The best place to be

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Theology / Church

Working alongside with the national church is not to ‘show and tell’ what it means to follow Jesus, but to learn, discern and participate in what God has already been doing amongst the local people. It is not just to say, “Here I am, use me,” but to say, “Thank you God, for using these people to teach me about humility, trust and perseverance; thank you for giving me the privilege to witness the mission movement amongst them in a time such as this.”

Ministering from the prosperous coast to the devastated earthquake region, from the cold mountains to the arid desert, from the rural villages to the urban apartments, I’ve had many unforgettable experiences in Asia. Here is a glimpse:

Can you imagine being woken up by the orchestral sounds of birds, indigenous music and singing, and fervent prayers at 5am every morning? I lay on a hard wooden bed in a simple hut in rural Asia and was deeply touched by the presence of God in this special setting. I knew that this was where God had placed me. This is close to heaven. I forgot about the high temperature, bites of fleas and mosquitoes, regular power failure, lack of water and the unbearably filthy toilet. All I knew was that I was deeply touched and spiritually enriched. The indigenous songs, sung right from their hearts without any instruments, echoed again and again in my ears.

In the eyes of the world, they are lowly, uneducated and poor. Yet, they
and servants of the Most High who demonstrate an amazing godly lifestyle. There is a deep sense of spiritual connection between us. My heart joins with God’s and there is an overflowing love for this simple, humble and thirsty people.

Their purity, boldness and sacrifice for the sake of the gospel exemplify what is described in Acts 4:13: “they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” Some of them have served the Lord for over thirty years, starting to preach with only one chapter of the Bible at hand (which was shared by the entire church back then). They travelled and preached the gospel by foot or bicycle throughout the years until revival came to the region. They fed the beggars, healed the blind, and drove out demons in Jesus’ name.

My colleagues and I came to provide intensive training. Who are we to serve these treasured people? Yet, they called us ‘teachers’, they served us with the best of their food and they saved the best place for us to stay and use. They even took our clothes to wash so that we could focus on teaching. They kept saying, “Teacher, thank you for your hard work, we feel so unworthy … yet God loves us so much and sent you.”

The beauty of the picture is that God dwells and manifests himself when we are humble to each other and serve together. It is humility and love
in action that conquers the enemy and changes our world. I am honoured to witness what God is doing here in Asia. When we are in the place where God puts us, it is the best place to be.

Jewel* provides pastors and leaders training in Asia.

*Names have been changed.

People of peace

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Theology / Church, Other

For more than 30 years God has given me a consuming passion for discipling people from a Muslim background. In this process I have
always looked for key people with great spiritual potential. These could be referred to as the good seed in the good soil (Mark 4:20; Luke
8:15) that multiplies up to a hundredfold. A related concept is the “person of peace” (Luke 9:4–5, 10:5–6) who is strategic in the
spread of the gospel to others.

There is an Afghan man I’ve known now for about 11 years, and who I consider to be my best friend. We often meet for prayer and to share the scriptures and have some fun times together. He loves to share his faith but has suffered a lot of rejection from his relatives because of his allegiance to Jesus. He has a real gift for explaining the scriptures and all the believers greatly appreciate him. He is a person of peace.

As I think back over my years in ministry, I can identify three other people who I would call people of peace. Like my Afghan friend, they have a common strength in their faith and are making a wonderful impact among people from their ethnic backgrounds. In reflecting on the
time I shared with these people, I have learned a lot about how to minister more effectively with them.

During the 14 years I ministered in the Philippines I met a Filipino Muslim man who lived about one metre from my front door in a depressed neighbourhood in Manila. Over a period of 18 months he became a follower of Jesus. He was poor but much respected by his family and friends; a generous, unselfish man who had exceptional people skills. Together we shared the word of God with several of the people close to him using chronological Bible studies. I was amazed at the way he shared when he led the studies. His fluency of language and cultural expression of his faith in the scriptures was amazing. In the years to come he suffered for his faith but was mightily used of God. As I look back on that time I’m thankful for our ministry together but realise key mistakes I made. I dominated the biblical sharing and teaching far
too much. I should have focused much more on mentoring and enabling him to reach his own people.

