Frontline Edition - 4Q 2008
-
Upload
adventist-mission -
Category
Documents
-
view
217 -
download
1
description
Transcript of Frontline Edition - 4Q 2008
G L O B A L M I S S I O N • w w w . g l o b a l - m i s s i o n . o r g • 8 0 0 - 6 4 8 - 5 8 2 4 1
FRONTLINEedition 4Q
08t a i w a n
FRONT LINE EDITION is published quarterly by Global Mission, part of the Office of Adventist Mission, at the Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters. Tax- deductible gifts for Global Mission projects can be sent to Global Mission 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600 800-648-5824 www.global-mission.org
GLObaL CENTER FOR aDvENTIsT-MusLIM RELaTIONs Jerald Whitehouse AMRNET PO Box 1223 Loma Linda CA 92354 USAPhone: (909) 558-4563Fax: (909) 558-4845E-mail: [email protected]
HINDu sTuDy CENTER G. R. Mohan RoySouthern Asia Division Post Box 2, HCF Hosur 635110 Tamil Nadu India Phone: 91 (4344) 22170 Fax: 91 (4344) 22090
WORLD JEWIsH FRIENDsHIp CENTER Richard Elofer P.O Box 592 94186 Jerusalem Israel Phone; 972 (2) 6251 547 Fax: 972 (2) 6251 391 [email protected]
buDDHIsT sTuDy CENTER Scott Griswold P.O. Box 234, Prakanong, Bangkok Thailand 10110 [email protected]
CENTRE FOR sECuLaR aND pOsT-MODERN sTuDIEs c/o Miroslav Pujic119 St. Peter’s Street; St. Albans, Herts AL1 3EY; ENGLANDPhone: 44 (1727) 860-331Fax: 44 (1727) 866-312
©Copyright 2008 Seventh-day Adventist® Church. ADVENTIST® and SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST® are the registered trademarks of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists®.
4Q
O8
E D i t O R i a L
Mrs. Chun lives in a high-rise apartment building
in Taiwan, an island off the southeastern coast of China. For 10 years she prayed that her husband would give his life to Christ and come to church with her. But he complained that the church was too far away. “If the church were closer to home, I’d go,” he sometimes said. Then last year Mrs. Chun’s husband lost his excuse not to go to church when Pastor HyungTaek Lim, an Adventist Pioneer Mission Movement pastor, rented a shop on the first floor of Mrs. Chun’s apart-ment building and started planting a church. Now Mrs. Chun and her husband wor-ship together each week with Pastor Lim. Some 23 million people live on the island of Taiwan, of these, 93 percent follow—or profess to believe in—Bud-dhism and Taoism. Only 4.5 percent are Christians.
With some 5,300 Adven-tists, the ratio of Adventists to population is one in every 4,328. Most of these believ-ers are members of aboriginal tribes living in the highlands. They represent less than 3 per-cent of the population. Most of the people on Taiwan—roughly 97 percent, are Han Chinese. They live in the cities and along the coastal regions. And among this group there’s only one Adventists for every 25,000 people. While Global Mission con-tinues to reach the mountain people, it is broadening its out-reach to include Taiwan’s urban centers with several initiatives. One such outreach initiative is the Pioneer Mission Move-ment. Started in 2003 to reach these largely unreached people groups in the urban centers. Usually Global Mission pioneers work within their own culture; but the Pioneer Mis-sion Movement sends pastoral families to challenging areas as
cross-cultural Global Mission pioneers. They spend six years living in their new culture in order to plant at least one new church. Currently 13 Pioneer Mission Movement missionar-ies serve in Taiwan, and four more families will arrive next year. As with any missionary, these missionaries must learn the local language before they can begin their work plant-ing a church in an unentered, unreached, or unchurched area. Taiwan presents significant challenges for mission work for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Besides the vast num-bers of unreached people living there, workers face obstacles and barriers such as traditional religions, secularism, and post-modernism. Please pray for the work in Taiwan.
