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Prayer Focus - December 2015 |
Contents |
Everything New!
In this example shared by Jesus indicating the new thing he was doing and bringing, the primary and essential element was the new wine. The new wine represents the Good News – the Gospel – the Kingdom of God – the New Covenant. This whole transforming initiative from God, filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit, representing Jesus – the Body of Christ. The secondary and important element of this example is the wineskin, representing the structures, the approaches, the traditions which the Body of Christ form as they engage with the world commissioned with God’s mission. Reflecting on wineskins, what is important to notice is that they must be new! They are not eternal and therefore need to be replaced as we grow and change. The context of our world, of our cultures and of our own learning influences the form of the wineskin, as indeed the wine itself (its properties) should influence the wineskin. As Micah reflects and seeks to further understand the Biblical perspective of the Kingdom of God through the lens of integral mission, we are challenged and inspired towards transformation, towards change. How to respond? 1) Sampler approach: many who engage with integral mission see aspects that they like and opt to try a few things out. They realise that some of the old ways of doing things are wearing out and new ways need to be developed. So they take a few ideas and try and attach them to old structures, and old ways of doing things. Jesus’s talks about this in the preceding verses (Luke 5:36f) – no one sews a new patch of material onto an old garment….! Jesus challenges us to re-think completely and inspires us to think of a whole new garment (structure). 2) Keep both: many of us will say we want the whole message of integral mission, but we want to have it alongside the old way of doing things. Perhaps we don’t want to rock the boat too much, after all, we have always done church this way, we have always run our aid/mission organisation this way, we have always operated our Bible College this way – it is tried and tested.…! The problem is that this approach makes the wineskin brittle and it will break, losing the new wine. 3) Change not needed: there are also some of us who don’t even want to consider change, preferring the safety of traditions, the established approaches. In fact they get angry and critical of anyone who challenges this. (Matthew 15:2 – Pharisees speaking to Jesus: “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?....” Coming out of our recent Global Consultation we have been challenged to re-think how the new wine message impacts the wineskin for us today.
4) A fourth way to respond is to be open and willing to consider radical change – to be open to have a new wineskin: We hope and pray that Micah will be a platform to enable us together to have the courage for change, so that new wine can be poured into new wineskins Rev 21:5 “He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”
Please pray for the working groups being established to tackle these questions. |
Prayers around the world
Please take some time this month to stand in solidarity with fellow members and pray with and for their teams and their work, as guided by the reflections below. |
SAGOAL (Nepal)
When the local church came out from its four walls and participated in social works together with the community people, the church was accepted as a part of the society and many people came to the church and accepted Christ. We praise the Lord that the churches with whom we have been working with are small in size and lacking in resources but have a passion for God and for serving the needy in the surrounding communities.
Learning about IM Due to the blockade, many daily wage earners are in no position to feed themselves and their families. Labourers have lost their jobs due to non-operation of industries and business houses. Pray for them. Many earthquakes victims are still in the temporary shelters. The winter season has already started. Please pray for them, especially for small children and elderly people. - Sagoal |
IAS (International)
Despite the many challenges, we have experienced Gods presence and that He has seen us through. We have come to know that prayers needs to be more intentional and that prayer is our strength as we continue to plough. Our hearts go out to the least reached people groups and to the ones suffering in some of the worlds´ most hostile environments, in the countries where God has opened doors for us. Our prayer for 2016 is that God will continue to be our protector and our provider. Most of all we pray that Gods´ love will be known through IAS as we continue to strive for a godly transformed society. - IAS International |
RENAS (Brazil)
We have seen the issue of equity being adopted by partners and we are planning to work in our actions around this topic. We learned that the Integral Mission involves a commitment to caring about the human being in its entirety; an individual who belongs to an environment, a family, a social group. We are a full-time mission. It's not something that can separate and store for later use. It is not disposable. It is a lifetime commitment, a continuous search. We received the good news that Bola na Rede campaign resources will continue until the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. And finally, we had the joy of bringing together a number of partners in our second meeting in September, in addition to the National Meeting for the entire Brazilian church in Araçariguama (SP).