There is another Afghan man I met in early 2003 in Melbourne. He and his family were new believers when they transferred to a location near where I lived. We quickly started reaching out to his friends and relatives with the gospel. Several of them came to faith and were baptised. His gifting was in sharing his faith and he was a natural evangelist. However, since they were all new believers, I felt I needed to take the lead in the ministry.

The third man is an Iranian who came to our country and joined a Bible study I was leading. It quickly became clear that he wanted to be the
pastor and lead the group. He invited a number of Iranians to our study and really helped the group to grow. My fear was that he wasn’t mature enough in the faith to effectively lead the group, and I was also conscious of avoiding any power struggle. And so I held him back instead of more effectively nurturing his leadership skills.

A key characteristic of people of peace is their deep value of personal relationships. Personally praying and sharing God’s word with them
is vital. My key mistake was controlling the Bible teaching and sharing when I should have stepped back and taken a mentoring role. By
God’s grace and with the help of others who share this ministry, I continue to learn and grow! I hope these insights may be valuable for others engaged in outreach to our beloved Muslim people.

Robert* is a CultureConnect Team Member who is helping churches in Melbourne to reach out cross-culturally.

*Names have been changed.

The gentle healer

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Education

We met Joshua* 10 years ago when we first came to East Asia as Interserve Partners. He was a humble, gentle medical doctor and qualified counselor, who worked in our counselling company where we initially gave training and supervision. Joshua had always been highly
motivated to support people in dire need; his previous work was with AIDS victims. When we shared with him the wholistic Bible-based
counseling program that we use, he was very receptive to this approach to understanding and working with people.

Joshua has identified issues that are critical for promoting healthy individuals and communities in his country: issues such as grief, anxiety,
keys to healthy marriage, raising children, and domestic violence. His burden for the brokenness of so many local people, together with his robust faith and God’s love, led him to open his own counseling initiative and to plant a church. Edward continued for some years to supervise him. Joshua’s vision is to enable individuals, within community, to find healing and wholeness in Christ, and train those who desire to assist people on this journey. His humility, servant heart, deep faith, resourcefulness, teachability and his capacity to help others grow
leave a deep impression.

Opportunities for Joshua to train and influence others are expanding. Recently Joshua was asked to teach 480 school principals and deputies how to care for their students (just be kind!) rather than using fear as motivation for learning. He also teaches key government and women’s agency leaders in a prominent Muslim town. In an exciting development this year, the local radio station invited him to share on whatever topic he wished in prime time. Joshua now reaches more than 80,000 listeners. And while he shares on air, his church prays!

In the midst of all this, Joshua maintains a specific focus on training his own group of 12 counselors each year and has used our Bible-based
counseling program for 10 years now to care for people wholistically. His counselling trainees teach regular spots at a significant seminary that trains minority people, 700 km away. He is raising up others to lead home groups in his church by mentoring leaders and preachers. That initial church plant now has two daughter churches!

Joshua is truly a humble man of God with wisdom beyond his years, yet with humility and clarity of thought. His unusual passion for the rural poor and for training minority people, whom the nation’s church often overlooks, is outstanding. Joshua was delighted to share his story with you and asks for your prayers.

We are grateful for God’s goodness and how He meets us as we take small obedient steps into the unknown. We are especially thankful
for Joshua: his life, faith and passion for leading others into healing and wholeness. And we are thankful for how God has woven our lives
together in such a beautiful way over the past 10 years.

Edward and Inga* are counseling trainers in East Asia.
*Names have been changed.

—

Edward* is a GP and Inga* is a professional counselor. They seek to empower local believers to bring healing to broken hearts.

As a result of rapid social change, the heart needs in their country are massive. The national church is growing fast, but many believers carry deep inner wounds and the divorce rate is high. Wise pastors increasingly equest counseling training, wanting future church leaders to be more effectively equipped.

