100 People Network

Profile by Sarah Vanhoose
Photo by Todd White

Grant and Brandi Duncan enjoy playing obscure European board games and are particularly fond of one in which the object of the game is to build railroads that connect faraway places.  As self-described planners, they delight in working together to develop a strategy to solve the problem and win the game.  In a twist of beautifully divine irony, the Duncans will soon be serving as the real-life pieces that connect the unreached people groups of Southeast Asia to Christ and his message of love. There they will have the opportunity to help translate the Bible into many native languages. 

Coming from Christian families, Brandi’s grandfather, aunt, uncle and sister were long-term missionaries, and Grant had participated in several short-term mission trips in college.  The two had foreseen short-term missions as a definite part of their married future, but it wasn’t until a year ago when they moved to Austin and took a Perspectives course that they began to consider the idea of long-term service abroad.  Their introduction to the 100 People Network also served as a means for God to reveal to them his heart for the nations and the reason they were called to go.

“What we’ve realized is that there is an obligation, a responsibility, for us as believers to share the gospel and we are gladly accepting that responsibility.” 

Reflecting on their history, they see God’s careful detail in bringing them together to ultimately glorify him in their lives and in their marriage. They met while serving together at a Christian organization on campus at a college in California and, as it turned out, Grant lived only one floor beneath Brandi.  He pursued a career in pharmaceuticals and Brandi completed her Master’s Degree in Speech Language Pathology. They spent the first two years of married life in California and learned about the Austin Stone before their move last year; they listened to sermons online and were convinced even before their arrival to Austin that this was to be their new home church. 

As missionaries, they’re constantly confronted with the ever-popular question, “When did you feel called to go?”  They candidly struggle with an emotionally impacting response as their personal decision never involved an earth-shattering sign from above, but rather a steadily strengthening confirmation of where they were supposed to be and what they were supposed to be doing. 

“We’re very logical people, and we believe God gave us logic to make this decision.  This makes sense for us.” 

The blessing and calling that God has personalized for the Duncans is his undeniable creation of their availability and a freedom to make such a sizeable change. This has manifested itself in a number of ways: Grant’s contract with his employer just expired, their apartment lease is up, and Brandi has just completed school. 

Just having returned from training with their sending organization, God has magnified their passion for the mission at hand according to his impeccable timing. They have learned about the dire need for Bible translation in an area of the world in which Islam, fear and darkness permeate the culture. Grant and Brandi have seen the potential for their willingness to submit to the call stirring in the hearts of others, like the couple in their missional community that have prayed with them step in their process and are now making initial preparations for long-term service as well. 

Their fear of learning new languages is far outweighed by their conviction that they’d have much more to fear if they abstained from this calling of God on their lives. Brandi takes comfort in her mother’s old adage that proclaims, “The safest place for anyone is always where God wants them to be.” 

There is no doubt they’ll miss many things about life in Austin, but they radiate with excitement when considering what a blessing it will be for their full-time jobs to be so directly glorifying to God. The Duncans are uncertain about how long they’ll stay, only knowing it will be until God is properly introduced and his power is demonstrated to a people that need to know him. They plan to stay until the message of his unending love and complete omniscience is communicated to the people in this region in a language that they can understand. 

All the while, Grant and Brandi will make it clear that none of the victory in this real-life quest is of their own effort. They long to live in such a way that it’s said of them, “God must be with them, because there’s no way they could do any of that on their own.” 

Profile by Allicia Garza
Photo by Jen Crane

It was their hearts for the nations that first brought Scott and Shelly together at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

“It’s kind of neat when you meet somebody and they have that same unique interest as you do,” Shelly recounted. “It’s not every day when you can talk to somebody about your love for Africa.”

This love for Africa eventually led the two to Kenya. “It was on that trip that the Lord solidified that this was the person I was going to be serving with. This was the person I was going to marry,” Scott said.

