NAMS Advent blog, week 4

In this final Advent blog, we look at the quality of peace – what it is and how it marks us out as Jesus’ disciples in the world. Peace, as this season of Advent reminds us, is a gift of God like love, faith and hope. May you and I revel in the peace that God brings through Christ this Christmas.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.” (Luke 2:14). 

An old chorus I sang growing up, based on an African-American spiritual, spoke of having ‘peace like a river.’ [1] Recently, my wife and I were wondering where that phrase came from, since we didn’t generally think of rivers as peaceful bodies of water. We thought rather of waters in constant motion. 

At points indeed, rivers could be terrifying – raging and foaming rapids that cascade over treacherous, bone-wrenching rocks, often culminating in tumbling waterfalls. 

Shortly afterwards, in an evening devotion, we were reading together in Isaiah 48, in which God accused Israel of being obstinate in their rebellion against him.  He called them back, as He often did, to repentance. Isaiah records God’s plea in these terms: 

“Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for your profit, who leads you in the way you should go. Oh, that you had listened to my commandments; then your peace would be like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” [2]

Now we got the point. Peace is like a river in that it brings life. Rivers in Israel were a real source of security, sustenance and abundance. The great Jordan River and her tributaries, as they cut across the thirsty, arid landscape, gave rise to fertile banks. The rivers of peace and her righteous waves were meant to carry us along God’s holy ways – a means of great blessing and rule that come from following in the way of God. 

Our sinful world however, like stubborn Israel, wants peace on its own terms. 

According to popular culture, peace is often (and only) thought of as the absence of conflict, war, trouble or stress. They picture a world devoid of struggle – that lets then be as they want. 

The Scriptures, by contrast, root ‘peace’ not in the absence of danger about us, but in the presence of God with us, no matter the outward circumstance.

True peace is God’s gift. It can only be found as we submit to the will and ways of God. The poet Dante captured it well: ‘In his will is our peace.’ [3] 

C.S. Lewis agrees: “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.” [4] 

Peace then, that the angels sang about to the lowly shepherds at Christmas, is peace that is given through the favor and blessing of God. We cannot manufacture it, nor earn it ourselves. It is instead a dynamic by-product of the Gospel transformation that comes by grace through faith in the salvation of Christ alone, for God’s glory. 

Didn’t Jesus promise such a genuine peace – unlike the world’s type – in John 14:27? So we need not be afraid at all, even though a little later in John 16:33, he tells us that we will have trouble in the world. There again, he reiterates that in him, we have peace.    

May the peace of God that is yours in Christ therefore, rule your heart this Christmas. 

As disciples of Jesus called to ‘know nothing except Christ and Him crucified’ and to make disciples after Him, may that peace also be a source of blessing to many around you, this time and always. From Him, springs life everlasting and peace unending.

Oh cross that liftest up my head
I dare not ask to fly from thee
I lay in dust’s life’s glory dead
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be. [5] 

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Can $10 make a difference? We believe it can. We are looking for partners that will help us to spread the gospel of Jesus to all the peoples of the world. We are currently working in 9 of the 16 Global Regions of the world. We need partners like you in this mission. Are you able to join us by investing $10 a month to allow NAMS to continue the work we are doing in over 40 countries. If you can please go to the address below.

https://namsnetwork.com/be-involved.html

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[1]  In the same vein, the opening line of Horatio Spafford’s well-loved hymn ‘It is Well with My Soul’ carries the same image: “When peace, like a river, attendeth my way…”
[2] Isaiah 48:17-18, ESV. The passage ends with a solemn warning in verse 22: “There is no peace, says the LORD, “for the wicked.”
[3]  Dante Alighieri, translated from Paradiso, Canto III, line 85.
[4]  C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), page 50.
[5]  Final verse of Hymn “O Love, That Wilt Not Let Me Go” by George Matheson. https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/432

Window Newsletter – October 2021

Lending to the Lord – NAMS COVID-19 RELIEF REPORTS

This Post has been edited to assist in the safety of workers in the field.

Do you know how to lend to the Lord? (See Proverbs 19:17 to learn how).

A couple of months ago, we wrote and asked for a second time in 2 years for contributions to NAMS COVID relief in parts of the world where NAMS has work or bases, that were facing particularly difficult times. We at NAMS thank God for those of you who gave and prayed towards this COVID-19 Relief Fund 2021, which we were able to channel to our leaders and bases in India, Nepal, Peru and Cuba, a few of the most hard-hit places.

