Asia Evangelical Alliance: Press Release & Prayer Requests

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Asia Evangelical Alliance

PRESS RELEASE 

National Award for Mr. Godfrey Yogarajah

It is with joy that we inform you that Mr. Godfrey Yogarajah, the Executive Director of the WEA RLC and the General Secretary of the NCEASL, has been bestowed with the national honor of 'Deshamanya' (Pride of the Nation) by the government of Sri Lanka. This is the second highest Sri Lankan national honour awarded by the government for highly meritorious service.
Mr. Yogarajah was officially conferred with the title on 7 August 2015 at a ceremony held in Colombo.

Worshipping as God's New Creation – Rev. Dr. Richard Howell, General Secretary, Asia Evangelical Alliance
Asia is a continent of vibrant religions who assertively promote their life style all over the world. And community living is not uncommon in Asia. In such a context the challenge before the community of Christ is to remain faithful to the gospel and live as God's new creation on earth. The individualism promoted by secular West has permeated world over.

How then do we worship the living God revealed in Jesus Christ? In Isaiah 1:10-17 the prophet portrays a community that participates zealously in worship. They offer their best sacrifices, and they have even added new times and ways of worship. But in spite of this care and zeal, the community is under the threat of God's judgment because they have forgotten the purpose of worship. Their lives are so fragmented that they can worship the God of justice, the God of the oppressed, but not live out that conviction in the rest of their lives.

"When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow" (Isa. 1:15-17).

When we begin to live as God's new creation on earth watching, working and waiting for the fullness of the kingdom of God to come on earth, then our worship will be ordered by this end, then our community living will be transformed by the power of the Triune God- Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

THE POST "MODERN (FOREIGN) MISSION" ERA by Bambang Budijanto, Ph.D., Director of Mission Commission, Asia Evangelical Alliance
On the day when the church (the ecclesia) was born (Acts 2), the people of many nations witnessed the inauguration of the church by the Holy Spirit. They "were all astounded and perplexed, saying to one another, "What could this be?" (Acts 2:12). In response, Peter stood up and opens up his first sermon with a description of the church (Acts 2:17) as it unfolded before their eyes.

And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams Acts 2:17 (Holman) Few years earlier, Jesus foretold of a time when he would establish and build a movement, which he called the 'ecclesia'. It will be a dynamic and unstoppable movement; not even the gates of hades will be able to contain it (Matthew 16:18). In his first sermon Peter further described the church as an inter-generational disciple making movement, where each member from all generations, genders and (socio-economic) groups (young and old; men and women) is contributing toward the strengthening and growth of the kingdom of God.

The ultimate mission of the church is the Lordship and Kingship of Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:20). The church is God's plan A, the only means (and method) God intents to use to redeem the world, to restore the creation and to establish His shalom on earth. The church is to fulfill her mission through a single strategy of "making disciple." (Matthew 28:19-20). The church will only be able to fulfill her mission if she engages every member and every generation to be part of the disciple making movement in their respective community and beyond.

Over the last 2 centuries or so, "Modern (foreign) Mission Movement" has significantly contributed toward the expansion of the Kingdom of God and the redemption of many people groups far and away. Many researches, studies, books and conferences have described (or made an attempt to describe) the fruits of the Modern (foreign) Mission Movement and celebrated them. We praise God for the sacrifices of those missionaries who gave their lives for the love for the Lord and the loss.

There has been very little attempt to assess the "cost" of the way in which the Modern (foreign) Mission have been largely carried and highlighted. Let me begin with few small attempts to trigger a discussion on this subject.

1. The Cost on Family: The terms mission, missions and missionary are largely defined by adult and for adults and are often associated with:

• The crossing of cultural or linguistic barriers
• A relocation away from a person's familiar surroundings
• Proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples

In this schema regarding missions, children and teenagers are not only left out of the picture but they often pays a significant price when adults take part in missions. Author Montagu G. Baker, in his critical study of William and Dorothy Carey, called for mission boards and mission leaders to re-examine the cost of missions on spouses and children.[3]

2. The Cost on the Church: The way in which Modern (foreign) Mission Movement was highlighted, carried and emphasized, has created a small group of "professional" missionaries, and often unintentionally undermined or marginalized the role of the rest of the church members in carrying the mission of the church, especially the younger or the next generations.

In many cases the church aggressively and passionately pursued success in Modern (foreign) Mission efforts at the cost of the next generation, the youth and the children. These churches often failed to deploy children and youth, which represent a significant Kingdom force to contribute toward the mission of the church, to care for their peers, to make disciple of their friends and (younger) siblings.

3. The Cost on the next Generations: The health of our church is measured by the sustainability of her impact in strengthening and growing the Kingdom of God. The Key predictor of her success is not in the size of the church building or the amount of their bank account balance or the number of their foreign missionaries (they are all good and desirable), but at the level of engagement of the next generation (children, teenagers and youth) in the mission of the church & to make disciple of all people (of any ages) in the community and nations.

As they don't feel challenged, valued of their contribution to mission and engaged in building the Kingdom of God, the teenagers/youth/the next generation of the church left the church in a big way. The church is an inter-generational movement of Christ's followers, the way in which she does mission, should also be inter-generational.

