Inspiring stories happen every day, but we don't hear so much about them on the news. So, where do you go to hear these stories and find out about what God is doing behind the scenes? Well, the Create Emerge team have a list of great missions news, magazine, podcast & blog sites to get you started.
Every year, thousands of teams set off on short term trips to share the gospel. Language and cultural barriers can make clear communication of the gospel incredibly difficult. What if we could equip them to witness in an engaging and culturally relevant way? Equip makes sure to provide outreach teams with the tools and information necessary for them to be as effective as possible for the time they are on the field.
If you are involved in frontier missions, or you're preparing to go on a short term missions trip, you'll be aware of the challenges that are involved. You may find yourself asking questions like "How do I communicate the Gospel when I don't speak the language of the people I'm trying to reach? What are the cultural differences that I should be aware of? What resources are availble to help me reach out to this specific people group?"
"...RTC currently employs 25 landmine victims who are viewed in Cambodian society as having got what they deserve through karma and most often end up begging on the street or making next to nothing in some sort of labour. Not long after beginning this project a few years ago, her staff began to ask about Jesus, and soon they were asking her about having a church. Now, most of her staff are coming back to their place of work on Sunday mornings for a church service, and deeper transformation is taking place..."
So you've heard the need and want to get out there and make a difference. Now you're thinking that it could be helpful to do a little preparation, learn some skills, and get some training. But where do you start?
"...our team has recently found out about Not For Sale, which is a campaign to fight the global slave trade and end human trafficking. Not for Sale is conducting a tour called Stop Paying for Slavery which is a multidimensional, multimedia, multi-day experience aiming to bring together education, law enforcement, faith communities, corporations, consumers and all justice seekers in the fight to end modern-day slavery..."
It seems that the emerging generation is becoming a lot more aware of social justice issues. That's a good thing - however It doesn't take much to feel overwhelmed by the transformation that needs to take place. So, what can we do to make a difference?
"...I've always loved to draw, paint and create things and it came pretty naturally for me. I continued to develop drawing skills throughout my childhood and teen years. It's quite sad to admit but probably 50% of the time I spent learning to draw was during Math, Science and English class. I had this idea that I was going to be an animator or a children's book illustrator someday and figured I didn't need to worry about subjects that weren't relevant to my future..."
If you have a desire to get into missions, but are a little overwhelmed by the options and aren't sure what your next step should be, we have some good news: the Create Emerge team have put in the hard yards, done a bunch of research, and put together a selection of missions opportunity sites to get you started.
"...I didn't just join this team because of the opportunity to make music. I joined because God, through this team, was opening my heart up to his love for me, and consequently for the world. I didn’t have a lot of passion for the Kingdom or a clear idea of what it was all about when I first joined, but through the relationships that were formed around a great purpose, I couldn’t help but eventually begin to get energized by the Perpetrator towards the purpose of bringing the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven..."
You may have read in the blog article 'Being Frank' that the Create Emerge team recently spent three weeks in India filiming the story of Prem Sewa school and hostel. We have hopes of producing a full length Documentary, but for now we've put together a 16min preview called 'Being Frank - The Story of Prem Sewa Shikshan Sangh'. This video is currently being shown in churches throughout Canada by Prem Sewa Director Bapu as he travels from Quebec to British Columbia. Stay tuned for the completion of the full length documentary - Coming 2011- we hope :)
"...Create Emerge and Mennonite Brethren Mission and Service International (MBMSI) have partnered to create a short 12min documentary called 'East West' that focuses on the partnerships between believers from the East and the West as they join together with a powerful vision to see God's Kingdom advance in South Asia. 'East West' is going to be screened throughout Canada over the next few months as part of MBMSI's Celebrate Mission Nights..."
“If it’s not happening it’s because you’re not doing it.”
It’s funny how we can reduce books—chock full of ideas—down to soundbites. I once read Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. All 600 pages of it. It’s a great book about globalization and technology in the 21st century, and a couple years after reading through it, this is what still sticks with me:
To affect social change these days is “so easy, so cheap and so readily available to even the smallest player that I would throw down the gauntlet to today’s generation: if it’s not happening, it’s because you’re not doing it.”