They planned to adjust to married life here in the States for a year before embarking on the mission field, but God had other plans. “We were never on the same page about going,” Scott explained. “We prayed for God to [give us direction], and about a week later, The Austin Stone announced the launch of the 100 People Network.”

Though both Scott and Shelly had a heart for Africa, they had never thought about the possibility of serving in the Muslim cultures of North Africa. However, after learning more about the unreached people groups in the region, they began to pray seriously about serving there. Not long after they started praying, a friend asked them to consider taking a vision trip to a country in that area. “I didn’t even know where it was! I had to look it up!” Shelly confessed. “We didn’t have a clue about the lack of Christ’s presence in the Muslim world. God very much showed us while we were there that what we had always assumed about our lives wasn’t necessarily his plan.”

After that trip, the two knew the place they would be serving. They quickly connected with a team of families that were interested in going to the same region and started learning everything they could about the culture. Despite the peace that they’ve experienced about their move across the world, the two admitted they will have to make some difficult adjustments.

“In Muslim culture, it is unheard of for the man to be seen cooking, and I love to cook,” Scott acknowledged. “Maybe I’ll try to take up fishing instead!”

Along with Scott’s cooking, the couple said they would miss simple things such as Austin restaurants, air conditioning, and the constant love and support they receive from friends and family.

“The support we’ve had from our friends and community here is amazing. I can’t imagine taking a huge step like this without that [support],” Shelly said.

The couple believes the support they’ve received is evidence of the entire body of Christ at work. “You don’t have to be a goer to be a part of the 100 People Network. There are 100 people going, but there are hundreds more people supporting [them]. The goers aren’t any more important than the senders or mobilizers. You have to have every part working in cohesion.”

With the support of their loved ones and with a baby on the way, the couple is confident that the Lord has big things in store for their family and for North Africa. “He doesn’t have us going there for no purpose,” Shelly said. “We have to believe that what we’re doing is making an eternal investment.”

“I’m excited to see God fulfill his promises in my own life and on a global scale,” Scott added. “To uproot my family and move to the desert—there’s no hope in that unless you believe God’s promise to bring all nations to himself. If I didn’t believe that, there would be no hope in going.” 

[from Desiring God]

[from 30-days.net]

Muslims do not think of communion with God, knowing God or hearing from God, as being part of their normal prayer experience. In Islam normal daily prayer is a focused ritual exercise which is an expression of worship and honour toward Allah. Personal requests are possible in Islam but the formal ritual prayers are definitely the most important prayer activity for Muslims.

One Way Communication

Prayer in Islam is generally not meant to bring one’s self into direct personal contact or communion with Allah. Even when Muslims speak of prayer as communication with Allah they are never thinking that Allah will actually speak back to them. The communication is always one way. In the very small Sufi Muslim minority one can speak of meeting God. However, beliefs and practices among Sufis place the emphasis more on being submerged in the divine than knowing God in a communication oriented and relational sense. Among believers in the Messiah, knowing God in a relational sense is a key aspect of the faith (John 17:3). According to orthodox Islam God never speaks to humans directly and actually he has not even spoken to anyone indirectly (through angels) since the time of Mohammed. Muslims universally believe that Mohammed was the last and the greatest of the prophets. According to them Mohammed brought the final spoken revelation from God which eventually became the book we know as the Qur’an.

Prayer is encouraged as a means of restraining Muslims from social wrongs and moral deviancy. According to a traditional saying, Mohammed when asked, “What is the best deed?” He replied, “To offer prayers at their fixed times.” When asked again, “What is next in goodness?” He replied, “To be good and dutiful to your parents.” When asked again, “What is next in goodness?” He replied, “To participate in Jihad in Allah’s Cause.” Prayer is often seen as a meritorious activity in Islam.

The Kho People

Toward noon today thousands of Kho in the high mountainous region of Northern Pakistan will be praying in their local mosques. Almost none of them will have even ever asked the question “Does God ever speak to man today?” Many will think that their prayer will earn them merit before God.

