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The fastest growing church in the world

Despite evangelism being outlawed, pastors getting executed, Bibles being banned, and 1300 hundred years of Islam rule, in 1979, there were still estimated to be 500 Christians in Iran. Nowadays, Iran has the fastest-growing evangelical movement in the world, with an estimated one million believers. The second-fastest-growing church is in Afghanistan, where the people are, in large part, being reached by Iranians. Iran faces many internal and global challenges, and as such many are searching for...

From zero to seven

In eastern Poland, 40 years of Communism was particularly harsh on all peoples. It crushed the small cluster of evangelical churches there, leaving very few Bible-believing Christians. Several years ago, two pastors set out to plant a church in the eastern town of Łukow. No Protestant church had existed in the towns 750-year history. The Pastors knew no one there, yet, they began holding worship services every Sunday, preaching more than 300 sermons, and handing out hundreds of gospel tracts am...

Missions To Burma (Myanmar)

At the age of 25, Adoniram Judson was the first American missionary to Burma (Myanmar). Judson would spend the next nearly forty years of his life living among and witnessing to the Burmese people. Judson’s efforts were slow-going. He was imprisoned and tortured, but he never gave up on his God-given calling to reach Burma for Christ. Before his death, Adoniram Judson had not only established several churches in Burma, but he had also given Burma one of the greatest gifts: the Bible in their o...

It begins with a hunger

The French have a proverb, which states, “A good meal ought to begin with hunger.” It is hard to enjoy a meal when you are not yet hungry. But, when you are hungry, anything tastes good. If we approach the Word with a hunger to be satisfied, we will be satisfied every time. Pray that it is not only missionaries but also ourselves who invite hungry people to God’s banquet table. Pray that our own hunger for Gods truth intensifies. Pray that we all remember to take time out from our daily l...

Poverty: It’s not what you think

Last week we dove into poverty’s links with oppression of all strips, and the lies that fuel it. We’re going to finish this series by reflecting on how poverty impacts the personhood of those suffering from it, and then asking what we can do to be agents of healing. Poverty mars people’s identity Karma, which is central to many religions, says that people deserve to be in their present condition because of their past actions or even past lives. If they had been better people, they would ha...

On Demand

Throughout any given day, it has become routine for us to expect to get access to anything and everything instantaneously, from ordering online with same day delivery to getting minute by minute news updates from around the globe. If it takes us longer than a few clicks or more than a few seconds to find and access what we want, we scroll or move onto the next thing.While it does happen, for most missionaries, they don’t usually get to see instant results. Some of the greatest missionaries hav...

Poverty: It’s not what you think

Last week we observed two different views of poverty—one that sees it as simply the lack of stuff, while the other takes into account the disempowerment driving the side effect of material lack. Now we’ll take a closer look at what is behind the power imbalance that leads to disadvantage. Poverty has links to the behaviour of the powerful Proverbs speaks of the poor being exploited and crushed (22:22), oppressed (28:3), mocked (17:5), denied mercy (18:23), shunned and avoided (19:7). Pas...

Poverty: It’s not what you think

Last week we contrasted the way the Bible portrays the plight of the poor with the assumptions of our own developed society. Now we’ll consider two modern definitions of poverty, each of which says different things about poverty’s nature. 1. Poverty as deficit As we discussed last week, this 20th century view sees poverty as the absence of stuff—that the poor don’t have enough food or access to safe water, schools and health care. Of course it often is the case that they don’t have...

Its all in the words

A missionary was recently reflecting on his many years of service overseas. Among the things he shared was how he felt that his answering the call to serve was probably the easiest part of his becoming a missionary. When asked what the most challenging part had been, he smiled and responded, "Every day since!" But when pressed to pinpoint just one aspect, he didn't hesitate. "Language fluency." While he had gone to language school and had spent years speaking the language, he still misunderstood...

Poverty: It’s not what you think

Over the next four posts, we’ll be challenging our own assumptions about what poverty is, why it exists, and—most importantly—what is truly needed to help people escape it. Today we’re looking at the contrast between how the Bible speaks of the poor with our own society’s perceptions of poverty. Poverty in the Psalms Entire societies were convinced the world was flat, until someone suggested otherwise. Many of us assume that we know what poverty is, but we could have a two...

Headspace 2021

We have all experienced the impact of Covid-19 on our lives, and here at GC3 we have seen this particularly on our Headspace 2020 program. Our HS leadership group has done a great job, ensuring the small team experienced real community as usual this year, even while they were at home during lockdown, enabling the team to develop a real awareness of God and His purposes. However, the traditional cross-cultural immersion experience in Thailand wasn’t possible. Given the influence ...

Praying for mission leaders

Missionaries aren't the only ones who need our prayers to carry out their calling; those who are called to support them do as well. So will you join us in lifting up mission leaders and asking God to pour out his grace and guidance? Some have ministries or projects that have had to be put on hold in these strange times. Ask God to show them what they should pursue and what they should release. All are caring for the spiritual, emotional and physical health of people who are under great pressure....

