Lausanne Connecting Point - January 2006 PDF Utskrift E-post
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In This Issue:
 
LAUSANNE WORLD PULSE

The January issue of Lausanne World Pulse (LWP), focused on Natural Disasters and the Gospel, is now available at www.LausanneWorldPulse.com. 
 
In this issue: 

Plus you’ll find:

Comprehensive World News Briefs 
 
Information on how dental missions is paving the way for sharing the gospel globally
 
And, what one organization is doing to fight child prostitution in India

To submit articles or ideas for consideration for use in LausanneWorldPulse.com, please email Denne e-postadressen er beskyttet mot programmer som samler e-postadresser, du m sl p Javascript for kunne se den. .   

LWP is a partnership of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (LCWE) and Wheaton College’s (Chicago, IL., USA) Institute of Strategic Evangelism, Evangelism and Mission Information Service (EMIS) and Intercultural Studies Department.


CALL FOR YLG06 RECOMMENDATIONS

A MESSAGE FROM DOUG BIRDSALL

YLG
Greetings in the name of our wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I trust that you are experiencing the presence and the joy of Christ in growing measure.

My purpose in writing to you today is to ask for your help in identifying outstanding younger leaders who are committed to world evangelization. In the course of your own ministry experience you have certainly known or mentored gifted younger leaders whose lives demonstrate exceptional capacity for leadership. 

Would you please think about two or three of the most promising younger leaders that you know? I would then ask that you let us know about them – if you have not already done so - by recommending them for an upcoming gathering designed just for them.

The Lausanne movement is committed to developing the next generation of leaders for the cause of world evangelization. Lausanne will be convening a Younger Leaders Gathering 23-30 September 2006 in Malaysia. We are looking for 550 men and women who are between the ages of 25 and 35 to participant.

Our desire is to bring these younger leaders together so that they might be challenged, strengthened, inspired, developed and united in the cause of world evangelization. We also want to familiarize a new generation of leaders with the Lausanne Covenant and with the history and “spirit of Lausanne” – a spirit that Billy Graham and John Stott understood in terms of “prayer, study, partnership, humility and hope.”

To learn more about the types of leaders who should attend the Gathering, please see the YLG Participant Profile

To recommend a participant, please use the YLG Participant Recommendation Form. Recommendation forms are available in Mandarin, French, Portuguese, Spanish and English.

Please complete one Participant Recommendation Form for each younger leader that you recommend.

Completed Participant Recommendation Forms may be sent to Denne e-postadressen er beskyttet mot programmer som samler e-postadresser, du m sl p Javascript for kunne se den.

You may also want to visit the Lausanne website (www.lausanne.org) for additional information about the Younger Leaders Gathering.

Because of timing issues related to the participant selection process, visa applications, and scholarship assistance, we would appreciate your response by 7 February.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter. 

Yours in Christ,

Doug Birdsall
Chairman
Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization

Editor's Note: Due to outdated content in this article, links have been removed. View information about what took place at the YLG06.
 
MINI-CONSULTATION – THE CHURCH AND THE NEW SPIRITUALITIES

An open follow up on the 2004 Forum for World Evangelization Issue Group 16 on RELIGIOUS AND NON-RELIGIOUS SPIRITUALITY IN THE WESTERN WORLD
By Lars Mollerup-Degn, Facilitator, IG 16, 2004 Forum

The 2004 Forum Issue Group 16 is planning a consultation/mini-conference in Hong Kong from 30 September - 7 October 2006. To prepare for the consultation, a discussion website has been established at www.lop45.org. Everyone interested in the challenges the Church faces in meeting the religious and non-religious new spiritualities in the Western World are welcome to sign up for the discussions and reflections and to apply for participation in the conference.

Download Official Invitation. (Editors Note: Link Removed. Outdated)

We will build on the findings, discussions, and conclusion of the Issue Group. Our paper from the Forum, Lausanne Occasional Paper No. 45, is available here: Religious and Non-Religious Spirituality in the Western World (“New Age”)

We will work in three subgroups addressing:

  • Theology
  • Methodology and
  • Praxis.

