#ChristianMissions

[readersmagnet]

Lauralee Lindholm, a high school valedictorian and college graduate, has spent over a decade traveling on Christian missions in Africa with her husband. After earning a master's degree in Teaching English as a Second Language, she has taught for 18 years and continues to help the church and start a Heart for Ethiopia bookstore.

Visit https://www.bookslauraleelindholm.com/ to learn more about the author and her other works.

[livingwellnessblog]

Christianity spread by love or the sword?

Christianity spread by love or the sword? For Christianity, the idea is that the spread of the faith was primarily through peaceful means such as preaching, missionary work, and acts of love and compassion towards others. This includes the early Christians sharing their beliefs through personal testimony, charitable works, and community building rather than through coercion or force. In fact,…

[swatmark]

Acts 11 v19-end and John 15 v12-17

Introduction Beloved, today our reflection centres on Acts 11:19-end and John 15:12-17. Both passages call us to embrace God’s expansive love and extend that love to others as part of our Christian mission. Main Focus: Love as the Core of Our Mission The main theme of these passages is the fundamental commandment to love one another. We will delve into understanding love not merely as an…

[cultvault]

Here is a snap from another session that took place across my 12-hour-live-stream on July 22nd. My chat with @erikabornman on the specifics of women in high-demand groups, the treatment of women at KwaSizabantu and the difference in punishment between the white skinned girls and the girls of Zulu ethnicity. Erika even donated 2 copies of her award winning book “Mission of Malice”. If you didn’t get a chance to watch the stream, you can find a link in my story where donations are still open and will take you to where you can find all the guest speakers information. https://youtu.be/FgoVn6843wY #ksb #christianmission #kwasizabantu #childabuse #childabuseawareness #childabusesurvivor #memoirs_of_childhood #memoirwriting #podcastinterview #abusesurvivor #podcasthost https://www.instagram.com/p/Cguv0uAo0Zw/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[prayamericagreatagain]

(via Pastor Andrew Brunson Prayer Over President Trump At Values Voter Summit October 12, 2019)

Remember to pray for President Trump often. Pastor Brunson's prayer is a beautiful one to use if you need one. If you're interested, the 2020 Values Voter Summit is going virtual this year Sept. 22-25, 2020. A link is included in the post, or find them on Facebook.

[faithfulnews]

Enroute Romania-bound

For Manda Pidgeon, the journey to bring the hope of Jesus to Rroma people in Romania began quite unexpectedly in 2006 on a mission trip to Papua New Guinea, when she audibly heard God speak the word Romania.

‘I’d been praying God would use me for his purposes, but until this time, I didn’t know the direction he would lead me. When this happened, I didn’t even know Romania was a country! I kept the experience to myself and continued to pray.’

The following day, God placed another piece in the puzzle.

‘My half of our team departed Milne Bay Province to reconnect with the rest of our group in Port Moresby. Upon arriving, I hadn’t yet jumped out of the back of the ute when a girl from the other half of our group ran up to meet us.’

“Manda!” she said. “I’ve been praying about this, and I think you’d be good in the orphanages in Romania.”

“So, it’s a place then?” Manda asked.

She is the first to laugh about just how far she’s come by trusting God to bring about his purposes in her life. Thirteen years later, Manda, her husband, Josh, and their daughter, Isla, are in the exact sweet spot God always intended for them in this time of their lives. They are now moving to Romania to follow the desire God’s placed in their hearts.

God began preparing Josh’s heart to care about Romanian people and culture before he’d met Manda. But when the couple discovered God had given them both this common interest, they felt God had not only blessed each of them in being united with the other, but also for a future of working together for his purposes.

Manda and Josh Pidgeon, with daughter, Isla

God has prepared Manda in his time, slowly helping her place each puzzle piece as he revealed it, so that Manda and Josh are now ready to be vessels, pouring out God’s love onto Rroma communities; Romania’s most isolated and misunderstood people.

With a background in childcare, Manda’s heart was initially captured by the need to bring God’s love to children in Romania’s orphanages. She learned about orphan numbers so high that children were being denied the simple gesture of regular human touch – with tragically detrimental consequences on their development. However, while Manda knew she could step into this role and felt God was patiently continuing to bring Romania into sharper focus, she lacked certainty about making such a big decision to go.

“OK, God,” Manda said. “I think I really need you to convince me that you want me to go. If you want me to go, I’ll go, even if I don’t yet know what you want me to do there.”