This quote makes me feel empowered. The opportunities available to me and my generation to shape history are immense and unprecedented. I often say that whatever your excuse is, it isn’t good enough. But if we look at the current technological landscape, the honest truth is: we have no excuse.
Want to be a part of giving clean drinking water to the 1.2 billion people who need it desperately? You can do that here.
Or maybe you want to be a part of ending slavery in India. You can start by getting involved here.
The other night, a colleague (KB) and myself addressed a small group of fellow YWAMers. The gist of the message was that God is calling all of us to be advocates. We harkened back to one example in particular: William Wilberforce,the man credited with ending the slave trade in Britain.
God is calling all of us as Christ-followers to be advocates: for the poor and the oppressed, for the widows, and the orphans.
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy. (Prov. 31:8-9)
We are all called as Christ-followers to be advocates, like Wilberforce was.
Will we take advantage of the immense opportunities set before us and take God up on this call?
A couple weeks ago, a few of us from the Create Emerge team headed to Thailand. We were in the country primarily to teach a week-long seminar for Create International’s School of Frontier Media, but since we were already in the area, we thought we’d look for another story to tell.
So we called up Sopo and Nicole, directors of Ark International, a ministry that focuses on the impoverished and at-risk children of Bangkok’s slums.They now have 11 staff members that regularly connect with children and their parents through education, healthcare, prevention and… rugby.
Sopo—of Samoan heritage—grew up in South Auckland, New Zealand playing rugby his whole life. He told us that when he hit puberty and all his friends were going girl crazy, he decided he’d go rugby crazy, training vigorously and eventually becoming a Junior All Black.
After moving to Bangkok with his family 5 years back (he’s now 38 years young), Sopo found a championship semi-pro team to get involved with. His passion, however, is all about Saturday mornings at a nearby park, where 50 kids from 5 different slums pull up in song taws (Thai taxis) to learn his favorite game.
They call their club Nak Suu, which means valiant warrior. And here, along with rugby, the kids learn to fight past their present circumstances and break the molds created by socioeconomic injustice.
Together they hit the field, rain or shine (unless there’s thunder), learning to tackle, pass backwards, play with respect for one another and having a heyday of it all. After warmup drills, they have a chance to hear some life lessons through Bible teaching, do a bit of English language learning, and eat a lunch provided by the ARK staff. Thai food–can’t go wrong! After 45 minutes or so, it’s time to get back out there for some friendly matches; girls and boys sharing the field together.
Beyond the Field
While we were there, we met a girl named “Flower”, a 14 year old Cambodian immigrant living in a nearby slum. Flower, sweet and engaging, has emerged as a leader among her peers. It was easy to see her genuine friendship with the ARK team and the special trust she afforded them.
A few years ago Flower and her mother moved to Thailand with hopes of a better life, but her mother’s health began to deteriorate through serious illness, likely Hepatitis C. In order to receive treatment she returned to Cambodia, and for various reasons decided to leave Flower behind in Bangkok with about $16 USD to support herself indefinitely. Fortunately, she was taken in by a female pastor in their community and theylive in close proximity to some of Flower’s relatives. At the time we met her, Flower remained very uncertain of her mother’s ability to recover, but she was holding on to hope. You could tell she sensed she wasn’t alone in this chaos.
Over the space of about two months, ARK team members made several long road trips to Cambodia with Flower to visit her mother as her condition fluctuated, and began to steadily worsen. On one such trip, the team and Flower had the incredible joy of offering her mother the hope of an alternative to her hopeless reality–Jesus. Noticing the difference in Flower’s life and the love the foreigners were freely showing, she prayed to receive Jesus’ comfort and began to experience a new rest amidst her suffering. She died 4 weeks later.
Through all of this, Flower has come to know a God who works intensely on behalf of the vulnerable, and ARK Intl. continues to represent this compassionate care to Flower as best as they are able. Their belief is that where children can be cared for within their own community and extended family, it’s the best place for them to be. ARK Intl. remains a close supportfor Flower with the blessing of her closest relatives, as they share her guardianship. Together they hope to enable Flower to continue her education through financial assistance and mentoring, and to see her break free from the poverty that she and her mother were born into.
