October 22, 2009
Gabon’s first-ever medical air transport program is about to take-off-on the wings of a Cessna 207.
Pilot Steve Straw, who serves with Air Calvary, ordered the pre-owned, single-engine aircraft this summer. It will provide air service for Alliance-run Bongolo Hospital in the West African nation, thanks to a partnership between Air Calvary, Bongolo Hospital, and The Alliance Chretienne au Gabon ( the national Alliance church in Gabon).
Following months of painstaking rebuilding, the eight-seat aircraft will begin its transatlantic journey to the West African nation toward the end of November. Straw is an ordained C&MA pastor and his wife is the director of a Libreville-based guest house.
October 24 Commissioning Ceremony
“To start the airplane’s service off on the right foot,” said Straw, “we’re holding a Commissioning Ceremony and Open House at CXY Aviation, Capital City Airport, in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, October 24, from 1 to 3 p.m.”
In his open invitation to the landmark event, Straw exclaimed: “We hope that you can make plans to be at the commissioning service as the aircraft makes a stop on its way to Africa. Come climb behind the controls, take pictures, meet other supporters, buy a T-shirt, and pray the airplane on its way!”
Special thanks, he concluded, go to York Alliance Church for facilitating the commissioning ceremony and to CXY Aviation for hosting the October 24 event.
Fit for Service
Outfitting the aircraft for its new venture has been a labor of love. Work teams in Arkansas and Oklahoma stripped the plane down to its frame before installing more than $20,000 in avionics equipment, as well as a new engine and propeller that were given by an anonymous donor. A new paint job provided the finishing touch.
Plenty of luggage room, a storage compartment just behind the engine, and a cargo pod under the airplane further complement the plane’s commissioning to Gabon for its noble service.
Learn More
Read more about our current work in Gabon at Bongolo Hospital.
See a slideshow Steve Straw compiled, which chronicles the months of work required to outfit the Cessna 207 for its new mission. Note: Clicking on this link will take you off of the C&MA Web site.
What You Can Do
In your prayers, give thanks to God for this first-ever air ambulance service to the Gabonese people. Pray also that the aircraft will have a safe flight and for the brand new air ambulance program’s success.
Because of the Great Commission Fund, Alliance workers are able to provide life-giving care to many who are lost in Gabon and around the world. Please consider giving a donation today.
In our GoChurch series, Alliance Pastor Bob Havenor describes the mission that he and his wife, Sue, and six other people, have begun in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Although Alliance roots go way back in Ft. Wayne, a move to the suburbs left an evangelical void in the urban neighborhoods, where the Havenors have only just begun.
Our team is very organic. Sue and I are modeling a lifestyle where we live among and work with the people we expect God to reach. Nobody’s in professional ministry here. I work in a local auto parts store. We didn’t plant an organization where people with needs must go to a church. We are the Church that has a mandate to go to the people with needs. This is the essence of incarnational ministry; as John 1:14 says in The Message, “God became a man and moved into the neighborhood.” Our first priority is building intentional relationships in every sphere of our lives. It is through a relationally-based lifestyle and theology that we operate. And although we don’t have a church building, we are here because of one that once was in our target zone.
This summer we began systematically prayerwalking every street in our 1.5-mile-square target area. We started at a strategic location that is, first, an easy place to find on a busy central street. Second, and far more important, is what this property once was. This half-block was the site of the Fort Wayne Gospel Temple, a leading church in the middle half of the last century.
In the 1970s, the congregation merged with another local church, sold the property, and moved to the suburbs to begin life anew as Westview Alliance Church, the local body with whom we have a deep relationship. Commercial and local government interests bought up the large piece of property, and today it’s the site of a former Hollywood Video store that is now an empty building and a massive parking lot for the local Family Social Services.
