Church in Managua, Nicaragua, Has Extraordinary Ministry

Several years ago, Billy and Bette Loft, missionary friends of Christine and I, started a church in Managua, Nicaragua, that has an extraordinary ministry. I just received an email update from them and here are some of the highlights:

· Late last year, they sent a team on a missions trip to Paraguay. During the trip there were 30 decisions for Christ and 10 baptisms. On the weekend of January 17, they reported to the church in Managua about the trip and they had the largest attendance in two years, with an even larger attendance the next weekend.

· Last Monday in a leaders’ meeting, Billy reported to a group of leaders that a couple the church sent to Paraguay to work in the church there was $250 short in monthly support. The leaders committed to making up that support after they are already committed to support above their ability, but now by faith hope to do more.

· The Managua church has another couple ministering in Spain who live on less than half the support of other missionaries in Spain. They went to Spain originally for one year, but have remained for 13 or 14 years. They are developing leaders and growing the church with ministries to the Muslims, Latin immigrants and the Spaniards.

There are stories like that taking place all over the world. We have our own story here in Madison, and missionaries we support around the world have their own stories. God is doing wonderful work wherever you look. I was encouraged to faithfully work hard at ministry by reading the example of the church in Managua. I hope you are encouraged too. If they can minister effectively and faithfully for our Lord, so can we. Indeed, we must if people in Madison are going to know the Lord.

Elders’ and Church Leaders’ Conference on February 20

Lincoln Christian University in Lincoln, IL, is hosting its annual Elders’ and Church Leaders’ Conference on February 20 from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm. We are putting together a group of people to attend, and the elders have agreed to pay the $30 person registration fee from the Elders’ Fund in our budget.

The theme for the day is “Leading the Simple Church.” Lincoln’s information about the conference says, “If you are looking for ways to move your congregation away from time-wasting activities and refocus on simple processes for moving people from visitors to mature believers, plan to attend LCU’s “Leading the Simple Church.’” Best-selling author of Simple Church, Dr. Thom Rainer will present a three-part seminar covering the reasons for, the process of becoming, and the results of the simple church. In addition to the seminars, a variety of smaller forums will be offered. Click here for complete information and schedule.

If you are interested and have questions, contact me. If you know, you would like to attend with our group, let Chardel know.

Join the Million Pound Challenge – Help our Food Pantry

I hope you have seen our information in announcements about the Million Pound Challenge and are considering participating in it. You can help out our Food Pantry by doing so.

For each pound of weight you lose, or every hour you work out in January through May, 10 pounds of food will be donated to Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin by the Princeton Club and other corporate sponsors, up to one million pounds! You can also make a financial contribution; 10 pounds of food will be donated for every dollar you contribute. You can even choose which food pantry the donation will go to (suggestion: Westwood’s!) Work out wherever you want and someone donates food on your behalf, how’s that for motivation?

Membership to the Princeton Club is not required for participation, but you must register and log your progress on their website. To register, go to www.princetonclub.net/mpc. When you register, join ‘Team Westwood – Will Work Out for Food.’ and choose Westwood Christian Church as your designated food pantry!

If you have any questions, please contact Rachelle Purington at 608-345-3172 or rashelly18@yahoo.com, or Chardel at Westwood’s office, 274-0266 or cjohnston@westwoodchristian.com.

Has Rock River Christian Camp Blessed Your Life?

Rock River Christian Camp, the church camp we promote in Polo, IL, and encourage people to attend, is seeking stories to share about how the camp has blessed your life. They will use the stories in a promotional campaign they are working on. If you have been blessed by RRCC and would like to share your story, write a short paragraph and email it (office@rockrivercc.net) or mail it (RRCC, 16486 W IL Route 64, Polo, IL 61064) to the camp.

Registration is now open for the summer camping season at Rock River. If you would like to send your child to a week or more of church camp, check out all the dates and other details at www.rockrivercc.net. Application forms are available on the website to be downloaded and printed. We also have information available at Westwood. Westwood will pay ½ of the registration cost.

