Participants:
Series Code: MTS
Program Code: MTS002005B
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00:12 Welcome back to the old city of Jerusalem.
00:14 Traditionally, the city is divided up 00:16 into four quarters. 00:18 I'm standing in the Muslim quarter, 00:20 over this way is the Jewish quarter, 00:22 over here is the Christian quarter, 00:24 and to the front is the Armenian quarter. 00:27 Now you won't find any painted lines 00:30 neatly dividing up all these quarters, 00:32 but it's divided religiously, 00:36 culturally, and historically. 00:38 Next up, we have a story with Homer Trecartin. 00:41 Maybe you grew up like I did, reading books 00:45 from the early pioneer missionaries, 00:47 mission stories, I loved them. 00:50 I can remember sitting enthralled for hours 00:53 as I would read stories by Eric B. Hare, 00:55 or Josephine Cunnington Edwards, 00:58 or Norma Youngberg. 00:59 Turning page after page 01:01 and wondering what was going to happen next. 01:05 I learned about the world through these mission stories. 01:09 I learned that there are still miracles today, 01:13 not just back in Bible times. 01:15 I learned that no matter what a person ate, 01:18 no matter where they live, 01:20 no matter what they look like, God loves them. 01:23 And so did I. 01:26 But one thing I didn't learn from the mission stories, 01:29 at least I don't remember it. 01:31 I didn't realize that often 01:33 when a missionary went to a new area 01:36 where there had never been anyone before 01:39 to share the gospel, 01:40 often they would find that one group of people 01:43 was more receptive than another. 01:45 And, of course, they focused on the receptive group. 01:50 But time went on and the church grew 01:52 and became well established and in many cases, 01:55 it was still only among that initially receptive group. 02:01 Now, sometimes 100 years later, 02:04 we still have large areas where one group of people 02:09 have been receptive to the gospel 02:11 and make up our church. 02:13 But other groups in the same area 02:15 have never been touched. 02:18 In one small country, 02:20 the Adventist Church has one member 02:24 for every 21 people in the country. 02:26 That's a pretty good average. 02:28 By comparison, in the United States, 02:31 there's one Adventist for every 285 people. 02:34 And in Turkey, there's one Adventist 02:36 for every 691,000 people, 02:40 but in this country, one Adventist for every 21 02:44 and it almost seems like we've finished the work. 02:48 But have we really? 02:50 When we look a little bit closer, 02:52 we realize that there are huge groups of people 02:56 even in that country 02:58 that have never been touched with the gospel. 03:02 Hundreds of thousands of people 03:04 where there's almost zero Seventh-Day Adventists. 03:09 The Seventh-day Adventist Church 03:11 started the Global Mission centers 03:14 to try and help reach people 03:17 from non-Christian backgrounds with the gospel, 03:21 trying to see what can we do to touch the lives 03:25 in some of these non-receptive groups. 03:28 In this particular country, 03:30 the Center for South Asian religions 03:35 was working with the local conference 03:37 to try and set up an urban center of influence 03:40 and begin to hold health programs 03:42 in the community in hopes of touching the lives 03:46 of these hundreds of thousands of Hindus 03:49 from Indian background that had moved 03:51 into that country many generations ago, 03:55 but who still were not interested. 03:58 Evangelistic series had been held over 04:01 and over again in that country. 04:03 But nobody from that Hindu background 04:06 or hardly anybody 04:07 was ever coming to those meetings. 04:10 As they held these health expos 04:12 and other programs in the community, 04:16 they made many friends, 04:18 but still nobody was interested 04:20 in studying the Bible. 04:22 So one day, they decided 04:25 to try an interesting experiment. 04:29 One of the things in that culture 04:30 that people love is called a katha, 04:33 or storytelling. 04:36 And so the Center for South Asian religions, 04:39 the Global Mission center 04:41 helped the conference to set up 04:43 and operate a katha, a storytelling. 04:46 It would last for a week or so every day. 04:49 To advertise it, they had a parade. 04:51 They went through the city with floats, 04:54 each float depicting another story 04:56 from the life of Jesus. 04:58 They had big banners that invited people 05:00 to come to the katha. 05:02 And on the first night, hundreds of people 05:05 came to this storytelling, to this katha. 05:09 That's amazing in an area where we've never had people 05:12 from the Hindu community coming to our meetings before. 05:15 They listened and enthralled as each night 05:18 they would hear Hindi songs, 05:20 they would hear and see skits 05:22 put on depicting scenes from the life of Jesus 05:26 and they would hear Bible verses 05:28 that went along with them being read. 05:30 At the end of that series, 05:32 many people came up to our workers and said, 05:37 "This was amazing. 