Myanmar Evangelical Christian Alliance (MECA) Executive Committee Members

Rev. Dr. Zin Hla: Chairman
Rev. Dr. Bishop CK No Chum, Vice Chairman
Rev. Lincoln Bill, Vice Chairman
Rev. Dr. Morris Liana: General Secretary
Rev. Dr. Peter Thein Nyunt, Assistant GS
Rev. Dr. Chuang Sang Vinga: Assistant GS
Rev. Myint Aung, Treasurer
Rev. Thein Than Tun, Treasurer
Rev. Dr. Aung Mang, Theological Education Commission
Rev. Dr. Aye Min, Relief & Development Commission
Rev. Gideon Htoo, Evangelism and Mission Commission
Pastor Khin Maung Yin, Youth Commission
Prof. May Pan Lynn, Women Commission
Prof. Prem Bawi Kung, Publication Commission
Rev. Dr. NaingThang: Religious Liberty Commission
Rev. Charity Htoo: Public Relations

EFICC formed to focus on Churches both Evangelical and Pentecostal

        GOVERNING BODY

Chairman, Bishop Dr. C. V. Mathew, St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India
Vice Chairman Rev. Dr. D. Mohan, General Superintendent, New Life AG Church
Treasurer, Rt. Rev. Dr. John Gollapalli, Bishop Free Methodist Church of India
Secretary, Rev. Dr. Richard Howell

        MEMBERS

Rev. Dr. Ivan M. Satyavrata Administrator, The Assembly of God Church
Rev. Halli Likha General Secretary, Nyishi Baptist Church Council
Deacon P. K. Bagh, Chairman, BGCMC
Rev. Sunil R. Dandge, Administrator, Church of the Nazarene
Bishop Ezra Sargunam, Bishop/President, Evangelical Church of India
Dr. Ajai L. Lall, Director, Central India Christian Mission
Rev. Dr. Solomon Rongpi, General Secretary, Council of Baptist Churches North East
Rev. Isaac Shaw, Senior Pastor, Bible Bhavan Christian Fellowship
Rev. Rajesh Patole, Field Director/ Chairman, Alliance Ministry of Christian and Missionary Alliance India
Col. Wilfred Varughese,Territorial Commander, The Salvation Army

PRAYER CALENDAR

Japan :

• Please pray that God may use the Sixth Japan Congress on Evangelism (JCE6) in September 2016 to advance the Kingdom of God in Japan and pave the way for a greater sense of unity in mission and creative collaboration among churches.
• Also pray that preparations for JCE6 would connect, encourage and equip young leaders for next generation ministry.
• Continue to pray that churches throughout Japan with continue to stand together with the churches and pastors of the Tohoku disaster area in service and ministry.
• Pray that Churches in Japan will get to know more and involve in ministry to the increasing Muslim neighbors in Japan.

General Secretary, Kenichi Shinagawa, Japan Evangelical Association

Sri lanka:

• Pray for peace and political stability in Sri Lanka.
• Pray for the NCEASL that it may serve the current needs of Sri Lanka.
• Pray for unity for Christian Leadership in Sri Lanka that we may be a prophetic voice to the nation.

Rev. Godfrey Yogarajah

Bhutan:

• Please pray for Government's approval of Christianity as the third legal religion in Bhutan.
• Pray for unity of Christian leaders in Bhutan as we wait for the decision of the petition which was submitted to the Home Ministry.

Pastor Timothy Dorji, Bhutan Evangelical Alliance, Thimphu, Bhutan

Mongolia:

• Thank God for the festival of Sports and Arts where 640 athletes from 18 of 21 provinces participated.
• Thank God for helping Mongolian churches to know each other and grow in unity despite challenging situations.
• Thank God for the effective 4/14 conferences throughout the country.
• Pray for our nation's as well as our Churches' financial need.
• Pray that God may guide us to find the right person for Executive Director of MEA.
• Pray that MEA board to have God's guidance to encourage churches for vision 10/20.
• Raising 10% disciples by 2020).

Batbayar Dashdorj Chairman, Mongolian Evangelical Alliance

Cambodia:

• Pray that, as the Cambodian government revises the law on Associations and NGOs, it may not restrict but be more favourable for churches to do social works and help in building the nation.
• Pray for the strengthening of rural churches even though majority of its members have migrated to Phnom Penhor.
• Pray for the churches to be able to cope with the new challenges and opportunities of Asean Regional Integration where there will be flow of free trade and human resources working among 11 countries in Asia.
• Also pray that the Cambodian churches will have an opportunity to reach out to foreigners who come to work in Cambodia.

-Tep Samnang, Executive Director of EFC

Bangladesh:

• Pray for the one month training program for 100 pastors and church leaders.
• Pray also for the training programs for women, children and young people. All this program will be decentralize and in all over the country.
• Pray that God may provide $25,000 for reconditioning vehicle as the old vehicle is almost damanged.

James T. Halder, Administrative Officer NCFB

Singapore

• Thank and praise the LORD for supplying the funds that were needed for Jubilee Day Of Prayer on 5 July, 2015.
• Thank God for his providence.
• Thank God for bringing together 51000 Christians from 174 churches of different denominations in unity, praise and worship.
• Thank God for our President Dr Tony Tan and his wife, Mary Tan, our Prime Minister, Mr Lee Hsien Loong and his wife, and other Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of State, Members of Parliament who were present and that we had the opportunity to pray for them.
• Pray that the churches will continue to be united and thus be increasingly used.
• Pray for the election of office bearers at EFOS AGM on 12 August and our meaningful and strategic alliances and partnerships with churches and other groups.

Dr. Chia H L Lawrence Evangelical Fellowship of Singapore

Myanmar :

• Pray for the leadership of Myanmar Evangelical Christian Alliance (MECA). The Lord has been faithful in leading the team in a marvelous ways. For further information, contact: Dr Morris at: [email protected]

India

• Pray for leadership of Evangelical Fellowship of India Council of Churches (EFICC) in India.

 

Issued By
Rev. Dr. Richard Howell
General Secretary – Asia Evangelical Alliance
New Delhi, India