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ON THE SCENE Christian Fellowship Union Inc CFU November 2017 Missions A Matter of Collaboration Our vision a spreading flame of followers of Jesus by Steve Johnson glorifying God God is directing an orchestra with many instruments arranged to present the Gospel story all over the world Mari s story illustrates that orchestra in flourishing churches around the world Mari a teen age Mexican girl whose father died when she was a child participated in a little church in central Mexico that was part of the Vida Abundante church movement Omar Selther had finished his Bible Institute training and was assigned to fulfill his practicum in that congregation He was preparing for a life of ministry among Muslims God inspired Mari through Omar s passion to believe that she too could become a missionary Our mission to equip Spanish speaking Christians to proclaim Jesus Christ But she reasoned to be a missionary I must have a profession So she moved to another city attended the university there and earned her teaching degree make disciples train leaders and establish churches At the same time she was active in the Grupo Amor church under Pastor Jorge who assigned her to work in the church s orphanage There she continued to grow in the Lord earning favor with the church leadership and congregation worldwide especially among the unreached Eight years later Mari sensed God activating her missionary call But she didn t know how to go about it Her church didn t even have Continued on page 4 North Africa In This Issue Missions A Matter of Collaboration The End Is Not In Doubt I ll Fix It When We Get Home Passion for God s Purpose
The End Is Not In Doubt by Rob Johnson In this age we struggle We struggle personally And we struggle as part of the war for the hearts of men and nations Mission involves warfare According to Scripture the god of this world blinds men s eyes to the gospel He hinders the plans of God s messengers The sins of God s servants sometimes cause men to blaspheme rather than glorify God Missionaries and those who support God s global purposes experience sickness and financial struggles Some even are imprisoned and martyred As I write Andrew Brunson who has served the Lord in Turkey for more than 23 years has been imprisoned for over a year the living God 1 Timothy 4 10 God is faithful He always keeps His promises God is omnipotent He is able to do what He has promised So let hope fuel your struggle to see God s purposes in the nations fulfilled The end is not in doubt But the end is not in doubt God has purposed that all nations will be blessed in Christ He has declared that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea Jesus promised that the good news of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations Paul based his ministry to the unreached on God s promise through Isaiah They who had no news of Him shall see and they who have not heard shall understand Romans 15 21 So why do we persevere when there are so many reverses and difficulties Paul says For it is for this we labor and strive because we have fixed our hope on Kathy and Rob Johnson I ll Fix It When We Get Home by Clara Ost One evening after dinner when I was thirteen years old Dad announced Clara tonight I will teach you to ice skate We walked the short distance to the pond that was now frozen solid No one else was there just Daddy and me Dad laced up my skates and then his own My heart was beating faster and faster Dad stood up on his skates and said Just follow me Clara Watch me and do exactly as I do I struggled up on the skates and the first few steps were a little shaky but I kept my eyes on Dad and did my best to imitate his graceful skating form And then it happened I started to wobble around on the ice lost my balance and fell hard scraping my knee J A Riveness Clara s Dad Dad skated over knelt down and said Let me look at that knee Clara I pulled up my snow pants and showed him the red bloody marks on my knee where I had hit the ice Dad grabbed some snow and tenderly rubbed it on my knee Then he looked up at me and said It isn t so bad Clara I ll fix it when we get home Reassured I got up off the ice and continued to follow Dad around the rink pushing off on my skates with my left foot then my right Little by little it became more natural and I was finally skating Years later I understand that I will face many hurts in life When this happens I always have a choice I can sit down nurse my hurts and quit or I can get back up and go on And many times my heavenly Father has whispered in my ear It isn t so bad Clara I ll fix it when we get home
