FINALLY,
A Complete Africa Bible Commentary in an African Language!
NAIROBI,
Kenya (July 29, 2010). WordAlive Publishers Limited is elated to
announce the publication and immediate availability of the Kiswahili
language version of the widely acclaimed Africa Bible Commentary,
titled:
UFAFANUZI WA BIBILIA
KATIKA MAZINGIRA NA UTAMADUNI WA KIAFRIKA UBK
Written by over 70 scholars from
across the Africa, and translated by the foremost experts in the
continent, the Africa Bible Commentary gives a section-by-section
interpretation that provides a contextual, readable, and useful guide to
the entire Bible with a special relevance to Africa. The ABC is firmly
grounded in sound theology and provides a balance of exegesis,
exposition and application. It also contains 70 articles on pertinent
issues facing Africas churches such as HIV/AIDS, angels/demons/powers,
funeral and burial rites, widows and orphans, and persecution. All the
contributors, translators and editors are solid scholars in the fields
of Old Testament and New Testament studies.
This monumental work is now
accessible for the first time to over 100 million speakers of the
Kiswahili language in the Greater Eastern Africa region. For Kiswahili
is not only
the lingua franca for the entire region, and a national language for
both Kenya and Tanzania; it is also the only African language that has
been adopted as an official language by the AU.
Due its wide ownership and
critical acclaim, unparalleled cultural relevance, biblical and
non-denominational basis, sound theology and great contribution to the
development of the Kiswahili language, Ufafanuzi wa Biblia Katika
Mazingira na Utamaduni wa Kiafrika (UBK) marks a milestone not
just for Africa, but for the world and entire Christendom.
It is expected that churches,
missionaries and mission agencies, pastors, theologians and theological
students, individual Christians and university academic communities will
find in it a handy reference tool and a door opener to many hitherto
unreached peoples and frontiers in Africa.
In
Tanzania, the first-ever one-volume Bible commentary to be published in
an African language was received with jubilation and thanksgiving by the
Bishops who hailed it as a wonderful tool that will help Christians
in Eastern and Central Africa understand the Bible better.
Rev. Canon Dr. Mkunga Mtingele,
General Secretary of the Bible Society of Tanzania, said: Speakers of
the Kiswahili language have waited a long time for a commentary like
this. It has been written with meticulous care and thoughtful analysis.
It will give readers a fresh and deeper understanding of the Bible.
Dr. Aloo Mojola, the Translation
Consultant of the UBK says that, the Kiswahili ABC is an overdue
theological tool. It will be an important resource on the Bible and a
tool of great blessing wherever Kiswahili is spoken. It will no doubt
contribute to the development of Kiswahili theological discourse, and to
a deeper understanding and appropriation of the Christian faith.
UBK is now
available in leading bookstores for Kshs 1,900/- (or TZS 34,000/-
or US $25.99) per copy. For telephone orders or inquiries, call 020 357
2380/1, 0728787675 or write sales@wordalivepublishers.com.
Online orders can be made at
www.wordalivepublishers.com. In Tanzania, the commentaries
are available from the exclusive distributor, Bible Society of Tanzania.
EVERY
BOOK A GREAT ACTION, EVERY GREAT ACTION A BOOK!"
I'm back in Toronto sprinting hard with
preparations already as we are less than 100 days to the congress. 3
months to go.
I would appreciate prayer as there is so much
to do & I'm coordinating logistics for 300+ speakers & program staff. I
would appreciate prayer for good working relationships as we all work
from our home countries. We are all working hard to prepare the
speakers & staff of the program goals & expectations.
Also for the visa paperwork to be worked on
with the South African Home Affairs office as they were swamped with
World Cup demands. Also for the 4000 delegates from 200+ countries as
they apply for their visas to gather together in October.
Sheila is preparing for 2
orientation programs in the fall. During the summer she asks for prayer
for clear thoughts and wisdom as she is editing, sorting orientation
materials for use in Interserve.
Bill asks prayer that he would be
able to make headway with editing an article he has been working on as
he finds it difficult to concentrate after a busy day at work.
