Indigenous Ministries

Indigenous Ministries

Beyond the Map

Keeping Church in Baghdad A Tenacious Pastor Addresses Unusual Challenges in this Post-War, Ancient City

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Baghdad – Last month our US team including three guest pastors, Ken Ford, Mike Lundberg and Jon Campbell spent time in Baghdad meeting with our partnering church, her Pastor Ara, Assistant Pastor Mazin and staff. This church continues to grow with a strategic and impactful ministry to hundreds each month. Her ministry is special; many of her former members are all over the world and some only listen to Christian radio which other ministries in Baghdad are doing an excellent job with because of safety reasons. 

Pastor Ara, Pastor Ken Ford, Pastor Mike Lundberg, Pastor Jon Campbell and CEO John Cook at the magnificent National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad

This is a church of movement, and what makes this body of Christ unique is her sending power. People come and go from this church for many reasons.  But they definitely keep coming and going. 

Since 2003, the exodus of Christians from Iraq has been staggering. Estimates vary, but the Christian population in Iraq in 2003 was anywhere from 900,000 to 1.5 million.  Now with some 300,000 Christians left in Iraq, many are scattered all over the world, including the US. The emotional and psychological scars born by both groups are evident; many overseas are homesick and long to return. Yet for those who cannot emigrate or choose not to leave, the sparsely attended wedding celebrations and funerals are stark reminders that nothing will ever be the same. The separation and loneliness from broken families and missing friends is only a conversation over cup of tea and a distant look away. 

Where does this leave the church? For Pastor Ara, pictured here with John and our US team, the situation is complicated and somewhat of a double-edged sword. Many background Christian refugees who fled to Baghdad (or other areas) escaping violence in their villages at the hands of radical Islamists, attend the church. They are welcomed and attendance grows. These same refugees have significant needs for basics of shelter, food, water and clothing and look to relief organizations and the church for help. The church does what it can to help refugees, builds relationships and as a result, many open their hearts to the Gospel and encounter a new journey of faith. This is wonderful and the testimonies are each very dynamic! The church follows up with discipleship, meaning the very difficulties that hurt them are turned into ministry opportunities and in time, prepare those who will leave for their future assignments from the Lord. Think Acts and how persecution spread the Church. 

This church sends her people equipped: some refugees emigrate out of Iraq, others return to their homes. Still others, unable to return home, continue to look to the church for some measure of help. Pastor Ara and the leadership look for ways to care for the poorest families without jobs (elderly, widows, orphans, the handicapped and those in danger) who have very little resources otherwise. Some manage to find jobs. Many become involved in ministry. 

Meanwhile, life in Baghdad and in this church goes on: young couples are getting married and starting families, children attend school and AWANA, and youth groups are in full swing with pizza parties and Bible studies. Women meet weekly for Bible studies and prayer, and 12 to 14 home groups meet weekly to study the Bible and integrate new Believers into the Body. The mercy ministry to refugees sustains life month after month. The church’s bookstore attracts Christians and Muslims alike, with resources for seekers on who Jesus is, what the Bible says and how to come to faith.  

This is a vibrant and growing Body of Christ whose beauty includes her scars, for she has suffered much with bomb attacks, threats, and a number of this body have been killed. This Pastor and Body of Believers are an example of grace and strength in the fire. To the Iraqi reading this in some area of the world who has had to leave your Iraqi homeland, we love you and pray God’s strength, provision and guidance for you.

Since 2004, Indigenous Ministries’ engagement with this church has revolved around helping with ministering to a war-impacted Christian and Muslim community.  We are proud to partner with Pastor Ara and the team in Baghdad.  In a few months watch for next steps in this partnership which we are praying over and believe the Lord is leading us into together for His glory.Please use and share this article as a way to pray with knowledge for this body of Believers in Iraq and the joys and challenges they face and that we are privileged to engage in with them.

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.  James 1:12

Beautiful International

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Last month 120 women came together for a dynamic evening in Iraq.  As I entered the church, three bus loads of Syrian women had already arrived from a refugee camp and another bus was unloading. My translator whispered in my ear that 50 of the women were distraught because their families had been rejected for immigration by Australia that day. Morale was low. Our worship director soon had the women focused on the Lord and His steadfastness in a beautiful set of Arabic worship songs. I spoke on living in awe of God and how he works on our behalf. The evening, God encouraged the women, and also showed himself faithful. God is using our women’s meetings to bless many women. 

Women making bead bracelets last month in Iraq at BI meeting

This month in India we are holding a one day women’s conference, in addition to being together with our Grace Bible College students and alumni. Thank you for continuing to pray for and financially support the vital ministry of Beautiful International who live in very challenging areas. 