Soon after, a church friend recommended a book to Manda for her encouragement. But when Manda popped into Koorong after work to buy it, was disappointed to hear it was out of print. Thinking she ought to also start investigating the Romanian language, Manda asked if they stocked Romanian Bibles. Again, the cashier broke the sad news that she would have to source one elsewhere.

A little dejected, Manda thanked the cashier anyway and turned to leave.

“Excuse me,” said a lady over Manda’s left shoulder. “This might be a coincidence, but my husband and I work with a Romanian church in Spain. We’re returning from home assignment on Monday. Would you like us to send you a Romanian/English bible when we get back?”

“Um, sure, that would be great, thank you!”

Manda gratefully exchanged details with the lady and explained why she was enquiring about Romanian bibles.

Then Manda noticed a man hovering nearby her right side. He said something out loud in another language, but Manda wasn’t sure if he’d been talking to her. There was no one else around so she bravely decided to check.

“Sorry, excuse me?” she said.

“It means ‘God Bless You’ in Romanian,” he said.

“Oh, so you’re Romanian?”

“No, I’m Brazilian. But my wife’s parents are missionaries in Romania. Just a minute, I’ll get her.”

The man returned with his wife and son. How strange it felt, that there were now five people standing at the counter, none of them Romanian, but all with a shared connection of God’s heart to bring the hope of the gospel message to Romanian people.

“OK God!” Manda said. “I asked for confirmation. I think you’ve made it clear. I’ll go.”

Manda discovered online that International Teams were already present in Romania. She applied and was accepted as an International Teams Australia worker to serve as a member of the team in Timisoara. On 20th May 2008, she landed in Timisoara, Romania, ready to do God’s work.

Former communist leader, Ceausescu’s ideology had left a devastating legacy on the country. During his dictatorship, he’d instructed the population to have as many children as possible to create an army for himself. Sadly, whilst over 100,000 babies were born, there now remains almost an entire generation of people with varying disabilities and trauma because of the severe lack of care, love and value placed on them since birth.

For the next two and a half years, Manda obediently brought love to abandoned babies, including those who had developed physical and mental disabilities due to a lack of stimulation and interaction. She helped bring wellbeing and therapy for teenagers and young adults living with disabilities in one of Romania’s many institutions.

Manda participated in running English camps for Romania and Serbia’s youth. Her first real exposure to Rroma people was during such a camp in southern Serbia. She was intrigued by how different their community structure was. In Australia, children are brought to a central location for an experience run by a specialist group. Here, the lack of trust meant that opportunities had to be brought to the Rroma, so the whole community had awareness and a level of control over what outsiders introduced.

The Rroma community felt foreign to Manda and was overwhelming at first. Compounded by warnings from others that she was entering Gypsy communities and not to take anything of value lest it be stolen, Manda was initially uncomfortable. But God soon opened her eyes to the love he had for the youth who attended the workshops.

“It very quickly became apparent these youth presented no threat. They wanted love like any child does. They didn’t want what was in my pockets, they wanted to know that they were of value, that they had worth and that they could belong in some form or other. When we presented the gospel to them, several of them came to Christ because they realised you can be part of God’s family without changing your nationality or personality; that a Rroma person can become a Christian without becoming a western Christian.”

So it was that Manda’s passion for bringing the hope of Jesus to the Rroma people was sparked. God continued to grow Manda’s heart for the Rroma. She returned to Australia, attended Sydney Missionary Bible College (SMBC) and prepared herself for further time on the mission field.

There are an estimated 12 million Rroma living across Europe, with up to 3 million of those in Romania. Exact numbers remain a mystery for these almost-invisible people, many of whom are born at home and have no official identifying paperwork, and therefore no access to education, employment, health care and other things we take for granted.

But Manda also learned there were already many Christian workers around Romania seeking to reach the Rroma across a broad range of ministries. Some had been there for thirty or more years, had seen the country go through communism and the struggles that ensued thereafter. Their long-term experience, by God’s grace, led to some wonderfully effective ministries.

However, there was nothing in place for wisdom gained through service to be shared, or for cooperation to be promoted. Although every Christian worker Manda learned about served with a humble heart and earnest desire to reap fruit for God’s Kingdom, the isolated nature in which many worked often hampered their effectiveness and increased the difficulty of their ministry.

