Great study group resource from In Lumine Media

This week In Lumine Media posted a pdf of Theological Clarity by Scott Thomas on their site.  Theological Clarity is a work book written for studying Christian Beliefs by Wayne Grudem (which In Lumine published in Russian in 2009).

Theological Clarity is a great resource for study groups to use to go through the 20 major Christian doctrines that Grudem wrote about in Christian Beliefs.  It is a free download from In Lumine's site and soon In Lumine will print the workbooks to be given away with bulk purchases of Christian Beliefs. 

I'm excited to have something that we can give away for free that will help people study what the bible teaches.

Bible Study at the Rehab center

Today was the first time in a couple weeks that I've been able to drive out to Sloboda for the weekly bible study at the rehabilitation center there.  We finished our study through the letter to the Ephesians and it turned out that everyone who is at the rehab center now wasn't there when we started studying Ephesians in January.  It is a whole new group of guys and they are quickly learning to have fun studying the bible inductively.  

After the bible study we had tea and a special cake that they made for my birthday.  Tea and cake with a bunch of former drug addicts, totally normal in Ukraine.

So, thirty. Ok.

My introduction into my 30's was kind of fitting and anticlimactic.  I got up early to go meet a guy about purchasing a couple cubic meters worth of boards for our fence (only to have him not sell them to me because I didn't have a truck with me right then).  Then a friend and his father-in-law came over and we tore down our old fence and started installing a new corrugated metal fence. 

Liese meanwhile went and bought me a surprise birthday present (which is pretty hard to do because she can't keep secrets from me).  

The evening was our church's monthly Senior Citizen's evening so Liese went to church to help cook, but then found out that the city water was turned off so some of the ladies came back to our place to peel and wash potatoes.

The fence installation took longer than I expected so I was late to the Senior's Evening but there was lots of helpers and the evening went pretty well.  Pastor Wayne talked a bit about the meaning of Easter and one of the newcomers repented.  As we were cleaning up the cooks surprised me by bringing out a cake with sparklers (which surprised them by going out by the time they barely got through the first "happy..."). 

Spring is here!

Global Mission Mondays: Lebanon

Tonight we will be praying for the country of Lebanon.

Lebanon has a population of about 4.2 million people 59% of which are Muslim and 39% of which are Christians.  Most of the Christians are either Orthodox or Catholic.  The percentage of Christians is dropping due to emigration.  Lebanon has the most religiously diverse society in the Middle East.

There are over 350,000 refugees in Lebanon from Iraq and Palestine.   About 75% of the population of Lebanon have directly suffered from the internal strife and wars that have been going on for the last 50 years.

Easter 2011 at CC Kaharlyk

Global Mission Mondays: Jordan

Tonight we will be praying for the country of Jordan.  Here are some facts (mostly gleaned from wikipedia, but I did check the sources) about Jordan to help us know how to pray. 

Jordan is classified as a country of "high human development", it has been classified as an emerging market with a free market economy and has more Free Trade Agreements than any other country in the region.   Due to a reliable police force and many years of a stable government Jordan is one of the safest countries in the world.

Jordan is a constitutional monarchy with representative government. Jordan's state religion is Islam and the Constitution provides for the freedom to practice one's religion in accordance with the customs in the Kingdom, unless they violate public order or morality.  The Government bans conversion from Islam and efforts to proselytize Muslims. While proselytizing to Christians may not be banned, it is equally not favored and very hampered with bureaucratic red tape that renders it near impossible to legalize.

Out of a population of about 6.5 million approximately 92% are Muslim by religion.  Christians made up 30% of the Jordanian population in 1950 but that number is currently at about 6% due to emigration and low birthrates among Christians.    Indigenous Jordanians of the Christians faith, are, like their counterpart indigenous Jordanians of the Muslim faith, an Arab people in language, culture and identity.  Christians are a religious minority both among the Arab and non-Arab segment. Christians of all ethnic backgrounds permanently residing in Jordan form approximately 6% of the population and are allocated respective seats in parliament.   The majority of Christians in Jordan are part of the Orthodox Church.



Less than half of Jordanians regularly attend religious services the lowest rate in the Arab countries.

Jordan is a transit point and destination for human trafficking of women for the purpose of domestic work or employment in the kingdom's nightlife scene. Women mainly from Eastern Europe and North Africa are trafficked to Jordan each year to work as prostitutes in nightclubs and bars across the country.  While there has been some improvement in combating human trafficking, Jordan remains a Tier 2 country for loopholes in legislation and lack of protection of human trafficking victims.

Missions exists because worship doesn’t

“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever. Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions. It’s the goal of missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into enjoyment of God’s glory. The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God.”

John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad!

Global Mission Mondays: Yemen

Tonight at our church's prayer meeting we will be praying for the country of Yemen.  Here is some information about Yemen to help us see what the country's needs are:

Yemen has a population of approximately 24 million.  It is the only state in the Arabian Peninsula to have a purely republican form of government.