We feel your Spirit expanding our vision. Help us to continue serving you and the poorest. |
Servant Partners (International)
It was really a very good year for Servant Partners. We are now working in twelve countries and are on the verge of creating a couple of new sites. God continued to provide us with ample resources. We also honed our approaches to evangelism/ church planting as well as grass-roots projects that build capacity in individuals so that they are empowered to work for the transformation of their communities. As an organization we have identified 8 signs of a transforming community (see here) and this year we made significant strides in building expertise in many of the signs.
Perhaps the greatest highlight for us this year was our All Staff Gathering held in California. Every four years, all our staff with their families gather from around the world to study scripture, learn from each other, pray for one another, and worship and fellowship together. We committed to a spiritual Rule of Life that reminds us that our work must always flow from our relationship with God and that we are not so much an organization as a movement led by the Spirit. |
Asociación A-Brazo (El Salvador)
Many women and young people have developed skills and tools to help them succeed, leading them to feel satisfied and understand that their lives have meaning. Seeing individuals, families and communities transformed is our greatest motivation.
We have learned that integral mission is possible when various Christian organizations and churches joined efforts to achieve the transformation and abundant life for people and when we also make alliances and collaborate with all stakeholders in communities without social, religious and political prejudices. The light of God shines most brightly in unity. - Asociacion A-Brazo (translated from Spanish) |
Tearfund Belgium
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Monaana Word Ministries (South Africa)
Doing the ministry in rural communities is a real challenge because our churches are flooded with people that are unemployed, uneducated, illiterate and who do not have current day ministry exposure. Lack has made them believe that they are no good for anything. They are still bound by culture and tradition some of which stand against the principles of the Bible. The understanding of the Great Commission that we must take the Gospel to all people in all nations has been lost. There are many false Christs and false prophets who perform great signs and miracles and deceive people.
Prayer: - Monaana International Word Ministries |
Women of Hope International (West Africa)
While many saw this as a health care crisis, for those of us working in the region, we soon came to understand that this was not a crisis of health alone – but a crisis of poverty, trust, relationships, health, economy, and faith. The whole person and the whole society was affected, and the whole person and society has need of healing. And yet, Loving Father, as you always do, you are redeeming hard things, bringing beauty from ashes. For us at Women of Hope, we saw this in 400 women affected by disability, who previously did not have access to your life-giving Word, due to illiteracy and lack of resources, provided with their very own audio Bible in the language of their hearts. In that provision, your Holy Spirit has opened doors to their fearful, discouraged, lied-to hearts and minds, beginning your work of redemption in them. As we begin this new year, free of the fears and questions of Ebola-plagued 2015, we know that new challenges await us. But a glance behind us reminds us that your mercies are new every morning, and your faithfulness is great. Bring healing, O Father, and restore this region, still so raw from this trial, and may all the people there – but especially women affected by disability – know your redemptive power in every aspect of their being. - Women of Hope International |
Micah Youth (International)
All hands, all minds, all hearts, all faith, all creativity and all hope are needed, today more than ever, to build peace, justice, and life to the fullest.
On this path of making Shalom, our life force, our defiance, is necessary to face injustices that oppose the love of God. The faith and hope of youth is necessary in order to change the world. We need the life's desire of those who are convinced of a radically better future, and who take steps toward it. The wise, the dreamer, the expert, the rebel; our prayer is that the young and old together will be a living expression of the Kingdom of God. - Micah Youth (Translation from Spanish) |
Burundi
Pray for an end to the violence Pray for the wisdom of the government. The eruption of violence was triggered after the July election in which the President stood for a 3rd term. Many boycotted the election process in protest. Pray for the refugees that have poured into surrounding nations in fear the violence will continue to escalate. Pray for the church in Burundi to be bearers of Shalom. To take part in this special week of prayer, follow the intercession guidelines here. -Tearfund UK |