In one village, a young couple started an after-school program for the local Rroma children, but lacked the resources and support needed to effectively bring God’s love to the children and their families. Manda also became aware of a project begun by Christian workers to translate the Gospel of John into one of the Rromani dialects. They didn’t know their hard work was a duplicate of work already in progress by another missionary group in another part of the country. Manda recognised that Christian workers faced unique challenges in working with Rroma communities, created by hundreds of years of stigmatisation and marginalisation from mainstream society.

Thus, in 2014, God inspired Manda’s vision to create the Rroma-Workers Network (RWN) to Encourage, Equip and Empower Rroma workers to reach Rroma communities with the gospel. With support, guidance and facilitation from International Teams Australia, the RWN purpose crystallised to become a platform through which Rroma workers could access tools, knowledge and resources already available, seek support and offer it to others. It would build bridges between needs and the means to fulfil them.

Fellow Christian Rroma Workers gather in support of one another at the 2018 RWN conference.

The last four years have seen Manda and Josh steadily build a life together and strengthen the outworking of the RWN vision. With Josh’s support, Manda continued to build the RWN website. In 2016, she ran the first biennial RWN conference; so workers connected through the RWN could meet and encourage one another, enjoy respite from the daily demands of their ministries, learn and be equipped to return to their ministries with enthusiasm and renewed purpose.

In 2018, with the help of a team working in Romania, the RWN website was launched. Existing and future Christian workers across Romania could now also connect online to network, share ideas and resources, ask questions, inspire others and be inspired.

With their combined skills in administration, organisation and technical development, Manda and Josh continue to listen to God’s leading and work hard on developing the RWN, the fruits of which are already abundant. Workers discouraged in their ministries have been inspired to try something new by learning other pathways to success. They are encouraged to persevere when they realise problems they face are common to working with many different Rroma communities, not just their own. Manda and Josh are pleased to already see challenging burdens lessen and workers gain a better work/family life balance. Ultimately, the greatest encouragement is to see that Rroma people are receiving the hope of Jesus through Christian ministry.

Now, from their base in Ramnicu Valcea, Romania, Manda and Josh, with their daughter, Isla, will continue to facilitate the RWN and provide more effective on-the-ground support for workers. Over the last year they’ve raised awareness of their ministry and feel the blessing of God on their intentions as God has provided many to partner with them in prayer and financial support.

If you would like to help Manda and Josh, they’d love you to visit iteams.org.au/pidgeonjm to join their prayer community and/or to pledge a regular monthly donation to enable this much-needed ministry. Email connect@iteams.org.au if you’d like more information on other ways to donate.

Return to Winter Journey …

The post Enroute Romania-bound appeared first on International Teams.

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[creativeclaygraphics]

#PROACTIVEUNDERSTANDING I've recently been given permission to post this. I went of this trip with my church #ambassadorchurch of #hongkong a few weeks ago to the charity organisation International China Concern. A really eye opening experience and just a reminder of the work that needs to be done to bring healing and restoration to the more visibly broken parts of the world. Although we were unable to support emotionally and physically in the long term, we can support financially, with confidence after proactively visiting and meeting everyone in person. . . Sometimes I struggle and feel bad thinking I don't want to donate because I don't really know what my money would be used for. But seeing the lives and therapy being available for these disabled children build on that trust that my money is being used wisely. . Check in physically if you can. Know the organisers. Ya it takes effort to be giving. . Children's faces have been avoided to protect identity. . And yes sorry to all audio engineers or music peeps.. The audio must be unbearable. I keep apologising every time for this 😂 . . #hengyang #china #travels #charity #icc #internationalchinaconcern #videography #cinematography #cinematographylife #videoeditor #videoediting #instaeditor #church #faith #christianmission #beacheerfulgiver #ambassadorinternationalchurch https://www.instagram.com/p/ByLDbZIgyBM/?igshid=bs4g9fv9wc56

[globalcastresources]

Via @gostoryline - The recently reached, going to the remaining unreached. #sent #globalchurch #emergingchurch #ChristianMission #GreatCommission #1040window #movement #innovation #story #newworkersfromnewnations #majorityworld #mobilization #mobilisation #majorityworldmobilization #missionsmobilization @uofnbattambang

[wavestelegraph]

ChristianMission - Token for Support for missionaries in the mission field

ChristianMission – Token for Support for missionaries in the mission field

ChristianMission – Token for Support for missionaries in the mission field

Buy ChristianMission and help us to support Christian Missionaries on Africa, South America and Europe.