Going Back to Go Forward
We begin prayerwalking at the Hollywood Video store because it is the geographical heart and spiritual epicenter of our target area. The leaders of Westview Alliance Church received prophetic direction from God several years before we showed up that He wanted to “re-dig the wells” in the old part of the city. We also meet there because we are convinced that God is keeping that former video store empty because He isn’t done with that property. We have claimed it as a prime location for an early childhood education center.
If you are doing something for the Kingdom, convinced that God is leading you, then what you are doing is not that new or novel. God, in our case, paved the way with generations of church members who cared deeply for that sector of the city. This is encouraging-we are all vital colors in the grand tapestry God is weaving in this community. He planned on us being here and desires our success more than we do. So we can love others with reckless abandon and live with no regrets.
A Present Need
More than 19,000 people, including many immigrants, inhabit the neighborhood that we want to reach, 48 percent of whom are in single parent households. There is a 27 percent high school drop out rate. Our demographic-driven vision includes developing what we call community bridges in two key areas: early childhood education and literacy. Three of our team members are currently teaching ESL, mostly to recent immigrants. We want to develop literacy centers that can help immigrants learn English, but also help native English speakers learn to read, use computers, and attain a GED.
Just because a church organization moved off of the property and a government agency moved in does not change the lasting imprint of those who walked that ground before we were born, calling on the God of heaven to do something to change the destiny of people in this city. The Social Services building is a memorial to our God who hears and answers our prayers: it’s where the neediest people in the community find help and relief.
The ground is still holy. There is an anointing of redemptive power that has yet to run its course. We expect to see the prayers of God’s saints come full circle and God’s plans manifested in our day. We have no plans to rebuild a church building; our plan is to move in God’s anointing as He rebuilds His living Church in the heart of our city.
Learn More
Read alife to learn more about the Havenors.
Read about other U.S. Alliance churches that are impacting their communities
What You Can Do
Pray for God’s guidance and protection for the Havenors and their team as they reach a city for Christ. Pray that God will prepare hearts to receive His Truth.
Donate to Alliance Great Commission Ministries.
October 16, 2009
By Ken and Kathy Young, serving in Japan
Editor’s Note: Ken and Kathy Young are reaching out to ordinary people in the Hiroshima region of Japan through Hope House, a holistic ministry geared toward helping families of patients in the medical center, as well as Bible studies. The following is an adaptation of a recent update from the Youngs.
Sometimes we feel like we are living in someone else’s missionary story. Events brought on by God’s leading stun us.
Recently, we led a Bible study in the farming village of Daiwa Cho, a 40-minute drive from home up mountain roads and through valleys tiered on both sides with rice fields and pine- and bamboo-covered peaks. The drive is breathtaking, but the evangelistic Bible study is awesome.
The study meets in the home of a Christian family. About a third of those who attend are Christians. The other two thirds are not just non-Christians; until now, these Buddhists and Shintoists had never heard the gospel. Many are influential farmers in their 80s.
During the first two sessions, 12 people attended; 16 came yesterday. People bring other friends each time. In fact, we were told afterward that one of the non-Christian women publicly announced the Bible study and invited people to come during the area’s gathering for Buddhists.
Ready for Good News
Explaining the gospel to regular folks who had never heard anything about Jesus before is not just a privilege but also a thrill. For example, yesterday we read Mark 2:1-12, the story of Jesus healing the paralyzed man who was carried by four men and then lowered through the roof in front of Jesus. We emphasized what Mark recorded: Jesus has authority to heal, but more than that, He has authority to forgive sins.
In the Japanese Bible, the first page of the account ends with Jesus saying to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” I read that out loud and then asked, “So, what happened?” As everyone turned the page, I heard some of the people gasp. Then, a couple of them, filled with wonder, quietly said the next words: “He got up.”
Friends, this is fun! How privileged we are to be telling the good news of Jesus to people who really have not heard and are completely open. And, the fun increases. Maybe we are at the starting point of a movement of people to Christ in an area where, up until now, only the worship of spirits prevailed.