Having lived and worked in Asia for more than 10 years, Edward and Inga train local Christian counselors and church leaders. They use a certified framework that Asian Christians have found to be biblically robust, theologically and psychologically integrative, culturally sensitive, systematic and teachable. Students personally receive emotional and
psychological healing and they are equipped and empowered to bring healing to others.

Four denominations one church

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Theology / Church, Arab World

I have been privileged to serve the national church in the Middle East and to see God at work. Under the local leadership of the Anglican, Methodist, Orthodox and Presbyterian churches, I helped pastors and directors of church-run non-government organisations (NGOs), in
particular through administration for community development projects.

I enjoyed working with these denominations and hold them in high regard. Serving God is considered a real honour and privilege and they do it with zeal.

—

Little Akram was brought to the Anglican-supported deaf school at nine years of age. He had absolutely no idea how to communicate. When his parents left him at the city boarding school in less than a week, instead of gradually settling him in, Akram was beside himself. He felt abandoned, left with strangers who were making funny signs he could not understand. He expressed his bewilderment through sobs and tantrums that lasted for hours. He was so desperate, they even had to lock the front door to stop him dashing outside onto the busy street.

The director and staff put their Christian faith into action and showed kindness to Akram who slowly began to respond. Although Akram was initially placed in a class with four-year-old children learning sign language from scratch, the teacher soon saw he was very bright. He even started to help his fellow classmates. After extra lessons during the
summer break, he moved into a class with children his own age the following year.

—

One Methodist pastor ministered in a very poor village of about 1500 inhabitants, where illiteracy was estimated at 75%. He saw the need to hold literacy classes and after-school classes to help the children grasp literacy and numeracy so they would not drop out of school. The NGO also provided poor families with school bags with essential items.

It was a joy to see how the children had grasped reading, writing and arithmetic skills. I was struck by the testimony of one teacher who admitted that initially the students were obnoxious, and after struggling for some time she was ready to quit. She prayed with the pastor about the situation. God responded by first giving her a loving heart for the
children then an amazing turn-around in the children’s attitudes followed.

—

The NGO supported many village projects and met with Orthodox priests who were working towards bettering the state of their village communities. One successful program provided small loans to villagers for projects that generated income: loans to purchase goats, sheep, sewing machines, or necessary stock for grocery stores, mobile accessory shops, motorcycle repairs and restaurants. The loans transformed the lives of families – widows could make a living using their sewing machines and men could work locally instead of in the cities, thus keeping their families together.

—

I attended a large Presbyterian church in the capital city. During the upheaval of the Arab Spring, the church found itself a possible easy target as it was situated just behind a now-famous city square. Instead
of closing the church building to the public for protection, the church opened their gates, set up a makeshift hospital and ministered to the wounded. The church also allowed Muslims to use their water so they could perform their ablutions before their prayers, as the nearby mosque was unable to cater to the large numbers. This was a friendly gesture that became a great witness to the people. Many Muslims spoke of the church in a positive way.

—

Thank you, Interserve, for allowing me to assist Arab Christians in serving their communities and see these people living out their faith
through active service.

Written by an Interserve Partner recently returned from the Arab world.

The Bible changes the church

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Theology / Church

Imagine a national church that began just over 20 years ago after years of domination by a regime that forbade any form of religious belief and practice. Now many people have welcomed the good news that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead. Their lives have been
changed, and the church has grown.

Can you imagine what this church is like? Enthusiastic new believers share their faith, while still coming to grips with what it means to follow Jesus. Leaders with little or no biblical and theological training often find it difficult to recognise false teaching. There are few useful books to help leaders or people understand the Bible, and no models of preaching from a Bible passage to help people grow as Christians.

A major need is for the church to grow in depth. Local leaders are working with Interserve Partners to help raise the standard of biblical
teaching and preaching. They aim to equip believers with God’s word to
Jesus and to fulfil God’s mission in the world.

A Bible college, operating with government approval, exists from month to month with enough to pay a small allowance to the five local staff. Many foreign teachers were involved at the beginning, but the need now is to equip local teachers by providing opportunities for study and teaching. After working together with a Partner teaching a subject, the local teacher then teaches independently. When Valentina* taught an extension class recently, students were amazed at how much they learned from her through studying the book of Ezekiel and how much they enjoyed her interesting teaching method.