The First Job in Missions

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Psalm 67:3-4 shouts, “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah”

When working in a conflicted area where stories of disasters and rumors of upcoming conflicts abound, it’s a good idea to keep centered on why we do what we do.  It’s not difficult to ramp up an attitude of near-panic with so many obvious, physical needs.  The challenge of trying to meet these vital needs and win lost souls compete for missions attention and resources in a results-driven world. Churches are not exempt from this mentality, and missionaries can, in seconds, “catch” a panic attack online even in a Facebook post.  

While we are definitely focused on winning the lost, our first priority is not numbers or a “quick draw” salvation call to impress.  It is not to “haul in a great catch.”  And perhaps speaking for other comrades in ministry trenches, most of us would be happy with a so-so catch on most days!  Fishing cliches aside, God is the one responsible for saving the lost – he draws souls to himself.  

Then what is our first job?  To be faithful until death? To wear out, not rust out for God? No, our first job is to remain in awe of God.  To focus on the glory and power of God and to worship Him.  This outflowing of our worship of God will then spill out of our hearts.  A ministry heart in panic, anger or bitterness with a gluttonousnessappetite for self-fulfillment is one of discontentment and disillusionment.  Self-loathing lurks in these unwelcome shadows. 

God works within His own timeframe and thoughts.  While we cannot live without Him, He can’t minister without us.  He chooses to use us by His Grace to draw in the lost.  The best soil in Jesus’ parables was the soil that received the seed and simply allowed the seed to do the work of multiplication.  In another parable, Jesus mentioned that the farmer plants the seed and then goes to sleep.  It is through his every day life as a farmer that God multiples His seed.  We cannot fabricate “quick” fruit because it’s a natural process which, by its very nature, takes time.  What about the thief on the cross?  Perhaps Christ’s affirming words that this transgressor would be in paradise should also stir up thoughts that God had most likely drawn this man’s soul long before his hands felt Roman nails.  Every one of us will bow our prideful hearts at some point to who God is.  

John Piper in his book, “Let the Nations be Glad,” writes that worship is a deep foundation of missions and as such means that an intrinsic fear of God, based in personal ongoing experience and knowledge of His awesomeness, is without a doubt our priority.  

Why is worship so important in missions? Shouldn’t it be obvious by our very name, Christian, that we bear in our souls God’s very name and know Him?  No, it isn’t, for the Bible shows clearly that demons recognized and spoke with Jesus face to face many times.  Satan himself knows who Jesus is, but that doesn’t mean he worships God or bows his prideful head to give God the glory He is due.   

Worship means we know, understand and live with a passion for the truth that there is no other God who is due our awe, love, and devotion.  Missions is not first and ultimate, God is.  

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praise; he is to be feared above all gods.”  Psalm 96:4

God’s much greater than our failures or successes, perceived or real; He seeks to take us to a higher presence than the lure of self pity or ego’s boasts – to Himself. Years ago a spiritual leader bragged to John that they were writing national devotional booklet but had not opened the Bible in years.  In the place of awe and worship of God, pride and ego had swaggered in, smothering the fruit of genuine worship. 

Our passion to see God glorified actually fulfills His own desire to be supreme and central in all things, and the overflow of this delight impacts the lost and spiritually destitute drawing them to God, not to ourselves.  This sacred partnership is with the Holy Spirit and the Church whom God uses to draw souls to Himself in a perplexing and inexhaustible love.  Love that draws and forgives and renews.  

Prayer for 2019:  Lord, may we, in this amazing New Year of 2019 where you already completely dwell, live in awe, delight and daily worship of you. That the truth that you are Supreme and worthy of all the Glory will permeate every fiber of who we are and what we do.  Father, we ask that our staff, our dear partners in the US and our precious team members overseas will live in confidence that You and You alone are God and humbly ask that our worship of you will draw many souls to you. Amen.    

Some thoughts taken from John Piper’s book, “Let the Nations be Glad.”   

Love is Our Standard

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The freedom to vote this month brought to mind the many incredible opportunities we have in America, especially with the backdrop of the LACK of these freedoms in places Indigenous Ministries has a presence. From freedom to worship, to express religious opinions (even if on Facebook), to carrying a gun or a Bible, America is still the greatest nation on the earth. Even with her many flaws, the truth is that refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants by the millions still look to our shores as the best sight they could ever lay eyes on.

Understandably, many feel confusion on the subject of refugees and asylum seekers and many Christians struggle to respond with a Christ-like balance to what some describe as an “invasion.” What should our response be? Regardless of opinions, Scripture points us to Jesus’ radical life.

The pharisee asking the question in the box, left, asked for the one greatest commandment. He felt safe in the answer he already knew. But he didn’t expect Jesus to insert personal responsibility into his answer. But Jesus didn’t even use pain as the standard, as the Law indicated, but he used love. He spoke of a very practical yet selfless love.