John Navis, Westwood’s Missionary to Brazil, Sends Encouraging Report

John Navis, who we support as a church planting missionary to Brazil, sent us an encouraging report in December about their ministry. We will put more complete information in next week’s Caller, but here are some highlights:

· The church in Sao Luis, Brazil held their annual Christmas Supper on December 25 at 7:00 PM.

· One week later, they held their annual church meeting and “greeting the New Year celebration.

· The church in Sao Luis celebrated their 16^th Anniversary in October and had two baptisms on the day of the celebration.

· The church had 12 baptisms in 2009, 2 more than 2008.

Haiti Relief

If you are interested in donating through a Christian organization for relief work in Haiti following the earthquake earlier this week, consider doing so through International Disaster Emergency Services (IDES), a ministry of Christian churches. They do all their relief work directly through churches, ministries, and missionaries who are already working in a country, so all the funds go directly where they are most needed. You can donate through their website (http://www.ides.org/). You can also get information at their website for mailing them a check.

The Wisconsin State Journal ran an article on January 14 about a group from Central Christian Church in Beloit being on one of the last planes out of Port-au-Prince before the earthquake. If you missed the article, you can read it online at this link.

Elders’ and Church Leaders’ Conference on February 20

Lincoln Christian University in Lincoln, IL, is hosting its annual Elders’ and Church Leaders’ Conference on February 20 from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm. We are putting together a group of people to attend, and the elders have agreed to pay the $30 person registration fee from the Elders’ Fund in our budget.

The theme for the day is “Leading the Simple Church.” Lincoln’s information about the conference says, “If you are looking for ways to move your congregation away from time-wasting activities and refocus on simple processes for moving people from visitors to mature believers, plan to attend LCU’s “Leading the Simple Church.’” Best-selling author of Simple Church, Dr. Thom Rainer will present a three-part seminar covering the reasons for, the process of becoming, and the results of the simple church. In addition to the seminars, a variety of smaller forums will be offered. Click here for complete information and schedule.

If you are interested and have questions, contact me. If you know, you would like to attend with our group, let Chardel know.

Join the Million Pound Challenge – Help our Food Pantry

Have you heard about the Million Pound Challenge? You may have heard about it on WNWC, LIFE102.5 FM. Rachelle Purington has put together information about it for us.

For each pound of weight you lose, or every hour you work out in January, 10 pounds of food will be donated to Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin by the Princeton Club and other corporate sponsors, up to one million pounds! Can’t work out or afford to lose any weight? You can also make a financial contribution; 10 pounds of food will be donated for every dollar you contribute. You can even choose which food pantry the donation will go to (suggestion: Westwood’s!) Work out wherever you want and someone donates food on your behalf, how’s that for motivation?

Membership to the Princeton Club is not required for participation, but you must register and log your progress on their website. To register, go to www.princetonclub.net/mpc. When you register, join ‘Team Westwood – Will Work Out for Food.’ and choose Westwood Christian Church as your designated food pantry!

If you have any questions, please contact Rachelle at 608-345-3172 or rashelly18@yahoo.com, or contact Chardel at Westwood’s office, 274-0266 or cjohnston@westwoodchristian.com.

Card From Marty & Tina Ganong

Card From Marty and Tina Ganong

Last October, the offering we took at the Great Communion service we hosted went to the Bible translation work of Marty and Tina Ganong in Guinea, Africa. We received a card dated January 6 from the Ganong’s. The front of the card (below) is a nativity scene painted by Soulimann, a Christian from Guinea. The message in the Ganong’s note follows the picture of the card.

“Dear Friends at Westwood,

Thank you so much for the Great Communion offering that you collected for us back in October. Your gift was so timely, as we ended up leaving Guinea for security reasons on October 30. You all helped us purchase a plane ticket.

