Amid the prostitution, drugs and idols that blacken the slums of Bangkok, there is a young woman called Hope. She sidesteps the scooters and putrid rubbish littering the streets to hand out Gospel tracts and talk about Jesus.“Our country from north to south, east to west, is covered by Satan,” Hope says. “So I’m sad.”

But this drives her to share the far richer joys of salvation. She was saved by Christ, thanks to the work of International Teams missionaries, and now studies at the Bangkok Bible Seminary to further God’s kingdom. She also lovingly helps Australian churches on short-term missions navigate the cultural shock and language barriers when they arrive in Bangkok.

Coffs Harbour Presbyterian is one such grateful beneficiary, which has now completed two short-term missions in conjunction with International Teams. Doors are opened that would normally be shut to westerners – an important goal in building trusting relationships.

“We believe that it’s very difficult to have a lasting impact in just one visit to a community,” says Coffs Harbour Presbyterian assistant pastor Steve White. “So we made the decision early on that if we were to start a short-term mission program as a church, it would be one that would continue over a number of years. This means that we are able to forge stronger relationships with the Gospel workers in Bangkok, which gives them more trust in us as a team. They mentioned on our last trip over there that they now consider us part of their church. It also means we can hopefully get to know the non-Christians better over the years and have more chances to share our lives and faith with them. Plus, we don’t have to figure out everything from scratch with each new trip. We learn more with each visit, and we can apply that learning to the next trip.”

With a heart for the lost and a passion to share the Gospel, Coffs Harbour Presbyterian realised in 2010 that each member had a gift that all Australians take for granted – the ability to speak English. It’s a valuable asset that can be used for God’s glory, says co-leader Deb White. “For the Thais, learning English is a very important means of opening up a person’s employment opportunities and helping them out of poverty,” she says. “However, most cannot afford an English training course. This is where we are able to help out. Through teaching English, we introduce them to members of the church and hopefully to a relationship with Jesus. So we give them what they most want – English – and what they most need – the Gospel.”

On each trip, they teach English to children and adults alike in several local schools and a church, as well as sharing Christ’s message of salvation whenever possible. It may be as simple as explaining what is prayer or singing Colin Buchanan’s “10, 9, 8, God is Great!”

“We were interested in beginning a short-term mission program as a church and International Teams seemed like the obvious choice,” Steve says. “My wife, Deb, had heard a presentation on their work at the Reachout conference in Katoomba one year, and the following year I heard it and was sold.”

“They are experts in helping set up and run missions and because we didn’t have experience leading an overseas trip, it was great to have them behind us as support,” Deb says. “The emphasis on seeing our people grow spiritually, and making the most of a short-term mission by thinking about the long-term effects, was pretty compelling.”

Indeed, both goals have been achieved in each team sent to Thailand by Coffs Harbour Presbyterian. Steve himself has been changed, saying Philippians 2:1-8 echoes in his mind after each trip. “Imitating the humility of Christ is an essential element of this sort of ministry,” he says. “It always involves a certain degree of hard work and discomfort.

“Coming from a culture which, superficially at least, is more advanced, affluent and organised, it can be easy to have delusions of superiority. But we have a huge amount to learn when we go to a culture so different to our own, and not everything about our culture is better. Being united in purpose with our Thai brothers and sisters, and together reflecting Christ’s love and humility to the local people, is the best way for us to serve.”

The mission of International Teams is helping churches help the poor and oppressed.

Click here to give to International Teams and help us continue and expand this ministry.

The woman’s downcast face tells the story. Up to her neck in floodwater and her body almost perpendicular to the street sign she clutches, her eyes are empty as a photographer takes her picture for Getty Images. The waters, which will cost Thailand an estimated $US45.7bn in damages, stream past her as evening sets in. Her fellow citizens are sleeping rough on mats in sports stadiums or trying to float their cars down streets to save them from being washed away. Hundreds of people will drown.

After the waters recede, the mud bakes in the humidity, the air rots and flies buzz like despair. A country needs to rebuild itself and on-ground help is just as important as food and shelter.