Continue
to remember
We got a Canadian day today with storms and temps in the 70's. There were storms that came through and kept the temps down. I was grateful for that. We have lived in hotter climates so we can survive the heat, but I don't tolerate it as well as I used to in Africa. It was drier there.
Wilmington is probably directly east of us but the elevation helps it to be cooler part of the time. We are in the foot hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is in the middle so we have had a lot of over 90 degree weather.
Praise for the Lord's faithfulness. We are grateful to Him for His provision through you and others.
Praise for Glenn's stabilized medical condition.
Pray for guidance as we search of His place for a permanent home. Pray for guidance for daughter Brenda and her husband as they decide
Over
the past few weeks I have been very occupied with our school outreach
program. For the first two weeks we drove to one school in the morning
and another school in the afternoon. This past week we walked for 45
minutes and crossed a river to get to another school to present
the program. The summer visitors and I taught about God, the Solar
System and Health to grades four through seven. Some other visitors came
to work with the younger classes so they wouldn’t feel left out nor
distract the rest of the program. Praise God that we had enough energy
to finish strong. Please pray that children will remember what they’ve
learned and understand how God is working in their lives.
I am glad that we are done the school program for this year and that I can get back to other programs that I’ve been working on here in Nakaale. I still was able to teach health at malnutrition day at the clinic on Tuesday mornings using the new health materials on grain sacs (mangotreeuganda.org). They were very well received at the schools too.
This past week was the first time that I taught health at the church where Martha has been teaching literacy in Namalu. The pastor was really happy as he said he had been thinking of asking me to come talk about health knowing that I was teaching health in Nakaale. I hope to continue going on Tuesday afternoons to Trinity church to teach health and to get their advice about the culture here.
For the past couple of weeks, Jebet, a girl from Mbale who is studying community health, has been living at the clinic to do an internship here. She has been observing me in my role here in the villages. We did a health assessment at the school in Kakamongole which was quite interesting. It definitely would have been shut down as a health hazard if it was in North America, but as things go here, it was the norm. The use of latrines continues to be high on my priority list of teaching and learning about. It’s not just that they don’t have any (except at school), but that even when they do have them, they aren’t being used properly. There are also many taboos and superstitions surrounding latrines that I am learning about that prevent people from using them. This issue is quite widespread in the Karamoja district. Pray that as I work with Jebet, we’ll be able to teach each other about health and how it relates to this rural community.
Well, yes!!!!!! Praise God! I am finally into my
home! I have a lovely apartment on the top floor (7th), along
the same lines as my place in
Dominggus Mayor was at the Bible School graduation in Merauke representing the national Church Council. He planned to go to the Saman /Pirimapun area to visit all the villages and set up an area council during July. His visit will have been a great encouragement.
Pray for continued blessing as a result.
Maybeth Henderson is transcribing my recorded
interviews from Ghana for which I am grateful. She expects to finish
early in August, by which time I will start thinking of that last
chapter in ‘God’s Challenge in Ghana.’ With our pastor on sabbatical I
am preaching each Sunday through August.
Leona seems to have cleared her sinus infection, but
sleeping because of the heat and humidity is a continual problem.
It's
great to see the hand of the Lord upon us!
Last fall, I have experienced this in various ways and one of them is
through your support in prayers, contributions and words of encouragement.
Thank you for your participation in my life and ministry!
May the Lord bless each of you is my wish and prayer! 
tests done at the end of last year.
Taking out the back problems, most everything is fine.
It was a very fruitful time there. 
June
- From 10/06 to 02/07, the family with my students were again in the
village.
I worked with a couple of days for which he
and I went to Confresa (Cleide the city where you live), to work in the
production of biblical stories. 
Xerggyo
July 11, 2010
The Chiapas mission association met last week to discuss the future ministry of Xerggyo. They were not able to finalize any decision on a future location and will pray during the next month, seeking God’s guidance. They will re-convene on August 10 to determine God’s leading. Please join them in prayer. T has not permitted a tourist visa, so the question remains if it is possible for Xerggyo to go to T and see if there is any possibility of extending the stay from within. Now he is going to various churches in the Chiapas jungle.