Our love for God defines how we treat ourselves and our neighbors. The way we would want our families to be treated if they were thrust into refugee or asylum seeker status should be part of what defines our own values and actions. When we put ourselves in that other person’s shoes (or in a small wooden boat full of desperate refugees floating away from violence in Libya), God increases our love and faith to take even the smallest actions to enact that love to others.

We aren’t called to love the whole world, God claimed that job in John 3:16, but we are called to love those in our path – be that literally next door, in town or across the seas. Good news: His box is big enough to deal with our inadequacies, prejudices and past failures.

According to Jesus, love is our standard. A love that doesn’t deny ourselves or our neighbors, a love that takes actions springing from our values and convictions.

This love is the change-agent that crosses all boundaries and barriers. It’s not guilt-based, but grace-based and let’s face it, loving God, ourselves and other people can be downright hard, and messy. Maybe that’s because it works.

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“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22:36-40 NIV

Beautiful Int’l Holds Women’s Meetings in Baghdad & Kurdistan

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She’s a refugee who has, with her husband, left a refugee camp to re-settle in their home which ISIS tried to destroy. She’s attended BI’s meetings and wants us to hold a conference in her town now to encourage her neighbors and friends. Her loving welcome amidst a post war zone touched my heart.

In March, hundreds of women gathered together to listen to the story of Hagar who was also displaced and whose life was tossed about by other people’s decisions. It was a thrill to be able to met these women and speak to them in Baghdad for the first time! We had a great time together in the Word, exercising and making the signature Beautiful International beaded memory wire bracelets. Then in Kurdistan, we met with two more groups of Beautiful women who are refugees. The energy in the refugee camp was off the charts as the women laughed, sang and spent time together around the Word.

I asked a group of Iraqi and Syrian refugees what their biggest personal challenge was as a woman…no one hesitated; “It’s our children, of course, we are so concerned for them, it’s hard to get good medical care,” some said, others, new refugees from Syria, noted with frustration that their children cannot understand the Kurdish language and cannot attend school. I look forward to sharing with you more ways we help women in the Middle East.

These women know that so many of you here in the US make these meetings happen with your prayers and financial gifts, because I share that you want to help them – they send their love and grateful hugs to you for these wonderful times! Please give generously to Beautiful International. Thank you.

Join me in Egypt or Iraq in Fall 2018: Cost: $3850. Pray, teach, sing, help with crafts, bring a group from your church. The time is now. Women are waiting, and you CAN make a difference! Contact our office to sign up.

Iraq Relief Aid and Refugee Resettlement Issues

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Refugee families receiving food packets last month in northern Iraq

This month as ministry in Iraq continues, the families our teams are serving share their personal stories and gratitude; stories of great heartache and frustration. One widow and her three children, revealed they were living on the food they were receiving from our child sponsorship program. Others share they learned their home is destroyed and wait for the government to help.

At this time, refugees are in no small struggle with their fate.  Reports state that in the past three months, hundreds of thousands of refugees in the Anbar governorate are returning to their districts and some to their homes, or what is left of it. Sounds good, doesn’t it? This is false hope. Fallujah in Anbar was the first to fall to ISIS in January 2014, and the offensive against ISIS concluded in Rawah in November 2017, the last town liberated from ISIS control. Now that major military efforts against ISIS are completed, the focus is on resettling millions of internally displaced Iraqis.  Sending Syrian refugees home, another topic entirely, remains a dismal prospect at present, given the condition of their home government.

Complicating matters for Iraqi refugees are conditions causing many to leave refugee camps prematurely. Some are coerced by family and tribal leaders, while others are being forced out of camps by the Iraqi government in an attempt to resettle refugees. Despite the UN’s Funding Facility for Stabilization (FFS) launched in 2015 to provide funding to stabilize and rebuild areas previously held by ISIS, the consensus is that needs greatly outnumber resources.  These conditions have created “re-refugees,” or refugees once again without homes, making this crisis even more heartbreaking.

Safety cannot be guaranteed for families with unexploded explosives scattered throughout cities, communities and in homes. In surveys, 30% of refugees have no idea of the condition of their homes, and those who have information are often disappointed to find out their homes are greatly damaged, already inhabited by someone else, and their community infrastructure has yet to be rebuilt.

Another twist in this drama is the ongoing terrifying prospect of neighbors turning each other in to be arrested as “ISIS collaborators,” whether true or not. Families have seen their loved ones killed as a result.  After enduring so much, the threat of the ISIS state of mind is still very much a destructive one.  For those who lived under ISIS control, freedom now is a mixed bowl of cherries, and some of the cherries are rotten.