You may remember that we shared that our NAMS South Asia Regional Team Leader — has contracted COVID. See his report of full recovery below. Also, thank God that our Companion in Nepal, Kiral Pal also recovered. However, three of our NAMS Companions, Pankaj Neupane in Nepal, and our NAMS missionaries in Peru, Juan Tamayo and his daughter Melissa, are  currently also COVID-19 positive. All are recovering, but please keep them in your prayers.

Two brief reports from Juan and Maida Tamayo, NAMS Companions and leaders in Lima, Peru of those helped by our COVID-19 Relief funds:

Sister Yaipsi: “Today, I want to thank our Heavenly Father for the great blessing received from all of you, my family in faith. My family and I are totally grateful for your valuable contribution and especially your prayers. May God multiply your blessings greatly and may His mercy be infinite to all of you”.

Sister Rosa: “Greetings to the NAMS brethren. Today I’d like to thank God for the great blessing which you are having you in my life. I know God is working greatly in my life with a purpose through the great act of kindness of your offering. The support of NAMS means a lot to me because it was in a moment that I was going through certain needs. Our prayers to God are powerful – their answers are reflected in the act of kindness of your offerings. I am very grateful.”.

Indeed, to all who gave and prayed, we at NAMS say ‘Thank you’ and thanks be to God.

Going to the Least of Them — COVID-19 Relief.

This Post has been edited to assist in the safety of workers in the field.

URGENT APPEAL – NAMS COVID-19 RELIEF FUND 2021

Dear NAMS friends and supporters,

We live in a world that continues to battle with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. While those of us in developed countries have started to reap the effects of vaccinations in bringing down infection rates, such is still not that case in the majority world.

NAMS has work on 5 continents, and our Companions and leaders are widely spread around the world. Some of them continue to struggle with the effects of the pandemic. A few nations like India and Nepal are facing huge surges in numbers once more, as I am sure you are aware from the news.

We in NAMS are seeking to raise funds to help people through our NAMS  NAMS bases in 3 of the most hard-hit nations globally, that is, India, Nepal and Cuba.

In fact, in India, the NAMS leader of South Asia, is now in hospital being treated for COVID.

The situation is equally dire in countries like Nepal and Bangladesh. Our NAMS Nepal leader has just reported that one of our NAMS Companions in Kathmandu, Kiran Pal, has contracted COVID-19. They are now in a desperate search for a hospital to treat her.

Kiran Pal in Nepal

Finally, the island state of Cuba has not been much in the news. But our NAMS base there reports that COVID-19 and the collapse of the economy has meant that there is a shortage of food, essential items and employment in the country.

We would therefore like to appeal for emergency funds to send to our NAMS bases in these three countries in particular, India, Nepal and Cuba, so that they can help meet the needs of people there – especially the sick, suffering or destitute.

If you would like to help or donate, please click on the ‘Donate Now’ button here or go to our website directly ( http://www.namsnetwork.com/ be-involved.html ) to donate there. Contact us at info@namsnetwork.com for other ways to transfer any gifts. (Please indicate ‘NAMS COVID-19 RELIEF FUND 2021’ on the remarks column).

Above all, please pray for these and many other nations in the throes of this pandemic.

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The work goes on.

As it has no doubt been for you, 2020 has been a strange year for us as well. Many things we had planned have been put on hold. Too many people dear to members of our network have suffered as a result of the pandemic—the disease itself and its devastating impact on economies and culture. Yet through it all we have seen God at work, and we have been blessed because of it.

We have seen disciples made, churches planted and new mission fields open in India, Peru and the US. Our Global Apprentice Program expanded into Africa this year. We now have (or are poised for) Global Apprentice in Asia (Thailand) and Europe (England). Generous donors made COVID relief through NAMS possible in five major regions. The work goes on because the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ carries us onward.

To those who have already given this year, we say “thank you.” To all of you who pray for us so faithfully, we again say “thank you.” As the calendar year draws to a close and our brothers and sisters in the USA enter a season focused on giving thanks, we ask you to consider showing your thanks to God by making a gift to NAMS and so partnering with us in the spread of the gospel around the globe. We cannot continue to answer the Lord’s call to pioneering global church planting through disciple-making discipleship without your generous support. Thanks be to God, who is able to do far more than we are able to ask or imagine!