Please continue to pray for all of us missionaries in Japan. We work in the country. Others on our team work in mammoth cities. But all of us are taking the good news of Jesus to people who are part of the largest Unreached People Group in the world. We are witnessing for Christ to people who have never heard and likely will never hear unless we tell them.
Thank you for praying. Thank you for giving. Keep up your good work. We all will continue to do ours.
Learn More
Check out our Alliance work in Japan.
What You Can Do
Help keep Alliance workers like Ken and Kathy Young on the field. Donate now to Alliance Great Commission Ministries.
October 15, 2009
Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from the summer 2009 Alliance Asia Pacific Regional Update.
Earlier this year, the Khmer Evangelical Church (KEC), the C&MA national church in Cambodia, elected Pastor Sok Sophon to serve as its new president. He had been a Khmer Rouge soldier who fought against the Vietnamese after they invaded Cambodia in 1979. His wife, Maram, was nearly killed by a napalm bomb that was dropped on her family’s home by the U.S. military in the early 1970s. She still has horrific scars on her back, arms, and hands. Eventually, she became a nurse. She met Sok Sophon in a hospital during his recovery from a shrapnel wound through the neck that nearly killed him.
Captivated by Christ
Years later, in the early 1990s, Maram became very sick during her first pregnancy, and Sok Sophon brought her to a refugee camp in Thailand for treatment. While in the camp, Sok Sophon heard the gospel and quietly began to attend the camp church. He did this secretly, sitting in the back row and slipping out of the service as soon as it ended. At first he was skeptical, but the story of creation captivated him and eventually led him to Christ.
Soon after, he began to study TEE (Theological Education by Extension) in the refugee camp with Bounoeuy Kes, now an Alliance worker serving in Cambodia. Bounoeuy and others noted Sok Sophon’s voracious appetite for God’s Word. To this day, he has an amazing ability to memorize the Bible. There isn’t yet a proper concordance in the Khmer language, but he is a walking concordance.
Maram also came to Christ during the time she and Sok Sophon were in the Thailand refugee camp. In 1993 they were repatriated back to Cambodia and went to live in Sophon’s home village of Kuttesot. Joe Kong (the former director for Intercultural Ministries at the U.S. C&MA and now an Alliance missionary serving in Cambodia) and Bounoeuy met Sok Sophon there and asked him to consider moving from his home town to help start a church in the much larger provincial capital of Sisophon. He and Maram did so, and they have both been tireless workers for the gospel ever since.
Nothing Less for Jesus
Sok Sophon once said, “I used to walk days for the Khmer Rouge with no thought of food, water, or pay; how can I do anything less for Jesus?” The Lord has worked through him to start more than 15 churches in northwest Cambodia over the past 15 years. He has been one of the key leaders to implement TEE in northwest Cambodia and has personally taught more than 100 TEE students.
Over the years Sok Sophon has been involved in a number of special events and speaking engagements throughout Cambodia.
As Pastor Sok Sophon leads the KEC, pray for him and Maram to maintain a close walk with God, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and to experience health and safety in their many travels.
Learn More
Check out our Alliance work in Cambodia.
What You Can Do
Help keep Alliance workers on the field. Donate now to Alliance Great Commission Ministries.
October 14, 2009
By Ruth Davis and Jo Kiel, serving in Brazil
Editor’s Note: Jo Kiel, an Alliance missionary to Brazil, has developed a dynamic ministry. In evangelistic fashion seminars, Jo demonstrates the use of colors to accentuate outer beauty and introduces women to Jesus, the Master Painter, who can make them beautiful on the inside. Over the years she has interacted with hundreds of women during presentations in tennis clubs, universities, government offices, and private homes. Several recent events were organized by Ruth Davis, who serves with The Alliance in Sao Paulo.
During a week of presenting “Inner and Outer Beauty” seminars, we were privileged to come in contact with more than 130 women in six different venues, including 65 women who indicated that they wanted to give their lives to the Creator, Jesus Christ. Also, 18 people wanted to start Bible studies.