Photos: He got an early start with his love of
motorcycles and adventure and for his desire to go into God’s harvest.
Treasured Friends:
May you have a very happy 4th of
July, however you spend it! We wish you could join us for a swim
in the pool and a leisurely lunch, with plenty of time to catch up with
each other. We could enjoy the fireworks and celebrations, but most of
all we’d like to pray with you--to thank God for all the blessings
He has showered on our country and to ask His forgiveness for the ways
in which we have displeased and abandoned Him. How much our nation and
our leaders need our prayers on this day; they and our world face such
incredibly complex problems and issues.
A visit to Korea
In April, Jack had the
immense privilege of visiting
Two
weeks from today we’ll be flying to
Jack
will go along with her to pray and help and encourage. We’ll
arrive in time to participate in Spearhead’s 40th Anniversary!
This is a program that the Lord has used to not only help students serve
as short term missionaries, but often find their life’s call to missions
through their summer abroad.
In the photo you can see some of
the leaders, young people who have been through the Spearhead program.
Paul Johnson, head of the program, is second from the right.
Would you pray for us and
with us
Our prayer is that as we go,
sensing our own weakness, we would be able to lead them well. We
share with you Paul’s plea for prayer support:
You must help us too, by
praying for us. For much thanks and praise will go to God from you
who see His wonderful answers to your prayer for [us]
(2 Cor 1:11).
Our summer students have arrived and have
navigated through their first three weeks of classes. Enrollment is
higher than last summer, especially in the number of new students. 53 of
our 82 students are brand new to CanIL. As a result, some of the
introductory classes have had to be broken into two or three sections to
ensure optimal staff/student ratios. This means that Dave, for instance,
teaches his class twice over on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. Oh, and
remember how we asked you a year ago to pray for more men in our student
population? Well, there are a lot more of them around this summer than
we've seen in the last few years!
The
week before classes started Dave had an accident while out on his
bicycle. In his efforts to avoid hitting a car that unexpectedly turned
right in front of him, he flipped over the handlebars of his bike,
landing on his right wrist and his left cheek and shoulder. The facial
damage was minimal and healed within a week (he didn’t even break his
glasses), but he fractured his wrist, and so will be wearing a cast for
at least six weeks. He was initially told that he might need surgery to
align a bone chip, but so far his orthopedic surgeon is pleased with the
way everything is healing. Thank you, Lord!
The wounded biker
I was contemplating the other day just how radically our lives have changed. It has been many months since I had to clean gecko doo off the counters or dodge a flying cockroach the size of Manhattan. When I am preparing meals I no longer have to figure out where I might find some exotic ingredient like basil or celery. I am even losing the urge to speak Indonesian with every brown skinned or Asian person I meet. (To my children’s great relief, I might add!) In addition, it has been several months since we have had any communication with you!
When we were still in Indonesia, we sent out our prayer letter every month and in between we sent out our urgent requests. Now, I feel a little uncomfortable asking you to pray for us as our lives are pretty ordinary. Tom has been challenged by teaching at Biola – finding that there are adjustments to make when teaching in the States after 15 years overseas. I have been spending quite a bit of time involved in personal ministry as well as teaching at a women’s Bible study at Christ Presbyterian church. Our lives are looking much more mundane, but the lives of our team in Indonesia continue to be exciting!
When we left the field about a year and a half ago we hoped and prayed that the ministry the Lord had given us would not only continue to flourish but become more and more Indonesian and less Western. We hoped that our national team would take hold of the ministry with both hands and run with it. We are blessed to be able to report to you that the Lord is doing exciting things in Indonesia!
One of the most exciting aspects of the ministry at this time is that our core team in Central Java has developed into a true healing community. While we were still on the field the team depended on us to pray for and counsel individuals on the team. As all of the team members had come out of difficult dysfunctional backgrounds we were in constant demand! Over time the team members have been forced to become more open with each other and to allow fellow team members to minister to them. It has taken the team to a much deeper level of commitment to each other and to being used in the healing ministry. Amazing what can happen when “Dad and Mom” get out of the way!