Because of the threat of extremism in this part of the world, the government requires all religious leaders to have some qualification. Consequently, many church leaders from all over the country are now coming to evening or extension classes. They say, “I’ve learned so much here!” … “I’m already teaching what I’ve learned here this week!” … “I never appreciated how good and loving God’s law is” … “I have
a completely different understanding of the Old Testament now” … “When is the next session?”

Providing good literature is also a key to growth in maturity. We have been upgrading the library with suitable books and computer software,
which has streamlined the librarian’s work. Tom Wright’s 13 New Testament for Everyone books are also in the process of translation
and publication in the majority language. One enthusiastic reader
others saying, “This is an historical moment! The first Bible commentaries in our language!” A small team of people who have seen the value in preaching clearly, faithfully and relevantly from a Bible text is encouraging and resourcing small preaching clubs where people learn and practise together. Now others are asking for this training. One participant remarked that all you have to do is study the text carefully, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and present its teaching in a clear,
relevant and interesting way. She encouraged her pastor husband to attend a preaching club too. Another pastor who used to agonise over
what the Lord wanted her to say has now been liberated by realising that God actually speaks through His word when it is faithfully preached.

These are some of the ways local leaders are working with Interserve Partners in a very young national church. It is slow, patient work, with few immediately evident results, but we know that faithful and effective teaching and preaching of God’s word equips His people for mission. The Bible changes the church, and God uses the church to transform the world, in His time and for His glory.

Gwen* is a Partner who has been working alongside the church in Central Asia for the past 12 years.

*Names have been changed.

Taking a back seat

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Community Development

Stumbling out of the train in pitch darkness, I’m bundled unceremoniously into a rickshaw. “Don’t show your face. Don’t speak. Keep your head down.” My companions and our luggage on board, the rickshaw jolts off through the night. Arriving at our destination, I’m rushed inside. Three days later, still inside, I have full-on cabin fever. Frequent requests for a walk are politely declined: “It’s not safe.”

Eventually I protest: “Why is it unsafe? What’s so dangerous?” The answer follows a long pause: “To be honest, it’s not your safety that
worries us. Our concern is for ourselves and our work. People here know we are Christian. They tolerate us as long as we are thoroughly Indian Christians. This was a colonised country. In some ways it still is. Please understand, it would not go well for us if people saw you here… You are our guest, if you insist on walking we won’t stop you.”

Fast forward and cross the map to another country, never successfully colonised, that has endured decades of military occupation and the cultural, economic and political domination that accompanies it. The world leaders who initiated the international intervention self-identified as Christian. One described the country as a “Godforsaken hell-hole of a place.” All proclaimed a salvific gospel (liberation for women; education, prosperity and democracy for all) interspersed with oracles of retribution and pre-emptive strike.

In this country, local Christians are not tolerated and never have been. Now, after decades of occupation, associating with foreigners puts local people of all persuasions under suspicion and exposes their communities to danger. Experience shows that well-intended attempts
to contact local believers and work alongside the local church often alienate the church from its community and are as likely to prevent
transformation as to promote it.

Anthropologist James C Scott explains that we cannot begin to gauge the depth of a people’s anger until we understand the cultural shape
of their humiliation.1 Only then will we begin to realise that our sincere attempts to serve with love and compassion risk stripping those we
would serve of their last vestiges of dignity and pride. Only then will we begin to sense how difficult it is for good news to be heard when spoken by those associated with forces of domination and oppression.

Vinoth Ramendchandra warns us not to assume that nothing is happening unless we or our team engage in all dimensions of integral mission.2 The challenge is not to balance our activities (words, mercy, social action) but to refuse to draw unbiblical distinctions between different aspects of mission. It is God’s mission, not ours! We are not the only people involved. Anyone and anything that serves God’s purposes
contributes. Putting aside our strong desire for personal connection and
us to step back from front-line tasks confident that local folk are quietly going about Kingdom business even though we don’t – and shouldn’t!
– know what is going on, where and how.