For the second time, we went to a business club and were well- received. The club members mentioned that they desired to make this an annual event. We had 35 women present, and 23 indicated that they wanted to give their lives to Christ.
Thursday was our double header as we presented the seminar at the Federal Revenue Department of Brazil with women who were paid to listen to the message. Ruth asked for a double anointing, and God answered. We had 35 people present with 26 indicating they wanted to give their lives to Christ. We received an open invitation from the deputy to come back anytime. God willing, we will. Later that day, we presented the seminar at a hair salon where participants were packed in like sardines.
At the end of each seminar, we gave out door prizes including accessories, beauty products, Christian books, and a pink women’s devotional Bible, which the women seem to love more than anything else. We prayed that the right person would be chosen to receive each gift.
We could not be doing this ministry without your partnership in praying and giving. So when we see results like this, we want to share them with you as you are here with us in the Spirit as we live the call together. We are thankful to God for putting you in our lives. May He richly bless you!
Learn More
Check out our Alliance work in Brazil.
Watch a video about Jo Kiel’s ministry to women.
What You Can Do
Please pray . . .
- for effective follow up of all who attended the seminars and for God’s direction in planning the next week of color events in March 2010
- that God will continue to open doors into women’s lives through this innovative outreach
- that all who hear the message of inner beauty through a relationship with Jesus will receive Him as Savior
Help keep Alliance workers on the field. Donate now to Alliance Great Commission Ministries.
October 13, 2009
The following report comes from a field worker on the ground in Indonesia. It was originally dated October 6, 2009.
Pariaman and Sicincin are two communities that were hit hard. Almost every house either heavily damaged or completely destroyed. The communities are primarily family based with about 30 heads of families in a area. No power or public water source. Well water is fine. While some wells sustained damage or were filled with falling debris, most are functioning.
Death count is still not dependable. Govt is saying 550, however two major landslides may have claimed hundreds of victims. Also victims from the Chinese community are being buried without any report to the government.
The government is saying that over 30,000 homes have heavy damage, most cannot be repaired. We have decided to purchase and put together tool packets so that people can salvage usable materials from their houses. Tool packet contents are as follows: hammer, shovel, saw, file to sharpen saw, hoe, mallet, 3 kilos assorted nails, crowbar, pliers and two pair gloves. Initial purchase is 50 packets which we’ll distribute Tuesday afternoon. If this is received well by the community, we anticipate a purchase of 200 more tool packets.
We anticipate the arrival of a number of national workers that will help with cleaning of destruction debris and tool packet distribution. Adequate housing in the city of Padang has been secured. For the village area we’ve purchased tents and a small gen-set.
October 12, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Christian and Missionary Alliance is bringing help and hope to those devastated by disasters in the Pacific Rim last week. More than 1,100 people died in the September 30 earthquake in Padang, Indonesia, and over 300 perished in the Philippines and Vietnam after Typhoon Ketsana leveled the coastal areas of both countries. The typhoon has affected about 1.4 million people and damaged or submerged more than 350,000 houses.
CAMA, the relief and development arm of The Alliance, has responded to the flooding in Manila with a $5,000 donation to the Christian and Missionary Alliance Churches of the Philippines (CAMACOP). This will be used to assist communities where Alliance churches are located. In Vietnam, CAMA is working with PACCOM, a government agency, and the Tinh Lanh (Alliance) Church, the latter as allowed by the government.
In Indonesia, CAMA is working with Alliance national church leadership and TALI, the relief and development arm of the C&MA of Indonesia. A survey team has been on the ground in the earthquake affected area to determine how best to respond to current needs.