This people group numbers about 320,000 people. There are no known believers in this people group. No one is seeking specifically to reach them at the present time. The Kho appear to be very resistant to the Gospel. Most of them live in the upper valleys, where farming is very difficult due to the dry, rugged mountain terrain.

The heart language of the Kho is Khowar. It is spoken in homes and villages, and through it, children receive their informal education about the customs, traditions, values and beliefs of Kho society. Khowar’s oral tradition is full of well-loved poems and songs, passed down from generation to generation.

See The Kho people of Pakistan on YouTube.com

Prayer Starters:

• Prayer is seen as a meritorious activity in Islam. As Muslims gather today and pray “show us the straight” path, may their prayers be answered. (Jer 29:13)

• Ask the Lord specifically for breakthroughs among the Kho people, and that they will ponder questions like ‘Does God still speak today?’

• Ask the Lord to soften the hearts of these people who are very resistant to the Gospel.

• Pray that the Lord will raise up believers who are willing to invest long-term service for the tribes of northern Pakistan.

• Pray that the Kho people will receive dreams and visions of Jesus.

• Remember that Pakistan is going through a VERY difficult time just now, our prayers will make a difference.

[from Desiring God]

[from The Gospel Coalition]

This fall, the Desiring God national conference will call on the church to “Finish the Mission: For the Joy of All Peoples” by bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to the unreached and unengaged. Plenary speakers for the event—September 23 to 25 at the Minneapolis Convention Center—include Louie Giglio, David Platt, Michael Ramsden, Michael Oh, and Ed Stetzer. Space is limited - if you register today, you can attend for the price of $170.

Previewing this important event, John Piper and I corresponded about the progress and problems of an ever-changing global church. Jesus Christ’s commitment to build his church gives us utmost confidence that he will finish the mission. Yet he grants us the privilege of carrying out this high calling to introduce him to all people for their eternal joy.

What’s the most encouraging development you see today as Christians trust God to “finish the mission”?

Today, and every day, the most encouraging development is the never-ending endurance of God’s sovereign will and promise: “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14). The mission will be finished. We should be encouraged no matter what is happening in the world. God is always doing 10,000 things we can’t see.

But if we look to the world through the lens of the word, even there the evidences of God’s faithfulness to finish the mission are many. The Global Network of Missionary Structures reports that “there are over 4,000 known evangelical mission agencies sending out 250,000 missionaries from over 200 countries. This is up from 1,800 known mission agencies and 70,000 missionaries in 1980.”

In many places the fruit of this growth is remarkable. Just to give a few examples, theGNMS points out:

• The last 40 years have seen more Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus come to know Christ than in all previous centuries combined.
• In Cambodia the church exploded from just a handful of believers 20 years ago to more than 400,000 today.
• In Mongolia, the church grew from a few isolated believers, to more than 50,000 in 200 established fellowships in the same period.
• The Koreans alone, who are becoming increasingly frontier mission focused, have a plan to send out 100,000 missionaries in the next 20 years. The Philippine church and the Chinese church both have similar goals.

The ongoing strategic efforts of mission agencies and churches is another hope-filled sign. According to the GNMS:

The Finishing the Task network, which was launched in the year 2003, is focusing on those unreached groups over 100,000 in population which are unengaged. At the time the network was launched, there were 639 groups in this category. By the year 2010, all but 95 had been engaged. The network is now expanding its efforts to those unengaged peoples which are 50,000 in population or greater.

The sharing of information today via the internet means that no one has to work in the dark about what is happening. Strategies of closure (finishing the mission) are increasingly feasible. But in the end the sovereignty of God and the power of the gospel of Jesus, not the feasibility of our human plans, is the rock of hope and encouragement.

With the growth of the church in the Majority World, what’s the most strategic way Western churches can serve these spiritual brothers and sisters?