Praying for NZ based missionaries

It is easy for us to forgot that within New Zealand, many have still have not heard the Good News. Thankfully there are NZ based Missionaries, including those associated with GC3, who are working amongst the communities of the country who have yet to hear. Let's take a moment to pray for them. Father God, We pray over those missionaries sharing the hope and love of Christ on our very own soil. So many in our country have been shown a false view of what it means to follow Christ, but we pray thro...

Let’s Communicate Better

I look around a coffee shop during lunch, and what do I see? I see a worrying trend. A number of patrons are staring at the screens of their smartphones or tablets, possibly reading a link from Facebook where some blogger is bemoaning the ubiquitously observed fact that an increasing number of patrons in eateries or at home are just staring at the screens of their smartphones or tablets instead of talking to each other over a meal... I cannot throw the first stone, as that will be hypocritical, ...

The Power Of Reporting

Ahhh, reports, reports, reports. Writing reports is by far the worst part of my role at Bright Hope World. But, despite my grumbling, I must acknowledge that they are important. Recently I was working on a report written up based on communications with one of our partners in Egypt. The report said: “Today the team is going to work with 1,500 kids, most of them Muslim, Syrian and Sudanese refugees. Please pray for Sawsan and her team as tomorrow they will travel to two very poor villages in the...

The Puzzling Invitation

The mystery of God’s invitation to represent him in our world is worthy of our attention. Have you ever considered the implications of God entrusting his reputation and his message of salvation to us? The risk factors would seem extreme. After all it is God himself who declared us all to be sinners! Personally, as I think of my own inadequacies I am surprised by God’s gracious invitation. The Christian mission is a call to represent God purposefully by sharing the story of the gospel which J...

Lies & Death

At Bright Hope World we encourage people to become reliant on God and to strive to be economically self-sustaining. However, we constantly run into worldviews that trap people in poverty. Despite the fact that people might be sitting on fertile land, with plenty of water and an abundance of time, they can't see what they can do. The lies they have learned from their culture trap them in poverty and they don't have enough to eat! The way out for them requires confrontation of the lies a...

GC3 Administrator Role

GC3 provides a unique service to our churches and to the people they send to cross-cultural ministries around the world. We also invest in cross-cultural missions’ awareness in young people through a gap-year program and the promotion of funding for institutions and disaster relief. Right now, we are in a phase of transition.  We’re looking for someone called by God to become involved in this dynamic role, using the opportunity to serve God within a well-established Christian charity de...

Come Over To Macedonia And Help Us!

I find this part of the biblical account of Paul's life fascinating.  What a man of God Paul became.  A fearless preacher, teacher and evangelist.  His knowledge, steeped in the Tora, enabled him to foot it theologically with the best of Jewish leaders and scholars.  And that was what drove his practice of heading straight to the local synagogue whenever he headed into a new town.  Paul had his methodology down pat.  Here was a proven formula, ordained by God H...

Driven By The Power Of God's Call

2020 has been a year in which we have seen many challenges. Not only have our personal lives been impacted, but the whole world has been thrown into chaos and turmoil. Despite all of this uncertainty and mayhem, one thing has remained the same, the gospel message and the need for it to be shared with people and communities far and wide is required more than ever. It would be fair to assume that, with the impact of Covid19 forcing flight restrictions, country lockdowns, medical risks and general ...

Gifts to India - UPDATED

We have received a note to say the Indian Government’s Home Ministry has announced that organisations subject to their recent edict have a grace period in which to comply.  Foreign contributions can now continue to be remitted to existing bank accounts until 31 March 2021 or the date a new account is opened with the State Bank of India, New Delhi branch. Thank you for your prayers for this situation and please join with us in thanking God for this revised position.  It enables u...

Apprentices of Christ

As you start reading the New Testament you frequently confront the word disciple in the first five Books where it’s used around 250 times. Once you move out of Acts in the Epistles, the word isn’t used again.  In Acts 11:25-26 when Paul is introduced as the one who would proliferate the Gospel out into the Gentile world an interesting transition is revealed. Paul and Barnabas were meeting with the church in Antioch for a year or so and, as they did, the believers began to be known as Ch...

Your Generous Response Has Been Overwhelming

"Thank you for thinking of us. May God bless you and we all pray for your safety." She noted that our team member had called to find out exactly what items they needed, saying "No one came to us and asked us exactly what we needed. Nobody values us. They treat us as products. But you treat us as human beings."...

Whatever Happened to Sin?

I remember as a young man listening to missionary pioneer Colin Tilsley singing in a duet. The words of the refrain were “Why must I die, why must I die I can hear the people cry”. I was profoundly moved and felt the weight of people’s need of Jesus.   People need the Lord!  It was then I became aware of the millions of lost souls in our world! What does it mean to be lost? The Bible suggests that because of sin people are lost relationally. From creation, God’s desire wa...

Commendations

The Elders of The Street Church are pleased to formally commend Rachel Duff to the work that she will be doing in Mexico with Youth With A Mission. Rachel is a trained physiotherapist and will be working alongside local and foreign health professional volunteers in local communities while sharing the love of Jesus. She will leave when Covid-19 restrictions cease. Lincoln Road Bible Chapel is pleased to formally commend Russell Thorp to the role of Executive Director of LeaDev-Langham, overseeing...