“The devastation is overwhelming,” reports an Alliance relief worker. “So many homes and families have been affected not only in Padang, the central point of the quake, but also in the outlying areas where help is just now beginning. Right now, we are focusing on gathering supplies so people can begin to rebuild their homes and not have to stay in tents, or worse, without shelter. Many of the bigger relief organizations are providing food, water, and immediate shelter. Our team would like to focus on helping people rebuild their lives. This will mean supplies and also people who will be able to stay to help distribute materials and oversee the project.”
For more information on relief efforts or to donate, visit www.cmalliance.org/give/relief/ or call 719-265-2039.
The Alliance is a fellowship of evangelical believers joined together in local churches, dedicated to fulfilling Christ’s command to make disciples of all nations. The Alliance has a thoroughly evangelical doctrinal statement and encourages believers from diverse backgrounds and theological traditions to unite to complete Christ’s Great Commission.
CONTACT:
Phil Skellie, President of Compassion and Mercy Associates
The Christian and Missionary Alliance
Ph: 719-265-2039
www.cmalliance.org
# # #
October 9, 2009
The following is an adaptation of Jessica Schaeffer’s recent newsletter to her supporters.
On Monday, Oct. 5, the 5,000th baby was delivered at Koutiala Hospital for Women and Children, less than three and a half years since our May 2006 opening here in Mali!
What a privilege it is to make a difference in the lives of many moms and babies at this hospital, in a country rated by the organization Save the Children to be one of the worst in the world to be a mother or child.
Preventing Double Tragedies
Recent research shows that more than two million babies and mothers die worldwide each year as a result of complications during childbirth. Each death is a double tragedy, since nearly all of these deaths could be prevented.
Koutiala Hospital has daily opportunities to prevent these double tragedies. And as we provide good medical care, we have open doors into the hearts and lives of people who need Jesus. One example is Nana.
My friend Nana (a Tired Mom)
Last fall Nana delivered triplets at her home in Koutiala with the help of her teenage daughters. She hadn’t received any prenatal care, so didn’t know she was having triplets. Maybe since she’d already had three sets of twins, having more than one baby wasn’t a big shock?
Her triplets were quite small, about three pounds each. One of Nana’s friends told her she should bring them to our hospital to be checked (we have a growing reputation as the place to bring premature babies). So a few days after their birth, Nana arrived here with her triplets and spent the next six weeks at our hospital.
The family just barely manages to get by on the money her husband makes. (He travels to nearby towns on big market days to sell flip-flops.) So when the time came for the three babies to be discharged, one of my missionary colleagues covered the $200 bill. Nana and her husband sent their oldest son, 15, to work in another town in order try to earn a little money to help the family pay the bill.
Malian Family Struggles
In many ways, Nana and her family are a typical Malian family. They have a lot of children (with a few more multiple births than usual, although multiple births are more common in West Africa). A few of their kids died before reaching age five; meanwhile, about one in four Malian children die before this age.
In January 2009, a couple of months after the triplets-”Sara,” “Bintu,” and “Miriam”-were discharged from the hospital, Sara died. Realizing how sick her baby was, Nana was taking her to a nearby health clinic when the infant expired.
Survival
I was very upset when I learned this, but when I visited Nana a week or so later, I was surprised at how accepting she was of the loss of another child. Like many Malians, life for Nana is about survival, and she must keep on going to care for the rest of her family. She was just as warm and gracious as always.
Nana doesn’t yet know Jesus as her Savior. I’ve had opportunities to share the good news with her in my fairly functional, although elementary Bambara, and I’ve also given her a family Bible. She doesn’t know how to read (less than 30 percent of Malians older than age 15 are literate). But one of Nana’s older kids said they would read it to her.
Would you pray with me for Nana and her family? She is a dear friend, and she also represents so many other Malians whom I have grown to love, and whom God loves infinitely. He desires that they find life in His Son.
Thank you for praying for our hospital as we participate in what God is doing in Mali. Thanks, too, for your gifts to the Great Commission Fund, which supports me in my work.
What You Can Do
Please also pray for . . .
