Participants:
Series Code: MTS
Program Code: MTS002901A
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00:20 Adventist mission in southern Asia,
00:23 a delicious recipe from the Mission 360 Kitchen, 00:26 and the sights and sounds of Paris. 00:28 All this and much more coming up next on Mission 360. 01:14 Hello and welcome to Mission 360. 01:16 I'm Gary Krause. 01:17 Today's program is coming to you from Paris, 01:20 the capital of France. 01:21 And from the Sacre-Coeur viewpoint here, 01:24 you can look over all of Metropolitan Paris. 01:27 And it's quite a stunning view. 01:28 And you can see iconic landmarks 01:30 such as the Notre-Dame Cathedral 01:32 that was damaged by fire not so long ago. 01:35 And in this inner-city area, 01:38 there's just over 2 million people living 01:40 but in greater metropolitan Paris, 01:42 you have some 14,13-14 million people, 01:45 just a growing metropolis. 01:47 But on today's program, 01:48 we'll be learning more about what's happening right here. 01:50 But first up, let's travel to Southern Asia 01:53 to see more about mission there. 02:00 Jesus would have died for just one person 02:02 of the 1.3 billion who live in India, Bhutan, 02:05 Nepal and the Maldives. 02:07 That's how much He loves the people 02:09 here in the southern Asia division 02:11 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 02:14 The work of the Adventist Church 02:15 began in southern Asia in India, in 1893. 02:19 Five colporteurs, two from America 02:22 and a family of three from New Zealand 02:24 arrived to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. 02:27 The next year brought another missionary, 02:29 Georgia Burrus. 02:31 The mission board 02:32 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church 02:33 paid George's passage 02:35 from the United States to India. 02:37 Once there, she was responsible for her own living expenses. 02:40 But God provided in miraculous ways. 02:44 Later, she married a fellow missionary, 02:46 and together they ministered in India for 40 years. 02:50 From these humble beginnings, 02:51 the Adventist Church in southern Asia 02:53 has grown to 1.6 million members. 02:57 We praise God for this growth. 02:59 But the vast majority of people in this region 03:01 have not yet heard the good news about Jesus. 03:09 Less than 1% of the population are Adventists. 03:13 The Maldives, a country of 392,000 people 03:17 has no Adventist work. 03:19 More than 800 languages are spoken 03:21 in Nepal, Bhutan and India. 03:24 We have materials 03:25 and only a handful of those languages. 03:28 And yet church members such as Global Mission pioneers 03:32 are sharing the love of Jesus in communities 03:34 throughout this vast territory. 03:36 Urban Centers of Influence have been established in cities 03:39 and thousands are being helped 03:41 through schools and medical institutions. 03:44 Scheer Memorial Hospital 03:46 has been treating the sick in Nepal since 1960. 03:49 And there are 11 more Adventist hospitals 03:51 that offer holistic medical care in India. 03:54 Thousands receive a holistic education 03:56 at 144 Adventist secondary schools 03:59 and nine institutions 04:01 of higher education across India, 04:03 including Spicer Adventist University. 04:06 Hope Channel India broadcasts in nine languages, 04:09 sharing stories of encouragement 04:11 and inspiration to people such as Rajesh. 04:14 Overwhelmed with financial difficulties in his family, 04:18 Rajesh just couldn't concentrate at work. 04:21 He lost his job and became depressed. 04:24 One day he came across 04:26 Hope Channel India's prayer line 04:27 and asked for prayer. 04:29 This was the first step in getting to know Jesus 04:32 and finding hope for his family. 04:35 He now has a new job to provide for his family. 04:39 Please continue to pray for the people of India, 04:41 Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives and pray for the church. 04:46 With limited resources 04:47 and in the face of many challenges, 04:49 it seeks to remain faithful to God's call. 04:52 Thank you for your mission offerings, 04:54 which fuel mission in the southern Asia division 04:57 and around the world. 05:17 I'm delighted to be talking today with Pascal 05:20 who is a church member here in Paris, 05:23 and he is very involved in 05:24 personal ministries in the community here. 05:27 Pascal, thank you for joining us. 05:30 What are some of the challenges 05:31 that you face doing mission here in Paris? 05:34 A lot. 05:36 So the challenge the mission within the mission 05:39 is to make it known that God is not a fable. 05:43 Jesus Christ isn't the fable 05:45 and the idea is to tell our fellow men 05:48 that God loves them 05:51 and thus for this we have put in place 05:53 a few initiatives to explain, to explain who God is, 05:58 who Jesus Christ is for mankind. 06:01 Now, tell me about the, 06:04 I saw a T-shirt that says, "I will pray for you." 06:06 Tell me about the I will pray for you ministry? 06:10 So the T-shirt I'm praying for you 06:12 is an invitation to say in fact to our fellow brethren, 06:16 an invitation to pray for them. 06:18 And so in this initiative, we have set up flash mob 06:23 with songs and we wear our T-shirts, 06:28 and we enchant. 