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Or, you can mail a check (or use your bank’s online bill pay feature to send a payment) to:

NAMS
2820 Selwyn Ave, Suite 694
Charlotte, NC 28209

Going to the Least of Them — COVID-19 Relief.

This Post has been edited to assist in the safety of workers in the field. These are extraordinary times. Much of the world is still trying to cope with the devastating spread and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In parts of the world where NAMS has work, some of our leaders and Companions are facing unprecedented challenge. In this special post, we would like to appeal for emergency funds to help some of the most needy people in a few of our mission regions. People who were already poor. People like Sindhu featured below – the poorest of the poor. Will you pray for them? If the Lord moves you, will you give to our COVID-19 Relief Fund? We hope to send as much as we can to our Regional Team Leaders to help with their efforts. Please read and pray. Here are some of our other needs we have received from our regions…

1. Kathmandu, Nepal. Our NAMS leader in Nepal, Pastor Tek Prasad Rijal is based just outside of the city. Because of the lockdown, they have been helping with the food needs and support of at least 25 families in their locality. Additionally, Tek is well connected to relief efforts of various other churches in the city and will be able to help from some of the funds sent.
2. Nairobi, Kenya. Our NAMS leader in Kenya, Pastor Timothy Mazimpaka reports that they have been working with a group of women from Ngara Market, most of whom are the sole breadwinners in single-parent families. They have been struggling without work at the market, to feed themselves and their families. A gift of US$1,000 will enable to the 15 of so women to have basic foodstuff and support for a month or two.
3. Havanna and Cienfuegos, Cuba. Our NAMS leader in Latin America is based in Temuco, Chile – Pastor Andres Casanueva. Our NAMS base there has relationship with NAMS partners in Cienfuegos and a base in Havana, Cuba, which they have been regularly supporting. Because of the COVID-19 lockdown, many of the poor families have had no recourse for help and support. We would like through our NAMS base in Chile, to send them crisis-relief funds and support for basic needs.

Please click on the ‘Donate Now’ button here or go to our website directly ( http://www.namsnetwork.com/ be-involved.html ) to donate there. Contact us at info@namsnetwork.com for other ways to transfer any gifts. (Please indicate ‘NAMS COVID-19 RELIEF FUND’ on the remarks column).

Click here to DONATE.

What’s in a Word?

‘Disciple’ is the word most commonly used for a follower and believer in the risen Jesus in the book of Acts.[1] Jesus instructed us in his final command of Matthew 28:18-20 to ‘make disciples’ as the overarching focus and mission of his post-resurrection church, as told to his appointed pioneers of that universal church. And we know from Acts and the rapid spread of the Gospel in the Roman world in the first few centuries that this was certainly their practice.

Yet, being a disciple today may mean something entirely different. How often it is in churches around the world as I’ve traveled, that I have found discipleship to be reduced and redacted to something less than it should be. It is often seen only as a short-term follow-up course or program for new believers or a description for adult Sunday school classed or bible studies for serious believers. At worse, it is seen as synonymous with other popular words like mentoring and coaching. John Ortberg, Christian pastor and teacher comments thus:

“Words pick up baggage, so disciple, a great New Testament word, has come to mean a time-limited process that you can finish. Growing up, I’d hear people say, “I’m discipling him.” They meant, we’ll meet for a while and then we’ll finish and he’ll be discipled. That usually involved getting together at Denny’s at 6:30 in the morning and working through some kind of curriculum. The New Testament never uses disciple in that way. To be a disciple of Jesus was something all followers did in community, and did their whole lives long.”[2]

He is of course right – Discipleship that is not life-long and reproducing is neither biblical nor Jesus-pleasing. God has taught us at NAMS that we must call the Church of Jesus Christ back to an understanding of discipleship as Jesus and his apostles taught and lived it.

The good news is that we are living in days when the word ‘disciple’ and the work of ‘disciple-making’ is being recovered and reclaimed through the sovereign work of God’s Spirit around the world by missionaries, pastors and leaders as never before.

There is a greater realization today that being and making disciples is a fundamental call and work for all obedient followers of Jesus. We live in days when disciple-making movements around the world are paving the way for new church-planting and Gospel transformation in previously unreached people groups.

In the same vein, NAMS as a missionary society was founded in 1994 to model, train and call the church and all Christians to obedience to Jesus’ final command to make disciples of all peoples. We do this by making disciples who make disciples, raising disciple-making leaders and seeking to plant disciple-making churches.

