Don't Let Your eMails Get You in Trouble

This great article is from the Global Opportunity's Tentmaking Briefs; I think all foreign tentmakers can relate to this... For more information on Global Opportunity or if you want to know more about Tentmaking, visit http://globalopps.org/

The tentmaker in the Central Asian nation was shocked when he received the email from the senior pastor in his home church. "To Our Missionary Heroes" was the headline of the email. The same greeting was also used in the subject field.

The email was sent to all the missionaries that the church was in contact with and the pastor wanted to encourage these front soldiers in God's army. Most of them were working in areas where they could openly share the Gospel. But this tentmaker was not. Although he immediately deleted the email, he knew that it could cause harm to the ministry he had been doing for several years.

Emails and other data communication have become major sources that can harm a growing work in a sensitive area. The people who want to stay in touch with us are not trained in thinking about security. Even the people who are working in such areas are often not aware of the security issues that can harm their work.

Global Opportunities and Tent have together with current tentmakers developed some security guidelines for people working in areas where the Christian church is persecuted. Here are some of the advices we give regarding emails:

- Remember that unencrypted emails are like postcards – everyone can read them. Thus we should never write things that can harm our work.

- Avoid writing about politics and religion.

- Avoid giving details about names and places.

- Make code signals you can use if there is a crisis.

- Give security guidelines to those who are going to write to you.

- If you work in a very sensitive area, someone in your home country should scan through your emails and delete sensitive words before the emails are forwarded to you.

- Emails from people working in sensitive areas should never be forwarded without asking the sender.

- Never display emails from sensitive areas in public meeting places.

Email correspondence is only one aspect you need to think through if you want to work in a sensitive area. How to plant churches in hostile environments, what to do with Bibles and other literature and how to inform your supporters back home are some other central areas of work that you will have to plan carefully.

Sign up for a GO Equipped TENTmaking course if you want to learn more on how you can work to make the Gospel available in places where political and religious leaders do what they can to prevent people from getting to know Jesus.

Who's Ready to Go?

So many of my studies of late have been on a "basic of our faith". I just keep coming back to the same item best found in Romans 10:14-15....

How many people right now do you know that you just haven't shared Jesus with them... and why.

"Well Duke", you say, "I might offend them." How offended will they be at the edge of the 'Tragic Lake' when they realize no amount of asbestos will help them?

"They'll think I'm a religious nut" Then ask yourself, "Am I ashamed of the Gospel?" Rmns 1:16 & Matthew 10:32

"But I'm not called." Go back to the scripture in Romans see also Mark 16 and Acts 2.... We (those who believe) are all called. We have a game plan clearly laid out before us - Wait ( pray & LISTEN while waiting); then go!

"But I'm not Trained." We are told not to "worry about what we will say..." but this does not stop us from the responsibility of "Studying to show ourselves approved"... (2nd Timothy)

Bottom line... who will be saved if we don't do as God has called us to? God has chosen to use His children to reach the lost... Could he just make all believers... yes, but he chose to create us with Free Will.

What "WILL YOU DO NOW"?

Contributed by Duke Clements, Maryland

Rule Number Nine

So what's rule number nine? If you answer "Never go anywhere without a knife.", you are right, and a true NCIS junkie.... but that's not the rule number nine that I was talking about. I'm talking about "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." or paraphrasing "Don't Lie"

One of the biggest difficulty trying to raise awareness on human trafficking is the statistics. The majority of people agree that slavery is bad. Freedom is one of the fundamental principles that most people can agree on... then comes the question of how prevalent is this problem? What are the numbers? What is the average age of the victims?... all actually very hard to answer. It is similar to the question of 'how do you count how many illegal guns are out there'?... you have to rely on statistics, which for normal people like you and I, appears to be mathematical black magic.

Recently, Women's Funding Network was called out for their statistics which they presented to congress in the fall of 2010 by Nick Pinto's 03/23/11 article on CityPage. The claimed stat was something like this...

"An independent tracking study released today by the Women's Funding Network shows that over the past six months, the number of underage girls trafficked online has risen exponentially in three diverse states," Richardson claimed. "Michigan: a 39.2 percent increase; New York: a 20.7 percent increase; and Minnesota: a staggering 64.7 percent increase."