By the grace of God, 23 Australians from St Paul’s Church in Castle Hill, Sydney, have arrived for mission. Rather than move
on as most tourists would, they disembark outside a yellow church in Khlong Luang and roll up their sleeves.
“As it turned out we were there at the exact right time,” says St Paul’s youth minister Rod Bishop.
“Two weeks earlier the flood water would have been too high and we couldn’t have done anything. Two weeks later they would have cleaned up everything themselves, because they would have had to. “To know we hit the ground when they needed 23 able-bodied people to clean up the church grounds was just amazing.”

A water mark one-metre high ringed the exterior of the church, Rod says. “Around the church there was water still on the ground, across the roads in various areas. So when we turned up on the first day there was just mud, these smells and rubbish. We donned our protective equipment and just grabbing things, chucking them out or making a big pile at the front of the church. There seemed to be endless scrubbing of the church building that seemed to be going nowhere, but in the end it was good.”

St Paul’s partnership with the Khlong Luang church, one hour north of Bangkok, is testimony to how one short term mission can result in long-term Christian fellowship. In 2007, St Paul’s approached International Teams on behalf of 30 Christian Year 12 students, who wanted nothing to do with the traditional drunken embarrassment that is Schoolies Week and instead be involved in something more selfless, more mature. “They didn’t want to do the normal thing and go up to the Gold Coast and be crazy,” Rod says. “They wanted to do something that makes a difference. So they had a plan for mission trip and ended up working with International Teams to go to Thailand.”

The church has taken two further teams since, helping train others in English, sport and games, while also seeing first-hand the poverty of slums and orphanages. It was during their second mission that they really connected with the church and its daughter church in the Buddhist-dominated Khlong Luang. Helping them rebuild after the floods last year was a natural fit so it can continue preaching the Gospel to the community.

“We want to see both our church and their church benefit,” Rod says. “They have a desire to reach their community through English teaching, music and sport, and they are things we can certainly help them with. We’re going to send a short-term team over again for two weeks this year, but there’s also talk of people going over for a longer period of time. For us, I want our kids exposed to what we’ve done there before, to see the same sort of growth in their faith, and see what God will do with that when they come back.”

That means reaching people in any way possible, as the last team found out. After they’d helped clean up after the flood, the
daughter church piled team members into a truck then drove around the streets of Khlong Luang, shouting at people to join them at a Christmas concert. The attraction apart from hearing the Gospel? To meet some Westerners.

“As we reflected that night, there’s no way I would do that in my community in Sydney,” Rod says. “I would not drive around my streets shouting about my church events, but these people were proud and happy to do it. And there was genuine openness by the community.”

The tactic worked. About 600 people attended the concert.

“The pastor said that if people didn’t know there was a church here, they do now.”

If you would like to know more about International Teams Missions Training, click here.

“16,000 refugees and asylum seekers live at Dzaleka refugee camp, Malawi, Africa. The World Food Programme has been providing a basic food package since the 1990s, however due to the increasing numbers of refugees in the Region, the global financial crisis and this being a long-standing refugee situation which no longer attracts much press coverage, food stock has almost run out. The basic food package is already not nutritionally complete and since the beginning of March 2012, refugees have only been receiving 50% of the normal package. We are raising money towards covering the shortfall of maize between now and the end of 2012. AUS$11 will cover the maize shortfall for 1 person for 1 month. AUS$87 will cover the maize shortfall for 1 person for the rest of the year. When such a crisis hits, prostitution increases, child labour substitutes going to school, and the medically fragile (HIV positive, disabled, elderly, nursing mothers) are at risk of rapid deterioration. Please consider giving to this urgent situation.”

Please be praying for Malawi, and all the people that are being affected in the Dzaleka refugee camp.

If you are able to give financially, please click here.

 ”I love going to the airport. I’ve been to so many over the years, and there is just something about the going and coming that amazes me each time.

 But today was a bit different. Today we went to the airport with a girl who doesn’t really remember coming to Greece.

   She didn’t have a nice send-off from family and friends at home.

   She didn’t enjoy a safe flight with food and movies and comfort.

   She didn’t enjoy knowing what would be at the other end of her flight.

   Instead she came to Greece through a trafficker.  Her trip to the airport was not an    enjoyable one at all.

Yet today, she was excited.  She was going home.  Through her own choice.