In this new year, it is our prayer and hope that together, we can be growing and reproducing disciples of Jesus, so that his Kingdom may come on earth and His Gospel reach the ends of the earth.

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[1] See for example Acts 6:1-2, Acts 6:1-2,6:7; Acts 9:1, Acts 9:1,9:10, Acts 9:10,9:19, Acts 9:19, 9:26, Acts 9:26, 9:38; Acts 11:26, Acts 11:26. Butler, Trent C. Editor. From entry for ‘Disciples’. Holman Bible Dictionary. Accessed at http://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/hbd/d/disciples.html. 1991.

[2] John Ortberg in ‘Holy Tension’ – interview with Leadership Magazine. Accessed at http://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/2004/winter/1.22.html

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If you would like to learn how to be a disciple-making disciple, you can find the following resources on our website that can help you be obedient to Jesus’ final command:

www.namsnetwork.com/assets/dmdsteps.pdf  An e-book clearly outlining a 7-step process to become a disciple who makes disciples by Canon Revd Dr Jon Shuler, NAMS Servant General.

Praxis is a 4-week small group training course on how to be a disciple-making disciple. The workbook for this course can be found at:
www.namsnetwork.com/assets/praxi-course-workbook_v2.pdf
with a facilitators/leaders guide at:
www.namsnetwork.com/assets/praxi-course-leader-guide.pdf

You can also watch our 7-part YouTube video series on being and making disciples: go to www.youtube.com and type ‘NAMS Disciple Making Discipleship Course’ in the search bar.

This resource is an offering to the Church universal to begin to apprentice, learn and practice the ‘family business’ that is the vocation and inheritance of all true Christians.

For the Spread of the Kingdom of God (by Jon Shuler)

Dear Friends of NAMS,

Among those duties, as a Christian, I was taught by the catechism of my youth was that I should “work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God.”

Cynthia and I gladly give over 10% of our income to the work of NAMS because we know the men and women who share our global ministry are spreading that kingdom. They are at work every day finding the lost, and discipling the found.

We give beyond that tithe, gratefully, for the ministry of our local church as well.

We know that at year end many (especially in the West) are inundated with requests from all manner of worthy causes. But may we ask you to consider how much of your charitable giving is actually spreading the kingdom? Actually helping new lives to be formed in Christ Jesus? New communities of faith planted?

Will you partner with us? Will you become a supporting part of the NAMS Network?

NAMS needs regular, monthly, support to sustain its mission and ministry around the world. Will you help? Right now?

Can you make a year end gift? Donate here.

Can you become one of our faithful monthly givers? Donate here.

It is hard for many of our North American friends to realize what a monthly gift of $100.00 can do in much of the world. Many, many, of our NAMS Companions, and those we serve, live and raise families on less than that amount.

But even such a small amount, given regularly, can help make a difference right here in the USA. We are working to start churches, and training those who will start churches, right here at home. Can you join us in this wonderful work? Can you join us by giving for right where you live, or for the gospel to go the ends of the earth?

As this year closes will you join us as partners in the mission of obeying the Final Command of Jesus?

Your brother in the mission of Christ Jesus,

Jon Shuler

A handful of rice (by NAMS Global Executive Manik Corea)

The Friends Missionary Prayer Band (FMPB) is an indigenous missionary society in India. Today, it has more than 1,500 missionaries working throughout India. But their beginnings were small and almost insignificant – starting from a small prayer group of university students in the late 1960s in the South of India.

At a Faith2Share Leadership Consultation* in Ethiopia in 2014, we heard the leader of FMPB tell of the early days in their missionary endeavor. Women from their supporting churches decided to pray and to give towards the work of the fledgling group of missionaries. But they did not have money to give.

Each day however, as they cooked their staple diet of rice for their families, they would set aside one cup of rice in a separate cloth – it was ‘for the missionaries.’ Once a week, all the ladies would pool together and collect the rice they had set aside in their cloth packs and then distribute it to the missionaries as part of their support.

This is a wonderful illustration of the principle of intentional, regular investment of our resources into kingdom work that is purposeful – what Paul referred to as a ‘partnership in the Gospel’ (Philippians 1:5). Paul and his team were being helped by the Christians in Philippi to there to take the Gospel to the surrounding nations. Who are you partnering with for the Gospel to go to the nations?

