Over the last several years there has been a huge increase in awareness about the problem of human trafficking around the globe. Many groups have sprung up to take direct part in the fight to end the scourge of modern slavery. I have listed several of these on my sidebar.
One such group, Not For Sale, is organizing Freedom Sunday for another year. This started in 2010, and it has been growing among churches since.
This year Freedom Sunday is being held globally on February 26, 2012. It is not necessary to join or participate on that specific weekend, but it is a great time to come together as one voice in the body of Christ to bring freedom to the captives, and light to the oppressed.
They provide many resources that churches can use, from videos that can be shown for a quick overview, to sermon or Bible study notes, to songs that speak of justice, plus many more.
I encourage you to bring this to the attention of your church leaders. I know they have many pressing things on their plates, but remember Jesus’s words, “If you do this for the least of these, you have done them to me.”
Over the last several years there has been a huge increase in awareness about the problem of human trafficking around the globe. Many groups have sprung up to take direct part in the fight to end the scourge of modern slavery. I have listed several of these on my sidebar.
One such group, Not For Sale, is organizing Freedom Sunday for another year. This started in 2010, and it has been growing among churches since.
This year Freedom Sunday is being held globally on February 26, 2012. It is not necessary to join or participate on that specific weekend, but it is a great time to come together as one voice in the body of Christ to bring freedom to the captives, and light to the oppressed.
They provide many resources that churches can use, from videos that can be shown for a quick overview, to sermon or Bible study notes, to songs that speak of justice, plus many more.
I encourage you to bring this to the attention of your church leaders. I know they have many pressing things on their plates, but remember Jesus’s words, “If you do this for the least of these, you have done them to me.”
It’s Mission Monday here at Spoiled For The Ordinary.
I’ve just started focusing posts on Mondays toward missions, but I’m anticipating a question/comment that could come up at some point.
“You talk about foreign missions all the time, but what about the need here in the United States?”
Let me state up front that I am a big fan of the missional movement that talks about always being called on mission. Whether I am at work, enjoying the state fair, coaching on the soccer field, or chatting on the internet about my favorite video game, I believe God can use me. My life is my mission, and there’s no off-duty. I want to see people around me know about the glorious freedom of the children of God. I live in an area of the United States that has a desperate need for evangelism. I don’t diminish this fact.
Still, I know that if half of the people who went to Bible-believing churches in my town fully lived for Jesus, this town could be transformed. (And I am one of these who needs to fully live my life for Jesus – let me challenge myself first!) My feeling has long been that there are enough Christians in this area to do the work needed. There are at least churches here that love Jesus.
The problem is that there are so many places around the world without a Christian witness. My mission trip to Thailand was to an area that had two churches in the city – and the province. Two churches for a population of 150,000 or so. There are nations and people groups who have no reproducing witness of Christ, whether due to lack of freedom or being a hard area to witness.
There are a lot of issues that I can talk about related to this. I know that it is hard for Westerners to be effective missionaries in all areas due to risks, cost, etc., and that it is easier for native missionaries to do work in various regions. Not everyone feels called to go, and I’m generally okay with that (although there’s the old Keith Green saying that the Bible tells us to GO, so we’d better have special leading from the Lord if we’re staying!) However, there is a need for being enlightened about conditions and opportunities in the world.
I will talk about local missions as specifics arise, but my focus is going to be international, because we are abundantly blessed in America. Almost embarrassingly so. We can be so fat from feeding ourselves spiritually, we get lazy and forget to give to others. I’d like to do my little part in changing that.
Hard words for a Monday. What do you think about this? I’m truly interested to hear! —
It’s Mission Monday here at Spoiled For The Ordinary.
I’ve just started focusing posts on Mondays toward missions, but I’m anticipating a question/comment that could come up at some point.
“You talk about foreign missions all the time, but what about the need here in the United States?”
Let me state up front that I am a big fan of the missional movement that talks about always being called on mission. Whether I am at work, enjoying the state fair, coaching on the soccer field, or chatting on the internet about my favorite video game, I believe God can use me. My life is my mission, and there’s no off-duty. I want to see people around me know about the glorious freedom of the children of God. I live in an area of the United States that has a desperate need for evangelism. I don’t diminish this fact.
Still, I know that if half of the people who went to Bible-believing churches in my town fully lived for Jesus, this town could be transformed. (And I am one of these who needs to fully live my life for Jesus – let me challenge myself first!) My feeling has long been that there are enough Christians in this area to do the work needed. There are at least churches here that love Jesus.
The problem is that there are so many places around the world without a Christian witness. My mission trip to Thailand was to an area that had two churches in the city – and the province. Two churches for a population of 150,000 or so. There are nations and people groups who have no reproducing witness of Christ, whether due to lack of freedom or being a hard area to witness.
