REFLECTIONS FROM CUBA – Part 2

Continued from 2/4/2013

Evangelical Methodist Seminary of Cuba

To prepare myself for my trip, I read an article from the Methodist Global Ministries by Melissa Hinnen highlighting the Methodist Church in Cuba and the Bishop in Cuba, Bishop Ricardo Pereira Díaz.

As reiterated from the article;

According to Bishop Pereira, recent history in the island nation has produced a generation of atheists who don’t know about God’s love for them. Young people in particular are drawn to a church that embraces Cuban culture and welcomes everyone in the community regardless of their faith or political background.

“We have taught pastors and laity that they can engage their Cuban heritage by praising the Lord, dancing, and raising their voices in worship as they do on the street,” said Bishop Pereira. “This makes the church attractive, especially to young people.” Members are generally 35-45 years old, and the average age of clergy is 30. Since 1999, the church has grown from 8,000 to 36,000 members.

To address the needs created by rapid church growth, five years ago the Methodist Church of Cuba established the Evangelical Methodist Seminary in Havana. “In the midst of so many doctrines,” said Bishop Pereira, it was important to provide a “theological formation that would be eminently Methodist and Wesleyan.”

Today there are more than 350 (Methodist) pastors in Cuba. “At the moment we have about 120 students pursuing their degree in theology,” said Bishop Pereira. The seminary is also extending its training to reach an additional 800 people throughout the country, preparing them for church leadership.  The Methodist Church exists in 92 percent of Cuba’s municipalities.

I had the opportunity to visit the Seminario Evangelico Metodista de Cuba (Evangelical Methodist Seminary of Cuba) for a couple of days and spend some time with the president of the Seminary, Dr. Alfredo Caballero Marrero (photo below).  The seminary in housed is an old church building (photo above) that is in the area of Havana known as “old town.”  It is as older building with classroom space, kitchen, dining room, library, offices and limited dorm rooms.  The actual worship center is encompassed within the building structure but is owned by a church that is not a part of the seminary.

Alfredo strikes me as a confident and well respected leader.  I took an instant liking of him.  Seeing how his staff looks to him for his wisdom and advice and how his family looks to him as the head of the family, I see a prime example of a man that God has called for leading His work in Cuba.  He was once a pastor of a church with about 6000 members but was asked by the Methodist Denomination in Cuba to become president of the seminary.  He is now a pastor to pastors, a trainer of trainers and a teacher of teachers.  He says he misses pastoring a church but states, “What I do today to prepare these students is much more important for the future of the whole church in Cuba.”

The seminary has about 40 students in residence at any one time and another 300 or so students in courses in 24 seminary extensions throughout Cuba.  The resident program runs in four rotating groups where each group spends 3 modules of 21 days on campus.  The rest of the time the students are working in their local church.  While compared to U.S. standards for costs, the cost of educating these students appears to be very little, at about $6000 per year per group of students.  But for Cuba, that is a lot of money!  Since very few students can afford that amount of education expense, much of their cost is supplied through scholarships.  The education cost includes the student tuition and meals and a room while in residence.  Books are generally borrowed and returned to the school and the limited supply of computers is shared by the students in allocated time slots.  On one occasion I observed a student utilizing the computer at about midnight, his time slot for computer usage.  Transportation to and from the school for their 21 day in residence time is the responsibility of the student.  Many have to travel for more than 8 to12 hours by bus, hitchhiking or walking to get to and from the school.  Some of the students are couples, working together in their common ministry call.  All of the teaching is done by pastors and professors as volunteer time.

After graduation, the students are prepared, ready and able to plant home-churches through the island.  I visited two of these home-churches planted by Methodist Seminary graduates and they are indeed thriving and Kingdom building churches.  I will reflect more on these churches in part 4 of this series of posts.

I was privileged to be able to attend a devotion time and a communion service on Thursday morning with about 40 students and staff (photo left).  This morning marked the last day of classes for this particular group to be at the school for this module.  The student led music was at first lively and praising the Lord and eventually became slower and more contemplative as the worship moved towards the pinnacle of celebrating the Lord’s Supper.  With everything being sung in Spanish, and me not at all fluent in that language, I could not understand the words or join much in the singing.  But I certainly felt the passion and devotion in each piece of music.  Given a moment to share some comments, I expressed greetings and thanked them for their dedication to become the future leaders of the church in Cuba.  I told them that they are the future and hope for their communities and for Cuba.