I’m trying to imagine what Flower would be walking through right now if she didn’t have this support behind her, and I feel thankful for God’s hope rushing toward her like a Blindside Flanker. Flower is a Nak Suu, the real thing.
Are you a budding videographer? Like to get into editing short videos and documentaries? Looking for a way to empower your passion for mission with hands-on training and experience in video production?
Media2Go
Media2Go is a 6 week intensive media course and field assignment developed, facilitated, and staffed by Create Emerge (Create International).
M2G is a ‘feet-wetting’ experience in all aspects of documentary filmmaking—camera technique, audio, scripting and editing—geared towards individuals with a desire to document stories of transformation throughout the world.
M2G will provide an opportunity to experience working in a team environment, maximizing creative potential by blending complementary skills and giftings.
Why?
We get pretty excited about our job: creating documentaries that tell the stories of people choosing to model their lives after Jesus in places most people try to avoid. Stories of ordinary heroes like these rarely make it into the mainstream media.
There are thousands of stories out there waiting to be told: stories that challenge, educate, inspire, awaken, activate, and literally beg a response.
After seven years of going out and coming back with stories from Istanbul to Ulan Bator, Algiers to Amritsar, we feel like now is the time to send out the invitation that says ‘come with us’. The world needs more storytellers!
Dates
April 8-May 18, 2012
Location & Format
• Pre-Trip Training Phase | 2 weeks | YWAM Wollongong, Australia
• Docu-Trip Outreach | 2 weeks | TBD, most likely SE Asia
• Post-Trip Training & Production Phase | 2 weeks | YWAM Wollongong, Australia
Pre-Requisites
Highly recommended: laptop with video editing software and digital camcorder or digital SLR camera.
In this article we thought we’d take the opportunity to share some encouraging reports on how media is being used in innovative ways to share the Good News of the message of Jesus, in countries with limited evangelistic resources. Below is a report that was included in the latest Create International newsletter (August 2011) which shares testimonies from workers in Indonesia and Thailand about how evangelistic films are having a dramatic impact on the lives of those who watch them.
“From public screenings to house meetings, our films continue to share the Good News of the Gospel:
Recently, we heard that our evangelistic film for the Sasak –‘Irun’s Dream’(1995) continues to bear fruit 16 years later! Workers are now actively distributing it via mobile phones.
‘In one village there was a man who has been having dreams about Jesus, and after watching the film, he decided that he would make a decision to follow Jesus! We want to encourage you guys—keep making the films! We are using them, and they are having an effect. People are listening and they like to watch them.’
—Missionary in Indonesia
Our most recent evangelistic film, ’When Storms Come’ (2011) for the Northern Thai, has been widely endorsed.
‘This film is a great example of how a gospel presentation could be done so naturally and specifically for a culture.’
‘Everyone has been impressed with the quality of the production, acting, settings—all very accurate and truly Northern Thai. The Gospel is clearly and simply stated, and the story is very powerful. New believers especially understood the meaning, and thought it was a beautiful expression of thankfulness to God. Buddhists have openly cried as they were touched by several dramatic scenes of ‘power encounters.’
‘Your Create team are wonderfully gifted and we pray that God will give you many more opportunities with other groups around the world.’
—Field workers and churches in Thailand
We praise God for the opportunity to equip the ‘feet that bring good news!”
It’s encouraging to hear how God is using resources like these to effectively communicate the Gospel message cross-culturally. If you’re interested in reading other testimonies about how films like these have been used or finding out more about other evangelistic films and resources that are available check out Create Internationals Evangelistic Video’sOnline.
So sometimes when you’re walking along in this life of faith with God, you do the next thing you think you’re supposed to, and sometimes you make some mistakes. And sometimes you do the next thing you think you’re supposed to and you don’t see any fruit, so you think you made a mistake. And sometimes, when you feel a bit jaded or discouraged about that, God shows you a little bit of fruit and it encourages you enough to take the next step of faith.