Kwon, Johng Haeng, Adventist Mission Director of the Northern
Asia-Pacific Division
MICHaEL L. RyaN –Chairperson, Adventist Mission
GaRy KRausE –General Field Secretary
GaNOuNE DIOp –Study Centers Director
RICK KaJIuRa –Communication Director
NaNCy KyTE –Marketing Director
MaRTI sCHNEIDER –Programs Director
HOMER TRECaRTIN –Planning Director
RuTH DuNbEbIN –Donor Services Representative
LauRIE FaLvO –Communication Projects Manager
CHaRLOTTE IsHKaNIaN –Mission Editor
aNDREW KING –Video Producer/Editor
HaNs OLsON –Communication Projects Manager
sHyaMaLa RaM –Administrative Assistant
NIMFa suMaGaysay–Donor Response Coordinator
sTELLa THOMas –Administrative Secretary
DaNIEL WEbER –Video Producer/Editor
FR
ON
TL
INEe
diti
on
Reaching the Unreached in Taiwan
4Q
O8
They pray to their gods, offer them gifts and toss pieces of wood on the ground
hoping to have their fortune told to them. They burn incense and read from religious books, hoping that somehow they will be able to find peace in their busy lives. For many people in the country of Taiwan this is a typi-cal visit to their local temple. Many of the 23 million people that live in Taiwan are search-ing—whether it is for peace in their lives or for a new hope for a clouded future. To reach out to the people in Taiwan and in a greater extent to all Chinese-speaking people around the world, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is establishing a new out-reach program. In the capital city of Taipei, the Church has set up a small television studio to record programs in Mandarin, the major language in China. These programs will be broadcast on the new Chinese Hope Channel®. The pro-grams are currently being produced in a small studio in the basement of the Adventist Hos-pital in Taipei. These programs will also aim to reach the more than 70 million Chinese people who live outside of mainland China.
“We have a chance to deliver to our brethren in China a very coherent consistent mes-sage about our church, our beliefs and also to introduce them to the worldwide church so they better understand who we are as a global organization,” says Robert Christensen, Chinese Hope Channel’s director. Reaching out to the people of Taiwan can be challenging. But the Seventh-day Adventist Church is reaching out to touch people’s lives on this small but crowded island. Please pray for the people of Taiwan that their hearts will be receptive to the Holy Spirit. Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering on December 27 will go to this proj-ect. Thank you for your support of mission, and thank you for your prayers and support of those who are working on the front lines around the world. Rick Kajiura is Adventist Mission’s com-munication director. This story is featured on this quarter’s Adventist Mission DVD, which can be seen in your local church. You can watch it online or order your own copy at http://www.AdventistMission.org.
Modern Ministries © 2
008
G ene
ral C
onfe
r en c
e o f
S even th -day Adven t i s t s – A l l r i gh t s r e s e r ved
1250
1 O l d Co l umb ia P i ke , S i l v e r Sp r i ng , MD 20904
800.
648 .
5824
– w
ww.Adven t i s tM i s s i on . o rg
QUARTER 42008
featured region: NORTHERN ASIA-PACIFIC DIVISION
w w w . A d v e n t i s t M i s s i o n . o r g
FEATURES1 A TV, a Room, and a Church – Northern Asia-Pacific [8:00]*2 Beyond Borders – Northern Asia-Pacific [8:30]3 Building Up His Kingdom – Northern Asia-Pacific [9:15]MINI FEATURES
1 Modern Ministries – Taiwan [3:40]*2 The Warmth of Jesus – Mongolia [4:25]*3 Ministering to the Masses – Japan [3:58]*SHORT STORIES1 Ger Church – Mongolia [1:50]2 Life Changing School – Cambodia [2:06]3 New Music – Mongolia [2:10]*4 The Faith Church – Hope for Big Cities [2:40]5 Chinese Restaurant – Japan [2:25]*6 Children’s Story: Stuck in an Elevator – Japan [1:52]EXTRAS
1 What Kind of Love is This? – Music Video [3:00]2 Tokyo Street Interview [5:37]3 Annual Sacrifice Offering Appeal [1:00]*Thirteenth Sabbath Offering Emphasis Video
Watch more Adventist Mission stories on the Hope Channel
To order more copies, contact at 800-328-0525 or www.AdventSource.org
The quarterly Adventist Mission magazines are a great companion to the Adventist Mission DVD. Share stories from the youth and adult or children's magazines as part of your weekly Sabbath School presentation.
