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BORTHWICK UPDATE
Fall 2005
From Russia, Sri Lanka, India, & more

Greetings all,

We're overdue for a ministry report, and we're getting ready to send out our Christmas letter, but for a few moments, I (Paul) am writing specifically to offer a reflection on the last three months. These months have included Gordon College teaching, church ministry travel, and three international trips related to Development Associates International.

The fact that we've had opportunity to minister in a diversity of places often leads our hosts to ask us to give a seminar or workshop providing an "overview" perspective on "the church around the world". This has occurred several times over these past three months.

Most of the people I've spoken to live/serve in intense ministry surroundings where they must focus on the "micro" or local needs, so they have little time to look at the "Big Picture." I've been asked to give a "macro" perspective to helps Christian workers understand where their local stories fit into the overall work of God in the world. Paul wrote to encourage the Colossians as they faced local hardship, "all over the world this Gospel is bearing fruit and growing" (Colossians 1:6) because he wanted them to know that God was doing something bigger than they were experiencing.

While it seems presumptuous to assume that I or anybody could possibly comprehend all the facets of God at work in the world, I have tried to offer some broad sweeping views. (I have this summary in a Power-Point format that I'd be happy to email you if you're interested.)

These months have not just been about "talking"; I've also been in constant learning environments - from our DAI staff meetings in Russia, to ministering to churches across the USA, to working with Gordon College students devoted to giving their lives to the Muslim world, to encouraging Christian agriculturalists serving around the world, to interacting with leaders with organizations like World Relief and Partners International, to speaking with younger leaders from the USA, Canada, Sri Lanka, and India.

In this report, I'd like to use the lessons learned this Fall to reflect on three things I observe about the future of global Christianity.

#1) THE FUTURE BELONGS TO STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS. September launched the new ministry season with our Development Associates International staff meetings in Russia. The DAI staff ourselves illustrate the future in strategic partnerships brought together to create synergy for ministry. We are a dozen or more people from ten countries, from various denominations and organizational backgrounds - all coming together to align ourselves around Kingdom purposes related to leadership development. We partner with dozens of organizations where we look for ways to encourage the Kingdom effectiveness of leaders.

The strategic partnership observation continued throughout the Fall as I saw churches joining together to achieve greater purposes in missions - in spite of their denominational backgrounds - because they understood that our worked-out unity in Christ sets the tone for global witness (see John 17: 21, 23). The final ¡¥big event' of the Fall for us - the Youth Missions Conference in Guwahati, India, saw three strategic denominations in Northeast India coming together for a greater purpose - that of mobilizing students to permeate the culture as "salt and light."

Strategic partnerships reflect the old adage that "There's no end to what can be accomplished if you don't care who gets the credit."

[SIDENOTE: speaking of partnerships, Rev. J.M. Pau, our host at the conference in Northeast India, specifically asked us to tell our readers that hospitals in northeast India have a great need for Medical Doctors to come serve for 1 to 3 to 6 months. Contact us if you want more information.]

#2) THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THE SUFFERING. These months have given us exposure to the church in Sri Lanka, still responding to the tsunami of December 2004 and constantly living under the anti-Christian pressure being exerted by their government. Paul's students at Lanka Bible College included people converted to Christ from Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism - all of whom have stories to tell of the social, economic, and spiritual suffering they have endured because of their decisions to follow Jesus.

Twenty or more young people came forward at the Northeast India Youth Missions Conference to commit themselves to take the Gospel to those who have never heard of Jesus. Who knows what suffering lies ahead for those who may take the Gospel into neighboring countries like Bhutan, Tibet/China, Myanmar, or Nepal - not to mention the states of northern India that are openly hostile to Christianity!?!

Even in our DAI family, we're consistently reminded of the daily sufferings experienced by our co-worker Gilbert Gouentoue in Cote d'Ivoire - a country torn apart by violence and instability. He and his family minister in a place of danger, uncertainty, and a daily reminder of their need for God's protection.

Elizabeth Elliot defines suffering as "having something we don't want or wanting something we cannot have." In this respect, all of us experience some type of suffering - though some of us have more means to escape (or at least run from it). Nevertheless, the future of Christian growth belongs to those who seek to understand God's purposes in suffering - a tough and life-long challenge (see Hebrews 5:8; Psalm 119: 67, 71; I Timothy 3:12).

#3) THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THE MULTICULTURAL. Many of our experiences in ministry remind us that the global church of Jesus Christ is "non-white, non-wealthy, and non-Western."
  • The November conference in Florida for Christian agriculturalists included leaders from thirty nations, including people from some of the poorest nations on earth.
  • A church in Indianapolis talked about their challenge to reach out to the 15,000 Muslims in that city.
  • The Development Associates International leadership team speaks more than a dozen languages.
  • My 30 Gordon College students (most of whom are of European descent) have already served on short-term mission teams in over 60 countries.
  • Leaders in Sri Lanka face the challenge of uniting Christians from Sinhalese backgrounds with Christians from Tamil backgrounds - in a country that is still deeply divided.
Perhaps the most vivid picture of the multi-cultural church of the future was the recent youth mission conference in Guwahati, India. At this conference, we had resource people from Nepal, Nigeria, USA (PB!) and India. The young leaders who attended represented all of the states of Northeast India as well as at least fifteen language groups from within these states. Together, our conference was a mini-picture of Revelation 7:9, the great climactic multi-cultural worship service that John the apostle saw.

SUMMARY: If I can take all the experiences of ministry this Fall and put them into one summary statement, it would read like this:

"The future of global Christianity belongs to people and churchesÿ
  • Who are willing to join together in partnership, laying down their secondary issues for the greater goal of exalting Jesus Christ and building His Kingdom;
  • Who understand that suffering is part of our ministry as we're called to follow the crucified Christ into the world;
  • And who celebrate the diversity and build for the unity of God's self-revelation through the multi-cultural fellowship into which we're called.
Thanks for your prayers and financial support. Your generosity makes these ministry and learning opportunities possible.

Submitted December 5, 2005

Paul (for Christie)

Tax-deductible gifts to support our ongoing ministry designated
"Borthwick support" can be sent to:

Development Associates International
P. O Box 49278
Colorado Springs, CO 80949
ATTN: Cheri Matas

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