The article then goes on describing how these number was obtained and why it is not worth paying attention.

It is true that the human trafficking statistics are very hard to come by.. For example, just consider that there was no legal definition of the word 'human trafficking' at the federal level until about 10 yrs ago, and that definition varies from state to state today.... simply meaning that a crime that may be considered 'human trafficking' in one state and counted as such, may not be prosecuted nor counted at 'human trafficking' by another state... and that's just one example. If you think about it, you can easily imagine how difficult it is to get these numbers...

However, the difficulty of obtaining the numbers does not excuse anyone from making up numbers and then telling it to the world... and hence, rule number nine - Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Using bad numbers just hurts the cause and will not advance it. I don't expect anybody to know the details of the how the numbers are obtained... you'll go nuts if you start doubting every statistic you see around, even on day to day basis.

It took very long, by my point is this; be prepared to back up what you say, know the source and do not lie. Telling people that you don't know is much better than pulling something from your bee-hind.

We serve, work and aspire to set the victims of modern-day slavery free. For me, who entered this world from experience and not from academics, it is very easy to say that slavery exists and I am here to help one person at a time. If you have problem with the statistics, that's quite ok and I hope you can help get better statistics... but please don't just sit there and do nothing when there are many people at risk, just around the corner... please be part of the solution.

Fighting breaks out in the Golden Triangle

Update on the Golden Triangle...

Burmese Bible college students ministering in the mountain villages during this time of tragedy following the earthquake have returned safely. However, pastors and those dwelling on the mountains are trapped and unable to travel until fighting subsides between the Wa State Army and the soldiers of the nation. Please pray for safety and a speedy resolution to the most recent political strife in this corner of the world following on the heels of a huge earthquake.

With the recent swearing in of Myanmar’s new president has come a harder line against the insurgencies in the Golden Triangle and around the nation. An insurgency is a rebellion against a constituted authority and there are over a dozen such rebellions going on right now in Myanmar against the government. Such groups (armies) overtake large chunks of land along the borders of Myanmar/Bangladesh, Myanmar/Thailand and Myanmar/China and set up their own government. Such rebels currently fight in the Golden Triangle and are known as the Wa State Army and the Shan State Army.

Contributed by C.C

If you would like to give to the relief efforts in Myanmar, log on to give.foursquaremissions.org. Or you can mail a donation by sending your check, designated to Myanmar Relief, to:

Foursquare Missions International
P.O. Box 26776
Los Angeles, CA 90026

First ever mass evacuation of tentmakers!

This has been a tough month for tentmakers in the troubled region of the world. As I watched this quickly developing turmoil, from one country to the next, I received a word from the Lord which has been of comfort to those who have had to leave, sometimes with only their clothes on their backs, to an unknown future.

" I am the Lord God, I have not been caught by surprise by these events.

Tell those who have to leave in haste that their service to my Kingdom has

run it's course this time around. They could not have done anymore.

Their service and obedience has been noted and I am pleased."

How does anyone prepare to evacuate from countries where an already weak system breaks down completely? The terror of gunfire, air attacks, bombs blowing up at all hours of the day, seeing bodies on the streets from your windows, spending time with locals who do not have the luxury of being evacuated and must stay behind.

At our tentmaking business as mission courses, we try to prepare people well for all known challenges. However this one has not been a part of our program, but will be in the future. We have learned a lot from the experiences of tentmakers who have faced forced evacuation in the past weeks, and those now being trained will benefit from their tragic experiences.

God is in control!

We are hearing reports of a new openness to the Gospel in this region already. One house church that seemed incapable of taking leadership without the tentmakers, were forced into doing it simply since they knew they would be alone in a matter of days. The report told us of a confident, joyful, mature house church telling the tentmakers that we will be fine now, is encouraging to everyone involved.

One tentmaker refused to leave with the initial waves of evacuations, and was seen as a hero by the local people. Even taxi drivers were telling him that this is a new time in their country, and talking about your faith is now OK.