G L O B A L M I S S I O N • w w w . g l o b a l - m i s s i o n . o r g • 8 0 0 - 6 4 8 - 5 8 2 4 3
G L O B A L M I S S I O N • w w w . g l o b a l - m i s s i o n . o r g • 8 0 0 - 6 4 8 - 5 8 2 4 4
F E a t U R E4Q
O8
Planting Churches: in Taiwan“Attention! Attention!”
the voice crackled over the community loud speaker in Chwin Ruh. “All are invited to come to the community center tonight for a special program.”
Chwin Ruh is a village in the mountains of Southern Taiwan. For many years this village had a branch Sabbath School, but without a pastor or lay leader the fledgling congregation dwindled until no one was left. Last year Global Mission pioneer Shing
Hui Chen and his family moved to Chwin Ruh to restart this congregation.
Chen began knocking on doors and sharing his faith. Most of the people who live in Chwin Ruh are older. Young people have left the area in search of greater opportunities in the city. The elderly don’t have the kind of medical care they need, so Chen spends time caring for and ministering to them. As people saw Chen’s compas-sion for people, some started
attending his weekly worship services in the chapel he’s rented.
The small congregation grew to 15. But Chen wasn’t satisfied. So earlier this year he invited 200 Adventist youth to Chwin Ruh to hold a weekend community out-reach program.
The youth used the vil-lage’s public address system to invite people to come to the weekend program. More than 40 villagers attended the meetings on Friday eve-
G L O B A L M I S S I O N • w w w . g l o b a l - m i s s i o n . o r g • 8 0 0 - 6 4 8 - 5 8 2 4 5
ning and Sabbath morning. On Saturday night the youth organized a social time. Then on Sunday morning the Adventist youth cleaned the streets of the town. As a result of their efforts, people in the town real-
ized how much Adventists care for them. Now more people attend Chen’s weekly services.
Papaya Farmer to Church Planter
When asked to be a Global Mission pioneer in Sai Jia four years ago Wen Ming Huang never dreamed that he could become a pastor with his own church. At the time he was a mango and papaya orchard farmer and an elder in a nearby village church. He felt he didn’t have the education or the experience to lead his own church.
When Huang first arrived in the mountain village of Sai Jia he found only one older couple in the church. Work in this area of Taiwan is difficult because religious lines are clearly drawn. People don’t easily change
from their family’s
ancestral religion. Huang started by visiting people throughout the village. He told people that he was going to have worship in his home, and slowly a few people started to come.
A year later he held evan-gelistic meetings, and more than 10 people were bap-tized. New members joined almost every month. Now there are 45 members in this church.
The Enormous Challenge Most of the nearly 5,300 Adventists who live in Taiwan come from the aboriginal tribes who live in the hill country. The majority of the
population is Han Chinese, who live on the plains and in the large cities such as Taipei. Only one in every 25,000 of this majority group on Taiwan is a Seventh-day Adventist. To help meet the enor-mous challenge of reaching every person in Taiwan with
As a result of
their efforts,
people in the
town realized
how much
Adventists care
for them.