Due to strikes and a series of miscommunications between Greek, English and Nigerian, the race to the airport was a bit like a dash.  Yet in the end the arrival was in enough time to have lunch where everyone ate calmly as if this was just any other meal.

As we joined the others being repatriated, I couldn’t help but look around at the different nationalities.  I began to think about the stories of each person, and wondered how they had ended up in Greece, why they had chosen to go home, had they chosen actually or been deported, what awaited them on the other end of the flight, would they regret their decision or rejoice in it?

   It also made me so thankful to have had so many flights where I had known where I was going and why.

   It made me thankful that my family rejoiced in my arrival.

   It made me thankful for all the comforts of my travels, and the safety.

   It made me thankful as well that God is over even the airports.

   It made me thankful to be doing what I do, as I got to participate in just a tiny part of a    girl’s freedom and release from oppression.

I know that sounds lofty and rather presumptuous, but today I got to see…

… why people continue to go out into the streets,

… why people share with those in slavery,

… why people pray for release,

… why people don’t give up on those making bad choices…

because sometimes there is an airport trip like today…where a girl is going home to a new life and is excited.

I do love airports.  Today more than most days.”

“To open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”  Isaiah 42:6-9

Shalom in Him

To read more about Nea Zoi, click here.

You can help another girl return home by giving today to the Nea Zoi team in Athens.

Praying together in Bolivia

International Teams Australia Missionary Nathan Spies writes;

‘Very often ministry is hard. Very often life in Bolivia is hard. Lucio sometimes despairs for the congregation he pastors and for the difficult circumstances in which the members find themselves. He and his wife Aurora pray fervently for their congregation and for the Lord to work wonders in the lives of Quechua speaking Bolivians in Quillacollo. Why does God allow such difficulty to pass? Is God listening to Lucio and Aurora’s prayers? Sometimes church life is so hard. Lucio shares his life, his struggles and his heart for the flock with his Roots Association mentor, Moisés. Moisés reads the Bible with Lucio, they pray together and recently worked through what 2 Cor 1:3-7 says about the struggles of the Christian walk and the Father of compassion.

Lucio and his family

Lucio is a third year theology student at the Baptist seminary in Cochabamba. His Roots Association scholarship provides him with financial support, theological books, extra training and the loving support of a mentor.

At Roots we bless Bolivian churches by seeing to it that tomorrow’s pastors to get the most from their studies, are purposefully mentored and benefit from the best resources available in Bolivia.

At Roots we are really excited about 2012. We will have 16 students or more on scholarships, all of who will be attending a special Langham Partnership Bolivia expository preaching retreat and special workshops in Biblical theology and leadership. Roots Association is set for our best year yet. Please pray for students like Lucio and Roots Association as we seek to see lives given to Christ in Bolivia.’

You can also be a blessing to churches in Bolivia by giving today.

Asylum seekers are making headlines again. (Are they ever really out of the news headlines?)  We seem to be constantly bombarded by the negative press given to “illegal” boat arrivals, or what the Department of Immigration and Citizenship more aptly terms ‘irregular maritime arrivals’ (IMAs).

Whilst it certainly seems that the number of boats arriving in Australian waters is rising, DIAC figures show that during 2010–11, 4910 IMAs were taken into immigration detention, compared to 5627 in 2009–10.*  The vast majority of these people are from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq, and Iran – all countries with a recent history of violence, bloodshed and abuse of human rights.

There’s no doubt that the news reports and the figures can be overwhelming and concerning.  But there are a lot of things we don’t hear about these ‘IMAs’.

Recently we were able to make contact with some missionaries on Christmas Island, and the stories they have to tell are both disturbing and compelling. But they also give a fresh perspective that I think as Christians we have an opportunity to rejoice over.  Following is a paragraph from a recent email from Christmas Island:

 “A young couple as well as 3 men asked to be baptised.  On Thursday when we saw these men they said, “We are so excited, we have been waiting for this day for a year!”  They became Christians in their country.  A third man has only been a Christian for 2 weeks.  The change in him and the way God is revealing truths from the Bible to him is amazing.  His face is radiant.  The general impression we get from many of the refugees who are not Christian is that they hate religion (because of what it has done to their families and country) but they generally believe in God, so they are searching.  We tell them we don’t like religion either – any kind of religion.  Religion is man trying to reach God but real Christianity is God reaching down to man, and that real Christianity is about having a heart relationship with God in love, not a lot of man made rules.  They are intelligent people and they can see that it is the leaders of their country using religion to control and suppress the people…  The refugees in the service sang  “How Great Thou Art” in their mother tongue – the closest to heaven you will get!  There were also wonderful testimonies...”