NAMS is growing. We currently have NAMS Companions in at least 13 countries on 5 continents, and doors are opening up at present in at least another 6 or so countries, with more on the horizon. We need desperately to fund our NAMS Base Communities (i.e. at least two or three NAMS Companions on mission in one location) and Global Apprentices in our GAP program (www.namsgap.com), some in places where resources are scarce.

Our primary work is in these NAMS Base Communities (NBC) is to make disciples who make disciples, raise leaders who make disciples and plant disciple-making churches. The contexts we work in are varied and different.

For example, in December later this year, two of our Latin American leaders will lead a team to the impoverished nation of Cuba where a small community of believers led by a couple trained at our NBC in Chile, have begun meeting in the capital and a group of pastors from another city have asked us to work to have a NAMS base there.

Last week, two of our NAMS Companion leaders in India and their wives have just led training for about 40 women from the State of Orissa in how to be disciple-making leaders. The women have set themselves the goal of making one other disciple of Jesus each in the next year.

We are working in partnership with the Anglican Church in Mandalay, Myanmar, to establish a NAMS base that will help them plant churches among their many unreached people-groups. A Covenant of Partnership is being drawn up.

We are working with the Presbyterian (uniting) Church of Christ in Thailand to reach university students at their main Student Center in Bangkok.

We are also working with Christians and churches to make disciples and plant churches in Nepal, India, Kenya, Egypt, DRC, USA and the UK, among other nations.

We are looking for people ready to give us a ‘handful of rice’ set aside for global mission and to support us in the work God has called us to.

Will you pray for us? Will you give towards our projects – which we would love to give you more details about ? Or give a one-off gift? Will you partner with us for the Gospel? If so, click below to ‘Donate’

Write to us at info@namsnetwork.com to ask to join our global intercessors group or to learn more about our work.

* Faith2Share is a network of global mission agencies and mission movements collaborating together for discipleship and mission, that NAMS is a member of. http://www.faith2share.net

 

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No Equal

In Jesus’ name, we have authority over the devil and all his forces. My family story is a testimony of this!

Almost 26 years ago now, a team from Campus Crusade came to share the gospel in Ammerbasti village of Kanchanpur, Nepal – my home village. One day my father went to watch the Jesus film. He was moved by it, and spoke to the team members. They shared the Gospel with him. After that, he began to attend a church in another village. Those were difficult days to become a Christian, as we were in a Hindu village. Soon, a rumor started spreading that my father was now a Christian. He was now facing persecution – and when the situation worsened, my father fled to India, leaving behind his pregnant wife (my mother), who was not a believer at that time.

A few months later, I was born. A week after my birth, our house was tragically burnt up in a fire. Our relatives and other villages blamed my father was causing the fire because the gods and evil spirits (the chief spirit of which was called Vir) were angry and had cursed our family.

Life became very difficult for my mother. Eventually, my father secretly returned to our village and took us away to live with him in Punjab, India. There, a Christian man from Kerala called Dr. Thomas who was studying there, started discipling my father. My father began to gather with other people to read the Scriptures and prayer. Sometime later, my mother also became a believer and was baptized.

Five years later, because the situation was improving back in Nepal , we moved back to our original village. We shared a house with my extended family – my grandfather and uncles. It was a two-story house and my family lived on the upper level of the house. My grandfather and uncles continued to worship the spirits. In fact, my grandfather could call on the spirits through black magic.

However, he realized that after my family moved back, he could not summon the spirits anymore. He asked my father if he did anything to the Vir (or chief spirit). My father told him that because of God’s Spirit in them, no other spirit could bother them. He told my grandfather that the Holy Spirit is the God of the universe.

The next day, my grandfather confessed that he tried to call on the Vir to return to their house but it was to no avail. He realized that the Holy Spirit must be stronger than the Vir, so they should follow and worship Him. At that point, my father gave him a New Testament.

My grandfather began to read. He read in Mark’s Gospel (11:12-25) where Jesus cursed a fig tree. He told my father that if your God is the real God, then let him also dry the big tree that was in front of their house. As we prayed, God did a great miracle and within a month, the tree in front of our house had dried up and died.

As a result my grandparents, uncles and all their families believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and were baptized. Our Lord Jesus has no equal, as my family have come to learn. All glory to God.

Today, Pankaj pastors a church in Kathmandu, Nepal and is a NAMS Global Apprentice with 2 others young adults. God is using them to bring the Gospel and making disciples in Nepal in a new generation. Will you support our GAP program by praying for us and giving towards the support and raising up of new Global Apprentices like Pankaj?

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