Indonesian Evangelistic and Mission Meetings

Ethnic groups impact society, and it is therefore time for these groups to reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Indonesia, churches continue to grow rapidly, and powerful spiritual revival is an image of the church among other religions. Indonesian Christians know how to stand firm in their faith while interacting with other religions in their country context while approaching other ethnicities in a missional perspective. The steering committees representing the various Indonesian churches in Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia met to plan and prepare for evangelistic meetings to proclaim the challenge of their calling for this specific purpose. Meetings were held in Grace Church in Orange County, CA (June 1-3), Promise Church in New York, NY (June 4-6), and Bethany Church in Philadelphia, PA (June 7-8), demonstrating the unity of Indonesian churches and their burden for outreach.

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4/14 Window Steering Committee Meeting

September 6-8, 2009 will be a historic moment for launching the 4/14 Window, "the core of the core" evangelistic target people in a chronological frame of life. The steering committee, consisting of 33 members from the United States, India, and Singapore, gathered together at the Double Tree Hotel in New Jersey from June 11-13, 2009. During this meeting, about 15 different tracks were designated, and the selected leaders confirmed their roles and responsibilities.

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Philippines Educational Impact

Pastor Nam Soo Kim visited and attended the AG General Council of Philippines from May 14-15, 2009 and shared his vision for the establishment of preschools and kindergartens in local churches. He presented simple and cost-effective ideas for implementing early childhood educational programs. He also introduced the guide booklet, "Manual for Establishing Kindergarten and Preschool" to help Filipino churches in their own context.

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Case Study – Arriba Niños! Rise Up Kids!

Arriba Niños! (Rise Up Kids!) is a children's revival movement aimed at raising up the next generation of leaders to transform society and to lead world missions.

37% of Paraguay's population is children, but they are alienated and deprived of any rights as children. 15% of children between ages 5 and 14 are working on the street and at bus stations for a living. One in four, or 25% of children get married before they reach the age of 18. Due to the war against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay during 1864-1870, the sex ratio became one man for every eight women. This caused men's negligence, sexual corruption, an increased number of single moms and illegitimate children, and a breakdown of families.

Arriba Niños! aims to transform the children of Paraguay with the gospel and raise them up as future leaders. It began as the Sunday school of the Paraguay Center of Life Church in 1991. It was not easy to open the hearts of Paraguayans as they reject Protestantism. But by the grace of the Lord and strategy, this tent church’s Sunday school grew up to 350 children in four years. One of the major elements of growth was the spiritual training of the 10-14 year olds with the Word, praise and evangelism training. Through these trainings, children became evangelism forces as soldiers of Christ. By way of this spiritual training of children and encouraging them to evangelize, the Lord blessed us with surprising growth. I witnessed the Lord using little children for His Work, and I was able to embrace a vision to train them as future leaders on the frontiers of world mission.

As we were preparing the first Arriba Niños!, we faced a grave difficulty as one of our Sunday school buses had a fatal accident. But in February 2006, 10,000 children gathered in one place to hear the Word of God and Praises. It became a great evangelism festival. In August 2007, we started Arriba Hovenes! to train young men and women to teach and nurture children. At this event, the first lady of Paraguay joined us and she challenged 30,000 young men and women, sharing the gospel during two days. It was a pivotal moment of proclaiming the revival of worship of the Lord. Last year, in July 2008, 20,000 children gathered for the 2nd Arriba Niños! and many accepted Jesus. It was truly a continuation of miracles.

Three Visions of Arriba Niños!

1. Social Enlightenment Movement that Implements Children’s Charter of Constitution
   Arriba Niños! is a continuous revival movement that focuses on the spread of the Gospel, differing from other social organization programs, emphasizing children’s rights to future leadership, and to be the image of God.
   
   Children’s Charter of Arriba Niños!
   1. Right of Children: A child should be cared for and loved by parents in a healthy home.
   2. Right of Living: A child should be nurtured with sufficient nutrition, prevention of diseases, and treatment.
   3. Right of Learning: A child should be given an equal chance to good education and facilities according to his abilities and talents.
   4. Right of Protection: A child should be protected from abuse, child labor, violence, abandonment, negligence and other harmful environments.
   5. Right of Cultural Life: A child should be given a chance to enjoy healthy play, cultural and artistic lifestyles freely.
   6. Right of Future Leadership: A child is the hope of the future and a future leader. He/she should be recognized as a major player of globalization, and should be respected.
   7. Right to be the Image of God: A child is an image of God, and should be given a chance to learn and experience God from the early years of his life.
2. Spiritual Salvation through Evangelism Rally
   Arriba Niños!’s objective is a social enlightenment movement to transform the life of children, 37% of Paraguay’s population, through spiritual salvation. Child evangelism is the very basis of mission. According to Lionel Hunt, only 4% of Christians were saved when they were over 30-years old and 86% of Christians accepted Jesus before they turned 15-years old. Arriba Niños! is determined to train children who have already accepted Jesus so that they can in turn witness Jesus to other children. Arriba Niños! gathers local churches through evangelistic rallies and evangelizes children in that particular region.
3. A vision movement that feeds the vision of world mission
   Arriba Niños! is a vision movement that feeds Paraguayan children with the vision of world mission. We should assist children to have a vision of world mission in order to overcome spiritual recession that cripples Paraguay, and to become the heart of South America with a heartbeat that pulsates strongly for world evangelization.

There is a saying that, "Seeds in an apple can be counted, but apples in a seed cannot be counted." Likewise, a child’s potential is unimaginably bigger than ours. Although, it’s not easy to see the fruits of children’s ministry in the short term, it’s important to recognize that a spiritual seed planted in a child’s soul will grow to establish God’s faithful worker. We have a dream that one day a child who was transformed by Arriba Niños! will rise up as an evangelist like Billy Graham, a missionary like Hudson Taylor, a doctor like Schweizer. But more than anything else, we expect that these children will become the Lord’s disciples deeply rooted in the Word of God. Jesus embraced children and told us not to prohibit them from coming to him. We press toward what is ahead as we hold the Word, "The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly." (Isaiah 60:22)

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July Events At A Glance

Milal Missionary Choir to Visit Indonesia (July 7-17, 2009)
Milal, the missionary choir formed in 1987, will meet in Indonesia from July 7-17, 2009. They will gather from 8 different countries to visit and sing at orphanages, schools, homes for the elderly, and prisons. They will also visit Timor for an evangelistic campaign at Kupang and Soe.

Dedication of Tanzania Christian City Center (TCCC) (July 12, 2009)
Promise Church (formerly known as Full Gospel New York Church) has fully supported the Tanzania Christian City Center by providing loan assistance and other funds, with the hope that the center will reach out to Tanzania through its various educational programs. Pastor Nam Soo Kim, the senior pastor of Promise Church, and a short-term mission team will visit the center from July 5-12, 2009, and will attend its dedication service.

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