 The image of these people sitting in an overcrowded detention centre, after having survived what can only be described as a treacherous journey in an overpacked and ill-equipped fishing vessel, gathered together worshippping and praising God brings tears to my eyes. It makes my heart leap for joy.  Perhaps for the first time, these brothers and sisters in Christ get to receive a Bible, meet in public, pray and sing, all in safety.

Recently Brendan was able to meet one of these men who came through Christmas Island.  ‘A’ is a pleasant, quiet young man who loves Jesus and wants to make a new life for himself here in western Sydney.  And when you meet people like him, your perspective changes.

   He’s no longer a statistic.

   He’s not an asylum seeker.  Thats what he needed to do to survive.

   He’s not an IMA.  That’s the mode of transport he had to take to survive.

He really is someone just like you and me. Someone with the same hopes and dreams.  Someone who loves Jesus, but wasn’t allowed to do that in his country.  People like him change my perspective on the issue of “irregular maritime arrivals”.  I hope they begin to change yours, too.

Brendan and Sally Jones (Leaders of the Sydney Refugee Team)

For more information and to be involved with the Sydney Refugee Team, click here.

*  Source:  Immigration Detention Statistics 31 January 2012, Department of Immigration and Citizenship

Our office recently took an unusual call from Lexus Australia ( yes, the ones who make cars) who, as part of a staff team building exercise had built 8 childrens bikes, which they then wanted to give away to some deserving kids.  They found our RIDE for Refugees website through Google, contacted us and said if we could provide the kids, they would provide the bikes!  They also hired a mini-bus to take the kids and their families to Darling Harbour for the presentation (pictured above). Maybe you will see some of these Sudanese kids at our next RIDE for Refugees!

The 2012 Sydney RIDE for Refugees will take place on Saturday 18th August.  Watch this space for more information!

Celebrating Christmas in Austria is different in many ways to celebrating Christmas in Australia. We don’t sit around the dining room table wearing t-shirts and shorts with paper hats on our heads, and there’s no beach trip after lunch or watching the kids from next door ride their new bikes down the street.

A young girl receives a baby doll toy from the Oasis Team

Ideally, Christmas in Austria happens with snow falling outside. A traditional Christmas dinner is eaten on Christmas Eve. and after dinner the children open their presents and sometimes people venture out to gather around little wooden huts serving warm punch, or to look at the amazing Christmas lights that decorate the city.

At Christmas time the Oasis team enjoys giving gifts to the men, women and children who come to our Christmas programs.

The gifts we give to the children – from Barbie dolls to soft toys to toy cars, may be their first new toys in a long time, if ever.

Milka chocolate, tea, coffee and sugar feature in the gifts given to the adults, as well as the special addition of perfume or cosmetics for women and rubber thongs, pen and notepad for the men.

A refugee from Kosova said to me one year, “this gift has almost everything that a refugee needs.”

A young boy receives a toy from the Oasis Team

Through giving gifts at Christmas, the Oasis team hopes to show refugees that God loved them so much that He gave the best present, in sending Jesus to earth as a baby.

We attach a card with a bible verse written in multiple languages to each of the adult gifts, so the refugees can read for themselves about the coming of Jesus in Bethlehem.

Just as has happened at the Oasis for the last 25 years, in 2011, the Oasis Christmas programs for children, women and men/families will be a special time for the Christian refugees to celebrate the birth of Christ, and an opportunity for refugees from other countries including Afghanistan, Syria, Kosova, Iran, Iraq and Chechnya, where Christmas is not usually celebrated, to hear the message of God’s love for them in Jesus.

David Field

Click here to find out more about how you can get involved in helping refugees

In September 2001 we were an Australian family of four stepping out of a train in the city of Donetsk, Ukraine.