Right now in Guinea, daily life seems to be calm. But the political climate is still very unstable. President Camara remains in Morocco after being shot in the head on December 3. His party remains officially in charge (read: the military is still in control). Elections (which were to take place this month) have been postponed once again. The saga continues.

But, on a more positive note, the Susu New Testament is being printed this year. Marty has finished installing and transferring materials to his new computer, so he can resume his Acts translation work… Our co-translator, Jean Alexander, has already sent two batches of work for Marty to check (compare to the Greek). Village comprehension checking will still need to be done after we return to Guinea.

Please continue to pray for Guinea. Please continue also praying for our family, as we concentrate on life here and prepare to return to Conakry in late July. Thanks again.

Blessings,

Marty, Tina, Heather, and Laura”

CHRIST’S MIRACLES AND UNDERSTANDING OUR MISSION

If you have been in the church for very long and have read the Gospels several times and heard messages on the ministry of Jesus, you probably, like I have, take the miracles of Jesus for granted. We smile at how four men lowered their friend through the roof of the house in Capernaum, so Jesus could heal him, or at the one leper who returned to thank Jesus after he and the other nine lepers were healed.

We correctly understand that Jesus’ miracles were acts of kindness or compassion, but we do not often discuss how they demonstrate for us the very core of his mission. Nor do we realize how his miracles testify to us about the core of the church’s mission, and then seek to model the church’s mission after his mission. I have been thinking these matters through as I am in the midst of a study of Jesus’ miracles, particularly his healing miracles as the Gospel of Luke tells about them.

At first, you might think I am making too much out of Jesus’ miracles, but consider C.S. Lewis’ view of Jesus’ miracles. He wrote a book titled Miracles in 1947 during a time when one of the prominent values of Western culture was to find a natural explanation for everything, and to discount supernatural activity of any kind. Most, if not all, other religions do not require their adherents to step out of the bounds of nature. Christianity, however, assumes that mankind is lost and God must break into our world and take action to bring us salvation.

Christ’s entire earthly life and ministry, then, is a miracle. Jesus comes into our world through a virgin birth, and God becomes man. Then he continues to break into our world by overcoming disease and illness and death as he heals people and raises them from the dead. Jesus offers hope to people who put their faith in him. He alone can overcome the natural restrictions of our world and therefore brings us eternal life.

The problem today, unlike the time when C.S. Lewis wrote, is not that no one accepts the miraculous. Instead people believe miracles can happen, but that they are without any meaning or purpose outside of their individual benefits, that they are "random acts of kindness" on the part of some benevolent but impersonal force in the universe.

Jesus, however, claimed from the very beginning of his ministry that he was anointed to break into the natural laws of the universe and into our sin-stained lives. When he returned to Nazareth at the beginning of his ministry, as told in Luke 4, he went to the synagogue and read the passage from Isaiah 61 that predicted he would bring good news to the poor and freedom to prisoners, and recovery of sight to the blind. Then he announced that Isaiah’s predictions were fulfilled by him. His miracles would, you see, validate his message. They become demonstrations of his ability to save us.

Luke follows the account of Jesus’ message at Nazareth by telling about two of Jesus’ miracles: when the people expressed amazement at Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum, a demon –possessed man challenged Jesus, only to have Jesus drive out the demon. His miracles validate his power. Then Jesus went to Simon’s home where Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever. Jesus healed her and demonstrated that his miracles validate his compassion. Jesus really does care about the circumstances of people’s lives.

These three emphases of Jesus’ miracles – his message, his power, and his compassion – are at the core of his ministry and need to be at the core of the church’s mission. Just as Jesus broke into the first century world in order to bring salvation, he has given his church the mission of demonstrating his message, power, and compassion in today’s world.

So let me ask you: does your church teach and demonstrate to people that God can break into their world and bring them salvation? Take another look at the miracles of Jesus and allow them to inform the mission of your church.