Participants are expected to commit themselves in preparation for the mini-consultation. We do not want to use a lot of time bringing participants up to date with previous discussion. We thus expect participants to study documents and take part in discussions as documents come to them. A detailed programme will be produced as we see the documents and discussions develop.

Prayer needs for the consultation include:

  • Skilled theologians and reflective practitioners to attend the preparation process and the consultation.
  • Good papers and case stories for the discussions.
  • The right participants for the consultation.
  • Financial ability for the participants to come to Hong Kong, since the group as such has no means for support.

The consultation will meet in Hong Kong at the Tao Fong Shan Christian Centre, www.tfssu.org. Final conference registration prices are still being determined. For more information go to The Church and New Spiritualities website - www.lop45.org.

GERMAN YOUTH CONFERENCE: INTEREST IN MISSIONS UNABATED IN YOUTH

By Wolfgang Polzer, Special to ASSIST News Service

The younger generation of Christians in Germany show an unabated interest in missions and evangelism. A youth conference for world mission in Stuttgart, 8 January, registered 6,000 participants between the ages of 15 and 25.

More than 100 men and women are about to be sent out as missionaries. Most of them are theologians, teachers, engineers or health workers.

They find their field not only in the Southern hemisphere, but also increasingly in Southern and Eastern Europe. Many received their calling during previous mission conferences.

According to religion statistics approximately 2.5 billion people have not had a chance to hear the Gospel message. Detlef Bloecher, director of the German Missionary Fellowship, reminded the conference participants of the need to fulfill the Great Commission.

Bloecher is also chairman of the Association of Evangelical Missions (AEM), an umbrella organization of 84 mission agencies with 2,900 missionaries abroad.

The annual conference in Stuttgart is the biggest “job market for missions” in Germany. AEM missions have approximately 3,000 vacancies. Many partner churches in the South are looking for expertise in theology, teaching, administration and engineering.

READ MORE

PASSION 06 DRAWS 18,000 STUDENTS TO NASHVILLE, TN, USA

By Ginny McCabe

Passion 06, an International college movement, was held 2-5 January in Nashville, TN, USA with 18,000 college students in attendance, who represented all 50 U.S. states, as well as 20 different countries.

The purpose of Passion is to gather college students from campuses and churches across the nation, uniting them across ministry and denominational lines to seek the face of God together in worship and prayer. Affirming and valuing the work of local churches and campus ministries, Passion seeks to foster unity and connectivity among them, encouraging them to draw strength and encouragement from each other, resulting in a louder anthem of God’s renown.

READ MORE

PRAISE & PRAYER

By Glenda Weldon, Chair, Intercession Working Group, LCWE

LCWE Administrative Committee
Please pray for:

  • Doug Birdsall in his ministry as Executive Chair
  • Ted Yamamori, the International Director
  • All the Administration Committee.
  • Paul Stanley and the Planning Committee for the Younger Leaders Gathering later this year.
  • Naomi Frizzell, Communications Director.

The Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism
Please pray for:

  • The LCJE International Coordinating Committee, as they prepare for the next international meeting of the entire LCJE network in Budapest in August 2007.
  • The fruitfulness of networking between LCJE member mission CEOs. There has been a growing conviction and commitment to cooperate and collaborate in the cause of communicating Messiah Jesus to Jewish people worldwide.
  • The Lord to raise up needed network coordinators in regions of the world where LCJE members and organizations are labouring.
  • The Lord's guidance regarding the future leaders of the International Coordinating Committee.

Bioethics

  • Please pray that the low-cost book produced by the 2004 Forum Issue Group on Bioethics would get around the world and that Group members would develop their networking and outreach.

Tentmaking

Issue group 10B is gathering in Lisbon Feb 2-5. Please pray for those requesting visas, for their time together, that all this may be to Gods glory!

Orality Network
Please pray for:

  • The International Orality Network Executive Committee meeting 19-20 February 2006 at the YWAM headquarters in Kona.
  • God to use the article on the International Orality Network in the February issue of Christianity Today to involve many more in the movement.

