Overwhelmed by need and shaken by the daily terror experienced by our brothers and sisters in Nepal, I lost my composure. I lost my calm. I don't know what to do. I wake up in the middle of the night seeing in front of my own eyes the agony of Nepal.
When it rains it pours. Another massive earthquake has just hit Central Nepal a second time (7.4 magnitude). Said Rev Mukunda in Kathmandu, "The people are even more traumatized". That was last night (Tuesday) before communications went down.
Amazing Initial response: You may be delighted to know that on the basis of two emails alone about $25,000 has already come in so far - and that most of the money is in Nepal and more is being sent.
It really is with 'fear and trembling' that we are proceeding. Please note all that was said in our AFA Nepal Relief Action letter
Fear and sorrow always grips my heart whenever I think of the story of my life. Really, my life has been a painful journey full of incredible happenings – until God connected me to AFA.
Christian humanitarian aid at home and abroad is primarily about Christ, the Gospel and faith active in love - not about doing good in its own right. Furthermore we challenge the fundamental principle upon which much of our modern-day humanitarian aid is built, namely that aid is given on the basis of need only, irrespective of ‘colour and creed (religion)’. Closer examination will reveal that this principle is superficial, false and misleading.We deal with a classic case of mainstream churches having taken over the standards and values of the world.
In the face of declining mission activities in local Lutheran churches, declining church attendance and increasing focus on ritual and ceremony, it had been decided to establish this group to focus on winning people for Christ and to establish new congregations and mission centres particularly in the greater Manila area among the native people and in Benguet in Northern Luzon.
Challenging, provocative thoughts written with much love about the state of many Lutheran churches in the Philippines (and Australia?).
Damadi Home – formerly Immanuel Children’s Home – was officially opened on Saturday 14 February 2015 in the presence of international guests from Finland and Korea and our team from Australia and representatives from many local church groups. It is a dream come true – a wonderful ‘act of God’.
A new study in the CHINA ECONOMIC REVIEW exploring the impact of religious beliefs on economic development has found that “Christianity has the most significant effect on economic growth” and that the steady increase of Christianity has played an important role in China’s economic rise
SABAH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY (STS), Malaysia, is an absolute blessing for much of Asia. AFA has supported numerous students at STS over the years, some of them from China – including HU YU MEI, 29, who has now returned to the mountain regions of Yunnan Province in South West China, not far from Laos and Myanmar. She now is an evangelist there.
Two new students have been accepted by AFA for sponsorship. We welcome THOMAS BIN MAIDUM and SUHEIMIN BIN TAIKONG. May God bless you richly!
Blind western journalists and media outlets, mostly themselves of Christian origins, have a lot to answer for. Their silence with regard to the escalating violence against Christians globally is deafening. Even churches often seem to remain uninformed and too much in the background of this war against the forces of darkness.
On the first Sunday of Advent I asked the ten Sunday School children, “Who will come to us on Christmas Day?” In one voice they said: “Santa!” Sunday School children talking! That sums it all up: The battle for Christmas is lost. It’s fanciful to talk about ‘bringing Christ back into Christmas’. The world has won. Money always wins.
A miracle is happening in Gbellai Village, Liberia, Africa: a 75 years old man is in jubilation because it is the first time in his life that he not only could drink clean water from a well, but he could pump it up himself.
What you see here is all they've got except for a few things in a cupboard, but in one way they are rich: they want to bring Christ to the nation!
The media coverage tends to be sensational – and the response of the world has been tardy and confused. The reluctance of much of the Western World to really help and get involved is deplorable. Above everything else, Ebola needs to be fought in West Africa, then the whole world becomes a safer place.
The newly established EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF VIETNAM keeps growing and consolidating with our help. The “Vietnam Australian Bible School”, supported by AFA, is teaching elders, evangelists, pastors the Holy Christian Faith.
I apologize sincerely to all genuine Muslims in our land for the hatred and outrage shown by sections of the Australian community against some of the local Muslim community. At the same time I shudder when I think of IS (Islamic State) and similar groups and, more broadly, of the creeping Islamization in Muslim countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and elsewhere.
A Catholic country, yet also a pagan country (like Australia?), mission in the Philippines is hard. There is a Lutheran Church present but it is small, village based and seems to be shrinking with its ultra-conservative worship.