eaten and the source of the water we drink," East says. "Since we are trying to build relationships, we often eat food and drink water that is carrying disease." Other day-to-day challenges for East and his wife: the daily necessity of marketing, slow travel on inadequate and crowded roads and unpredictability of electricity. To get things done usually requires paying individuals extra money beyond the normal fee for services. What reaches these persons who don't recognize their lostness? East says he has found that he must take a careful, intellectual approach, pointing out what the Q'uran (Koran) says about God, the Bible and Jesus Christ. Using this as a bridge, he then can share what the Bible says. When his listeners hear the contrast, "they ask why no one had told them before," East says. To build relationships, East and others like him who have a passion for these Asian Muslims to know Christ and who live throughout India and Bangladesh have addressed some of the people's felt needs in humanitarian-type ministries. Teaching the Bengali about ways of water purification helps eliminate disease. Providing skills training such as teaching handicrafts enables women to make attractive baskets, which are then sold. When they arrive for this training time, the women are told stories from the Bible. As these women become believers, they can gather other women and train them in handicrafts, repeating the stories to them. Providing a medical clinic where poor Bengali can receive treatment also has opened the door to sharing Bible stories. As believers multiply, churches can be formed. East and his colleagues have set a goal of facilitating 100 new churches in the next two years, with the hope of sparking a church-planting movement that will replicate itself among the Bengali Muslim people. To approach the enormous task of reaching this 130-million-member people group, East and his associates are targeting specific districts among the Bengali population. To focus on a district, teams would be formed from Bengali believers from the Muslim background as well as from other Southern Baptists like East who live among the people. East and others like him who work among the Bengali Muslims believe prayer is the key to eliminating the bondage of darkness. They are asking for 10,000 people around the world to commit to pray for the release of these people. They specifically seek teams who would travel to central and southern Asia to prayerwalk on-site, ideally praying over an area before a new team is sent in to focus on that district. Specific skills needed for short-term volunteer teams: operating medical clinics, teacher training, latrine construction -- to help open doors so that resident teams can do their work. East says God's activity is obvious among the Bengali Muslim population, especially among people in the 20-30 age range. "They are becoming aware of the hopelessness of their religion and believe that somewhere there is hope," he says. "God is using dreams and visions to speak to them. They are then eager to find out about the Jesus who appeared to them. When they understand that the emptiness they feel has a way of being filled, they will become very interested to hear about Christ." East faces his tough assignment, even in days of discouragement, with the sure knowledge that God has called him to serve among Bengali Muslim people. He takes seriously the words of Revelation 7:9, when, in the description of heaven and God's throne room, the Bible says, "There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language." Jay East is confident that many from
the Bengali Muslim population will be a part of that number.
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