- The many patients who have heard the good news at Koutiala Hospital, that they will understand Jesus’ great love for them and give their lives to Him.
- My Malian and missionary colleagues who are working long hours with many difficult and sad cases during malaria season. Pray that God will protect them physically, spiritually, and emotionally from the attacks of Satan.
Last week the National Association of Evangelicals, in which The Christian and Missionary Alliance has long maintained membership, adopted a resolution in support of comprehensive reform in our nation’s immigration laws. It has erroneously been reported on the internet that this resolution calls for amnesty for illegal aliens and that, as a member of the NAE, The Christian and Missionary Alliance is doing the same. This report is untrue. The NAE Resolution does not call for amnesty. It does suggest that an equitable means should be sought to enable persons to earn legal residency. (You may read the entire text of the resolution at http://www.nae.net/resolutions/347-immigration-2009).
The C&MA is a leader in the evangelical community in ministering to immigrant populations in the United States. More than one third of our churches are found within immigrant populations, and almost 40% of our constituents live in these communities. Alliance churches throughout the nation are called upon to proclaim the gospel to everyone. In obedience to the Great Commission, we must minister to people without regard to their legal status. God’s Word enjoins believers to treat all persons with equal dignity and respect, and to care for those in need regardless of their national origin or ethnicity.
At the same time, we also recognize our biblical responsibility to live in submission to the civil authorities which govern us. The Christian and Missionary Alliance does not knowingly grant an official worker license to any person who does not have an appropriate visa which permits him/her to be employed as a religious worker in the U.S.. Alliance churches commonly include a large number of people who are not formal members of the church. But, most Alliance churches are also legally constituted as non-profit corporations in the state where they are found. Thus, our policy does not permit persons who are residing in the United States illegally to be received knowingly into the formal membership of the church, since such action may compromise the congregation’s ability to continue its ministry and to serve the spiritual needs of the larger community.
We recognize the responsibility of government to control its borders and protect its citizens. We also understand that the issue of illegal immigration into the United States is both a complicated and volatile political issue on which sincere believers may disagree. However, we believe that the responsibility God has given to The Christian and Missionary Alliance is to proclaim the forgiveness of God in Christ’s redeeming work, so that every man, woman, and child may be given an opportunity to respond to His grace.
October 7, 2009
By an Alliance worker, serving in Guinea
Greetings from Conakry, Guinea! Thank you all for praying for us during these uncertain times.
Alliance Workers Safe
We have sensed God’s provision of safety for each of our families over the past several days here in Guinea. All Alliance international workers are safe, and many are getting back to some aspects of their ministries, for which we praise the Lord.
The situation could change quickly, but we trust the Lord for His will to be done here as we move ahead, one day at a time.
While things have been relatively calm in the capital city of Conakry, meetings continue between Guinea’s government officials and the international community to determine the next steps in resolving current issues of political instability.
Mediation Aiding Process
With help from a neighboring country’s president who is serving as a mediator, the process of resolving the instability is moving forward. We are not sure that a solution is quick to be found, but we are guardedly hopeful that if current leaders are willing to consider the options suggested to them, things could head in the right direction for Guinea.
It is not clear when these talks will be finished. In fact, next week’s meetings will play a big role in the direction Guinea takes in the coming weeks and months.
Please Pray For . . .
- Guineans who are suffering from direct or indirect results of the violence that took place September 28.
- The Holy Spirit’s softening of hardened hearts as He seeks to convict these hearts of sin.
- Openness to the gospel and open expressions of love by believers of all nationalities at this crucial, needy time.
- Solutions to the current closed schools as parents determine what they need to do to educate their children during this school year.
Finally, praise the Lord for the safety of our international workers. And pray as well as for our field leadership to make wise ministry decisions in determining the course of action in Guinea that is needed in the weeks and months ahead.
Learn More
Read about how God is at work in Guinea despite the steep challenges in this West African nation, one of the poorest in the world.
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