Asian Access making key contributions to Cape Town
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA (MNN)―He was invited as a delegate from the United States. He will also be a table moderator. We're talking about President of Asian Access Joe Handley and his participation in Cape Town 2010.
Handley says he'll not only be listening to God, "but also kind of engaging the critical issues that the world is facing today and how the church can best help address them."
Handley says A2 comes alongside pastors across Asia and helps develop them for ministry. He says, "So, there are going to be many issues that we're covering in the next few days that will help develop the life of pastors, help them strengthen their congregations, and then as well help them facilitate outreach in their countries and beyond."
These efforts are expanding the work of Asian Access. "We work in nine countries across Asia right now. And next year we're prayerfully going to launch our 10th country, as well as two new regions in a couple of the largest countries in the world," says Handley.
Handley says one of the plenary sessions focus on Christ being our peace, "and how does that reflect on our lives and our ministries today and how does that affect the church. And we followed that with some powerful stories of reconciliation in various parts of the world and how the body of Christ can be agents of change and transformation in the world."
According to Handley, he's expecting a great move of the Holy Spirit. "I really believe that the Spirit of God is going to speak in and through us, and at the end of the day we're going to come up with some significant sense of what God is doing for the next two decades in ministry for the church."
Doug Birdsall, an Asian Access missionary and member of A2's Board of Directors, serves as Executive Chair of Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. In addition, several board members, staff, faculty serve in key roles for Cape Town 2010, as well as the greater Lausanne Movement.
(NPR) - National Public Radio (NPR) is reporting on the Chinese government's decision to try to deny 230 Chinese church leaders from attending the Lausanne Congress in Cape Town, October 16-25, 2010.
Doug Birdsall, Executive Chair of Lausanne, was interviewed in the broadcast. Be sure to listen to this brief, but informative clip.
Church leaders to meet in Cape Town for Third Lausanne Congress
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA (MNN) ―There's a saying that goes: "The strength of your diversity is the strength of your unity."
It means that many parts can function well if they are motivated under a common purpose. It's also a picture of the body of Christ, united in making His name central. That's a driving force behind Cape Town 2010, the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization. It's a ten-day gathering that begins October 16.
Asian Access is just one group of hundreds participating. A2 President Joseph Handley says, "This event is only held once every 15 to 20 years, so it's a significant event that will set the course for world evangelization for the next decade or two."
What is the Lausanne Movement? It's a body formed from a movement aimed at "The Whole Church taking the Whole Gospel to the Whole World." Lausanne III will take a cross-section of church leaders and help them figure out how to keep the Gospel at the forefront of their ministry.
A little history:
1966 - The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, in partnership with America's Christianity Today magazine, sponsored the World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin.
1974 - 2,700 participants and guests from over 150 nations gathered in the Swiss Alps for ten days of discussion, fellowship, worship and prayer. The Congress achieved an unprecedented diversity of nationalities, ethnicities, ages, occupations and denominational affiliations. Out of this meeting came the Lausanne Covenant. It helped set the stage for new collaborative efforts among Christians. To this day, the Lausanne Covenant serves as a basis for unity and a call to global evangelization. Organizers got a mandate to establish a Continuation Committee that would build on the momentum created at the Congress.
1975 - The Continuation Committee held its first meeting in Mexico City. Committee members expressed a wide variety of viewpoints regarding the future of the movement.
2010 - The goal of Cape Town 2010 is to re-stimulate the spirit of Lausanne represented in the Lausanne Covenant: to promote unity, humbleness in service, and a call to action for global evangelization.
Handley says, "We'll be sitting down together--there will be 4000 global leaders and delegates at the congress--discussing several key issues, and kind of wrestling through the problems that we are facing and how can we address them."
The issues run the gamut from bioethics to social justice to spiritual warfare as they relate to the future of the Church and world evangelization. Ministry leaders are hoping to draw on their strengths, work together united under Christ, and become more effective.
While some leaders tend to shape their ministry approach after a business model, there are others who promote a more relational model within the context of the community. For everything there is a season. Cape Town 2010 will be a time for listening, building, helping, changing and growing. For some, it means starting over.
It's a time for casting vision and figuring out how to make that a reality. There's a lot of anticipation about how this will look once the Congress concludes.
One thing is clear, Handley says: "At the end of the day, at the end of this ten-day congress, we hope to come out with a greater sense of unity in the body of Christ worldwide, a great sense of clarity for the Gospel, and then finally, [a greater sense of] the top priorities of the task before us in reaching the world for Christ."
There are challenges before Cape Town 2010. Some of them involve finances. Some involve spiritual warfare. Some are physical, with endurance tested in keeping things moving forward for the delegates.
Momentous kingdom building strides were made at the last Congress. "Pray for a sense of our own centeredness in Christ; for peace and wisdom with all the things that are coming our direction. And then, for us, as an Asian Access family, we have our own financial and prayer needs as well."