Another area where we have seen tremendous growth in the team is in the area of the training that is offered. Paul Atanta, the gifted Indonesian man who is heading up the ministry, has found ways to streamline the process and adapt it for the Indonesian setting, so that more of those attending the training are able to use their new skills right away. One of the difficulties we were experiencing was that many of those attending still felt it was the job of those with “experience” to do all the healing. Now they are being challenged to begin practicing what they learn during the training sessions. We are delighted with these changes and keep encouraging the team to break new ground. Paul Atanta is an innovator at heart, so we trust that he will keep experimenting and the trainings will keep improving.
We have also been blessed to hear how the Lord has been moving in the area of finances to enable the ministry to expand. At this point, the teams in the cities of Jakarta, Solo, Samarinda and Surabaya are self-sufficient, and we intend to continue following the principle that each new team will be responsible to seek out its own funding for training events and other ministries. This means that the ministry will be able to expand to other cities without creating a huge financial drain for the ministry.
Our current challenge is support for the
ministry of the core team that is based in Yogyakarta. Unlike the
other teams, these 10 good folks are mostly full-time employees of
Ambassadors of Renewal. They are responsible for the overall
functioning and development of the ministry, which includes:
*Determining the direction of the ministry;
*Developing training programs, materials and videos;
*Developing promotional materials and videos;
*Running Schools of Healing and other training
events;
*Providing training and supervision to teams in
other cities;
*Providing healing ministry through our office in Yogyakarta.
The minimum amount needed for this team, including payroll, benefits, office expenses, and travel is currently $2250/month. Our average income has been $650/month below this minimum amount, which means that our buffer is being depleted and we will be unable to cover our payroll and other expenses beginning later this year. Our priority is to seek additional funding so that the ministry will be able to continue.
The team recently had to move out of the facility that they have been using rent free, but a partner ministry stepped in and offered one of their buildings free of charge, and several Indonesian believers paid for the renovations that were needed. Also, a local Indonesian couple has offered enough money to make a down payment on another place in the future. These events greatly encouraged us as they indicated that more and more Indonesians are committed to the ministry of Ambassadors of Renewal. Unfortunately, however, our core team in Yogyakarta is still lacking donors willing to contribute to the ongoing expenses of the ministry, which is a matter of great concern for all of us – whether we live in the Southern or Northern hemisphere!
Over the last few months we have finalized our plans to return to Indonesia for a visit. We will leave here the evening of July 16, spend 2 weeks in Indonesia and then travel on to Chaing Mai, Thailand so that Tom can teach an intensive course on Spiritual Conflict at the Biola extension site. We will return home on August 14th, no doubt ready to sleep in our own bed again! We are looking forward to spending time with our team as well as with friends. We are also planning to focus our attention on doing all we can to begin expanding our network of support within Indonesia.
We would appreciate your help. First, we would ask you to pray for our ministry:
· Please pray
that the Lord will raise up the support that is needed for the core team
of Ambassadors of Renewal to continue developing this ministry in
Indonesia;
· Pray
specifically for our trip to Indonesia, that the Lord will lead us as we
seek to make the contacts with potential supporters and to put together
a plan to raise local support;
· Pray that the Lord will direct us, strengthen us and use us, both in Indonesia and among the students in Thailand.
Second, would you consider making a one-time gift or monthly contributions to the ministry of Ambassadors of Renewal? This can be done by mailing your donation to OC International, P.O. Box 36900, Colorado Springs, CO 80936. Please mention that your donation is for “Project account 830028--Spiritual Warfare (CJ)”. Your donation will enable the core team of Ambassadors of Renewal to continue developing the ministry we established in the country of Indonesia.
On July 20th Jack and I will be leading a retreat for 30 young people who are short term missionaries in Mexico City---They have just had a month of language learning and cultural studies and will begin a month of intense ministry the day after the retreat. We are asking God to meet each one of them and us deeply and prepare them to share Jesus and serve in love many, many people in that great city.