Simple WhitePaper

ChristianMission – Token for Support for missionaries in the mission field

ChristianMission is a token created only to be turned into support for missions and missionaries who are in the field in…

[swatmark]

2 Corinthians 13 v11-end, Matthew 28 v16-end

Introduction Beloved, today we are exploring the final instructions given in 2 Corinthians 13 and the Great Commission as narrated in Matthew 28. Both passages guide us towards unity, maturity in Christ, and our shared mission as Christians. Main Focus: Unity, Maturity, and Mission The essence of these passages revolves around the themes of unity among believers, maturity in Christ, and the…

[newyorkcitymissions-blog]

This website is not to replace our current site focusing on ministry & training but is designed to give a closer look at our outreach and impact. Donations will also be welcome here. #missions #christianmissions #church #churches #missionfield #urbanmissions #thenysum #ministrytraining #pastors #youthministry #youthpastor (at NYSUM (New York School of Urban Ministry, Inc.)) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvgqwppFzO5/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1qcj8ys98007n

[orbemnews]

Ruth Graham, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham, to lead program at W.Va. jail Source link Orbem News #Articles #AssociateReformedPresbyterianChurch #BetsyJividen #Billy #BillyGraham #ChristianMission #Christianity #Christians #daughter #Evangelist #forgiveness #Graham #HuttonsvilleCorrectionalCenter #Jail #lead #Louisiana #Mississippi #Program #Ruth #RuthGraham #UnitedStates #WestVirginia #WVa

[thegardengrrl]

Judy Hardy and her companions in this event invite you to dinner and a dessert auction TONIGHT at Grace Baptist Church, 4233 West Evans Creek Road, Rogue River. Dinner starts at 6. Be there, or be square! For more information, contact Judy Hardy at 541-951-3376 . . . #christianmission #mission #church #gracebaptistchurch #fundraiser #beautifullybrokenwomensmissiontrip #beautifullybroken #womenhelpingwomen #supportyoursisters #weareallone #soupandsalad #dessert #dessertauction #getinmybelly #rogueriveroregon #wimeroredon #rogueriver #wimer #southernoregon #southernoregonevents (at Rogue River, Oregon)

[billscope-blog]

The church- a great heritage #canon #hdr #hdrphotography #ghana #ghanaianphotographer #monochrome #church #building #antique #blackandwhite #salvation #jesuschrist #christians #christianmission

[christianandnerdy]

Jehovah's Witness: "hello, we believe we're in the perfect religion, we work hard to spread these magazines yet we don't know if we're good enough to be saved. I love my wife and my daughter so please pray for us." You want to be delicate with Jehovah's Witnesses, if you start blasting them on all their biblical and prophetic errors all you're going to do is harden their hearts, ask them to come in and have a cup of tea or coffee, give them a warm and friendly smile and ask them questions about their relationship with Christ. If you don't know how to talk to a Jehovah's Witness ask your pastor, ask your bible study teacher, they are your mission field. By Craig Truglia The Son is called God because of Phil 2:10 and Rom 14:11. We already covered what Phil 2:10 actually says (“so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW (πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ), of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”) Rom 14:11 appears to make clear that it is in reference to God: “For it is written, ‘AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE (ὅ��ι ἐμοὶ κάμψει πᾶν γόνυ καὶ ἐξομολογήσεται) TO GOD.'” Where is Paul quoting? Is 45:23 has Jehovah stating, “I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear [i.e. confess] (LXX, Greek Old Testament : ὅτι ἐμοὶ κάμψει πᾶν γόνυ καὶ ἐξομολογήσεται).” Phil 2:10 and Rom 14:11 clearly are about the same verse in the Greek version of Is Isaiah 45:23. Phil 2:10 specifically says it is to Jesus Christ everyone in heaven and Earth will bow to. Therefore, Jesus Christ is Jehovah. #jw #jworg #jehovahswitnesses #christianmission #bible #bibleverse #jesuschrist #jesusisgod #jesusisjehovah #watchtowermagazine #cult #christiancult

[wavestelegraph]

Tokenise Anything With Waves

Tokenise Anything With Waves

The Waves Platform makes it really, really easy to create and manage digital tokens, facilitating a huge range of new business models and use cases. It is possible to tokenise just about anything, if you go about it the right way — as just some of the examples on the Waves blockchain demonstrate!

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Soccer Token. Waves team are airdropping 150,000 SOCCER tokens to the community. At the end of…