06:29 In any case, we invite people. 06:31 People out of curiosity are bound to find out why, 06:35 why we are wearing these T-shirts 06:38 and what is this invitation to pray for them 06:41 since we also have banners that we take along. 06:44 We also can ask for prayer with prayer groups, 06:49 with some church members who come with us 06:54 so that any fellow brethren who wishes to, 06:58 can request for prayers, listen to the songs 07:03 we sing to them. 07:06 And that's it. 07:08 We equally share invitations to Hope lunches. 07:11 That's it. 07:13 Now under the hood of a flash mob 07:16 being used before for mission, 07:18 but what sort of a response do you get? 07:21 He welcomes this with much intrigue, 07:26 lots of intrigue, because they wonder why, 07:29 what do you do, but also a lot of excitement 07:32 because some of them join us 07:34 when we do the flash mob choreography. 07:37 They dance with us, they sing with us. 07:39 Others request prayer. 07:41 They come and pray with us and it does them a lot of good. 07:46 Besides they're waiting for us every second 07:49 and fourth Sabbath 07:50 so that we can either pray for them 07:53 or sing with us. 07:55 So, Pascal, that's exciting, but there must be 07:58 some sort of a negative response as well 07:59 because this is a very secular culture 08:01 and to have people coming, saying, "I pray for you." 08:04 I don't know, tell me any negative response? 08:09 And effectively 08:11 we've received negative reactions, 08:13 notably someone quite drunk 08:16 who came to disrupt the flash mob. 08:22 We finally stopped the flash mob 08:24 and started praying. 08:25 We prayed and instantly 08:26 we saw the power of God manifest 08:29 because someone came out of nowhere 08:32 and pull that person out of the flash mob 08:35 and asked him to leave us alone. 08:37 And there we gave glory to God 08:39 because we were able to see divine power 08:41 manifesting directly. 08:43 Just then we said amen. 08:46 But you make good connections with many people. 08:48 Give me an example of somebody 08:50 whose life has been touched through this ministry? 08:54 We also actually saw some people 08:55 who hung on to the message, an example by the singing. 09:00 We were able to see people 09:02 who came, who came to sing with us. 09:04 We have also seen people who have asked to pray 09:07 after talking with them, because they have, 09:11 first they were able to understand that 09:16 understanding that what, 09:17 what is happening in the world is not because of God. 09:20 It is not because of God 09:22 since we are often used to blaming God, 09:25 if God exists why this, if God exists why that. 09:29 And then, in fact, 09:31 the discussion enabled us to allow, 09:35 to put things back in their right place 09:38 in the right way. 09:40 That's to say, if God is the way He is, 09:44 it's because He loves us and He's giving us the choice. 09:47 Precisely He leaves it up to the world 09:49 to have front experiences. 09:53 And then afterwards some consequences follow 09:56 because it's either good or bad. 09:59 But we can't say it's God's fault 10:02 when it gets bad. 10:03 And when it's good, what do we say? 10:06 That's great. 10:08 Now tell me about 10:09 the initiative called Hope Breakfast. 10:11 What happens with that? 10:13 So the Hope Lunch, when we invite people to come 10:16 and share food with us, there are several themes. 10:21 So we have lunch with them, if they have children, 10:24 we also have a games animation center. 10:27 And in the end, we have health stance 10:30 that allow them to, 10:31 to see a little bit what our church is about. 10:34 It is a presentation of the church 10:36 and the presentation of what we do in the church. 10:40 And also to create the link, the idea is to create a link 10:43 with those people after all. 10:45 A few days back, one of the persons 10:48 we invited to the Lunch of Hope called me to ask 10:50 when will you be organizing the next Lunch of Hope? 10:54 And there I could answer him, 10:56 because we will have our next Lunch of Hope 10:57 on the ninth of November. 10:59 That's great idea. 11:01 Now, Pascal, how does it make you feel 11:05 to be personally involved in ministry? 11:08 I live it with enthusiasm, 11:09 because when I see the smiles on the faces of the people 11:13 we meet, the joy of the people 11:16 who encouraged us to go ahead, amen. 11:19 It pleases us. It encourages us to continue. 11:22 And it's a great pleasure to proclaim the name of Jesus, 11:26 or to proclaim that God loves the world. 11:29 God loves everyone among us. Wonderful. 11:32 Merci beaucoup for sharing with us today, Pascal. 11:35 And viewers at home, 11:37 it's encouraging to see commitment 11:40 that's happening here in Paris 11:41 in the face of many, many challenges. 11:43 And so please pray for the church here in Paris. 11:47 Many, many people who don't even know about 11:50 the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 11:51 We'll be right back right after this break. |
Revised 2020-12-05