June 2006
BORTHWICK UPDATE
June 2006
Cambodia, Egypt, the Philippines and more!
Greetings friends and supporters,
We're long overdue in writing a report concerning the first months of 2006. Thank you for praying with us in spite of our silence.
Any number of words can describe the first five months of 2006: exhilarating, exhausting, rewarding and demanding. For ease of reading, we'll try to summarize with a few key words ? all of which begin with "M".
MEMORIES: when we wrote and asked for "power" back in March preceding three international trips in April/May, we didn't realize that God's power would come to us from the people of God, but it did.
CAMBODIA: THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL TO BREAK DOWN STRONGHOLDS. For many years, Cambodia has been a nation gripped by the religious worldview of Buddhism and the sociological scars from years of war, oppression, violence, and genocide. The conference in early April bore witness to God at work in this beautiful country. According to one of the conference coordinators, more than 65% of the 320 attendees at the conference for youth/younger leaders were first generation Christians (i.e., converted to Christ from Buddhist or Animist backgrounds). God is at work in Cambodia. And sociological wounds are being addressed directly as Christians influence the nation with the message of forgiveness, reconciliation, and release from bitterness. (SIDENOTE: for a very powerful testimony of this, read "Tears of My Soul" by Sokreaksa Himm (Kregel, 2003).)
EGYPT ? THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL TO ENABLE PERSEVERENCE. For security reasons, we cannot relay most of the stories that came out of this inspiring conference as Christians serving across the Arabic-speaking world gathered for encouragement, prayer, and refreshment. The testimony we can give, however, is that God is strengthening his people to endure hardship, testify of Jesus, and stand strong as witnesses in contexts that are socially, psychologically, religiously, and at times physically oppressive. Our encouragement to you: choose one Arabic-speaking country and pray for Jesus to break-through in powerful ways!
PHILIPPINES ? THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL TO TRANSFORM LEADERS & COMMUNITIES. Unlike the Buddhist and Moslem world, the Philippines is considered "Christian," but nominalism is pervasive. The power of God here is demonstrated by Christians desiring to take the Gospel message beyond individualistic conversion to transformation of the society ? through training younger leaders to be Kingdom-influencers, through encouraging holistic ministry with the poor, and through addressing the moral and ethical challenges of the national context.
In all of these situations, we thank God for the opportunity to see His work? and we thank you for your prayers and financial gifts that make ministry in these contexts possible.
MILESTONES: three significant milestones occurred this Winter/Spring. First, Paul (February) and Christie (March) both celebrated 35 years since they made their first decision to become followers of Jesus in 1971.
Second, Christie completed another year of study in the Counseling program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS).
And third, Paul will soon complete writing his first course for the Development Associates International Masters program (which will also serve as part of his doctoral thesis). If all goes well, we'll both graduate together from GCTS in May 2007!
MOBILIZATION: the past few months have included multiple opportunities to challenge people to greater involvement in the global church ? from "Mission Weeks" at Gordon College and BIOLA University, to church conferences in Colorado, Michigan, Connecticut, Illinois & California, to teaching over 100 students in Missions at Gordon College, to ongoing involvement with the team preparing for the URBANA 2006 Student Missions Conference (www.urbana.org).
MENTORING: relationships with younger leaders at Grace Chapel, Gordon College, and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary provide us with great opportunity to invest in others. In addition, the network created by our relationships in Development Associates International opens doors all over the world for encouraging leaders by email and phone and visits.
One of the more exciting mentoring stories came from the recent ministry time in Manila, the Philippines. Several students from our leadership class taught in 1998 came and reported to Paul that their first Youth Ministry book was being released. And they gave credit to the class and our ongoing relationship for giving them encouragement to become leaders who influence others through writing!
MONETARY CHALLENGES: ministry comes with related expenses. Can we share two? First, on the personal support level, our medical insurance costs have increased by $200/month. If you'd like to join our support team (or increase your involvement), please let us know. If you'd like to join us in financial partnership, tax-deductible contributions (designated "Borthwick Support") can be made payable and sent to:
Development Associates International
P.O. Box 49278
Colorado Springs, CO 80949
Second, we're very excited about the launch of the DAI "Master Link" program ? a program designed to connect people directly with the leaders in their second and third years of the Masters Degree training we're offering in places like Uganda, the Congo, or India. Many of you will get detailed mailings explaining this ? but if you want to check it out online, go to www.daintl.org/about/malink.htm
MORE TO COME: our upcoming prayer calendar can be found at: http://www.borthwicks.org/travel.html Please keep in prayer: a) Christie's studies and b) Paul's upcoming trips to South Africa and India. The India trip will be especially exciting and demanding ? with two opportunities to introduce the "Culture and Ethnicity" course as well as a return to minister with friends made in November in Northeast India (Assam).
We always thank God for your partnership with us.
In Christ,
Christie & Paul
Christie & Paul Borthwick
|