The Christian church is undergoing dramatic demographic shifts that will increasingly marginalize people who are not eager to be a part of something more diverse and less white.

Philip Jenkins, professor of history and religious studies at Pennsylvania State University, has clarified this development perhaps more than anyone else. The new terminology that has been introduced into our vocabulary is the term Global South, a reference to the astonishing growth of the Christian church in Africa, Latin America, and Asia while the formerly dominant centers of Christian influence in Europe are weakening. For example:

• At the beginning of the 20th century, Europeans dominated the world church, with approximately 70.6 percent of the world’s Christian population. By the end of the 20th century, the European percentage of world Christianity had shrunk to 28 percent of the total; Latin America and Africa combined provided 43 percent of the world’s Christians.
• In 1900, Africa had 10 million Christians representing about 10 percent of the population; by 2000, this figure had grown to 360 million, representing about half the population. Quantitatively, this may well be the largest shift in religious affiliation that had ever occurred, anywhere.

Since we are talking about finishing the mission, I would tweak the question: Not: How can we serve the exploding church of the Global South? But: How can we be faithful, fruitful partners in serving the global mission of Jesus to proclaim the gospel of salvation to all the unreached peoples of the world?

Among the many answers to that question would be:

1. wake up to the existence of the global church;
2. don’t think that sending them money to do the mission can replace God’s call on Western Christians to go;
3. don’t assume we can do the mission better or alone, and don’t assume they can either;
4. listen to each other for the distinctive strengths each brings;
5. be informed of the work of others among any group or area you feel called to go;
6. pray for biblically faithful fruitfulness of all missions;
7. be humble and ready to be last—who will one day be first.

In your extensive global travels to speak in venues such as Lausanne last year, what most concerns you about the global church’s commitment to finishing the mission?

My travels are not very extensive, and so my answers always bear some measure of parochialism. The main concerns I feel are:

1. that many younger churches (both globally and in America) feel so focused on their local challenges that global, cross-cultural outreach to unreached peoples (missions) seems impossible;
2. that churches and missions sometimes stray from the purity of the gospel and thus undermine the very aim of the mission: biblically faithful, Christ-exalting, multiplying churches;
3. that worldliness choke the Word and the passion for missions;
4. that the belief in eternal suffering for those without Christ will be lost, and with it zeal to reach them;
5. and that the name of Christ will continue to be unknown and unhallowed for decades to come.

May the Lord of the harvest be manifestly jealous for his name today, and merciful toward the perishing, and may he send millions of workers into field, which is the world.

Collin Hansen serves as editorial director for The Gospel Coalition. He is the co-author of A God-Sized Vision: Revival Stories That Stretch and Stir. You can follow him on Twitter.

[from 30-days.net]

Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day at specific times while facing the direction of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Muslim prayer is formal and ritualistic yet many Muslims do make every effort to be sincere and upright in performing their prayers. Muslim prayer is characterised by rules of respect and attitudes of politeness toward Allah. (Please note that all Arab speakers use this word for God – whether Christian or Muslim, though their ideas of God are significantly different.

“Praying correctly and at the appropriate time is one of the greatest indications of (Muslim) faith and a great sign of true religion”. Prayer is to be done with heart and body cleanliness, with cleanness of clothing and in a ceremonially clean place. The washing of the hands, nose, face, forearms, ears, and feet in preparation for Muslim prayer is important.

The Words

Muslims place very strong emphasis on the exact postures and the words of their prayers (which are always in Arabic). Almost all Muslim prayer is concerned with reciting specific phrases from memory. In the course of the five regular prayer times a Muslim will prostrate himself before Allah a total of 34 times and he will repeat the following phrases:

“Allah is greater”

“Praised be my mighty Lord”

“Allah hears the one who praises him”

He will also recite the “Al-Fatiha” or another text from the Qur’an 17 times, the “Shadada” (Islamic creed), and the greeting of peace to all Muslims.