So what roles are appropriate for Interserve Partners in contexts like these?

1. We may counter the violent ‘Christianity’ visited upon subjugated nations by living as locally visible foreign Christian communities that refuse to serve worldly power, renounce violence and coercion, and respect all people.

2. We may create a somewhat safer space for local believers by working alongside but not with the local church, praying for them without associating with or otherwise drawing attention to them.

3. We may celebrate the many things Muslims and Christians share (our fundamental conviction that God is good, just, merciful and compassionate; our confidence that God created the world and loves all people; our recognition that all have sinned and need salvation) rather than reinforcing walls of distrust and suspicion.

4. We can partner with and work alongside local people of faith and action from the majority religion.

Authentic partnership becomes possible when we invite other-faith friends and colleagues to teach us about their faith experiences rather
than assuming that we know what their faith entails. Such partnerships
Christendom mindsets. Many questions arise.

Missiological certainties fade in the light of individual stories and actual experience. When expatriates working with our agency spent a week together, we shared stories: stories of disappointment and failure, stories of bewilderment and confusion, and stories of discovery and joy. Some of us confessed to being humbled by the courage, dignity and
wisdom of local neighbours and colleagues. Others were sceptical. Some recalled conversations through which they glimpsed a Muslim brother or sister’s intimate relationship with God. Others doubted this was even possible. Some shared their admiration for Muslim colleagues, people of faith and action, who lived out their vocations to bring healing,
alleviate poverty and seek justice, sometimes at great personal cost. Others questioned how people who did not themselves know Jesus could possibly facilitate transformation. Personally, I’m amazed at how God’s Spirit works through cross-faith partnerships to transform communities and individual lives – including our own.

Judith* has lived and worked in the hard places since 1992.

*Names have been changed.

1 Scott, J. C. (1990). Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts. New Haven: Yale University Press.

2 Ramenchandra, V. (2006). What Is Integral Mission? In: Micah Network Triennial Consultation on Integral Mission and Violent Conflict. [online] Thailand: Micah Network. Available at: www.micahnetwork.org

More than the sum of our parts

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Business, Arab World

This year I celebrated the tenth anniversary of the rather dubious distinction of being blacklisted (refused entry as a ”risk to national
security”) by the country where my family and I had served as part of the Interserve fellowship for nearly a decade.

One of our core commitments as a fellowship is to work alongside national believers, equipping and empowering them to be light and salt
in their community. Among other things, this ensures that the task can continue long after we have left. I thought it appropriate on this tenth
anniversary to review how well that is happening in the community we were a part of.

Nearly 20 years ago, my wife and I, along with our 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son, moved to an impoverished third-world city. Not
unlike many Interserve Partners, I thought I was well equipped with professional expertise (a 4-year agricultural science degree, 3 years of
doctoral studies and 4 years of postdoctoral research). But 10 months later I found myself sitting in the dirt of an inner-city garbage dump (also a primitive industrial area and home to thousands of people), selecting some crude pottery. I had begun to work with a Dutch entrepreneur (let’s call him Pieter) who thought he could build a business and ministry in the midst of such squalor. My part was to be the world’s most highly qualified pot inspector!

So began a most unexpected decade-long adventure. Pottery became a path to friendships with people in communities across that country whose faith and worldview were utterly unlike mine. In the process, we exported hundreds of containers of pottery, brought substantial income into some of the poorest communities, and shared about the wonderful hope we have in Jesus with many of those people. We had the opportunity to demonstrate by our daily life the goodness and mercy of our wonderful Lord and Saviour.

We also often got it wrong, and the people we worked among were often liberal with the truth. Indeed, like any genuine friendship, we all
needed to give and receive forgiveness quite regularly. But, like many friendships that endure hardship (even self-inflicted hardship), those
friendships became all the more precious as those moments of grace, given and received, somehow welded us together.