For the rest of the day on Thursday I spent the time in meeting the school staff (photo right) and learning of the operations, methodologies and needs of the seminary.  We were able to talk about the Seminary and the many challenges that they face to train the future leaders of the Methodist church in Cuba.  Despite the seeming lack of internet service throughout most of Cuba, the school has managed to build a remarkable intranet system linking the school network together.  They use this system for teaching remotely as well as school business communication and video conferencing.  The school’s greatest need at this time is a van or mini-bus.  Because the school extensions are over the length of the island, it is very difficult to get materials and people sorted to the various locations.  I suspect that whatever vehicle they will eventually be able to obtain, will be well utilized!  The projected cost of a van is around $21,000 U.S.  Other needs include new computers for school as well as student use, a new projector and general equipment and furniture.  The estimated cost for this equipment is around $18,800 U.S. Another non-monetary need for the seminary is one of visiting teachers that can come to Cuba for weeks at a time and freely share their knowledge and wisdom with the students.  A willing spirit and compassionate love for Biblical teaching is more important than denomination affiliation and polished Spanish language skills.

As you can read, the needs are great but the rewards are greater.  Part of the Overseas Council ministry is to not only to provide for student scholarship but to also provide equipment that will help a school function to the greatest capacity.  I will provide some more detatil of OC’s overall work in Cuba later in this series.  If you feel moved to participate in our work at the Methodist Seminary of Cuba, please give a gift of any amount, designated for Methodist Seminary of Cuba.

On Friday we had a little more meeting time and then a walk in the city. My next post will reflect on the city of Havana and some of the sights, with a number of photos.  Stay tuned!

Blessings

 

REFLECTIONS FROM CUBA – Part 1

TRAVEL SUMMARY

I just had an opportunity to spend a week in Cuba during the last days of January. Although just a short trip, I did have busy days with opportunities to visit Havana and some of the countryside around the city.  I also spent a day in each of several smaller communities including Minas (a town that once was a thriving copper mining town), Matanzas City and Santa Clara.  This travel encompassed a narrow portion of the western half of the island within a three hour drive east of Havana and three hours west of Havana. I wish I could have seen more but time did not allow for further adventures.  But, what I did see delighted me with beautiful mountain scenery, coastal views of the Gulf of Mexico and even a short boat ride through a cave.  The people I met were loving and very much in hope of a brighter future for their lives in spite of sometimes difficult living conditions and little income.

Map of Cuba showing my paths of travel

Allowing for a full day each way for travel between Houston and Havana, I had six days on the ground to meet people, see the sites and explore the culture. My first three days were shared with two friends from The Woodlands UMC, Rev. John Hull, Mission Pastor, and Jennifer Sims, Small Group Director.  We spent three days together while visiting the Evangelical Methodist Seminary in Havana.  After John and Jennifer went home, I spent the following three days traveling with hosts from the Lost Pines Seminary, a theologically reformed seminary that is non-denominational. I will say more about the seminaries in later posts.

The Religious Makeup of Cuba

From what I have read and from personal conversations, I want to first relate what I understand to be the broad religious makeup of the Cuban population of roughly 11,000,000. According to the U.S. Report on International Religious Freedom, an estimated 60 to 70 percent is believed to be Roman Catholic although only 4 to 5 percent regularly attend mass. I was told that it is not uncommon to have a large Catholic Church building with only a handful of people attending on any Sunday.  Membership in Evangelical churches is estimated at 5 percent of the population but that number is growing daily.

Baptists and Pentecostals are estimated to be the largest Evangelical denominations followed by Methodists, Anglicans and Presbyterians.  There are also those that consider themselves strongly Evangelical but non-denominational.

Building in Havana with a distinct Middle Eastern flavor.