05:38 When is the next katha? 05:40 I want to know more about the Bible 05:42 and this Jesus you've been talking about? 05:44 Can somebody tell me more about the Bible?" 05:49 Your faithful tithes and mission offerings 05:52 have been sending missionaries around the world for years, 05:56 but the work isn't finished yet. 05:59 The Bible says this gospel must go to every nation, 06:02 and kindred, and tribe, and tongue, and people group. 06:06 And there are still some massive groups 06:08 that have not yet heard the gospel in a way that 06:12 they can understand and relate to. 06:15 If you would like to know more about 06:16 what the Global Mission centers can do to help you love 06:20 and live with your neighbors 06:22 and others who are not from a Christian background, 06:26 then go to the website globalmissioncenters.org 06:30 and be praying for the people around us 06:33 who have still never heard. 06:35 Missionaries aren't just in the old books. 06:39 You are a missionary today. 06:42 Behind me is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, 06:45 located in the Christian quarter 06:46 of the Old City of Jerusalem. 06:48 And for Orthodox Christians, 06:50 this contains their two holiest sites 06:53 where they believe Jesus was crucified 06:56 and also where they believe His tomb is located. 07:00 Well, next up, we're going to visit 07:01 one of my favorite mission stories. 07:03 It's the story of the Trumpet family. 07:06 We call them the Trumpet family. 07:07 And let's visit them 07:09 witnessing in a unique way on the streets of Kinshasa. 07:23 Pastor Lobo is a Seventh-day Adventist pastor. 07:27 He lives in the city of Kinshasa 07:29 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 07:31 In a city with more than 10 million people, 07:34 sharing God's Word can be difficult. 07:37 But Pastor Lobo and his family 07:38 have found a unique way of getting people's attention. 07:54 The family goes to the streets 07:55 and plays homemade trumpets for the community. 08:07 As the children play their trumpets in the street, 08:10 their father preaches the Word of Jesus. 08:13 Hallelujah Amen. 08:15 Hallelujah. Amen. 08:23 People passing by are captivated 08:25 by the unique sight 08:26 and listen to the pastor's words. 08:29 The pastor brings out his piano 08:31 to continue praising in the street. 08:34 The songs they play 08:35 tell of the wonderful things God has done. 08:38 They share how Jesus love is given freely 08:40 to anybody who is willing to accept Him as their Savior. 08:44 The people standing by soon join in the praise. 08:51 We praise Our only Lord Jesus Christ 08:54 King of kings 08:57 Their unique street side Trumpet Ministry 08:59 has allowed many people to hear about Jesus. 09:03 The children are thrilled 09:04 to help their father teach God's message. 09:06 It's amazing to see how God can use something 09:09 as simple as a homemade trumpet 09:11 and a willing family 09:12 to be important instruments for His purpose. 09:16 This family worships in their home 09:17 so that they are spiritually fed 09:19 and the children may continue to grow serving God. 09:23 Here in Kinshasa, 09:25 the children are on fire for the Lord. 09:27 They want to serve Him any way they can. 09:30 But on Sabbath they have no place to meet 09:32 for Sabbath school. 09:34 They sit in the same area with the adults 09:36 where they may not understand the message 09:37 or are forced to worship outside 09:39 under the sometimes harsh elements of Africa. 09:43 A portion of your 13th Sabbath Offering 09:45 will go to help build shelters 09:47 for the children of Kinshasa to worship. 09:49 Here they will be able to learn about 09:51 the love of Jesus 09:52 and grow to be faithful servants of God. 09:56 Please pray for these children 09:57 and others in East Central Africa 09:59 who are being used as instruments for God. 10:02 And thank you for your faithful support 10:04 of mission around the world. 10:07 We worship Jesus Christ 10:10 King of kings 10:32 Well, thanks so much for joining us 10:34 for today's program and I hope that you've been 10:36 inspired and that you have been informed 10:39 by what you've seen and heard. 10:40 Around the world today there are many people 10:42 who are on the front lines of mission, 10:45 planting churches, 10:46 sharing God's love in practical ways 10:48 in many different areas in cities, 10:50 in rural areas, older people, younger people, 10:54 and thank you so much 10:55 for your continuing support for mission, 10:57 through your prayers, through your financial support, 11:00 and also through your personal involvement. 11:02 And as a small thank you 11:03 for your continuing participation 11:05 in mission with us, 11:07 I'd like to send you a copy of the Mission Spotlight DVD. 11:11 It's full of stories just like you see 11:13 right here on Mission 360. 11:15 Well, that's it for today's program. 11:17 And for Adventist Mission, I'm Gary Krause. 11:19 And I hope that you can join me next time right here 11:22 on Mission 360. |
Revised 2020-08-28