Answered Prayer

Muslims can make requests to God privately after they finish their ritual prayers. However, this is not done as often as Christians typically make requests. Muslims do not believe that God binds himself to his people through covenants. This is a key concept for understanding their attitudes toward answers to prayer and their lack assurance of God’s steadfast love towards them. In addition, because of the fatalism of Islam, Muslims generally have little faith that their requests will alter their circumstances. They generally believe that Allah’s desires (for good or ill) will always be done despite their activities or requests. Trusting in God for specific responses to prayer in the Christian sense is not practised among Muslims. This is a huge difference between Muslim and Christian religious experience.

When Christians speak of prayer they mean direct two-way communication with God. Muslims never expect God to speak back to them directly at any moment and certainly not during prayer. The vast majority of Muslims will say that God only speaks through the Qur’an. Even Mohammed is said only to have heard from God indirectly through an angel. Christian prayer, on the other hand, is a combination of requests, thanksgiving and praise. The Bible says that we should “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and bless (praise) his name” (Psalm 100:4).

Let us Pray…

* Muslims need to come to know the Christ of Christian prayer. Pray that Muslims would come to believe that God Himself wants to communicate directly with them. Pray this specifically for any Muslims that you may know personally. Pray for the Muslims in your city, region and nation.

* Pray for newly-converted Muslims, that they may develop real confidence in God as one who keeps His covenants, makes promises and who hears and answers prayer.

* Christians need to share their prayer experience with Muslims in humility. Pray that God will give us wisdom when describing our Christian prayer experience so that God would be glorified and Muslims could understand Him better.

Prayer Intro from DanStevers.com on Vimeo.

[from Transforming Eden]

The latest world value survey reveals many values of Turkey today.

Importance of Religion

92% Religion Important

81% Devout

Meaning of Religion

64% follow the rules and traditions

36% do good to others

This life or the next?

79% more meaningful after death

21% more meaningful in this life

Religious Practice and Beliefs

87% keep the Ramadan fast

70% pray

57% sacrificed an animal in the last Feast of the Sacrifice

97% believe in Hell

77% believe religion over science if there is a disagreement between the two

79% belive theirs it the only true religion

63% think books that attack religion or religious values should be banned.

58% think Alevi Cemevis should be allowed

Sin

61% Woman wearing a bathing suit

44% Keepoing a restaurant open during Ramadan

Male Female Roles

74% Man head of household

23% Say a man can have more than one wife (double 2009 survey, 19% of women agree)

71% Men make better political leaders (up 7% from 2009)

30% Some women deserve to be beaten (27% women agree)

62% Wifes should always obey their husbands (67% men, 57% women agree)

7%  Approve a woman having a baby out of wedlock (compared to 47% in Europe)

Other

57% thought that older people had too much political power

17% do not feel safe in their own neighborhood

8% carry a gun or knife for self-protection

68% have anxietiesa about getting a new job if they lost their present job

15% did not have enough food in the past year

Source: Translated from http://www.bahcesehir.edu.tr/habergoster/index/hid/658

[from our friends at Sojourn International]

Throughout this year Sojourn has been working through the Old Testament. Recently Pastor Daniel preached a sermon from the book of Ezekiel.

The book of Ezekiel is not one of the first books one turns to when developing a biblical theology of mission. Nevertheless, Ezekiel should not be ignored. In his article,”Ezekiel’s Contribution to a Biblical Theology of Mission,” Elmer A. Martens argues that the book makes two key contributions to a biblical theology of mission.

First, the book’s repetition of the phrase  “and you/they will know that I am Yahweh” reveals that one of the objectives of missions is the universal acknowledgment of Yahweh. Second, the numerous visions of the glory of God found in the book demonstrate that God is incomparable, thus providing a challenge to the claims of nonbiblical religions.

Martens’ article can be found here.

Why I Work with Muslims from International Teams on Vimeo.