Yemen is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the Arab World, with a formal 65% employment rate, dwindling natural resources, a young population and increasing population growth.  Rampant corruption is a prime obstacle to development in the country, limiting local reinvestments and driving away regional and international capital.

Since 2004, a civil war is being fought in Northern Yemen between Yemeni forces and Shiite Houthi rebels.

Yemen has one of the world's highest birth rates; the average Yemeni woman bears six children. Although this is similar to the rate in Somalia to the south, it is roughly twice as high as that of Saudi Arabia and nearly three times as high as those in the more modernized Persian Gulf states. Yemen's population is increasing by 700,000 every year.

According to the World Bank, the number of doctors in Yemen rose by an average of more than 7% between 1995 and 2000, but as of 2004 there were still only three doctors per 10,000 persons.

Virtually all citizens of Yemen are Muslims and the constitution declares that Islam is the state religion. There are also approximately 3,000 Christians most of whom are refugees or temporary foreign residents.   Muslims and followers of religious groups other than Islam are free to worship according to their beliefs, but the Government prohibits conversion from Islam and the proselytization of Muslims.

Christian missionaries and nongovernmental organizations affiliated with missionary groups operate in the country.  Most of these groups restrict their activities to the provision of medical services while others were employed in teaching and social services.

There are ongoing protests against the government in Yemen. The protests were initially against unemployment, economic conditions and corruption, as well as against the government's proposals to modify the constitution of Yemen. The protestors' demands then escalated to calls for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign.  Police have used live ammunition to disperse crowds and several people have been killed since the protests began in January.

[information from wikipedia]

More In Lumine news

Thanks to the wonder of the internets we had a remote In Lumine staff meeting this morning.  I usually take a few notes on a small piece of paper during our meetings but today I filled up 3.   

Here is what is new with In Lumine:

:: We just got the rights to do a Ukrainian language edition of the Jesus Storybook Bible (we are working right now on the Russian edition).  For this edition we are looking for ministries that work with orphans or at risk children in Ukraine to partner with us so we can get them bibles at cost.  If you are interested in working with us  please e-mail us at info@inlumine.org and we'll send you our project brochure.

:: We have the rights to publish a Russian language edition of Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin.

:: We are starting the translation of A Gospel Centered Life from World Harvest Mission.

:: We are nearly finished with the Russian edition of Porn-Again Christian by Mark Driscoll which we will begin distributing online soon.

Thoughts from Keller's Generous Justice

Liese and I have been reading Generous Justice by Tim Keller together.  It is an amazing book that I would recommend to everyone.

As we read through it one thing that kept coming to my attention was that Keller often used the word "immigrant" as he wrote about texts from the old testament that spoke of hospitality to foreigners and helping the strangers in society.  Immigration (especially the illegal kind) is a pretty big topic these days which I think was Keller's intention in using that word.  The idea stood out to me in what Keller was saying was that God identified with not only the poor and oppressed but with the stranger, the immigrant.  To seek justice for the poor meant to seek justice for those marginalized in society and that includes immigrants (legal or otherwise).  As I was reading I started thinking about 3 things:

1) I think the conservative church in America that is holding up the law and being an active voice for immigration reform/anti-immigration laws is missing a huge opportunity to display God's heart for strangers and foreigners by focusing on laws instead of people.  It seems that the Church should be an active force for change in the social structures that bring in illegal immigrants and keep them poor and illegal. 

2) There are very few immigrants in our city, and yet that doesn't mean that our church doesn't need to learn how to seek their good.  Many immigrants in Ukraine are from the central Asian states or India and Pakistan.  They have darker skin, they stand out from the rest of society, and they are not welcomed or trusted as a rule.  Keller's book has got me thinking about how our church should be thinking about racial relations and being a force for change in how immigrants in Ukraine are treated.

3) I've started playing cricket with a group of guys from our church.  More people play cricket worldwide than play baseball because of places like India and Bangladesh where it is the national sport. What does this have to do with immigrants? Nearly all the immigrants to Ukraine from south Asia have come to Ukraine looking for a better life and they like to play cricket.  They make up the teams we will be playing with this year.   They are marginalized by Ukrainian society.  Often there are such deep prejudices that many Ukrainian's don't realize their own racism.   Cricket may be a good way to build relationships between Christians and minority immigrant groups in Ukraine which could then lead to Ukrainian Christians learning how to show better hospitality to the strangers in their midst.

Praying for our city

This week I didn't post the usual "Global Missions Monday" because the first week of each month we choose one of the public works/utilities/government agencies of our city and throughout the month we pray for them.  Last month we prayed for the gas company, and this month we we will be praying for the police force.

Ukraine ranks as one of the most corrupt countries in the world and as a government agency with much direct power the police force is especially corrupt.  If you've ever seen movies like Serpico you have some idea of the level of corruption, but it is even more pervasive and deeper than you'd think.

In Jeremiah 29:7 it says "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." God tells his people to pray for a city that does not know Him, that does not follow Him, that is evil and corrupt.   So we are praying for our city.  We are praying for those who have power and use it corruptly that God would save them, that God would change them, and that God would change the power structures in Ukraine.