Non-evangelical groups include Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists; Quakers, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). The Jewish community is estimated at 1,500 members, of whom 1,200 reside in Havana. Muslim presence is minor with the majority of the believers from outside Cuba, with only a few actual Cuban Muslims. I did see one building that was a Muslim Community Center but no real evidence of a mosque.  Interestingly though, I did see a number of older buildings that had a distinct Middle Eastern influence.  Other religious groups, in a very small presence, include the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, Buddhists and Baha’is.

In addition, many Cubans (some say as much as 80%) participate in religions with roots in West Africa and the Congo River basin, known as Santeria. Santeria is very similar to the practice of Voodoo that I observed in Haiti. These religious practices are commonly intermingled with Catholicism, and some even require Catholic baptism for full initiation, making it difficult to estimate accurately the total membership of these syncretistic groups.

U.S. Report on International Religious Freedom

On July 30, 2012, the U.S. Department of State released its latest report on the status of religious freedom around the world; the report had many good things to say about religious freedom in Cuba. An expert analysis of the report by Duane W. Krohnke in his blog includes the following comments.

The Cuban “constitution protects religious freedom.” After the 1989 collapse of the U.S.S.R, the Cuban constitution was amended to eliminate “[scientific materialism or] atheism as the state creed” and to declare “the country to be a secular state” with “separation of church and state. The government does not officially favor any particular religion or church.” Moreover, says the U.S., “there were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice.”

The Cuban “government’s respect for religious freedom improved” in 2011, declares the report.

“Religious organizations reported significant ability (in 2011) to attract new members without government interference. Many churches reported increased participation in religious instruction for children because government schools no longer scheduled competing activities on Saturdays or Sundays. The majority of religious groups reported little interference from the government in conducting their services and saw improvement in their ability to import religious materials, receive donations from overseas, and travel abroad to attend conferences and religious events. Some religious groups found it easier to bring in foreign religious workers. . . .”

Some religious groups “operated afterschool programs and weekend retreats for primary and secondary students and higher education programs for university graduates. Although not sanctioned by the government, these programs operated without interference.”

“Religious groups reported they were able to continue to provide community service programs with little interference from the government. These programs included providing assistance to the elderly, after school tutoring for children, clean water, and health clinics. “

While these improvements in government cooperation with religion institutions are favorable and appreciated, I did hear of some isolated instances where the atmosphere was not as lenient.  For example, while their programs for seniors seem to be highly accepted, I did hear of one instance where there was still some averseness to allow a church to directly minister to children and young adults. 

In addition to the laws to allow more religious freedoms, there have also been some significant civil law changes in regard to property ownership, the ability to buy and sell property, business and entrepreneurship.  I was told that as of three years ago, one would not have seen a pushcart in the street selling wares to the general public.  Today, there are many such carts of various sizes, modes of pushing/pulling (human and animal) and selling a variety of wares, mostly food.  The freedom to buy and sell property is working in the favor of the church, allowing many pastors to either convert their home to a home-church, or even to buy new property to establish a home-church.  Consequently, there are newly planted churches springing up throughout Cuba. I had a chance to meet three of these new home-churches and see their efforts in community outreach, member care and church growth.  Of course, with church planting comes the need for properly trained church leadership.  Thus, there is a great need for the seminaries to be well equipped and financially stable to be able to meet the demand for educated leadership.  While I was not in Cuba to engage in ministry per se, I was able to fully appreciate the vital role that Overseas Council will serve in the future of the Cuba church through our partnerships with several Cuban seminaries.  If you feel moved to participate in that work, please give a gift of any amount, designated for Cuba.

Well, that’s a general overview of the status of Cuba, although not near complete.  My next few posts (well, six posts) will attempt to tell you a bit more about my personal time in Cuba.  I will also describe the particulars of the two seminaries I visited.

 

Giving to the Kingdom For Christmas and Beyond

Well, it’s been way too long time since I properly addressed myself to this blog so it’s about time! First, going against all current political correctness, and with a greeting that seems to be more and more under attack these days, I say to you with a warm heart and firm conviction that Jesus is the reason for the season… MERRY CHRISTmas!

Secondly, in this joyous time of Christian sharing and caring, let me treat you with a story that can be found on the OC website, but may have been missed if you do not visit that site regularly. It’s a story of a man, Kennedy, called by God for ministry, trained to be impactful in ministry, and then multiplying his training by training other church leaders.

