byFaith – PCA Headlines MTW on TwitterMTW is featuring the work in Thailand at General Assembly this year. If you’re planning to be in Nashville, come by the MTW booth and pickup your Thailand gift to discover more about what God is doing in this part of Asia.
Here is a video put together by Team Thailand that tells a bit of the story:
Napada Thailand from MTW~Thailand on Vimeo.
A new movie is being premiered soon (July 11, 2010) called Journey to Everest. I’m currently waiting to preview the entire movie. However, after seeing the trailer, this resource seems like it could be useful for many churches who want to use story and media to lead their folks to consider the world beyond their front door. The director of the movie, David Kiern, has asked that I share with you all that they are giving away free DVDs of Journey to Everest to any church that wishes to show the movie on July 11th. This can used in an equipping manner, but could also be used in outreach.
To find out more about the movie and to see the trailer online, visit www.journeytoeverest.com. You can also request to show it at your church via the website. As soon as I get a chance to see the movie I’ll post more details and my impressions.
The church planting team in Nagoya, Japan, challenged by growth and the need for more space, has recently been presented with an opportunity to purchase an ideally located building in the center of the city where they are working. Michael Oh is the MTW team leader for this effort, and has a heart for Christ and for Japan that I truly find envious (in the best sense of the word). Michael is a gifted communicator and preacher, which is evidenced by his speaking gigs over the past year (Desiring God’s Pastors’ Conf, Urbana, etc…). Here is a little more info and a video that will let you see the work and current opportunity before them. Please pray for the MTW Nagoya Team.
A few weeks ago I posted some links to videos that are online which you may find useful in your church. I don’t know how to say “I am more convinced.” The word “convinced” alone seems pretty emphatic. But I do think video is the best way to connect your congregation to what God is doing in other places, short of sending them there. So, here are a few more that have been sent my way:
by, Paul W. Taylor
In Protestant circles we are familiar with the story of the Antioch Church and how that great church sent out Paul and Barnabas as missionaries going to the west of Antioch as far as Europe. We’re quick to credit these early missionary efforts with enabling the gospel to reach Europe and ultimately North and South America. There is, however, a significant movement of the gospel eastward that is relatively unknown to most Protestant church members.
Dr. John M.L. Young, who served in Japan under Mission to the World’s predecessor, World Presbyterian Missions, has written a scholarly book on the missionary movement to the East. It is fascinating to read about these committed missionaries who carried the gospel 6,000 miles by foot as they went to China and beyond. Churches and seminaries were developed all across what we know today as Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China. More than 100 missionaries were sent into China from the year A.D. 636 onward for the next 150 years. These mission efforts brought the Good News to Japan as early as A.D. 603. Relics from these early efforts have been found in Java (Indonesia), Sri Lanka, Japan, and extensively in the countries mentioned above. It is estimated that, due to these massive missionary efforts, the number of believers east of Jerusalem was significantly larger than that going westward. (click here to continue reading this article)
During the 2009 PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) General Assembly, MTW focused participants’ attention on India through their annual giveaway. The gift consisted of a coffee mug containing India tea (Darjeeling) and a bookmark with specific prayer requests about some of the needs in India. The mug directed recipients to visit the MTW website to view the following video, which tells more about the work of the Gospel there.
by, Paul Taylor
Have you seen that map? It’s a map of the world designed by Patrick Johnstone, the author of Operation World. Each red dot on the map indicates one “unreached people group.” Very noticeable are the number of red dots all through Southeast Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. But the really stark, surprising, and impressive feature of this map is the fact that India is almost totally red—literally full of an enormous number of unreached people groups—both in the North (less reached) and in the South (considered more reached).
The question that we want to address in this article is: “What can or should we do to address these huge needs—not just in India, but the needs of all of these unreached groups of people?” “How can we best get the gospel to them?”
Recently, I visited Ang Stock, Cambodia. Here in this village of about 1,000 people a foreign missionary working with an MTW team has rented a house ($25 per month), and is learning the language, teaching the children, and dreaming of the future. This missionary has a goal of establishing churches in all of the nearby villages within bicycle range, the main mode of transportation. The missionary has been there only five months, but we had the privilege of meeting the first convert—a language tutor. God has called the missionary to this sort of mission work. We need to honor that call, help in any way that we can, and seek to leverage that ministry into an ever-expanding church-planting movement if at all possible.
The latter would most likely not happen unless the missionary raises up local people, trains them, and then facilitates a dozen or more local people to do the same thing. In 20 years could the missionary raise up 15 local missionaries who would start five to 10 village churches each? Very possible! One hundred churches could be started in 20 years. That is very worthwhile. And very worth supporting. Is that a church-planting movement? I would think so. But the church-planting movement will likely only become reality when this ministry moves to the stage of facilitating a good number of local church-planting missionaries. (Click here to continue reading this article…)
The following is from a report by Paul Taylor, International Director of the Asia/Pacific region. This encouraging news demonstrates the power of the Gospel in a place where the soil is still very hard.
Tokyo, Japan—the MTW team here is the largest MTW team in the world, so one question was can we divide this into two or three teams. The end result is that we will move to develop at least one other team in the next two years, and possibly a second. One team with focus on the rapidly developing Chiba Prefecture (that is the current team). A second will focus on the area between Chiba and downtown Tokyo. And the third if we actually form it into a team will focus on developing a major center city church working in partnership with Redeemer church in NYC and the Presbyterian Church in Japan.
PRAY for wisdom and smooth transition as these changes are implemented.
Nagoya, Japan—This team has effectively developed a much needed new seminary to serve the church in Japan, and in particular to raise up new pastors and church planters for the Presbytery Church in Japan. Since this is very much off and running now under the capable leadership of Dr. Michael Oh, the seminary or educational sector of this team will form a separate team which will focus on school development and any outreach coming out of that. This was implemented immediately.
PRAY for Wayne Newsome and Michael Oh as they head these ministries which bring honor and glory to our Lord.
MTW has issued a minuteman appeal to assist the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. Today we hear from our national partner there (an RTS graduate), and expect him to be a key component in our response there. But much prayer is needed. Pray not only for the survivors as they attempt to recover, but pray that the military-government will relax and let outside agencies in to assist. You can read the appeal online here and find out more about how you can help.
Come see the work of national church planters in three cities in Southern India, and view the progress of recovery from the tsunami-damaged area. Contact Bobbi Jo Brooks at 678-823-0004 ext. 2131 for more information. The trip is scheduled for October 7-17, 2008. This is a great opportunity to discover what God is doing in India, and how you and your church and be involved.