| Lausanne Connecting Point - January 2004 |
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NO TRANSLATION AVAILABLE In This Issue:
In just nine months, hundreds of leaders from around the world will gather for the 2004 Forum For World Evangelization. One essential component being focused on now is funding to support the Forum. The following is an important update on funding from Dr. Roger Parrott, Chair of the 2004 Forum: Like many other aspects of the Forum, the funding structure for this global gathering is much different than any other previous meeting. As the one who personally lead the fund raising effort for Lausanne II, I know the tremendous effort it took to fund that Congress and the large number of full time staff needed to implement the Congress. But the Forum is totally different and it is primarily run by volunteers including Dr. Paul Cedar our LCWE Administrative Committee Chair and all I do as chair of the Forum. Our International Director (David Claydon) and Program Chair (Robyn Claydon) are both working on the Forum full time at no cost to Lausanne. The JESUS Film provides LCWE administrative and bookkeeping help. And Campus Crusade for Christ is loaning us their entire event operations team to run the logistics of the meeting. A tremendous new consulting firm, Kingdom Partners, is working at a significantly reduced rate as a gift to the Forum so that Lisa Tucker Spalt can lead the areas of participant selection, registration and Forum communications. Network for Strategic Mission has committed its technical resources to develop and host the participant selection and private collaboration portals for each issue group. Naomi Frizzell is on loan from the Mission America Coalition to handle Media Relations leading up to and during the Forum. And World Changers has loaned to us Gary Barnes to lead the venue development, Forum planning and to work with the local Thai committee. In addition to all these, dozens of people are giving countless hours of time to ensure that each Issue Group is taking greatest advantage of the Forum as a unique platform to develop an action plan to help the Church deal with the issues they will be addressing. The real costs of the Forum cannot be counted. But we do have some hard costs in order to hold the Forum. To date, about $300,000 has been spent in preparation. This was raised through gifts to LCWE. The Forum fee that participants will pay should nearly cover the remaining direct costs of the Forum -- so the fee will cover only about 2/3rds of the real costs of each participant. Further, each participant from the developed world is asked to make a minimum gift that will help pay a portion of the Forum fee for those who come from limited economic areas. This gift is $300, $150 or $50, depending on each participant’s country. That some already registered have made a gift larger than the suggested amount is wonderful news! But even these gifts will not make ends meet and thus we are asking larger ministries and denominations to become sponsors of the Forum with a gift of $10,000. They will each be given a few moments in a plenary session to share their ministry, will be given space to feature their work in the Forum materials and to have a representative attend and have a literature table in the convention center. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please contact me directly: Denne e-postadressen er beskyttet mot programmer som samler e-postadresser, du m sl p Javascript for kunne se den. . Even with this financial base, we need to raise about $400,000 in additional funds to help offset the cost of hotel, meals and travel for developing world participants and we also need to raise $75,000 for the distribution of the outcomes of the Forum. The follow-on funds of this budget are limited because it is expected that we will team with a variety of ministries to get to the Church the action plans developed by the Forum. We are looking to a small handful of individuals and foundations to help us with those gifts. We do not have a fund raising team to develop a broader base of support. Please be praying for these vital gifts. We will only award Forum scholarship assistance as cash is available. We cannot risk the future of the Lausanne movement by ending the Forum with a deficit, for there is no other source of funds for LCWE. The registration form provides an opportunity for developing world participants to request partial assistance. Because of the decentralized nature of the Forum and the hard costs being a “moving target” as participant demographics change, it is difficult to place an exact cost on this event. But we are confident that the proposed budget is conservative if we are careful stewards of our limited resources. Please be praying that God will guide us in the funding of the Forum, and that (1) many will be generous in their giving, (2) the team will be careful in our spending, and that (3) especially for our developing world participants, that God will open up opportunities of support for them far beyond anything Lausanne can provide in assistance. Urbana 03 is over. But, five days and 19,000 delegates later this only marks a beginning. Urbana web site: http://www.urbana.org/_today.cfm Urbana 03 Wrap-up Story from Religion Journal: http://www.religionjournal.com/showarticle.asp?id=908 Christian radio may play an important role in helping the victims of the earthquake in Iran, according to Lee DeYoung from Words of Hope. DeYoung says many people lack hope and he believes his ministry can have an impact. "Words of Hope has been broadcasting into Iran for a few years, now in Farsi. We and our partners are committed to trying to help Christians in Iran, but also see this as a potential opportunity for aiding people who are not necessarily Christians." DeYoung says Bam is a fairly remote location where the presence of an evangelical church has been absent for a very long time. "Yet we know there are some believers there and we want to do what we can to try to help all the Iranian people to deal with the immediate needs caused by the terrible tragedy, but also to consider the spiritual implications and to look for the real hope that can be found in Jesus Christ." Full Story from Mission Network News: http://mnn.gospelcom.net/article/5540 World Vision relief efforts in Iran Members of the Internet Evangelism Coalition are proposing to designate a Sunday in Spring 2005 (and after that, annually) as World E-vangelism Day. The purpose of the day would be:
More information: http://bgc.gospelcom.net/iec/EDay-Content.htm In Romania, a country considered 98 percent Christian, the value of ethics and Christian morals is often ignored, out of fashion and considered as past history. However, in the last 10 years, the TV studio Alfa Omega TV in Timisoara, Romania, has offered an alternative through several produced or translated programs creating a distinguished voice in the Romanian media. Various themes are available on different distribution channels including local secular TV stations, national coverage TV channels, video tapes for the educational system in Romania, satellite distribution and the internet. Full Story from Assist News: http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s04010060.htm By Glenda Weldon, Chair, Intercession Working Group The task before us is of great significance for the strengthening of the Church and for the spread of the Gospel throughout the world. Please pray Paul’s prayer for the believers in Colosse for every person involved in this awesome undertaking - from those in leadership and administration to the participants, the staff and volunteers:
PRAISE GOD FOR:
PRAY FOR:
Issue Groups Praise and Prayer Update:
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