Called

Kennedy is a born again Christian. Ten years ago, he says he was called to ministry but refused.

“I just didn’t see myself doing ministry. Someone told me, ‘I just couldn’t see you anywhere but the pulpit.’ I laughed inside. For seven years, I went to church and sat in the back, so I could get out quickly. Finally I was asked if I’d like to help at the church, so I said I’d usher. One morning in the early service, the pastor was late, and someone asked me to teach. Afterward, the church leaders asked me to get theological training in order to preach again in the future.”

Again Kennedy was called, this time he responded.

Trained

Kennedy studied at Africa International University (AIU) in Kenya, formerly known as the Nairobi Evangelical  Graduate School of Theology. He already had a degree in business management, so he inquired about a degree in theology.  Kennedy is thankful to God for His provision. He didn’t have the funds to get an education when he arrived but was able to complete his studies through various scholarships, including one from Overseas Council. He graduated in 2011 with his Master of Divinity degree in Biblical Studies.

Multiplied

Kennedy is passing-on his theological training to other pastors who have not had an opporunity for proper education in order to help them have a deeper understanding of the Bible and Christianity as a whole. He trains pastors in the Kibera slums and Maasai churches (the Maasai are an ethnic group in Kenya).

“The Maasai believe that men need to be very macho, so I had to help them see that Jesus was not weak on the cross but rather strong. He was also smart because He won in the end!”

Kennedy says his training has helped in a number of ways in ministry, including showing other pastors how to teach the Bible in context and the power of forgiveness.

Kennedy says his story is an example of how investing in one leader impacts multitudes. The pastors he is training today will teach others in various churches tomorrow. By equipping a group of 12 pastors, he is reaching over 1,000 of their church members with the true Gospel message. Kennedy is changing his part of the world with the Word of God because of his own theological education.

The key to Kennedy being able to become a church leader teaching church leaders in Kenya is his Christian education. As you are thinking about what to give for Christmas, please prayerfully consider giving to the Kingdom by supporting church leaders like Kennedy so they will have an opportunity to give themselves to others. Your gift, $10 or $10,000, will continue to expand the Kingdom in mighty ways that go far beyond this Christmas season. It will continue for generations to come, through one life touching other lives. Please consider giving a gift through Overseas Council and be a blessing to Christian leaders like Kennedy.

Blessings, and have a very Merry CHRISTmas.

 

Come Holy Spirit Come

I had the wonderful privilege of preaching at Atoka Presbyterian Church (EPC) yesterday.This church has a wonderful history (you can read it on the photo of the historical marker in front of the church) and I was thrilled to be among the loving congregation. After presenting an update about Overseas Council during Sunday School, I utilized some borrowed wisdom from Sinclair Ferguson and Paul Fritz, and reflected on the Holy Spirit for the worship sermon. I won’t belabor you with the whole text but I do want to share with you the final points dealing with how the Holy Spirit works in the life of a believer and some Bible verses that you might want to contemplate in your walk.

HOW DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT WORK IN A BELIEVERS LIFE?

1. The Holy Spirit regenerates. Recall Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born? Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” (John 3:3-5)

2. The Holy Spirit guides believers into truth. Jesus said, “But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears and he will tell you what is yet to come.” (John 16:13)

3. The Holy Spirit cleanses, sanctifies and justifies us. Straight from the words of Paul “…you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (I Cor. 6:11)

4. The Holy Spirit refreshes us daily with hope and love. Again from Paul “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Rom. 5:5)

5. The Holy Spirit intercedes for believers in ways that He pleads our concerns to the heavenly Father. Paul wrote, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” (Rom. 8:26)

6. The Holy Spirit reminds us of important truths we forget. Jesus said, “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26)

7. The Holy Spirit teaches us to be more Christ-like.  1 Corinthians 2:9-16 were my subject verses for the sermon.

However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” — but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.   The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 

CALL ON THE HOLY SPIRIT…AND LISTEN

I emphasized that the Christian walk involves practice…practice…practice listening to the Holy Spirit.  We need to admit to our own inability, we need to pray and ask for help and we need to listen for the Holy Spirit’s comfort and counsel. The Holy Spirit guides us not only in prayer but in daily life.  Often we tune out his presence because we want to follow our own agenda.  But if we listen for him he will show us how to be more Christ-like.  The more we tune-in to his voice, the more we will grow.  The more we grow, the more ready we will be when we are confronted with temptation or sinful behavior.