Passion for God s Purpose by Carl Johnson How to connect Your contributions to CFU are taxdeductible If you are contributing to a specific project or missionary please make that designation on a separate piece of paper Send all checks to CFU PO Box 909 McAllen Texas 78505 You may also contribute online Click the donate link on our website or scan the QR code below During a break at a Perspectives class in Bolivia this summer a businessman approached me and told me enthusiastically that he had found a new purpose in life He believed he could have a global impact He was to invest his time and resources to see disciples made in unreached people groups and for some time he had been living out this purpose His passion and enthusiasm amazed me In May we held a training event for Perspectives leaders in Buenos Aires One couple in their 60 s Marta and Nestor had just spent several days in Europe on a missions trip and arrived late on a Wednesday night after crossing time zones and hemispheres I would have been looking for some recovery time But Thursday morning they arrived early at the training event and passionately told us of their excitement to be part of what God was doing around the world I see this wherever I travel God is speaking to the young and not so young to the wealthy and not so wealthy inviting them to participate in the greatest adventure joining Him as He fulfills His purpose to bless every last people group on earth 4 000 years ago God made an astonishing declaration to a childless couple I will bless you and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you Genesis 12 2 3 He promised Abraham that through his family He would restore blessing to every family group on the planet God had designed a global restoration plan and invited Abraham to play a part Since then God has been relentlessly fulfilling that purpose and at every step he invites his people to join Him in His mission On another occasion a group of believers gathered at an airport to say goodbye to two of their friends a young couple from a relatively poor indigenous group in Latin America the wife pregnant with their first child The friends stood by a large pile of various sized bags and suitcases That day they were moving to Asia in order to minister to Muslims I was inspired as I witnessed this moving send off WEBSITE www cfunion org FACEBOOK Christian Fellowship Union E MAIL cfu cfunion org PHONE 956 686 5886 Like Abraham and Sarah this couple heard God s invitation to join Him as He fulfils His global project to bring blessing through Jesus Christ to all peoples They were willing to give everything to participate in God s purposes One day we will stand before His throne with millions of the redeemed from every nation tribe people and language and worship the Lamb Revelation 7 9 10 How amazing to be invited to help make this happen Do you hear God s voice inviting you to join Him today Nestor and Marta missions mobilizers in Buenos Aires
Missions A Matter of Collaboration continued from page 1 a missions program Then she heard that Omar Selther had been appointed General Director of VEA a Mexican agency focused on Europe and North Africa She said to herself That s how I will get to the field So she spoke to pastor Jorge He said I don t have a missionary burden but the church will support your missionary call from God Then she attended the COVEA missions orientation and applied to VEA VEA accepted her application Her pastor good to his word asked the church to support her The congregation promised her 1 000 dollars a month and has kept that promise unfailingly for fourteen years Upon arrival in Spain Mari studied the CETVEA pre field orientation at which veteran field workers from Arab World Mission now Pioneers the Bible Society Campus Crusade for Christ now CRU VEA and others taught The teachers were from Mexico the US Spain Panama and North Africa Then she enrolled in a year long Arabic course in North Africa where she received the foundation for her present fluency in Arabic She also increased her Islamic skills by enrolling annually in the courses offered by the Instituto Iberoamericano de Estudios Transculturales As a member of VEA Mari ministered with Amor en Cristo a Spanish non governmental organization NGO that cared for abandoned newborns in North Africa Later she partnered with two different NGOs one Latin American and the other North African to provide medical and development services in North Africa Mari has an exceptional ability for cultural adaptation and these last years she has worked successfully under a key North African pastor In addition she is an ardent evangelist making difficult trips to minister to unreached Berber nomads She is just beginning her fifteenth year of service in North Africa As you can see Mari s ministry is characterized by collaboration just count the number of churches agencies nationalities and individuals that have been an indispensable part of her ministry God has an orchestra with many unique instruments that He has designed to present the Gospel around the world The music will be beautiful and the Gospel message clear if each of us practices and plays our part well Note This is a true story I have changed some information for security purposes CFU and VEA have collaborated since 2000 to mobilize and train Spanish speaking workers for the Muslim world Our duty is onward onward proclaiming God s Word whether men will hear or whether they will forbear David Livingston CFU
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