| Lausanne Connecting Point - August 2006 |
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In This Issue:
Revival has occurred at various times and in many different ways in the history of the Church. Today, revival and the need for revival is impacting the world of evangelism and missions. August’s issue of Lausanne World Pulse, focuses on this very important topic of Revival and Evangelism with articles including:
You will also find articles on:
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Through the outreach programs of the JAF International Disability Center, we provide support and resources to international disability ministry groups. Also, through our Wheels for the World outreach (http://www.joniandfriends.org/pg_wheelchair.php) we deliver wheelchairs and Bibles to needy disabled persons across the globe. This year, we will hold our first Joni and Friends’ Family Retreat in Ukraine. At Lausanne’s 2004 Forum in Thailand, I served as a convener of 36 disability ministry leaders in the disability track of the “Unreached People’s Group.” Our Lausanne Occasional Paper (LOP) is available on the LCWE website (link opens as a PDF file). From the Heart While serving on the Disability Advisory Committee to Dr. Condoleezza Rice and her team, there’s hardly a report I read at the U.S. State Department that shocks me. Like this one from the Report of Rights of Disabled Children: “An estimated 97% of disabled children in developing countries are denied even the most rudimentary rehabilitation services . . . Disabled children suffer more violence and abuse than other children - they are imprisoned in institutions, cupboards and sheds and, all too often, starved to death." I'm not shocked because I’ve seen it happen. The suffering that human sin has brought upon this world is utterly heartbreaking. It’s one of the reasons I squeeze every ounce of ministry out of each day God gives me. Having traveled to over 40 countries, I realize how much I have been blessed . . . while many others are desperate for His touch. Like a little girl with deformed feet from Cameroon, West Africa. She was locked in a dark shed and covered with dirt and fleas when Magdalene, one of our Joni and Friends Ministry Affiliates, found her. She named her Sandra and took her home, bathed, fed her, and tucked her into a warm, clean bed. Magdalene prayed and sang over Sandra, asking God to soften her little heart to the love of Christ. Slowly but surely, it began to dawn that her days of abuse and starvation were over. Sandra began making friends with all the other disabled children Magdalene had rescued from smelly sheds, dark basements, and the banks of creeks and rivers. I'm proud to work alongside friends like Magdalene. Our Joni and Friends team have visited her small school and workshop where she teaches disabled children how to earn a living through sewing. We have linked her with foundations. Soon through our Wheels for the World Harvest Project, we will be sending Magdalene wheelchairs and Christian materials. We are even helping her organize a Family Retreat Joni and Friends-style in her country! I want to thank you at LCWE. Through your partnership in the Gospel, “He [is raising] the poor from the dust and [lifting] the needy from the ash heap.” And like Psalm 113:8 says, He’s seating little ones like Sandra with princes, indeed. Our wonderful Prince of Peace! By Anders Torvill Bjorvand, CEO of Kommunion, Inc. Norway, although being a very small country, has been a pioneering nation in world missions. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly difficult to recruit new missionaries to tell unreached people groups the good news. The focus among new generations have, to quite some degree, been on relief work without the eternal perspective of missions to go alongside. As Christians, we should of course not preach the gospel to empty stomachs, but to merely feed the body is indeed short sighted. We need effective tools to teach coming generations of holistic missions where relief efforts and the good news of eternal salvation goes hand in hand. For several years, some of the largest missions organisations and children's ministry organisations in Norway have joined forces to create websites for children. The aim has been to present the gospel to those who do not know it, and to teach the gospel in depth to those who already profess the faith. Several methods have been used along the way, but after several years of trying and both failing and succeeding, the conclusion is clear: if we want to teach children something through the Internet - nothing beats games. Values based games are hard to make. When you have an underlying agenda for making the game, it will often reflect negatively on the game, making it less fun and with a much poorer gameplay. After years of experience, several games have been produced where the feedback from children have been very good. Many of these games were presented at the Lausanne 2004 Forum in Pattaya, at the Issue Group for media and technology. In the spring of 2005, the largest secular TV station in Norway aired a TV show in prime time featuring Norwegian missionaries in Mali. Inspired by this major opportunity to show how everyday life as a missionary might look like, work began on The Missionary Game. The first version was launched both online and in 12,000 CD copies in the summer of 2005. The second version was launched in the summer of 2006. The game was first released in Norwegian, but during the Global Christian Internet Alliance conference in Seoul, Korea in June 2006, the English version was finally released with the address www.themissionarygame.com. The game takes place in an unknown country where the gospel is not so well known. You travel from village to village sharing the good news with people you meet, handing out Bibles, building churches as well as providing them with food, water, medicine and clothes. You will travel through adventurous environments such as jungles, savannahs, waterfalls, mountains and swamps. If you provide Bibles, you will get to build a local church together with the people you meet. If you also provide for their needs, the church will stand. If not, the church will disappear after a short while. In that way, we reinforce the holistic view of