Perhaps no-one had to do more forgiving than the group of young Christian men who we employed on a daily basis to help us with the
work and who participated with us in the ministry. This was no charity: long days, often travelling for hours on dangerous roads, working out in
the open, hard physical work under a hot sun – but always alongside the people who made the pottery. Over the years, these young Christian
men grew with the business and took over much of the day-to-day operations. They shared fully in our ministry but also took initiatives, establishing their own business and even starting their own ministry.

After nearly a decade of living and working intensely with these young men, Pieter and I were suddenly no longer permitted to re-enter that country. Overnight, something that had filled our lives so completely was gone. It’s now 10 years since we were unable to return and I have
been so encouraged by the way those young men have continued to build on our rather shaky foundations. So I wanted to tell you about each of them – let’s call them David, Michael, Stephen and Josh.

When we left, David was already our Operations Manager and Pieter and I decided that hewas the person to take over the business. He
bought the business from us and we continued to provide working capital (on which we charged interest). The business has continued
to function and provide a basis for David’s day-to-day engagement with those majority-faith communities across the country. David continues to employ both Christian and majority-faith people and last year was the best year for sales turnover in 10 years. He has had to contend with the impact of the Arab Spring chaos and the global financial crisis before that. Yet this business has survived and continues to generate significant work for impoverished communities.

David and Stephen together decided to also respond to the situation of women in that community by starting small micro-finance projects. All of this may not seem remarkable to you, but the subtext is that this is a society where there is an invisible but very strong separation between the majority and minority (Christian) faith communities. The Christian
community sees the majority as their persecuting oppressors. So the idea that Christians might consider the vulnerable and needy among the
majority faith worthy of care and concern is a revolutionary mindset.

Michael has also not been still in the 10 years we have been away. He and his wife (who has specialist skills in the care of children with disabilities) started a centre for children with disabilities in the village where our business was based. In this culture, as in many countries,
to have a child with a disability is a matter of significant personal shame; such children are frequently hidden in homes, neglected, living without dignity or opportunity. Michael and his wife currently have over 100
children at the centre and they have trained local women from the village (many of them mothers of the children) to provide the children with high-quality care and education. Last year, a 6-year-old girl, the daughter of a local religious leader, was brought to them because she had never spoken. One day, after six months with them, she began speaking whole sentences. As a father I can only imagine the impact this had on that girl’s family. This is a profound witness of what it means to follow Christ. I don’t know if this was a miracle or simply the result of placing the child in a stimulating environment, but just the fact that a Christian would choose to care for the child of a religious leader speaks volumes to that community about the Jesus we serve.

Stephen was for me always a bit of surprise. He never really seemed to like working with us (it might have been something to do with the fact that every day was a bit like boot camp!). He was often late for work and not very reliable in participating in the ministry we were doing. Yet, after we left, he turned himself to sharing his faith full-time with people from the majority community. Not only did he get involved in this work himself (which in that region is a dangerous thing to do), but he also trained
others and equipped them with skills to run their own businesses (as he did) so that they could support themselves in their ministry. Stephen
also travelled to adjoining countries to share his faith and to encourage and equip Christians there to do the same.

Ironically, perhaps the most gifted businessman of the group was Josh. When Josh started working with us, he had a full-time job with the
government. These jobs paid a pittance but were highly valued for the security and benefits they afforded. I remember asking Josh how, as a Christian, he felt about being paid to work full-time but only doing two hours work a day (the rest of the time was spent reading the paper and
drinking tea). He said, “Well, if I did more, then there wouldn’t be enough work for everyone else!” Despite coming from this socialist utopia (!), Josh quickly grasped the capitalist principles of commerce. He built his own business while we were there, first sourcing then producing key inputs for our business. Even before we left he had established a substantial factory employing many people. Today Josh is a significant trader in that area and the profits from his work go, in part, to support
the ministries which others are involved in.

The six of us met up last year. It was lovely to be together again, to catch up on each other’s news and share the challenges we face. These
men clearly saw their work and ministry not as an end in itself but as a faith response to Jesus’ work in their lives. Pieter and I felt very privileged to have had a part in their stories.