John and Kathy- family and ministry over the years

How does a couple with two young sons end up in such an odd location? For that we have to go back another ten years! Yes – it took ten years from when we first felt God calling us into full time ministry until we actually set foot on the ‘mission field’!

God is not always in a hurry but He faithfully drew us, prepared us and provided for us as we moved through the process of Bible College, deciding on a mission and a location, a short term mission to Donetsk, training with International Teams (ITeams) and then raising a prayer and support team.

Our arrival at Donetsk train station was a celebration of ten years of God’s faithful preparation. John and I had arrived to begin missionary service at Donetsk Christian University.

A decade of service

Ten years on, we have served five years in Ukraine, and five years in the Netherlands with ITeams. Our decade of serving has had its’ ups and downs, but God remains faithful.

• Those wonderful “ah-ha” moments for students when something we’ve been teaching suddenly sinks in and they just get it!
• Seeing former students now serving as missionaries.
• The snow, the cold, the snow… and did I mention the snow? It is so beautiful!
• The times when the clash of wealth and poverty messed with our heads – on one side of our apartment was a designer label clothes shop, while on the other, people went through our garbage looking for food.
• The people – students, colleagues, fellow missionaries, our Russian teacher.
• The way God worked in our hearts and through the voices of wise pastors and leaders to guide us into the next stage of service in the Netherlands.
• The joy of riding bicycles through the Dutch forests – a time to find healing and relief after a tough final year in Donetsk.
• From Russian to Dutch – the struggle for our 40-year-old brains of grappling with another new language.
• Witnessing the amazing way our boys adapted to attending school after 6 years of homeschooling.
• The deep disappointment each time our application for residency permits was denied and struggling with the fear of being kicked out of The Netherlands.
• Ongoing thankfulness to God for His faithfulness in supplying all our needs and for the prayers and support of an incredible team of partners who have journeyed with us over these 10 years.
• The joy of outworking our calling to equip the saints for works of service (Eph 4:11-12) both in ITeams teams and through our church, Thousand Hills International Church.

Looking forward

We will remain in the Netherlands while our sons, now 18 and 16, finish high school in June 2012 and June 2013, and then begin further study here. We have the privilege of continuing to train ITeams missionaries throughout Europe and helping them to be and to do everything that God has called them to. We also love being part of a vibrant, growing, hope-filled church.

The spiritual needs in Europe are great, so there will never be a shortage of ministry. We will continue here as long as God calls, enables and supplies.

Kathy Harris

Pray for John and Kathy for faithfulness, wisdom and discernment as they serve in Europe.

RenovArte Café is the ministry of Phil and Sandy Jones. Its’ vision is to reach today’s young adults for Jesus in a relevant, organic and innovative way; making true disciples that can multiply and impact this generation.

Young people at RenovArte Café

The team at RenovArte have joyfully served hundreds of cappuccinos, lattes, frappes and teas over the last 12 months, but as Phil shares his top three highlights for the first year, it is clear that RenovArte is more than just a café.

Phil’s Top 3

1. Seeing God fill the cafe with young people on several occasions and being able to share the message of Jesus.
2. The many one on one conversations with students in need of a listening ear and a Jesus perspective. And that when we’re real and talk about Jesus, they listen.
3. The community that has formed around the cafe ministry from friends and family who help, clients who have lent a hand with the renovations and everyday visitors who can’t do without their daily interaction at RenovArte.

The new RenovArte Café

RenovArté celebrated with a week of special promotions on drinks and food, live music and invited groups. The regular Thursday night student bible study run by ‘Conexion Vertical,’ which meets in the café, had a distinctively festive theme too!

The café recently moved to a more strategic location within the plaza where they originally began. Now it has street frontage, and is directly across the road from the entrance to the university.

Phil and Sandy hope and pray that this step of faith for the Café, would lead to many more steps of faith by those who come through its doors.

Through partnership, you can be part of RenovArte Café too…

Go and join the vibrant team… Click here for Current Vacancies at RenovArté Cafe

Stay informed and pray… Click here to subscribe to regular news and updates about the ministry of RenovArte Café

Give today and make a difference in Mexico in 2012… Click here to give to RenovArte Café this Christmas

Naomi Jones