Agora is the Greek word for market place, forum, where people gathered for dialogue, discussions, sharing information or just for being together (Acts 17:17). The Mission Commission staff is launching a monthly newsletter, called Agora , directed primarily to the MC Associates but also sent to other mission leaders and available on the MC web page. Agora is an open forum for the MC Associates, MC Task Forces and Networks as a complement to the magazine Connections.
Brief texts and news for publication in Agora can be sent to our office in Brazil:bekstrom@worldevangelical.org
Read in this issue of Agora:
* Korean Hostages in Afghanistan
* Global Member Care Network active again
* MC Consultation in Africa in November
* MC Global Consultation in Thailand in 2008
* MC Participation in the Lausanne Leadership Consultation in Budapest
* Your cooperation requested
* Opportunities – The Monthly Newsletter of Tentmakers International
Dr. David Lee of Korea, member of the MC Global Leadership Council, wrote this note a couple of weeks ago:
“All of you are probably well aware of the recent hostage incident in Afghanistan. We are still not sure of the exact number of the hostages that Taliban have taken. All we know is that there are at least 23 hostages. Out of these 18 are from a local church in Bun Dang Korea.
The rest are presumably the guides who have joined them locally (presumably Koreans as well). The original team consists of doctors, nurses and teachers, etc.
They have been visiting a number of villages to offer medical services to the sick and needy.
Churches and mission leaders are very cautious in their actions and words as they do not want to interfere with the current negotiation being carried out by the Korean government contingency team that are both in Afghanistan and in Korea. Yesterday our President has sent a message to the Taliban which was televised nationally as well as globally pleading not to harm the hostages and our government is willing to do anything to free the hostages, including pulling out Korean Troops that are in Afghanistan on construction and peace keeping duty.
Please continue to pray for the safe return of the hostages. Please pray also for the workers that are currently in Afghanistan. Already our government is ordering all of our citizens to leave Afghanistan. Pray also that this hostage incident will not damage the short term mission movement.”
As we know of today, the Taliban has already killed a pastor who was 42 years old and then a couple of days afterwards they also killed a young man aged 29. There are still threats against the rest of the group conditioning their release to the release of Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government. Let us continue to pray for the liberation of the remaining hostages and for the country of Afghanistan.
In early June, 2007, the interim team was appointed by the Mission Commission to be the official Leadership Team, with Harry Hoffmann functioning as Coordinator. The other members are: Marina Prins, Pramila Rajendran, Larrie Gardner, Carlos Pinto and Brent Lindquist.
Over the next 18 months, the Leadership Team will be working on bringing the Network back “online” and developing a new Website. The different lists related to member care will be updated, including mailing lists and resources list, and a list of Global Member Care providers will be developed to resource throughout the WEA/MC network.
The Leadership Team will also continue to work on a new structure for the Network, including regional and national representatives as well as people working with different specialities and ministries focusing on member care. Although the current members of the Leadership Team come from different regions of the world they do not formally represent their regions and continents.
After consulting with the Mission Commission Associates in Africa, the staff team and the Ex Co have decided to organise a three days meeting in Nairobi for mission and network leaders in Africa related to the MC which is planned to take place from 9 to 13 of November, starting on Friday evening and ending with breakfast on Tuesday. The idea is to listen to African leaders about the involvement of the MC in the region and to plan together the future projects and investments among National Mission Movements in Africa. All African MCA’s are being invited as well as other leaders who would like to be part of the dialogue. Representatives of MC task forces and networks as well as the staff team also will be present.
The next global event organised by the Mission Commission will be the Consultation in Thailand in 2008. Piggybacking on the WEA General Assembly, the Mission Commission will gather the week after the GA, October 30 to November 4. Apart from the time dedicated to task forces and networks, the main focus of the consultation will be Missiological Reflection with the participation of the different working groups related to the Global Missiology Task Force led by Rose Dowsett and Bill Taylor. These working groups are: Contextualisation, Women and Mission, Mission and Suffering, Missional Ecclesiology and Religious Encounter. Focus will be on one or two of these areas but we anticipate new insights in all of these.
PLEASE: Make sure that the dates are on your agenda: WEA General Assembly – October 25-30 and MC Consultation October 30 to November 4, 2008
The Mission Commission was represented at the Lausanne Leadership Consultation in Budapest by the chairman Dr. K. Rajendran, and the vice-chair Rose Dowsett and two staff members, Bertil Ekström and David Ruiz. Several other Mission Commission Associates and leaders of docked networks were also present. The consultation was a first step towards the Lausanne III Congress in South Africa in 2010 that will be organised in co-operation with the World Evangelical Alliance. In all the working groups and commissions preparing for the congress, WEA people are involved. There is also a significant overlap of people between these two international networks particularly in relation to Lausanne and the MC. The gathering gave some basic guidelines to the development of the program in South Africa and we look forward to the continuation of the process.
"One third of the people of our world profess to be Christian. About 60,000 people groups have no opportunities to listen to the Gospel for there is little or no Christian witness among them. One and a half billion people live in nation-stated committed to atheistic secularism. More than eight hundred million Muslims are trying to convert the world. Half a billion people are hungry while modern nations pour a trillion dollars a year into arms. (Read more here)
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Now to him who is able to establish
you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the
revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made
known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that
all nations might believe and obey him – to the only wise God be glory for ever
through Jesus Christ! Amen. (Romans 16:
25-27)