There are many ways you can participate. Not only can individuals watch proceedings on the Internet, there will also be 400 anchor sites providing global links in 60 nations. Participants at theological institutions, mission sites, and churches worldwide will be able to interact with those at the congress.
JAPAN (MNN) ― "God has us moving down an unknown path, and it's going to be exciting to watch it unfold." That's President of Asian Access Joe Handley.
He says Asian Access is preparing for the future, and as a part of that plan, A2 has embarked on an 18-month discovery process to review their vision, mission, strategic goals and DNA.
Handley says, "Could our goals be something so big that God is calling us to play a larger role in promoting the vision, mobilizing other allies, and growing the mission force?"
A2 is sensing that God wants them to accelerate the advancement toward this cause: "To identify, develop and release emerging kingdom leaders to unite the church, multiply leaders and congregations, and extend the transforming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
In particular, A2's 2020 Vision for Asian Access/Japan:
To deploy 100 church multiplication teams
Who will establish 1,000 reproducing congregations
Which will enfold 1 million new followers of Christ
Who will in turn send 1,000 missionaries from Japan to the cities of Asia, that will be home to 1 billion people by the year 2020 AD.
As they prayed about this goal for Japan, A2 started asking some other questions: "Could God be speaking to us through the trajectory of our history and heritage, the current global financial and mission realities, and the recent waves of missions endeavors?" We sensed, likely this was true," says Handley.
He continued, "As we reviewed our history and heritage, we noted that God launched us 43 years ago with an entrepreneurial spirit that developed several different forms of innovative ministry. Over the years, He has taken us down a path of focusing our efforts to maximize the giftedness and fruitfulness of our ministry. Today our primary thrust is in developing leaders who multiply churches-among the most strategic and fruitful forms of mission for this hour of the Gospel's advance. "
To add to A2's understanding, they looked at recent waves of mission movements like the AD2000 & Beyond Movement, the Alliance for Saturation Church Planting, World by 2000 (Radio efforts), the Disciple a Whole Nation (DAWN Ministry), the CoMission effort, the Vision 5:9 endeavor, and many other forms of strategic alliances. These examples reaffirmed that partnership is God's desire and plan.
Asian Access has been a leader in partnering with nationals in Asia, but now it was time to "think outside the organizational box." Could there be others in the kingdom with a similar vision and calling?
A2 concluded that in order to aggressively pursue their vision and strategic goals, the Lord was leading them to a greater form of partnership. As the A2 community prayed, they sensed that they needed something significantly different to make a quantum leap forward. 100 church multiplication networks launched, 1,000 reproducing churches planted, 1,000,000 new followers of Jesus, and 1000 missionaries sent from Japan to the rest of Asia.
In order to propel A2 toward a higher trajectory of their 2020 Vision, they sensed God asking them to think well beyond themselves in order to achieve something greater--more fruit possibly, with better stewardship of God's resources.
Thus, Asian Access has started exploring the formation of a strategic partnership with one of three mission organizations that could lead to a broader alliance toward launching a church multiplication movement for Japan. Under this potential strategic partnership agreement, Asian Access would champion the ministry and vision alongside the partner mission who would become the sending umbrella and engine to deploy more missionaries to help reach their joint vision and goals.
Encouraging to A2 in this effort is their unique model of partnership with national pastors and churches. The national church in Japan is fully committed to achieving this God-sized vision. They want to work with missionaries, mission organizations, and local churches to see the vision accomplished.
God has entrusted to A2 a significant vision and an ambitious set of strategic goals. Now they sense He is calling them to a whole new level of kingdom partnership to advance His cause across the most populated continent in His world.
Listen to the Broadcast:
(less than 5 minutes; if you don't see an audio player, click here.)
Strong Yen, bad economy, high health costs challenge missionaries
Japan (MNN) ― Asian Access is dubbing Japan the "Land of the rising Yen," as the Yen fast approaches its strongest level in 15 years.
Earlier this month, the exchange rate was ¥85.33 to US $1.
This, coupled with a poor economy and sky-rocketing health care costs, is presenting a huge financial challenge for missionaries. As they look to raise support, they are finding their funds are not going nearly as far as they used to, and they struggle to raise enough to cover their costs.
Since their arrival in Tokyo just three years ago, Asian Access missionaries Jeff and Nozomi Johnston have seen their funds reduced by 25%, meaning one dollar in 2007 is only worth 75 cents today.
After 43 years of ministry in Japan, Asian Access is not backing down, despite the economic challenges. Instead, they are taking several steps to improve their ministry efficiency. First, they continue to look for creative ways to improve their stewardship.
Next, they are looking to partner with other ministries in Japan to pool expenses and achieve more with less money, overall making a greater impact for God's kingdom.
Additionally, A2 needs your help with prayer and financial support. Pray for Asian Access and the other ministries in Japan during this difficult time. Pray that they will follow Christ's leading as they partner with other organizations in the fulfilling of the Great Commission.
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