missions. When you have planted a few churches, you will be given the option of letting the nationals take over the mission. If you are in a tight spot and no natural solution seems at hand, you can press the 'P'-button to kneel down and pray for God to intervene. Every missionary, both in games and in real life, is depending on God's provision and intervention, and in the game, you can see logs surfacing in the river where the distance was to great to jump, streams can freeze over for you to walk across safely, snakes might die, lions might fall asleep and so forth. The Missionary Game aims to instil values of evangelisation and world missions in children in a way that is fun, interactive and adventurous. So far, the feedback has been encouraging, and thousands of games have been played. Inspiring and training for world missions can not be achieved by merely games, but we believe that The Missionary Game can help children even from an early age, to relate to missions work as something that is both natural and filled with joy. The game that is currently available through www.themissionarygame.com is in English. Work is in progress to translate the game into Spanish and other languages. Since Africa has been one of the most important mission fields for Norwegian missionaries, the environments and the people of The Missionary Game might resemble what you might meet in parts of Africa. The initial players/characters do also have a Caucasian look - like the majority of Norwegians do. The future plans for the game will of course also include an internationalisation in this field with missionaries coming from all parts of the world reaching lost people everywhere. Or in Lausanne terms: so that the whole church can take the whole gospel to the whole world. In order to achieve this, the project is dependent on establishing international partners, and so far, several have showed their interest. The Missionary Game might become one of several effective tools for inspiring new generations of missionaries. Try it out yourself at www.themissionarygame.com. All inquiries can be sent to:
This first-ever, one-volume commentary was sponsored by the Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA)—with significant financial support from Christians worldwide—and represents the labor of over 70 African theologians. It gives a section-by-section interpretation that provides a contextual, readable, and useful guide to the entire Bible. In addition, there are 72 articles on pertinent issues facing Africa’s churches, such as HIV/AIDS, angels/demons/powers, funeral and burial rites, widows and orphans, and persecution. Dr. Tokunboh Adeyemo, former General Secretary of AEA, served as General Editor of the commentary. The commentary’s writers, advisors, and editors—all African men and women—represent the broad sweep of the evangelical church across the continent of Africa. Others in the evangelical world are acknowledging the significance of this new publication, including John Stott and Rick Warren. Stott writes in the book’s Foreword, "The Africa Bible Commentary is a publishing landmark. I intend to use it myself ... Indeed, I hope it will have a worldwide readership." With an initial print run of 46,000, most copies of the commentary will be distributed in Africa, while Zondervan plans to distribute the book in other English-speaking countries. In his endorsement, Rick Warren writes, “Every pastor, Bible teacher, and Christian will benefit from [the Africa Bible Commentary]. We’ve needed this commentary for a long, long time!" Read more about the launch here
The 5th Francophone Africa Regional Consultation will take place in May 2007: CRAF Central Africa for central Africa countries will be held on 14-18 May 2007 in Bangui (CAR) and CRAF West Africa for West Africa countries will be held on 21-25 May 2007 in Lome (Togo). CRAF (Consultation Régionale pour l’Afrique Francophone or Francophone Africa Regional Consultation) will provide an opportunity for innovative leaders to come together to hear how God is at work across Francophone Africa, learn cutting-edge insights from one another, assess where each nation is at the unfinished task of the Great Commission, and engage the critical challenges facing the Church in Francophone Africa. To facilitate this process, two-thirds of the programme is devoted to group interaction. Each morning there will be a key address on Church Planting Movements. For more information, contact Younoussa Djao at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . By Glenda Weldon, Chair of the Lausanne Intercession Working Group “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Corinthians 5:11-15 Compelled by Christ’s love! It is the unconditional, non-negotiable, non-discriminating, infinite holy love of God for us and for the world that is the right motivation for our life and ministry. Day by day, we need to know and experience that love flooding our hearts and flowing from us to others. The greatest commandment is the greatest commandment because it is the greatest commandment! May we, like Paul, pray for ourselves and for each other - “that being rooted and established in love, we may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Lausanne Administration Committee Younger Leaders Gathering
International Prayer Council
Children at Risk - Patrick McDonald
PRAISE:
Intercession Working Group International Deputy Director Regions Please pray for:
South Asia - Indonesia Please pray:
North Africa and Middle East
Anglophile Africa - Uganda Western Europe Oceania
Please pray for:
North America - USA
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I have the distinct honor of representing the needs of people with disabilities to the Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization. Despite my limitations as a spinal cord-injured quadriplegic of nearly 40 years, I have been able to travel to 40 nations where I have met with disability advocates, trained churches in disability ministry, and met with countless families affected by disability – I am blessed to work alongside an excellent team of staff, volunteers, and international charter ministries connected with the Joni and Friends International Disability Center (
After five years of writing, editing, and fundraising, the 
