MINISTRY SPOTLIGHT: North Africa Venture
North Africa Venture is a team of missionaries and national volunteers based in Southern Spain who are poised to reach North Africa and Europe with the Light and Life of Christ through Arabic radio ministry, Bible correspondence courses, personal follow-up, and a new community center in Málaga where they reach out to immigrants through classes in Spanish, English, and computer skills and provide homework help to students. Ab & Habiba El Youssi, WorldVenture workers with North Africa Venture, write:

"From the very first week it was clear that the community center had tapped into some very real needs in the lives of immigrants in the area. Many women have come to the center asking us to help their children with schoolwork (most of these ladies have had very little schooling). Some ladies have asked for help with basic counting and math skills so that they can find work as shop attendants. Almost all of them need to learn to speak or read the Spanish language and a good number of them would like to learn some English as well. More than anything, however, these women and children are lonely and in need of friendship. They are far from their families and friends and are living in a society that does not welcome them. Our team members are now making more personal and deep contacts to witness to them about the Lord Jesus Christ."

Learn more about the ministry of North Africa Venture:
Meet: Ab & Habiba El Youssi
Serve: short, mid, and long-term opportunities are available for a community center director, web design specialist, ESL teachers (male and female), and community center helpers. 
Give: Support the ministry of the Community Center "Luz" in Málaga by giving to special project #6422-912. Help the Community Center provide Arabic Bibles for North African Seekers by giving to special project #6422-911.

Ab El Youssi would welcome the opportunity to share with you and your church about this exciting ministry that is reaching North Africans with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Please contact Suzanne and she will put you in touch with the El Youssis and North Africa Venture.

INDIA: GIDEONS STOPPED BY HINDU RADICALS
On April 6, Hindu radicals stopped Gideons from distributing New Testaments in Bhubaneswar in Orissa State. According to VOM contacts, Gideons were handing out New Testaments to college students as they left an examination center after completing their medical school entrance exams. Realizing the New Testaments were being given openly to students, local Hindus demanded the group stop. When the Gideons ignored the request, more Hindus got involved. After the Gideons had distributed 390 New Testaments, the mob became irate and began to manhandle the Gideons, who were forced to pack up and leave immediately. As they were packing up, the mob seized 10 New Testaments and set fire to them in the street. A few of the Gideons sustained minor injuries. Pray that the students who received New Testaments would read them and put their faith in Christ. Pray for those injured in this attack and for God’s Word to go forth without further disturbance in this part of India. (Source: VOM)

RUSSIA: CHURCH DISSOLVED FOR HAVING SUNDAY SCHOOL
Because a United Methodist congregation in the western city of Smolensk has a Sunday school class, which is attended by four children, the Regional Court dissolved the church on March 24th. The court agreed with the Regional Organized Crime Police that the Methodists were breaking the law by conducting “educational activity in a Sunday school without a corresponding license.” Vladimir Ryakhovsky of the Moscow-based Slavic Centre for Law and Justice fears the Methodist congregations liquidation increased the threat to other religious education. “Almost ever religious organization has a Sunday school,” he told Forus 18 News. “I don’t know of one that has a separate education license. Do they intend to liquidate them all?” Elsewhere, adult religious education without a license has already led to raids and enforced closures. (Source: F18News)

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What is a Christian's responsibility with regard to the environment? Is "greenness" next to godliness? And what does caring for creation have to do with missions? Ed & Susanna Brown both grew up in Pakistan as missionary kids. In 2005 they founded Care of Creation, whose "mission is to pursue a God-centered response to environmental challenges that brings glory to the Creator, advances the cause of Christ, and leads to a transformation of the people and the land that sustains them." As the push to make "green" choices comes from every side, the Care of Creation website, and the papers and books offered there, might be a good starting point for discussions of what being a steward of God's creation is all about.

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The Messenger, The Message & The Community
by Roland Muller, 2006 CanBooks
Reviewed by David Korb

I recommend this book to those interested in learning more about contextualization, ministry to Muslims, and understanding the dynamics involved when crossing cultures.

Though overall I commend this book to you, this book frustrated me because the material is not presented in an orderly manner. This volume is a compilation of three of the author’s earlier books. This results in redundancy between the three sections. Some ideas are introduced but not discussed in one part of the book, but are developed later in another context. Having said this, once you finish reading the entire book, the themes begin to mesh and a complete picture of what the author is saying begins to emerge.

As the title suggests, this volume address three major issues concerning cross-cultural church planting: the messenger, his message, and the community the messenger is inviting others to join. The author first discusses how the messenger must be accepted as authentic within the host culture. Second, the message must be understandable to the people in the host culture. And third, the community into which the messenger is inviting the listener must be viable or attractive to this individual. As you can see, the overriding theme is that of contextualization.

I found Mueller’s treatment of worldviews to be most helpful and interesting. Basically, he sees worldviews divided into three different foundational starting points. The West, that is, North America and Europe, generally works off a guilt/innocence continuum. The South—South America and Africa—sees life through a fear/power continuum. In the East, including the 10-40 window, the continuum is between shame and honor. Muller reminds the reader over and over again that these frameworks are to be understood as generally, but not exclusively, descriptive of the worldviews found within each region.

Muller laces this book with illustrations that stem from his many years of work in the Middle East among Arab Muslims. Through his discussions and examples I found tremendous insights not only into Arab culture, but also a growing understanding of how other cultures in the world approach life from a worldview that is built on a foundation entirely different than that which undergirds my own.

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