Mission Partnership

Acts 3


At our recent joint Micah Network and Micah Challenge Board meetings Rolando Perez (Advocacy Director for Paz y Esperanza, Peru) shared a challenging insight from Acts 3:1-10 – the story of Peter’s part in healing the crippled beggar at the Temple gates:

1) Peter did not pass him by – in fact he gave him his full attention and time (vs 4)

2) It was Peter’s hand that reached out to take hold of the cripple’s hand

3) It was the power of Jesus that healed him.

Integral mission is all about partnership. We partner with God; God partners with us. In the story above it was Peter who stopped, gave time to the man in need and gave his hand to help him up; and it was God who used this compassionate action and faith to heal.

As we read on in Acts 3 and 4 we see the story unfold further. People were astonished by what had happened and gathered around to see the evidence. Peter took this opportunity to point to Jesus and all he had done and why. The religious authorities were not pleased and arrested them. Again full credit for the healing and compassionate response was given to Jesus as well as a declaration that salvation is only through Jesus.

Acts 4:13 gives us insight into the religious leaders’ reaction: “When they say the courage of Peter and John and realised they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” The religious leaders threatened Peter and John and ordered them to be silent. Peter and John replied to this directive saying “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4: 19-20).

Encouragement

1) As we live out what we believe and respond to those in need around us, people will take note of our compassion and God’s presence.

2) We will be asked to give an account and we can take this opportunity to point to Jesus.

3) In so doing we may not be perceived to be “politically correct”. We will be asked to keep our views out of the public sphere.

The challenge for us all is throughout this whole exchange will people note that we reflect Jesus?

The Micah activities (Integral Mission Conversations, Consultations, Campaigns and Communications) are all spaces and opportunities where we can hear one another’s stories of how we reached out and how God partnered with us to bring healing and transformation. We can learn how to point to Jesus in our various contexts. We can, in solidarity, stand with one another through the consequences of this mission partnership.
 

Grace and peace

Sheryl Haw
International Director

A Time of Loss


Many thanks to Jenny Vaccari for informing the Network of my absence as I was with my family through the illness and then loss of my mom. It has been a tough four months for us as we tried to get my mom through the impact of her serious fall in December which slowly led to her deterioration of health and her eventual death on the 11th April. I have appreciated the many words of encouragement and condolences sent to me over the last few weeks. I know my absence has delayed and impacted some of our activities and for this I thank you for your grace and patience as we now work together to catch up and follow through our planned work.
Thanks - Sheryl

Exposed: Campaign Update

Exposed


This news has been provided by Amanda Jackson, Head of Advocacy and Campaigns at Micah Challenge.
 

News

At a global level, we continue to see progress on international tax reform. For details, see Amanda's latest blog here

3 out of 4 of the policy asks of the Exposed campaign could be achieved by the G20 agreement that will come out of Brisbane in November. This is very encouraging, and reflects the hard work of supporters like you!

Actions

But we can do more!

This month, we urge you to take the Expsed Campaign petition to your churches. Collect signatures using the resources available on the Exposed website here, and then scan and send them to info@exposedcampiagn.com.

We have 66,000 signatures to date, and are seeking 100,000 by June!

For more ways to take action, including draft letter templates to send to your G20 sherpa or Australian ambassador, click here

Micah Global Consultation 2015


For your diary – we can now confirm that dates for the 6th Global Triennial Consultation:

Dates: Monday 14th to Friday 18th September 2015

Location: Peru, Latin America

Theme: The draft working title is Integral Mission and Shalom: peace, hope and joy.

More information to follow as we develop the programme and logistics.

Disability and Development

IDDC


The International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) are holding a Workshop on Access to Health for people with disabilities on May 15th in Cambridge, UK.

For further details, go to our disability forum here. Note that access to this page is restricted to Network members who are logged in to the Micah Network website. 

If your organisation is interested in development and disability, or has related resources to share with the Network, please post them to the above forum or email coordinator@micahnetwork.org

International School of Reconciliation - Rwanda


In previous editions of this newsletter, we have promoted Mercy Ministries' International School of Reconciliation for Peace Practitioners to be held in July in Kigali, Rwanda. 

We would like to notify anybody who has tried to communicate with the organisers via school@lerucher.org that there have been technical issues with this address. Please resend any correspondance to either glregion@lerucher.org or omermay@yahoo.fr.

Details of the event can be found on the flyer here

Events in Brief


A reminder about our upcoming National and Regional events:

Community Transformation: Hopes and Challenges Conference – Stuttgart, Germany

19th-23rd May

This is our Europe Regional Consultation in cooperation with Christian Community Development (CCD).

For further information or to register, click here.

Signs of Hope in the City Summit – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

28th June to 1st July

This is our Asia Regional Consultation in cooperation with the International Society for Urban Mission (ISUM).

For further information or to register, click here.

10th to 12th July: Integral Mission and the Community (National Conversation) – Yaoundé, Cameroon 

21st August: Integral Mission and the Community (National Conversation) - Kigali, Rwanda

8th-12th September: Intergral Mission and Freedom (Africa Regional consultation) - Zambia

9th-10th October: Integral Mission, Justice and Transparency (National Conversation) - Cambodia

 

A full list of upcoming events can be found on the Micah Network website here.

 

 

 

Members News

Noticeboard

Our Noticeboard is Fixed!

Many of you have been wondering what happened to the noticeboard feature of our website. We were experiencing problems, but the good news is: it's fixed!

Please do check it out here, and send any events or vacancies you would like advertised to coordinator@micahnetwork.org (this is a free service for members!). 

Share your Stories

Do you have a story that demonstrates integral mission in practice? Has your organisation been growing in their learning and practice of what holistic transformation means for you? Do you have a testimony you would like to share to encourage all of our members?

We would love to share your stories. Please send any relevant text and images to coordinator@micahnetwork.org, and we will endeavour to share it within the Network. 

Update your Details

With 700 members in 87 countries, it is important that Micah Network maintains up-to-date information regarding all of our members and contacts.

If you or your organisation have recently changed your email, physical address, staff team or website, please do take a moment to let us know by sending an email to coordinator@micahnetwork.org

Connect with us

Stay engaged with stories, events, testimonies and news from the Network by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter

Also, visit our website for a complete list of past Micah Network Newsletters and Prayer Focus bulletins. 

Resources

Resources


Check out the latest Chritsian Mission publications from SAIACS Press here. There are great titles, including:

- Christian Leadership: For Building the Church and Building the Nation, 3rd Edition, Graham Houghton

What is Religion? A Theological Answer, Nigel Ajay Kumar 
 

FLASHBACK!

Do you remeber how great the content of our plenary sessions was at our Global Conference in Thun in 2012? Want to revisit the material we covered? Or, did you not make it to the conference?

Go here to download a great selection of materials and listen to the main sessions recordings from Thun. Be inspired!