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Helping Japan

Like you, we’re deeply concerned for the Japanese. Campus Crusade for Christ has had a ministry presence there for many years with some results. You may be interested to know, however, that 80% of major crises (including earthquakes, wars and famines) in the last twenty years have taken place in the 10/40 window region. Also, 40% of church-planting breakthroughs among Muslim people groups followed some kind of natural disaster. These statistics don’t apply to Japan, but they do show that disasters can cause a hunger for God in people.

All of our staff are okay and are thinking of ways to mobilize their Christian students to help bring both relief and the Gospel to their people. Already, the Jesus Film Project is raising funds to send 50,000 DVDs of the film to Japan immediately. They are also offering Jesus films in Japanese for $5 through the end of the month if you know of anyone from Japan to give them to.

GAiN, Campus Crusade for Christ’s humanitarian ministry will be in Japan and is taking donations if you are looking for other ways to help besides the Jesus film. Of course, other groups are as well, such as Samaritan’s Purse and World Vision.

Please pray for God to move in the hearts of the Japanese people. God can move spiritual mountains which may be a barrier to His Good News. He is moving in the hearts of the Japanese. (Read Sus’ post on how God literally moved the physical mountains of Japan’s Honshu island.)

Sources:
This image is available on Wikimedia Commons.
Statistics from Ethne 2009.

The Importance of Our Christian Worldview

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. ~ John 18: 37 – 38a NIV

The Roman governor looked at the condemned prisoner standing before him and asked, “What is truth?” Jesus had just told Pilate that He had come into the world to bear witness to the truth. What Pilate did not realize was that standing before him was the very Author of truth Himself.

In John 14:6 Jesus declared “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” How you and I view this statement and others in the Scriptures impacts our lives, our relationship with God and our eternal destiny.

Recently, Sus took a graduate-level course, “Christian Worldview,” through Campus Crusade’s Institute of Biblical Studies; all our staff, both field and headquarters, are now required to complete eleven courses in advanced Biblical studies to equip them for ministry in today’s world. During the worldview class Sus learned that everyone essentially has a worldview (whether they know it or not) which determines what they believe about God, truth, eternal life, the nature of Man, who is Christ, and much more. Their worldview is the foundation explaining the “why” behind what you may see that person (or a group of people) doing.

Perhaps you have heard the term “postmodern.” This is a philosophy that has run rampant on our college campuses and in our culture for a number of years. Postmodernists do not believe in absolute truth; rather they believe truth can be defined by each individual. They would view Jesus’ statement in John 14:6 either as intolerant or only meaningful for those who chose to believe in Christ.

Christians need to know their worldview. We need to be aware of and acknowledge the power of God in the spiritual realm. We need to have a natural history that honors God as Creator as an alternative to the secularism of our American culture. Finally, we also need to know and share God’s overarching plan revealed to us through the Bible and throughout history with believers and nonbelievers. Mike’s office team just completed The Truth Project (at thetruthproject.org) and recommends this video series for learning a Christian worldview.

During this course, Sus was able to learn about different religious and philosophical trends that form the majority of worldviews today. She also learned some practical tools to help discern a person’s worldview, which affects how to approach them with the gospel. In our next newsletter we will share how she used this approach with three young adult nonbelievers. She was also encouraged that her blogging, as an evangelistic storyteller, is a culturally relevant way to connect the reader’s needs to God’s story.

Thank you so much for your prayers for us. We thank God for you and for the role you play in our ministry!

Prayer Opportunities for Lent

One reason I’m writing tonight is because of several prayer opportunities we thought you would want to know about. Perhaps you’ll be interested in one of these.

• Our ministry in Europe started praying for the 40 European countries during the 40 days of Lent. It’s not too late to sign up for a daily prayer request for each country. Read more on PrayEurope.com or go directly to the sign-up for an email reminder.

• Our ministry leaders are calling for a 40-day prayer focus, March 17 to April 25, to seek God’s face. They have been asking God where He wants to take us as a movement. Instead of petitioning Him about “that question” our leadership has invited us and the friends of the ministry (you) to join us in simply focusing on God for forty days. You can learn more here and get started with a new devotional each morning on the 17th here. If you would like to use Facebook, a friend of ours, Janey, will have daily devotionals on 40 Days of Worship.

God is at Work in Egypt

All 150 families of Campus Crusade staff are safe and accounted for in Egypt. Campus Crusade for Christ’s main website has a web page where we will keep friends of the ministry up-to-date with our ministry there.

Here’s an excerpt:

“Christians are reaching out to those around them. Our staff in Egypt have noticed an incredible openness among the people. As staff members stand side by side with their neighbors to protect their communities, conversations are happening and many are having discussions about faith they would never have had before.”

Read more and check back often for updates.

NOTE: The photo of Egyptian Christians protecting Muslims while they pray comes from imgur.com