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Borthwick Update: October 2006
Malaysia "Younger Leaders Gathering" Report
Greetings friends
While Christie was diligently working towards the completion of her Masters in Counseling degree, Paul recently attended the "Younger Leaders Gathering (YLG)" in Malaysia. Sponsored by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (LCWE), the YLG went September 23-October 1, but the impact will be continuing for years to come.
Paul went as an "older mentor" and workshop leader, joining with 80 or so other older leaders from around the world. This team of leaders went to serve, mentor, learn with, and learn from more than 500 younger leaders. Together, we represented at least 110 countries and several hundred languages and cultures.
Development Associates International (DAI) participated fully: Nora Wessner, our DAI specialist on emerging leaders, participated as a younger leader. I offered a workshop and served with DAI South Africa ministry center director Brian Edwards on the team of small group leaders. Several DAI associates from India were there: Alongla Aier, DAI adjunct faculty from NE India, served as a small group leader; Chad & Leslie Segraves, DAI adjunct faculty from Delhi, and Shamira Philip, one of our M.A. students from Delhi all participated as younger leaders. Beyond these folks, I met a dozen or more younger leaders who had benefited from DAI materials, resources, and courses.
We all went expecting God to do something wonderful at this gathering (a word intentionally chosen rather than 'conference' to reflect a climate designed to be more community-oriented)? and God did "beyond anything we could ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20-21).
Although we're still sorting out how to measure the long-term impact, please allow Paul to offer some of the short-term highlights of these days together.
THE ENERGY OF THE FUTURE. Some international gatherings teach; others inspire; this one ENERGIZED me. Rather than being led and dominated by older leaders ? often white males from the Western world ? this gathering was different. The participants were 25-35 year old men and women, mostly non-white and non-western, and full of vision, passion for Jesus, and desire for global impact. They related their vision for outreach to street kids in Brazil, to post-moderns in Europe, and to Muslims across the Arabic speaking world. I listened to them relay their desire for holiness, their zeal for unreached people, and their passion in prayer and worship. They challenged us all to rise up to the challenges ahead. I was honored to join them, knowing that as an older leader I can offer encouragement and perhaps wisdom to these passionate women and men who will guide the Church long after we're gone.
GLOBAL WORSHIP. Occasionally, we get to join in international meetings like this where the worship gives us a genuine foretaste of heaven (see Revelation 5:9; 7:9). The platform leadership came from India, South Africa, Singapore and Brazil. The speakers included people from Kenya, Croatia, Sri Lanka, the USA, and Japan. We sang songs from many nations with people from many cultures. In some of the large group meetings, I paused simply to look around: a young leader from Nepal, one generation removed from a Hindu heritage; a church planter from the South Pacific whose forefathers were headhunters; an Ethiopian older leader who survived prison during the time of the dictator Mengistu; a couple who is passionate to equip the Chinese Church to send missionaries to the Muslim world. Seeing my fellow worshippers, I offered the praise of the Psalmist: this is God's doing ? it is marvelous in our eyes.
UNITY IN DIVERSITY. Related to the worship, the visible expressions of unity prevailed over our differences. Our common conviction ? that Jesus Christ is Lord ? united us: male and female, richer and poorer, many denominations from many cultures with many histories. One of the purposes of Jesus death was to make his followers into a new household, a new humanity, a united people (Ephesians 2:15ff). Here we got a glimpse of what that looks like. Our DAI co-worker, Nora Wessner, who attended as one of the "younger leaders," wrote in her summary report: "Where else can you see a Serb worshipping next to a Croat, a Hutu and a Tutsi in the same small group, a white man next to a black man from South Africa leading worship. Christ does make a difference." Amen.
OUR SMALL GROUP. For me, a significant highlight was our small group. I had the privilege of working with Wick from Oklahoma, Paul from Seattle, another Paul from Brisbane (Australia), Woong from Korea, Nader from North Africa, and Yando from Papua-New Guinea. We shared our stories, interacted about the conference, prayed together and blessed each other. For me, these guys brought the united diversity of the Body of Christ down to a more interpersonal level. We're just now discovering what might develop from these relationships begun in Malaysia.
SHARING VISION. After I got home, someone asked me, "Was this a passing-the-torch-to-the-next-generation" event? I don't think so. It was more of a "let's join together from all nations and generations" event. While the YLG was initiated by older leaders, many hours were given to small groups and smaller meetings so that we could listen to each other's stories, share struggles & failures & vision, and begin relationships which we hope will lead to future partnership. People like Doug Birdsall, Ramez Atallah, and Peter Kuzmic invited younger leaders to the vision of the Lausanne Movement and more importantly, to the local implementation of the Lausanne Covenant (see http://www.lausanne.org/Brix?pageID=12891), but the emphasis was clearly on building relationships, sharing our lives and envisioning the future together.
FRUITS OF LONGEVITY. One of the DAI core values ? "Connecting" [or Networking] ? really describes something that excites me. This gathering gave me many opportunities to re-connect with older and younger friends alike from Zimbabwe, Jordan, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Germany, Kenya, China, Egypt, India, Chad, Croatia, Australia, and multiple other locations. Our lives have interwoven over the past twenty-five years, and knowing them gives us an ever-expanding sense of the team we belong to.
Along the same theme, I found my greatest thrill in seeing answers to prayers that have been prayed for as many as twenty or thirty years.
- CHINA. In the 1970's, I can remember joining people to pray for the faithfulness and perseverance of Christians in China. At these meetings, we heard testimonies from leaders in the Chinese house church movement who testified of the witness of the faithful in that great nation.
- NORTH AFRICA. In the 1980's, I started praying for a country (and its leader) in North Africa led by an Islamic regime very hostile to Christians. At the YLG, there was only one representative from this country; God put him in our small group! His work has enabled him to live out the Gospel before thousands of students, and whose family has ministered to the leader of this nation. He was a living answer to twenty years of prayer!
- AFGHANISTAN. In mid-2001, we joined people from across the world praying for Christian workers being held captive by the Taliban extremists. At the YLG, Heather Mercer, one of those captives, shared her story of God's grace ? and the added story of God's progressive work in the life of one of her captors!
For you, the reader, perhaps one message we want to convey to you is this: don't give up praying for countries, leaders, Christian workers, and global issues ? even if you don't see immediate results. It may take decades to see the answers? but God is working.
In closing, we request your prayers for us as we journey TOGETHER November 1-13 to the DAI Staff Meetings and 10th Anniversary Celebration in Uganda. We're very excited to get to resume traveling together!
Thanks for your prayers. These endeavors are made possible because of your prayers, partnership and financial support.
Paul & Christie Borthwick
PS: This email report complements the recent India Update (September 06) so it does not have an attached upcoming schedule. For our Schedule through November, consult our web site: Borthwick Travel Calendar
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