There are a lot of issues that I can talk about related to this. I know that it is hard for Westerners to be effective missionaries in all areas due to risks, cost, etc., and that it is easier for native missionaries to do work in various regions. Not everyone feels called to go, and I’m generally okay with that (although there’s the old Keith Green saying that the Bible tells us to GO, so we’d better have special leading from the Lord if we’re staying!) However, there is a need for being enlightened about conditions and opportunities in the world.
I will talk about local missions as specifics arise, but my focus is going to be international, because we are abundantly blessed in America. Almost embarrassingly so. We can be so fat from feeding ourselves spiritually, we get lazy and forget to give to others. I’d like to do my little part in changing that.
Hard words for a Monday. What do you think about this? I’m truly interested to hear! —
Today on Mission Monday, I wanted to highlight a group of people that trace back to the originial apostles, but are in jeopardy today of seeing their life in their homeland disappear.
Egyptian Coptic Christian
Egypt has a population of over 60 million people, the majority being Muslims. However, at least 10% of the population are Coptic Christians. Copts, as they are known, trace their faith to the generation of people who walked with Jesus. Their church split with the main Roman Catholic Church in the 5th century, but they were the main religion in Egypt until the Muslim advances in the 600’s. Even living under Muslim rule, this body of believers have persevered for almost two thousand years.
Life has gotten worse for the Copts in the last several years. There have been several attacks on Christians by the Muslim majority. There is freedom of religion in the constitution, but there are many limitations in real llife. It is hard to convert and difficult to get paperwork for jobs and other things. Until recently all approvals for new church construction and even minor repairs had to be approved by the President! This has been changed, but it is still a very cumbersome process. When Christians were attacked, the police are slow to respond, and they are usually asked to simply “reconcile” with their attackers, without any other accountability.
Under the dictator Hosni Mubarak there was a measure of control, despite the attacks I mentioned. Now there is fear that things could get worse if strict Islamists are voted into office. There is an exodus of Copts now, depleting the oldest continual Christian community in the Middle East.
We don’t hear a lot about their plight in the West, and the needs of fellow believers far away can be hard to remember in our busy world. That’s why I want to share stories like this on Mission Mondays here. We are so blessed in the Western world. We should be able to support our brothers and sisters in Egypt in our prayers.
Thankfully, there are some positive signs as well. We know the Lord can move in mighty ways to protect His people. Here are some specific prayer requests (taken from the YWAM Personal Prayer Diary):
Pray that Christians will have a voice in the formation of the new Egyptian government.
Pray that the governments of other nations will press those in power to grant equal rights for all in Egypt.
Pray that Coptic priests and lay leaders would have courage and wisdom to encourage and guide their parishioners.
Pray that Muslims will come to know Christ through the example and love of their Christian neighbors.
Sources: YWAM Personal Prayer Diary, Wikipedia, WSJ, BBC —
Today on Mission Monday, I wanted to highlight a group of people that trace back to the originial apostles, but are in jeopardy today of seeing their life in their homeland disappear.
Egyptian Coptic Christian
Egypt has a population of over 60 million people, the majority being Muslims. However, at least 10% of the population are Coptic Christians. Copts, as they are known, trace their faith to the generation of people who walked with Jesus. Their church split with the main Roman Catholic Church in the 5th century, but they were the main religion in Egypt until the Muslim advances in the 600’s. Even living under Muslim rule, this body of believers have persevered for almost two thousand years.
Life has gotten worse for the Copts in the last several years. There have been several attacks on Christians by the Muslim majority. There is freedom of religion in the constitution, but there are many limitations in real llife. It is hard to convert and difficult to get paperwork for jobs and other things. Until recently all approvals for new church construction and even minor repairs had to be approved by the President! This has been changed, but it is still a very cumbersome process. When Christians were attacked, the police are slow to respond, and they are usually asked to simply “reconcile” with their attackers, without any other accountability.
Under the dictator Hosni Mubarak there was a measure of control, despite the attacks I mentioned. Now there is fear that things could get worse if strict Islamists are voted into office. There is an exodus of Copts now, depleting the oldest continual Christian community in the Middle East.
We don’t hear a lot about their plight in the West, and the needs of fellow believers far away can be hard to remember in our busy world. That’s why I want to share stories like this on Mission Mondays here. We are so blessed in the Western world. We should be able to support our brothers and sisters in Egypt in our prayers.
Thankfully, there are some positive signs as well. We know the Lord can move in mighty ways to protect His people. Here are some specific prayer requests (taken from the YWAM Personal Prayer Diary):
Pray that Christians will have a voice in the formation of the new Egyptian government.
Pray that the governments of other nations will press those in power to grant equal rights for all in Egypt.
Pray that Coptic priests and lay leaders would have courage and wisdom to encourage and guide their parishioners.
Pray that Muslims will come to know Christ through the example and love of their Christian neighbors.
Sources: YWAM Personal Prayer Diary, Wikipedia, WSJ, BBC —