Of the four billion people living in Asia and the Arab world, more than half do not know a single Christian. In the last 20 years, Interserve
Australia has sent just over 200 Partners who together have clocked up
years. If we were to single-handedly befriend, share the gospel with and disciple all those who had never met a Christian, we’d have had 25 seconds for each one! So we came up with a bright idea – or recognised it as such in retrospect, which is how most good mission is done! This is it: we disciple some people and they disciple people and together we seek to make Jesus known. We empower the local church so that they are equipped and motivated to bring the goodness of Christ to every
community.

If there is a message in my story, it is that if we – a relatively small group of Christians in Australia – want to share the gospel with more than 2
billion people in Asia and the Arab world who have never even met a Christian, then doing it in partnership with local believers is the way to go!

Scott* and his family have served in Business as Mission ministries in the Arab world and Asia.

*Names have been changed.

A bus ride to a world away

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Education

A short ride in a local bus from the capital city brings you to a small town where you alight. It is not particularly cold (-10ºC) but you carefully
traverse the icy footpath and the frozen rutted road. Your first time here was a bit scary because the streets are not always labelled and the houses look similar but the instructions were helpful at the time. Now that you are familiar with the zigzag route through the maze of streets, you can enjoy the shards of ice in the puddles and the sunshine glinting in the icicles suspended from the roof edges and gutters.

You enter the house yard, pass through the outer door and kick off your shoes – fortunately there are no big guard dogs to worry about! You are a little early and the children are having their after-lunch sleep so you make yourself comfortable in the bare lounge room-cumclassroom.
Soon Alica* and Gulzat* join you and the tea and biscuits appear on the table. After the chit-chat, you open up your laptop, pass over the handouts and resources and the tutorial commences. An hour later the first of the children shyly pokes their head around the door and the training time is finished. You confirm times and dates, greet the children, farewell the ladies as they return to their charges and commence your journey home.

Alica and Gulzat are Christians who have set up a small kindergarten in their home. It is not glamorous work but it allows them to earn some money; it is also a ministry of the small church of which they are members. Because the government has been unable to provide kindergarten places, Christians are in a unique position to offer this ministry to their neighbours. Your role has been to provide theoretical and practical knowledge about young children’s development and academic learning to equip people like Alica and Gulzat to provide a quality service and develop a good reputation in the neighbourhood.

Not all the neighbours are in favour. Early on, an old lady up the street had been warning everyone “Watch out! Don’t send your kids there! They are Baptists!” (an old soviet term for nonconformists). Now she recommends the kindergarten to others! The faithful witness of Alica and Gulzat’s caring manner for the children in their little kindergarten has apparently impressed the parents and neighbours and the word is spreading.

The tutorial is for just an hour a week but, in a land where knowledge and experience is a valuable commodity, local people are keen to learn, especially when they have been inspired to become involved in an area that is new to them. In a culture where doing things out of the ordinary is unusual and where there is not much money to invest in new ventures, this can be a brave course of action.

As an Interserve Partner or On Tracker, your contribution may be small but it can provide much encouragement to local Christians as they endeavour to live out their calling in their world.

The authors served as Partners in Central Asia.

*Names have been changed.

Hope after border crossings

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Other

The world took notice of one lifeless child on the beach, and responded with tears. Yet thousands of refugees continue to make desperate border crossings in hope of something better. The UNHCR estimates 4.8 million Syrian refugees have flooded into neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. This region, known as West Asia, is buckling under one of the gravest humanitarian crises in modern memory.

The onward journey is complicated and slow at best. As time stretches on, poverty and ill health become problems, and despair sets in. Many have given up hope.

But there is hope. In West Asia, a small local church with a big heart is reaching out to refugees, with amazing impact. They began with blankets, mattresses, baby formula, and gas stoves. The refugees were astounded – no one else treated them like these ‘Bible people’ did. As numbers increased, a refugee centre was opened, and they now provide regular food relief and programs for over 5,500 refugee families.

