Christmas – celebrating God Amongst Us!

May we all know and experience the amazing love and presence of God as we draw to the end of 2012. It has been a year full of challenges and opportunities and we are grateful that we could share it with you all.

May I share with you the inspiration given us through the call to engage in seven spheres of life and culture that Loren Cunningham (founder of YWAM) shared with us back in the 1970s:

Business: may we seek to glorify God in all we do, acting with integrity and service. Let us challenge business practices that seek to exploit and oppress. Let us seek Fairtrade.

Governance: may we speak out for justice and expose corruption. Let us together hold our governments to account, working at all levels of governance to bring care for all. Let us care for our world and its resources.

Media: may we speak the truth through the media and seek to ensure manipulation,  gossip and false interpretations of reports and news are exposed.

Arts and Entertainment: may we enrich our communities with art and entertainment that strengthen values of God’s Kingdom and demonstrate his love and compassion. Let us challenge the arts that seeks to destroy and dehumanise our world, promoting brokenness and deception.

Education:  may we promote education that builds our capacity to develop and sustain life and wellbeing for all. Let us stand for access of education for all children.

Religion: may we encourage one another on to stand firm in our faith and boldly and compassionately to share the hope we have rooted in the Good News. May we be salt and light in our communities.

Family: as we celebrate Christmas let us be the present (be a gift) for our families sharing with them and interceding for their well-being. For all those who have been isolated from family – may we be family to them

This is our Christmas and New Year prayer for us all.

Have a blessed Christmas and thank you for all our shared fellowship.

Sheryl Haw
International Director

Thematic Discussions - Forums

Micah Network facilitates various platforms for sharing of ideas, information, discussions, debates and development of resources.

We encourage all members to engage in these forums through participating in discussions, sharing resources and learning and through addressing issues of concern. Forums

Log onto the web site to gain access and see further resources available for members.

Advocacy Forum

The advocacy forum has the following aims:
• To develop joint actions/lobbying and/or to provide a platform for strategic support for members’ actions.
• To develop specific Christian messages on particular policy issues.
• To provide policy support to Micah Challenge campaigns
• To produce a monthly Micah Network Advocacy Forum Summary circulated to all members of forum

A recent invitation to sign up to the Call to Action on Creation Care was sent out to members. Have you looked into this? See the recent bulletin form more information or access the forum now to join the discussion.

Discussions on post2015 are ongoing – an important platform to consider how to further reduce poverty.

Servicelink

The Volunteer Services Program of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, would like to extend a “HELLO” to everyone in the Micah Network!  We are based in Burlington, Ontario, Canada with a vision to engage our constituents in opportunities of service, not only with Christian Reformed agencies such as World Renew, but also with other like-minded ministries that work towards justice, mercy and the holistic transformation of lives and communities worldwide. It is our hope that through opportunities of service, people will not only be able to participate in practical ways, but become better equipped to respond to needs within their own churches and communities using appropriate methods.

A second aspect to ServiceLink’s vision is in the training and equipping of volunteers for service, be that in an international context or within local communities. Prior to embarking on mission assignments, ServiceLink assists in the facilitation and implementation of volunteer training and orientation, presenting best practices for engaging in cross cultural contexts. Additionally, ServiceLink provides training in the area of Volunteer Engagement, assisting churches and organizations with proven methods for recruiting, screening, training, coaching and supervision as well as recognizing and thanking volunteers.

Currently we are looking to partner with other like-minded ministries and organizations in order to build our inventory of volunteer opportunities and offer a broader range of ways our constituents can engage in acts of justice, mercy and mission. Additionally we are willing to share our expertise and resources with a broader network of organizations and so are looking to develop partnerships with Micah Network members with whom we can share, but also from whom we can learn. If this is of interest to you, then we would love to connect – contact Carol Sybenga, ServiceLink Program Manager.

Study Opportunities

MA in Justice, Advocacy and Reconciliation: Redcliffe College, United kingdom
A scholarship programme is now available to assist students.

For information on the Course follow this link
To apply for the information on the scholarship, write to the Academic Dean.

MA in Transformational Development: through AGST Alliance and Tabor College

An Asia-based master's program equipping people for transformational development is set to commence in February 2013.

A scholarship support applicants is available.

For more information follow see AGST Transformation Development

To apply online click here.

Up and Coming Events

International Holistic Missions Conference:  9th to 11th January 2013

Location: Peoria, Arizona – USA

Facilitated by CHE. Register here

 

Urban Mission Summit: 26th to 29th January 2013

Location: Bangkok – Thailand

Facilitated by ISUM in cooperation with Micah Network

Register online here

 

Politics and the Kingdom of God Conference: 27th to the 31st May 2013

Location: Kampala, Uganda

Facilitated by Amahoro Africa

Proposal Formats and Guidelines

The revised Micah Network proposal formats and guidelines are ready for use. Download here. This has been a much appreciated resource and we encourage you to use this and let the team know if we can further improve these documents for all.

Strategy Development

On the 3rd of December we sent out a special bulletin inviting all our members to give their input into the Micah Network strategy development. If you have as yet not sent this in and would like to do so, please review the bulletin here and return your response as soon as possible.

Great Presentations

In October ICETE (International Council for Evangelical Theological Education) held their conference entitled Rooted in the Word; Engaged in the World. The plenary sessions are available here for you to be enriched by. We recommend two outstanding and challenging presentations:

1) Reaping What we Sow – Engaging Curriculum with Context by Havilah Dharamraj

2) Not Living by Bread Alone – Evangelical Biblical Education and Survival by Myrto Theocharous

Download and listen to their presentations here.

Happy New Year

Looking forward to working with you all in 2013.