We cannot overstate the importance of aid families are receiving from our program.  The refugees we minister to are receiving some of the most basic food packets and other supplies from our program, which help make life more bearable. What we have confirmed, as John and I are in Iraq, is that no aid is insignificant. Families living on the edge of existence need the aid and spiritual hope given through the Refugee Child Sponsorship Program. 

Thank you for giving to help refugees! Please continue to help with regular generous donations to the Iraq Relief Fund. These funds continue to be used to reach out to refugees in the name of Christ. Go online and in the Donate drop down, select “Iraq Relief Project.”   

Source: Report from The Danish Refugee Council, Norwegian Refugee Council and International Rescue Committee, Feb. 2018

Beautiful International Update

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As I joined John in Iraq this month, I’m amazed at just how vital the time is for us to be in this arena. You and I MUST not let this time slip by. This is a time to not shrink back from the job and opportunities in front of us to reach out and help women. Many national Middle Eastern women are in positions to impact the future of Iraq and Syria for good and yet are themselves in need – need of encouraging, need of resources, need of prayers and most of all the need to know that their sisters in the US care about them! That is what Beautiful International is doing right now.

There are several projects we are preparing for women in the Middle East this year, and I’m asking for your help. Pray with me for our conferences this month where I’ll be speaking; pray especially for the women who are emotionally hurting. Your generous donations to Beautiful are vital and are used to help these women.

Join me this fall ministering to women in Egypt, Iraq or the Philippines. Cost: $3850. What could you do? Pray, teach, sing, and help with crafts, you can also bring a group with you from your church.

Seamstresses Needed – Would you like to help with your sewing skills? We’re collecting cotton (nice quality) flannel blankets through September to ship into Iraq. Ship them to the Indigenous Ministries office address listed on page four. Please send in $4.50/lb to cover cost of shipment and handling overseas.

 

Baby Blanket Specifics:

Please use good quality flannel, and sew each blanket with 1/4” hems twice rolled and pressed on all 4 sides. 

Size: approx. 40” x 40”

Ladies, get groups together to sew and pray over these blankets as a ministry in Jesus’ name. Thank you for loving the precious refugee babies.

Beautiful International Update

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Next month I’ll be in several women’s ministry settings in the Middle East in churches and refugee camps. You can minister to these women with me with your prayers and your generous financial assistance. God has opened many doors to reach out to women – Christian and Muslim – with encouragement and the Word.

Please help me with women’s conferences overseas, ladies! This fall you can choose Egypt, Iraq, the Philippines. Cost: $3850. Pray, teach, sing, help with crafts, bring a group from your church. The time is now. Women are waiting, and you CAN make a difference!

Seamstresses Needed – Last month we shipped 187 baby blankets to Iraq for refugee children. We will be collecting cotton (nice quality) flannel blankets through September to ship them into Iraq. Ship them to the Indigenous Ministries office address. Please send in $4.50/lb to cover cost of shipment and handling overseas. Call our office with specific dates, questions.

Baby Blanket Specifics:

Please use good quality flannel, and sew each blanket with 1/4” hems twice rolled and pressed on all 4 sides.
Size: approx. 40” x 40”.

Ladies, get groups together to sew and pray over these blankets as a ministry in Jesus’ name. Thank you for loving these precious refugee babies.

Yazidi Girls & Women Complete 1st English Course

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The Yazidi high school girls and women in N. Iraq took their final exams this month and have done well! We’re so proud of each of them. A special word of thanks to our team lead for this project, Wesam, and to Elham, who has been teaching since July. For 10-15 minutes before classes, Wesam has been sharing the Word of God. The ladies asked to know more about our beliefs, and say they really enjoy these sessions.

Our funding for this project has run out, however, the girls and women have asked to continue, and 36 jumped in and signed up for the next classes. By faith, I’ve said we will continue with this great opportunity, as long as the funding comes in. We will also include a backyard Good News Club-style meeting for the children each week.

To donate, go to IndigenousMinistries.org and select Beautiful International Women’s Ministries. The need each month is $2950; we are asking the Lord for six more months of classes. Thank you so much for praying and giving.

 

Beautiful Int’l Egypt Women’s Conferences

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We were so privileged to hold several meetings in Egypt this month with women; Pastors wives, women from local churches and a group of

Muslim women.  I’m grateful to Sarah Brannon for helping me and sharing with the women. The Lord really blessed this time! Special thanks for our volunteers in CO and CA who spent about 250 hours preparing the crafts! 

The women enjoyed the meetings and expressed a deep appreciation for this chance to get together sharing in fellowship and the Word.  It’s so important for women to share our lives and experiences and make the time to get together! My special thanks to our Beautiful Partners who prayed for and financially sponsored this vital time of ministry in Egypt; God bless you!

 

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