The church knows they are in this for the long haul. They want refugees fleeing violence and strife to find love in Jesus' name and, by God's grace, faith in Him. Multicultural Interserve teams have been serving alongside this local church for over twenty years.

Two new Australian Interserve families are departing this year to join the refugee work of this church. These families bring skills in trauma recovery, special-needs education, IT and project management, and experience with asylum seekers in Australia. Experience tells us that as Interserve workers apply these skills, we will see innovative solutions developed. The smartphone-based system for managing food distribution at the refugee centre, for example, was created by an Interserve worker.

These two families are committed to long-term service –to making West Asia their home, and being attentive to what God is doing there. We believe that this kind of investment in long-term workers – who themselves are invested in a local body of believers – is the single most effective, sustainable and innovative contribution we can make.

This project has been submitted as part of the Mission Travel “Giving Back” campaign. If you are a Mission Travel client, you can help by voting for this project at missiontravel.com.au/givingback.

Brendan and Penny* have just departed for West Asia. Joel and Erin* are raising support. If you would like to be a part of their support team, you can give online using the supporter code 2059 or contact us for more information.

These families are not superheroes. They are ordinary Christians who are responding to the world’s need and God’s call to serve.

*Names have been changed.

Remembering John Reid

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Bishop John Reid passed away on 2 January after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. His legacy of leadership within Bible and Medical Missionary Fellowship (BMMF)/Interserve is not widely known but is very significant. John became the International Chairman of BMMF International in 1986 and continued in that role until 1998, when Rose Dowsett succeeded him. In his first two years as Chairman John helped to steer the Fellowship through the difficult transitions from BMMF to Interserve and from its base in India to Cyprus.

John’s interest in cross-cultural mission began in his days in the Melbourne University Christian Union and through his close friendship with Howard Barclay, who left for missionary service in India in 1952. John’s first of several visits to the Barclays was in 1966 when they lived in Amppipal in the remote hills of Nepal. The other strong influence on John was his senior colleague Bishop A Jack Dain who was Executive Chairman of the Lausanne Congress of World Evangelization (LCWE) in the 1970s and concurrently Chairman of BMMF. It was this connection that led to John’s significant roles in the LCWE: from 1981 he took over from John Stott as Chairman of the Theology Working Group and was LCWE Vice-Chairman at the time of the Lausanne II Congress in Manila.

Despite John’s heavy responsibilities as Bishop and Chairman of both LCWE and Interserve, his leadership was characterised by calm, astute wisdom and insight, and a remarkable attention to individuals, which flowed from his love for people. This was manifested in two ways: firstly, in prayer – John and Alison used the Interserve Prayer Diary daily – and, secondly, in correspondence – in his first year as Chairman of Interserve John tried to write personally (pre-emails!) to all Partners. His letters were brief and to the point – insightful, challenging and encouraging. John was a mentor to many a “Timothy” in the fellowship.

John had many leadership qualities. He had a tinder-dry wit and could tell the funniest stories with an impassive face; his levity often diffused tense discussions in meetings. He was deeply thoughtful, wise and humble and he had the ‘personal touch’, a quality that is often lacking in more charismatic leaders. John loved the people he led – not in a superficial way, but with genuine interest and prayerful concern.

I experienced this myself on several occasions. I will never forget the way John led the concluding communion service at the Interserve Quadrennial Conference in Kathmandu in 1994. He commented on what a remarkably gifted and competent group of people was present representing the wider Interserve fellowship, but then continued on to make the point that we were flawed and frail and in need of God’s grace and sanctification (how true that was).

After John retired, he and his wife Alison joined United Mission to Nepal as personnel counselors and they were both instrumental in helping me professionally (Alison) and pastorally (John) to survive two very difficult and challenging years (1994–95) at Gandaki Boarding School. One of John’s letters to me during that time referred to the “tottering fence” imagery in Psalm 62; it has been a consistent source of encouragement over the years when times are tough.

John wrote recently to Dr Saphir Atyal, “I often reassure myself when the going gets tough that I do not have anything that a good resurrection will not fix”.

John Barclay (returned Interserve Partner)