Tomorrow I am off to bring Ngassa back to school. The bishop and 2 pastors are going as well. I still have to buy Ngassa 3 pairs of shoes. One for church, one for daily use and one pair of runners. He has grown a lot and his voice is now a man's voice. I bought him a track suit and some new shirts, underwear, socks and soap, toothpaste, etc. I am happy that we have 2nd hand clothes markets! The trip will start at 5.30 am. We hope to get to Nzega by 11 am. Then to Shinyanga by 12.30 pm. Lunch break and then on to Mwanza where we hope to get by 4pm. Pray for safety!
Baraka and Faraja are doing well. You should have seen them tonight. They were racing around through the house on a tricycle. They kept tumbling and killing them selves laughing. We had loads of fun!
Request prayer for Emmanuel Sadiku, the young Nigerian man who is working toward his Bth, by going to summer school is seriously ill and has not been able to go this year. This was his last year before he would have received his degree. I do not know what his illness is. They are taking him today to the mission hospital 100 miles away at Egbe. Please pray.
Sorry I’ve been quite tied up with my
work and the purchase of a small two-bedroom condo in
Ville-Saint-Laurent, one of the buroughs of
It was worth the wait, because I really
like the place, and it’s a good, solid place, if 20 years old. I
think Dad, Mom, and Mr. Lowe (who, in absentia, all helped me
with my down payment) would be glad I got it, as I need a place
to live, and it should definitely contribute to the
effectiveness of my ministry to be here in
And
yes, the Lord has been blessing in the work this year so far.
Three young ladies were accepted from
Two others are applying from
Tomorrow morning, I am to meet Marie-Reine
and Marie-Claire tomorrow for the last time, for lunch and
orientation to
Hi, my name is Andresa and as many of you know I am from Brazil, BRAZIL!
Now, I am a first year PhD student at Rehab Science
Department
at U of T. I am here to tell you why I am here. I had the pleasure to be
invited to be part of the team for the Mission Conference one month ago!
I felt honored and excited about it in the first meeting. The committee
was so open to receive new ideas and to share their dreams and plans for
the Conference, that I was really excited to come back for the next
meeting.
My first interest in Mission started when I was doing my
first-year undergrad in physiotherapy. And guess where I was when I
heard God’s calling? In a Mission Conference, in my home church in
Brazil. I received my first calling when the missionary Ronaldo Lidorio,
who that time served among Kokomba’s tribe in Africa, was telling us
about the marvelous deeds of God among them. He was and still is so
passionate to serve God among unreached tribes.
My heart really burned that night, but I knew Africa was not the
direction. I had just started my undergrad in Physiotherapy and I felt
that God was calling me to serve Him there, where I was. My university
was the campus God had prepared for me. He didn’t send me abroad
immediately. Well, now, I’m here in Canada. So, He can really send you
abroad, but this is not a calling for every Christian and we need to
understand that.
So, after I said “yes” to God, in that same night at church I got
the contact of a staff from IVCF in Brazil and as soon as I went back to
the university the week after, I got involved with one of the most solid
and exciting evangelical movements in universities in Brazil and around
the world: IVCF.
From that time on I haven’t stopped. Since then God has been
leading me to so many different places to work with students. Now, in
Canada, when I got here as an international student, it was with
international students that God started calling me again. Initially at
Knox and now on campus. (We will share about this wonderful ministry in
the Conference as well!). It‘s my pleasure to work with them. It’s a
fellowship of friendships. Friendships that are founded in Christ and
are built in His reaching love for the international students lives.
Yes, that’s why I am here, to tell that Knox Mission Conference
committee meetings have already started!! We are full of ideas and we
need your prayers, so that these ideas will become plans and plans will
come into action for God’s glory!
We also need your financial support, since the Budget of Knox Missions is in a delicate situation. As part of the same body, serving the same God, we started the journey for the Mission Conference 2010, which will happen the last week of October 2010. Don’t forget to schedule it!
^Andresa is is a member of Knox Conference planning committee. This is her presentation to the 5 pm congregation. Members of the 2010 Conference planning team include: Carol Herd, Nancy Howard, John Reaves, Andresa Marinho and Elsie Vrugteveen