Another tentmaker who also stayed behind until the last possible moments (just before the bombs fell from the coalition forces) was actually invited to sit at the table where the new constitution was being drafted. Imagine the joy of being a part of something like this? Add to this joy, being asked what he thought should be in this constitution. He suggested freedom of religion, and was told that it was already in the document. Then he suggested freedom to change ones religion.

This too was added, after a rather lengthy explanation of what he meant by that statement. You can understand why this would be a new line of thinking in this region. Again, in the middle of turmoil, God is doing a new thing.

It is impossible to share all the good news that are coming out of this tumultuous time, but trust that God is doing something amazing even as we watch the news in horror.

Pray for the local believers, yes there are many.
Pray for the local friends of our tentmakers who have had a chance to hear, but have not yet made decisions.
Pray that the tentmakers will find encouragement, that their needs will be taken care of, and that they will be able to return to a better situation than the one they were forced to leave.

Contributed by Ari Rocklin, Global Opportunities. To learn more about Global Opportunities, visit their website, www.globalopps.org

URGENT: Earthquake in Golden Triangle

On March 24th, the area of South East Asia commonly known as the 'Golden Triangle' -Myanmar, Thailand, Laos- was shaken by a devastating, 6.8 magnitude Earthquake.

Below is a link for a video showing disturbing footage of the earthquake-torn city of Tachiliek, Myanmar in the Golden Triangle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmGMcfv6A2o

Recent news from the Vice-President of Foursquare Myanmar, [name hidden], has given a broad picture of the needs they have.

500 families from nine villages are left homeless and 300 people are now dead. Every day they’re finding new bodies. Over forty church buildings are in need of repair according to the regional Christian council.

Seventeen Foursquare churches near the epicenter (Tarley area) under the superintendence of [name hidden] and [name hidden] need repair. These are churches for the Lahu and Akha people. Four churches in Nawpu Saw, Sakhan, Patawng and Tapu need rebuilding.

Approximately 50% of all the homes need considerable repair and every family needs help repairing their homes. Last Sunday I was able to collect 8000 baht (almost $300) from our church and we gave food to Nawpu Saw village. This will help them for a few days. Seventeen churches are waiting for lasting help. We are grateful that World Vision, Catholics, Baptists and A o G have helped us out day-by-day. However, the need is so great.

Below are some of the needs.

1. Rice, eating oil and water for 17 villages, over 800 families.
2. Transportation
3. Church building replacement.
4. Church building repairs.
5. General medicines to distribute.
6. Bible students need transportation funds, food and love gifts for the next two months of outreach to those affected by earthquake.
7. Over 800 families need assistance rebuilding and repairing houses.

Serving together,

Contributed by C.C

If you would like to give to the relief efforts in Myanmar, log on to give.foursquaremissions.org. Or you can mail a donation by sending your check, designated to Myanmar Relief, to:

Foursquare Missions International
P.O. Box 26776
Los Angeles, CA 90026

If Christ didn't come to condemn the world.... why then do we?

Just seeing John 3:16, many who read this will say the quote with no problem, but how many would recognize or recite John 3:17 with such ease? (If you can't recite it, then your job now is to look it up!)

In the past few decades, I truly feel the church has lost site of the fact that Christ didn't come to condemn the world and that we (the church) are now his representative here. As such, we too should not condemn the world. Does this mean that we should not declare things as sin, certainly not! We must identify sin, but unless the individual calls out to Christ as their salvation, then it would do them no good to try to live up to standards that the church is having trouble keeping.

Read now what the Apostle Paul says about friendship with sin Vs. friendship with the people Christ didn't come to condemn. 1st. Corinthians 5:9-13.

Bottom line in what I am saying - we know that the world is perishing (we as Christians can't stop this, it is God's plan!) That being said however; we need to love those that are currently condemned no matter what we may see as vice in their life. Furthermore, we need to hold those who claim Christ as Lord to a higher standard. When a brother or sister stumbles - we need to hold them to account as we lift them up. If they refuse to repent; then sadly they by definition have rejected not you, but Christ.

Thankfully there is Grace!

Contributed by Duke Clements