Lausanne Younger Women's Network
Please pray for:

  • The young women leaders who are part of the Lausanne women's network led by Robyn Claydon. These are very able young Christian women who are involved in a variety of ministries round the world. Some of these include: Evangeline Sita who is Principal of a school she started in Hyderabad, India. Evangeline has also reached out to a near-by leper village and is providing a teacher for the small children who do not go to school and sewing machine classes for the women. She also planted a church in the village last year. Pray for wisdom and resources for Evangeline, her cousin Sanjay and those working with them. Another woman is Eva Mrsic and her husband Danijel who are pastoring a church in Split, Croatia and have an extensive ministry to the community which includes drug rehabilitation. Eva and Danijel had the great joy of opening their church last year and baptizing 19 people in the local river. The work is hard and they need encouragement and resources. Please uphold these sisters and brothers. 

Global AIDS Prayer Partnership
The theme for AIDS 2006 is "Time to Deliver" and we believe that applies specifically to the Church.
Please pray for:

  • Greater availability of life-sustaining therapies, especially for the poor who cannot afford them.
  • A breakthrough in medical research for a cure or vaccine.

While the HIV/AIDS virus can be avoided through proper preventive measures and life-style choices, this is not always easy or even possible. Many are forced into exposure and infection by realities outside of their control or for basic survival. Prevention must include dealing with issues of justice.

Please pray for:

  • Those trapped by the injustices of the world that they would be safe from exposure to HIV/AIDS.
  • Preventive measures that teach wholeness to be implemented where needed and effective.

While AIDS is a global pandemic, its effects are most devastating in poorer nations where adequate healthcare is limited, inaccessible or unavailable.

Please pray that:

  • Solutions to medical care needs would come through more local churches understanding their role to provide care at the community level.
  • Churches in richer countries would rise to the challenge of HIV/AIDS and provide for the needs of churches in poorer countries most devastated by the pandemic.

Least Reached People Groups - Ethne 06
More than 650 Christian leaders from around the globe will be gathering in Southeast Asia for Ethne '06, 7-10 March 2006. 
Please pray for:

  • The 6,900+ unreached people groups.
  • Over $100,000US still remaining to be raised for the Ethne06 meetings (mostly travel scholarships for African, Central Asian, and Latin American delegates).
  • Program and logistics committees as they finalize plans for the meetings, deal with security, visas, arrival and departure details.
  • Regional facilitators and delegates in the process of invitations, registrations, and travel arrangements.
  • The prayer workgroup as they finalize all arrangements for prayer related to the meetings, and for preparation for the first six months’ worth of tools to help in mobilization for the one-year harvest-linked prayer initiative.
  • Video production team for their protection and health (also extended families)—many have been struggling and have had serious health issues with near relatives; for translators and translation process to be quick and accurate; for the video production to be anointed and powerful with accurate coordination of the 16 languages in both audio and subtitles.

Wales Lausanne Cymru
National Welsh Churches Survey

  • 10 years ago Wales Lausanne was involved with others in a professionally conducted and recorded survey of the churches in Wales. Ten years further on and Wales Lausanne has now begun to coordinate the work of a repeat survey. This will need the cooperation and goodwill of each of the many denominations and networks in Wales – but they believe this can be won. Please pray for the working groups they have set up as they prepare proposals and feasibility studies for a National Consultation Day in the New Year.

Follow up to Lausanne Forum 2004

  • They are more than half way through the task of writing to every local church leader in Wales. They are passing on a copy of the recently published colour news sheet for The Lausanne movement, together with a national poll sheet asking the leaders to list the five biggest issues they face in their work, and a covering letter from the chairman Ron Spillards. This is a mammoth task – but they thank God for the willing help given by the denominational offices.  Their next task will be to analyse the replies and prepare a programme of seminars and workshops to address the needs identified in the poll. 

South Asia Region   

  • Sri Lanka is facing very uncertain times. There are signs indicating that the peace process which commenced in 2002 may fall apart and that the Government and the Tigers (LTTE) may go back to war. People have suffered much (civil war in the North since 1983) and the destructive Tsunami and the last thing they need is a renewed war. Please be praying for the country of Sri Lanka and for our Christian brothers and sisters there.