I will end with the words of A. W. Tozer from his book, “The Pursuit of God”

“In our sins we lack only the power. The moment the Spirit has quickened us to life in regeneration our whole being senses its kinship to God and leaps up in joyous recognition. That is the heavenly birth without which we cannot see the kingdom of God.  It is, however, not an end but an inception, for now begins the glorious pursuit, the heart’s happy exploration of the infinite riches of the Godhead.  That is where we begin, I say, but where we stop no man has yet discovered, for there is in the awful and mysterious depths of the Triune God neither limit nor end.” 

If you would like a full copy of the sermon and/or the PowerPoint slides, send me an email.
Blessings,
Dan

 

Adventures in Texas with Josué

I had the privilege of spending last week traveling through a small part of Texas with my friend Josué Hugo Fernández.  This was his first visit to Texas.  Josué was born in San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina. He has been in ministry for more than 20 years, pastoring churches, working with youth in drug rehab and creating food programs to feed homeless children. He has served as a youth pastor in New York and as a senior pastor in Argentina.  Josué and his wife, Liliana, have five children and they live in Cordoba ,Argentina.  During my time with him I learned that Josué is truly a man of God with a servant’s heart. 

We spoke to over 120 people at six events in five cities presenting Overseas Council’s Latin America ministry.  We drove over 980 miles through the beautiful Texas countryside, tasting Texas fare, learning some Texas history, visiting some Texas landmarks and enjoying some great fellowship. 

In each of the venues, Josué spoke with wisdom and wit and caused all who heard him fall in love with his Argentinean accent and Latin charm.  Armed with projector, screen, television and computers, we utilized videos and PowerPoint presentations and dialogued with authoritative influence to dazzle long-time-donors and new-to-ministry attendees alike.  We were quite a team, an unlikely duo of a Texas Calvinist and an Argentinean Pentecostal doing what we could to serve OC and His Kingdom! 

THE REAL FACE OF TRANSORMATION

While I spoke about Overseas Council in very general terms, Josué’s topic was “The Real Face of Transformation.”  He talked about the many social and political problems that the people of Latin America face every day. These problems include the drug wars that have led to the thousands of families without male figureheads and hundreds of thousands of homeless children and teenagers that are exposed to exploitation and abuse all over the continent.  He said, “In many instances the government does not know what to do. Their answer to the drug war is to put people in prison in hopes that will rehabilitate them.” Well, we know how that works!  Many that go to prison come out better criminals than they were when they went in. He described a good news/bad news scenario that we see in many places in the world.  Good news: the church is growing.  He indicated that studies show that by 2020, half the population of Brazil will be Christian.  Bad news: these new believers will not have a solid foundation of beliefs because of the lack of properly trained leadership.  The lack of trained leaders can easily leave the church with lack of Biblical truth, syncretistic thinking and church schism.  OC is meeting the challenge of these problems through partnerships with over 25 strategic seminaries throughout Latin America, training thousands of pastors and church leaders with real transformational education.  (See my blog of May 2, 2011 to see what this means.)  I believe these Christian leaders are the hope of the countries facing these many problems. I would like to invite you to view a short video of one such leader that I think you will find inspiring at http://youtu.be/XCkraoIBhGY . The video features Josué telling a moving story about a man in Colombia that once was a hit man for the Pablo Escobar drug cartel but is now giving hope to the very community where he used to spread violence. Please feel free to share this video. 

