Filipino missionaries help rebuild Cambodia

Not just the recipent of missionaries, the Philippines is sending them too.

From one of our local papers:

After decades of civil war and resulting socio-cultural unrest, the nation once nicknamed “The Killing Fields” is slowly but steadily moving on toward recovery. As one of the later additions to the ASEAN, Cambodia shows promising progress in this region of the world. But unbeknownst to many Filipinos, some areas of this country have received significant impact from the sacrificial service of our Filipino missionaries coming from various denominations.

Last October-November, 2007, Ptr. Jose Estrebilla of Full Gospel Center Church, Fajardo St., Jaro, Iloilo City visited Cambodia along with his family. The Estrebillas served as missionaries in the southern province of Takeo from 1994 to 2005. They have seen how the Christian churches they helped start with Ptr. Warren Aragona (also an Ilonggo missionary) in Takeo keep on growing in the Lord and transforming communities to the glory of His Name. Twenty-three village churches now have their multi-purpose buildings that serve as a worship venue for the local body of believers and at the same time cater to the development needs of the community (e.g., livelihood and agriculture training venue, tutorial lessons, preschools, etc.) Thirty-six other villages have been started with groups of believers meeting in homes.

Ministry Update – Kalubian and Bahala

I’m heading back to the UK for a few weeks today, so posting is likely to be a bit haphazard for a while. Just wanted to give a quick update regarding the church plants at Kalubian and Bahala. We have been praying a lot about who would be the best person to take the work on in these villages, and a missionary friend recently introduced us to Pastor Glemar, who is an evangelist working in a nearby area. Pastor Glemar was recently ordained in the Christian and Missionary Alliance church of the Philippines, and has a real heart for outreach and ministry among the poor. When I met him I discovered that he was engaged in a very similar ministry to ours in a village nearby to Kalubian. He also runs a children’s ministry in one of the poor downtown areas of Cebu city.

For the last 3 weeks pastor Glemar has been visiting Kalubian and Bahala with me to meet people and get a flavour of the ministry there. Now that I am going to be away for a month Glemar will look after the 2 churches for us, and if all goes well we will have a ‘handover’ some time after I get back. Our vision has always been that we would be a catalyst for starting new ministries, and that as soon as the right leaders developed or joined us we would look to hand over responsibility to them. So far the church members have been very positive. The ladies of Kalubian have formed an outreach team to visit Bahala with Glemar and encourage the new church members there. There is sadness that I will be pulling out of this ministry, but also joy that they will finally have their own Filipino pastor and not have to cope with my excruciatingly bad Cebuano.

Do keep praying for all concerned, the churches and pastor Glemar especially. It is not all finalised yet, and I know from experience how these types of arrangements can easily get derailed, but I am hopeful that this is going to develop positively.

Good news from Orissa

I have blogged a few times about the violence against Christians in Orissa India. At last there is some good news.

According to George Conger:

THE INDIAN government has agreed to compensate Christians whose homes were destroyed by Hindu fanatics in that country’s worst anti-Christian pogrom since independence. India to compensate Orissa victims

The Church of North India (CNI) reports that the Orissa state government will rebuild the homes of Christians burnt to the ground by Hindu fanatics during the Christmas week riots, will pay compensation to the families of those killed, and give grants of assistance to those whose homes were damaged.

The whole story is here. It is encouraging to read of the role that the Church of North India (CNI) has played in speaking out on behalf of those victimised:

When the police refused to come to the aid of Christians under attack, the Bishop of Phulbani, the Rt Rev Bijay Kumar Nayak sought the aid of other CNI bishops and Christian leaders.

He asked the CNI’s Bishop of Cuttack the Rt Rev Samson Das, Roman Catholic Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack and other church leaders to intercede with India’s Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and state leaders. The Christian leaders urged the government to use the army to restore law and order, launch an investigation to identify the ringleaders and causes of the riots, and pay compensation to the victims of the communal violence.

The CNI has issued a statement condemning “the attacks in strongest words.” While pleased with the steps taken towards rebuilding the destroyed homes, it has urged the national government to investigate the collapse in law and order in Orissa.

The truth about blogging…

By Geek and Poke from here.

Best comment ever on Rowan Williams and Sharia

From here at the Spectator.

The best comment I’ve heard on the Rowan Williams affair is from a chap who just called in to Radio Five. 

After saying he was a proper Christian, unlike Rowan Williams, he said:

Jesus Christ will be turning in his grave.

How many die from waterborne diseases?

Scary fact

More than five million people die from waterborne diseases each year – 10 times the number killed in wars around the globe.

Defining Anglican Orthodoxy

Could you do it?

There’s much debate both within and outside the Anglican Communion as to what constitutes Anglican Orthodoxy and where the boundaries are. We have always claimed to be part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church – but what does that mean in terms of doctrine? Is there really an Anglican way that can be meaningfully spoken of? And if there is, is it ‘orthodox’, (or as fellow Evangelicals say ’sound’).