So not too long ago—about a year maybe—our team was talking about going to a missions conference to do some stuff. We’d been to a few missions conferences, and personally I was feeling a little skeptical. Was it really worth the time, the money, the investment to go? I voiced that. And even though God knew my thoughts before I voiced them, He let me know that He heard, and He wanted to encourage me.
So that day, or the day right after I voiced my skepticism, we got an email from this guy named Ryan. Ryan was about to head off on a big trip with his wife. We connected with him on skype and heard his story. And in his story, there was a little part where our story and his story connected—because of a missions conference. The stuff we were doing had encouraged him on the journey of faith that God was calling him to. And that in turn encouraged us. Here’s how Ryan describes his adventure:
“Sometimes, the best way for God to prove to us that we are 100% directionless without him is to completely uproot us from everything we hold near and dear and send us on an adventure that we could never imagine for ourselves in a million years. In the spring of 2010, my wife Crystal and I got this insane idea to travel around the world in search of what we like to call “grassroots heroes”. Upon meeting these inspirational men and women who have responded to the call of reaching the most far-flung people and places in the world, we began gathering their stories and compiling them into a video documentary that will, God willing, feed the prayer and missions movement that we are seeing on University and college campuses around the World.
After ten months of traveling in eleven countries throughout Africa and Asia, we got a real taste of what it means to be led by the Holy Spirit. Rarely did we have a clear “go here and do this or that” from God, but we did end up arriving at the front door of many communities at exactly the right time! In some cases we were told that they had been praying for months that God would send a videographer to tell their story! Amazing! At the end of it all we were able to step back and take a big picture look at everything God did and we learned one powerful lesson. One person’s skills, talents, and natural abilities, when coupled with the multiplying power of the Holy Spirit, can launch a needy community into something way bigger than they could have ever achieved on their own.”
Below you can watch one of the videos Ryan and his wife filmed during their adventure in Africa and Asia. This particular video highlights a ministry called Hope of Glory Foundation, which focuses on ministering to street children in India.
In the Article ‘Student Response – Pre Trip Expectation‘ we posted the expectations of a New Zealand high School student as they made preparations to head off on a missions trip co-ordinated by Missions Adventures. One of the hopes expressed in this pre trip entry was ’….to shift my focus onto what is happening around me and the needs of others instead.‘ The students have since returned from their first-hand missions experience so we thought it would be cool to give you some post-trip reflections.
“It was said over the trip that it would be a time of healing. For me, this was totally true. I was challenged many times but felt that God was right there alongside me. Some of the challenges included a visit to the National Genocide Museum, the drafting of my testimony and the relationships I made with orphans and the poor. I found our visit to Tuol Sleng harrowing. The mugshots, the clothing, the cells, the equipment. I felt physically sick and cried a lot. I remember feeling like I didn’t want to seem like I was putting on a show but I also wanted to see every face, as a sign of respect that these people are not forgotten.
When I was asked by our team leader to do my testimony I was quite frightened and really against it. Even though the opportunity never arose, the process of drafting it was really significant for me. I prayed and talked through it with two close friends. Having returned home I feel considerably different having dealt with some of my past. I’m sure that God is working in me in this.
On our outreaches we spent a lot of time with children. I loved it! The memory of one child in particular stays with me. I never learnt her name but noticed she was different from Day 1. I chose to spend time focusing on her, watching her draw mainly. Turns out she is autistic. I can’t yet quite articulate what it was about her that touched me. All I know is that she did and she is in my prayers.
I loved the weather, the environment, our base, our outreaches, travelling front seat on the tuktuk, our team, the people we met and the food. I have a journal in which every time I travel overseas I keep travel souvenirs (tickets etc) and write down details of everyday of the trip. I treasure this!
From this trip I have learnt to trust God more. I do not know what the future holds but am sure that by following Him it will be the best.”
HL – High School Student
Highlights Included:
- The realisation from the team that the true gospel is love, and just spending time with people such as the orphans at the Love in Action Orphanage is the most valuable thing they could do in that situation.
- Seeing numerous individuals on the team make further commitments to God and take up the challenge of the great commission.
- One team member said ‘I was so confronted by this Khmai persons situation that I didn’t know what I could do to help them…. all I could do was pray that God would look after them’
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