OUR TRIP WAS NOT ALL WORK

Along the we visited the Texas Ranger museum in Waco where Josue learned the real story of this unique Texas crime fighting unit. Another of our stops was San Antonio.  Of course, you can’t go to San Antonio without visiting the Alamo and having lunch on the famous River Walk.  We did both.  Josué was patient with me as I told him the history surrounding the Alamo and looking at the list of Alamo defenders discovered there were no Argentineans involved in this epic event.  I was not sure if this delighted him or dejected him!  After my rather exaggerated history lesson and a walk through the sacred grounds of the Alamo, we headed across the street to the busy walkways along the waters of the River Walk.  After eating lunch, we walked for a few minutes along the river and I treated Josué to a dessert of the local favorite ice cream, Blue Bell, made in…where else…Texas.

 

THE ROLE OF THE EGYPTIAN CHURCH

In January, I helped organize an Overseas Council dinner in Orlando, FL featuring as the speaker, Dr. Atef Gendy, the president of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo (ETSC).

Dr. Atef spoke about the current political situation in Egypt and the role of the Egyptian church.  After a brief introduction about Egypt, he gave some background on reasons behind the revolution that included lack of democracy, lack of freedom, lack of social justice, lack of dignity and widespread corruption.  The results of these reasons led to hopelessness and helplessness. “People,” he said, “were led, literally, to set themselves on fire.”

THE OUTCOMES OF THE REVOLUTION

He described the positive outcomes of the revolution which included, among many, seeing a unification of the different people groups, hopes of becoming modern and democratic, and hope for a free media that would be able to speak up to injustice.  But Dr. Atef also spoke of multiple negative outcomes that unfortunately outnumbered the positive.  A few negatives among many he listed included the breakdown of the police and civil control, killing and injuring of hundreds of young demonstrators, the apparent rise of Islamic fundamentalists, the collapse of the Egyptian stock market and economy, dwindling tourism and a sharp rise in unemployment.

Dr. Atef then reflected about the concerns and fears of the Christians in Egypt.

• More limitation on religious freedom
• More restrictions on freedom of worship and Christian activities
• More restrictions on evangelism and banning of conversion
• Imposing Islamic dress-code on Christian women
• Harsher discrimination against women
• Banning of liberal art(s)
• Intensifying Islamic education and culture through school and media
• Restricting tourism (swimwear – alcohol – night destinations)
• More restrictions on church building, construction and renovation
• Imposing of the Jizyah and applying the law of the confines 

THERE IS HOPE

Fortunately, Dr. Atef did not leave the listeners with a feeling of despair!  Instead, he delivered a wonderful Gospel message of hope for the Egyptian church.  He taught that the Christians in Egypt need to recall their foundational theology of a) the incarnation, b) the cross/suffering, c) the resurrection/hope, and d) the appropriate and fulfilling mission that meets Islamic needs and mind.

He explained each of these in detail and concluded the last point with a challenge to the Christians, and Muslims, in Egypt, and to us listening, to think about what is lacked in Islam that Christianity offers.

• Intimate relationship with God
• God as a loving God (not just great/akbar)
• The status of women
• The value of human beings as created in God’s image
• The concept of loving our neighbor and the Christian concept regarding “who our neighbor is”
• The inner change as a result of God’s work over against mere practiced rituals
• The hope and assurance in the eternal life

CLOSE TO HOME

While I enjoyed hearing what Dr. Atef had to say about Christianity in a far off place in the Middle East, I was reminded about our own relationship with the Muslims that live in our own country.  There are Muslims in our own communities that need to hear what Christ offers them.  They face the same lackings that the Muslims of Egypt face and, like them, will not find answers in Islam. But they can only find those answers in the words of the Gospel. We need to be ambassadors for Christ and help lead them to those words.  Acts 13 comes to mind about Paul’s and Barnabas’ ministry to the people of Pisidian Antioch:

For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “’I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. Acts 13:47-49

I repeat the words from a previous blog of another Egyptian pastor friend when he spoke about his church. “It is not the mission of the church to save the world from Muslims, but to save the Muslims from Islam.”  That is a profound statement.

Please pray for the church in Egypt and all of the Middle East.

 

2011 IN REVIEW

Here are some stats provided to me by WordPress for my first year of blogging. Thanks to all who read and/or commented during this first year of sharing.  I hope you will continue to follow me in 2012. 

I pray that 2012 will bring all of us opportunity to share
good news about Chrisitainity around the globe.

  

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Click here to see the complete report.

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