Professor Stephen Noll of Uganda Christian University has written an excellent (and brief) paper describing what it means to be both Anglican and orthodox in preparation for the coming Global Anglican Conference in Jerusalem when Evangelical and Catholic Anglican Bishops from a variety of nations will gather together. I particularly appreciated this:

A review and reform of Anglican doctrine should not omit the nature and role of sacraments. Sacramental theology has to some extent divided orthodox Anglicans, e.g., Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics, and one may wonder whether a renewed debate or a papering over of these differences will lead to new life. Undoubtedly renewed discussion of the nature and efficacy of the sacraments is called for among those who agree on biblical essentials.

As a small contribution to such a discussion, I would propose that sacraments should be understood within a theology of mission. The Reformation in general and the Church of England in particular seem to have been deficient in articulating a proper theology of mission. For all their virtues, the Articles of Religion have no single reference to Christ’s Great Commission to evangelise the nations. Likewise, Articles neglected the Person and work of the Holy Spirit, and the Established Church often marginalized or expelled movements of “enthusiasm.” Indeed, much of the work of mission societies has been accomplished in spite of rather than with the full support of the mother Church.

In the context of state churches, the sacraments have often been regarded as rights and rites of national identity. This was not true in the apostolic church, nor does it work today (e.g., what does it mean that the Church of England claims 26 million members?). So I propose we take a dynamic approach to the Gospel sacraments, an approach which I believe is found in the Pentecostal teaching of the apostles (Acts 2:38-47).

You can download the article along with another excellent one by Henry Orombi Primate of Uganda from the Global Anglican Future Website, or if you prefer I have created my own PDF here: Global Anglican Orthodoxy – Stephen Noll as the one on the GAFCON site came out a bit garbled!

Shop for the poor?

A few years ago I invited a friend who worked for a Christian development agency to come and speak at the theological college at which I was a student. She did a good job presenting the work of her organisation, and was generally well received. Mostly. One element of her talk fell flat with the students. The agency in question were looking to launch a new clothes line. The idea being that a proportion of the profits would got to the poor. Now this wasn’t just fair trade – but a step on from that. The general thrust of the logic as that people are basically consumerist, and like to buy stuff, so why not give them the option of buying stuff that also helps the poor. Shop for the poor as it were. Various objections were raised. I generally felt uncomfortable with idea at the time but couldn’t quite pin down why – after all it’s not that different to taxes going to fund social security or third world aid.

Bono had the same idea as my friend and a 18 months ago RED was launched, on a far grander scale than a Christian NGO could manage. Linking up with companies such as AMEX, GAP, and Apple to create a brand of products a proportion of the profits of which go to help fund Aids treatment in Africa. It appears at first sight to be win, win, win, win. The companies involved gain an extra revenue stream, consumers get guilt free luxury purchase, someone in Africa gets affordable healthcare, and a wealthy pharmaceutical makes more money.

I think you can sense my objections.

The RED website claims that due to ‘(RED) purchases, our partners’ (PRODUCT) RED contributions to the Global Fund have reached over $50 million. (RED) money is already at work as part of Global Fund grants in Rwanda, Swaziland and Ghana, funding programs with a primary focus on the health of women and children.’

And surely that must be a good thing?

Well not if the New Internationalist is right, and to raise that 50 million dollars they spent 100 million on promotion.

Corporate Watch hi-light some of the other problems with these kind of schemes:

Increasingly, nonprofit experts are beginning to question one of the fastest-growing sectors of giving, the practice of building a donation into the purchase of items as varied as fine jewelry and Always feminine products. They point out that such giving is unregulated and, in most cases, unaccountable — and no one knows who, if anyone, is claiming a tax deduction for it.

“It’s virtuousness as a marketing gimmick run amok,” said Lucy Bernholz, founder and president of Blueprint Research and Design, a consulting firm for nonprofit organizations, who has coined the term “embedded giving” to describe the phenomenon. “The potential for it to be a scam is huge.”

In many cases, charities and their corporate partners are unwilling to discuss the specifics of their embedded-giving programs, declining to answer questions about how much is raised and even where exactly the money is going.

Net result of these kinds of schemes? It’s hard to tell, but any offsetting profits against tax means less many going towards government funded initiatives (and the government funding is the largest source of international aid). Similarly the danger is that is you consider your shopping as a form of giving then you are less likely to give to charity directly.  And finally, to be honest the whole notion is just plain tacky, ‘you have a new ipod and you have helped save a persons life’ declares RED’S site.

If you want an ipod buy an ipod. If you are going to buy one anyway, it may as well be RED, but lets not kid ourselves that these schemes are going to change the world or end poverty in our life time. Do the right thing and take some time out and sit down and carefully work out a program of planned giving to charities you believe in. And if you want to support Bono’s initiative without buying into the consumerist thing make a donation here – www.buylesscrap.org