Planting Churches: in Taiwan Huang never
dreamed that he
could become a
pastor with his
own church.
the gospel message,
the Adven-tist Church in
Northern Asia started the Pioneer
Mission Movement five years ago. More than 15 mis-sionary families volunteered to move from another coun-try within Northern Asia to Taiwan and spend the next six years planting churches in Taiwan as Global Mission pioneers. Usually Global Mis-sion pioneers are lay members who work within their culture and language group. How-ever Pioneer Mission Move-ment pastors generally come from countries such as Korea where the Adventist Church is well established, to coun-tries such as Taiwan, where there is a great need for pastoral leadership. Pastors go through extensive training in their home country before moving to a community where there are virtually no Adventist members. For more than 50 years the Adventist Church in Taiwan has struggled to grow.
The Pioneer Mission Move-ment program however has helped revitalize many strug-gling Adventist churches and plant new ones. Over the past three years pioneer pastors have planted or revitalized more than 28 churches in Taiwan. For instance, Pioneer pastor Chae KwangByung baptized 12 people in just his first year reaching the Miaoli community in Northwestern Taiwan. In the urban center of Thaichung, the local Adventist church has opened a com-munity center to give young students a place to go after school and to provide pro-grams for senior citizens in their local community. Four days a week church members provide after-school programs for children whose parents are working or can’t be home to care for them. The church workers provide a hot meal, help students with home-work, and care about their general well-being. An added benefit to the program is that people in the local commu-nity, who have shunned the
church in the past, are now taking part in the program and have come to understand who Adventists are and what they believe. In another city, Pioneer Mission Movement Pastor Jong Kab Lim and his wife are reaching out into community in their own way. Pastor Lim was trained as a physical therapist before becoming a pastor. As part of their out-reach ministry Mrs. Lim offers cooking and health classes, and Pastor Lim provides mas-sage therapy. They’ve opened an upper room as a meeting place where they can teach classes as well as conduct Bible studies. From the hill country to the urban centers in Taiwan, pioneers and missionary movement pastors are work-ing together to share Christ Jesus’ love. Please pray for these frontline workers. And thank you for your ongoing support of mission.
G L O B A L M I S S I O N • w w w . g l o b a l - m i s s i o n . o r g • 8 0 0 - 6 4 8 - 5 8 2 4 6
Capital – Taipei population – 22.8 million adventist MeMbership – 5,270 ratio – 1:4,328 Major languages – Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese
ethniC groups – 97% Han Chinese: 70% Hoklo, 14% Hakka, 13% Mainlander; 2% Aboriginal Taiwanese religion – Buddhist and Taoist 93%, Christian 4.5%, other 2.5%
t a i w a nC O U n t R Y P R O F i L E
6
WHAT’S COOKING IN taiwan?
O8
4Q
G L O B A L M I S S I O N • w w w . g l o b a l - m i s s i o n . o r g • 8 0 0 - 6 4 8 - 5 8 2 4 7
On the Menu:• Taipei Cashew Fried Rice• Imperial Palace Almond Cookies
TAIPEI CAShEw FRIEd RICE—VEGAN Serves 4–6
1 container soft tofu,
mashed and drained
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable
oil, divided
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 or 2 garlic cloves, grated
1 teaspoon sugar
5 cups cooked rice, brown or white
5 green onions, chopped
½ cup chopped cashews
PREPARATIONMix the tofu, turmeric, and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a
medium skillet over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable
oil. Then add tofu mixture and cook, stirring constantly for 10
minutes. Remove the tofu from heat and set aside. Combine soy
sauce, sugar, and garlic in a small bowl. Stir to dissolve the sugar
and set aside. Place a dry wok or large skillet over medium-high
heat. When the pan is hot, add 2 tablespoons of oil, then the
onions and rice. Stir fry for 3 minutes, then add the soy sauce
mixture and stir until heated through. Stir in the cashews and tofu
and serve hot.
IMPERIAL PALACE ALMONd COOkIES Approximately 75 cookies
2 cups cake flour (or sifted all-purpose flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
½ teaspoon lemon extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
75 blanched almonds
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon water
PREPARATIONPreheat oven to 300 degrees.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Stir in
flour and baking powder. Add 2 egg yolks, and the lemon and
almond extracts.
Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie
sheet. Press an almond into each ball and flatten slightly.
Make an egg wash with 1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon water. Brush
over each cookie.
Bake until golden brown, about 15-18 minutes.
Traditional cuisine of Taiwan has been
described as simple and rustic, with cooks
making the best possible use of local
ingredients at hand. Over time, family dishes
were influenced by traders from various
regions of China and Japan.
Rice is still an integral part of the daily diet
of every Taiwanese household. Fruits in
season, such as papaya, melon, and citrus are
also popular choices. On special occasions,
small pastries and tiny cookies make their
appearance.
G L O B A L M I S S I O N • w w w . g l o b a l - m i s s i o n . o r g • 8 0 0 - 6 4 8 - 5 8 2 4 8
• Go to www.www.Global-Mission.org/annual-offering/ to download this
year’s Annual Sacrifice Offering program.
• This quarter’s Adventist Mission DVD has a special video to show during the offering call.
• For questions and to learn more visit www.Global-Mission.org or call 1-800-648-5824.
w H E R E C a n i F i n D O U t M O R E ?
wORLD nEwS4Q
O8
Standing in front of his small congregation Rajah
looks like most people. He wears a pressed button-up blue shirt and dark pants. He moves his hands as he speaks with conviction and energy. But Rajah isn’t ordinary. He’s taking the gospel to an unreached part of the world, where his neighbors don’t understand him and don’t always welcome his efforts.
He is telling the world about Christ in Sri Lanka’s central hill country. His con-
gregation is made
up of men and women who work this region’s tea plan-tations during the day and crowd into a small concrete-block room with open wooden-frame windows sev-eral evenings a week. They sit in sea-foam green chairs with brown wicker backs. Children gather on the floor at the front of the room eagerly listening to Rajah’s message of hope.
Global Mission’s frontline pioneers share the gospel through a holistic ministry that includes caring for the sick, running literacy pro-grams, holding evangelistic meetings, and giving Bible studies. In a previously unreached North Asian city that can’t be named, a group of Global Mission pioneers started a health evangelism program to help the com-munity with chronic health problems. The result is six
house churches and some 30 new church members. Law
student Jacob is grateful that an Adventist English language school in Bangkok, Thailand, showed him the purpose and meaning in life for which he was seeking. In Lesotho— a country in Southern Africa—Futho went door-to-door asking people if they’d like to take Bible studies until he found enough people for an evangelism seminar. Now he has a congregation of 12 people.
Last year Global Mis-sion supported nearly 1,500 church planting projects in unentered areas at a cost of nearly $18 million. 100 percent of your financial sup-port of the Annual Sacrifice Offering in your church on November 8 goes to Global Mission’s ongoing frontline mission work. This vital offer-ing will allow the Seventh-day Adventist Church to con-tinue reaching the world’s unreached with hope at home and around the world.
8
Taking the Gospel to People One-by-One
G L O B A L M I S S I O N • w w w . g l o b a l - m i s s i o n . o r g • 8 0 0 - 6 4 8 - 5 8 2 4 9
Cote d’IvoireIt had been more
than four decades since Bruno had signed up to study the Voice of Prophecy Bible lessons. Although he didn’t realize it at the time, the lessons were working on Bruno’s heart and helped change his life.
For some reason he doesn’t remember, Bruno stopped taking the lessons. He had nearly forgotten about them. Then a few years ago, while he was walking through his village, he saw a poster
advertising some meetings. He noticed the sign, but didn’t think a lot about it.
A few evenings later, two men knocked on Bruno’s door. He invited the men in, and the three men talked about God. The two men, Nicodeme and Rodolphe, were Global Mission pio-neers. Bruno told them he was a Christian and he had studied the Voice of Proph-ecy Bible lessons years earlier. The pioneers told him, ”Yes, those are from our church. We’re holding meetings in the village center. Please
come.” Bruno accepted their invitation and attended the meetings. As a result of the meeting he give his life to Christ and was baptized last fall.
Guinea“So many churches these
days claim to speak the truth from the Bible. I refuse to attend any church until I can find a truthful friend who will convince me from the Bible which church is the true church,” Moriba told Global Mission pioneer Subah.
Moriba and Subah live in a small village outside N’zerekore in South-central Guinea. Subah patiently went through the Bible with Moriba showing him that all Seventh-day Adventist beliefs are founded on scripture. As they studied Moriba became perplexed with the issue of the Sabbath. This belief was quite different from the beliefs of other Christian churches in the area. Moriba dug deeper in the Bible until he was con-vinced that the Adventist
nEwS
9
10 G L O B A L M I S S I O N • w w w . g l o b a l - m i s s i o n . o r g • 8 0 0 - 6 4 8 - 5 8 2 4
Church did indeed teach the truth. Today, he is an active church member and urges others to come and study the Bible.
MyanmarSituated south of
China and west of Thailand, Myanmar—also know as Burma—is a beautiful country with rolling hills and a rich cultural heritage. Last year Global Mission sent two pioneers into a village within the Irrawady Division of Myan-mar, a hilly region near the Irrawady River where so much devastation occurred earlier this year from flooding following a typhoon.
The villagers had heard good things about the Adventist school in a nearby village, but since the school is a three-hour walk from their homes, children in this village weren’t able to attend. So the villagers asked for their own Adventist school and teacher for their children.
Instead of just one teacher, two Global Mission pioneers took on the task of starting a new school in the village. The villagers wel-
comed the pioneers into their homes.
Through the school the two pioneers
made friends
with people in the commu-nity and gave Bible studies
to the interested villag-ers. So far eight people have been baptized. The pioneers hope that in the next few years an Adventist church will be planted in this area.
VenezuelaVilla del Rosario is an
indigenous rural commu-nity in Venezuela. Only four Adventists live in this town of some 4,000 people. Jose, a Global Mission pioneer, moved to Villa del Rosario last fall to start a literacy program, hold health clinics, and give lectures on health and good nutrition.
Jose also held a seminar on family life. As a result, people asked him for Bible studies. Jose has helped lead an evangelistic series in the village, and soon he hopes to have enough people attend-ing his worship services to require a proper hall in which to meet. Please pray for Global Mission pioneers such as Jose in Venezuela and around the world.
n E w S C O n t i n U E D
Instead of just one teacher,
two Global Mission pioneers took on the
task of starting a new school.
11G L O B A L M I S S I O N • w w w . g l o b a l - m i s s i o n . o r g • 8 0 0 - 6 4 8 - 5 8 2 4
Best Ever Mission StoriesAdventist children from all over the world have been doing their part to help others
accept Jesus as their personal Savior. They aren’t waiting
until they are grown up to become missionaries. They are
busy right now, sharing the love of Christ in their own
family, neighborhoods, and schools.
Charlotte Ishkanian, editor of Adventist Mission
magazines, inspires readers with these new stories about
mission minded kids who make a difference in the lives
of others right now.
Please visit www.AdventistMission.org/
Offer834 to order the book or call us at 1-800-
648-5824. We’ll send your free copy right away.
FREE BOOK OFFER4Q
O8
What would you give to see them in heaven?
Every day Global Mission pioneers help people around the world learn to love Jesus. But they can’t continue without you.
Every dollar given to the Annual Sacrifice Offering goes directly to the front lines of mission, reaching people who have never been told “Jesus loves you.” Your financial support will help to expand their work even farther.
Three ways to give:1. Mark your tithe envelope “Annual Sacrifice Offering” 2. Mail to Global Mission at 12501 Old Columbia Pike,
Silver Spring, MD, 20904, USA 3. Give Online at www.global-mission.org
For more information about the Annual Sacrifice Offering, visit www.global-mission.org
2008 ANNUAL SACRIFICE OFFERING
NOVEMBER 8