ASKing for the. Advocates Among Us

Transcription

1 Ja/Feb 2019 ASKig for the 1-2 Advocates Amog Us ASK Network News 3 ASKig for the Natios: 4 UPG: Turkish Cypriots of ASKig for the Natios: 5 Kuwait UPG: Telugu of Kuwait ASKig for the Advocates Amog Us How ofte do you pray for lawyers? Whe most people thik of lawyers, it is usually ot i a positive light. Our thoughts tur to ambulace chasers or other egative portrayals of attoreys we see i the media. Oe article s title says a lot: Scietific Study Cocludes No Oe Trusts Lawyers. But what if I were to tell you that there are legal professioals across the globe who are doig their best to follow Christ ad eed your prayers? Advocates Iteratioal is a global etwork whose visio is be A worldwide fellowship of advocates bearig witess of Jesus Christ through the legal professio. There are ow Christia lawyer fellowships i over 130 atios ad Christia attoreys i aother 20+ coutries that do t yet have a fellowship. These Advocates are legal professioals lawyers, judges, law professors, law studets, paralegals who are seekig to live out Christ s commads to us to be His witesses i Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria ad to the eds of the earth Acts 1:8. It is this verse which is the foudatio of our missio: ASKig Poit is a bi-mothly commuicatio o behalf of ASK Network Iteratioal. It is a ivitatio to joi the etwork of prayer throughout the atios, ASKig ad agreeig regardig key issues o God s heart. It is a tool for prayer, a place for testimoy to God s faithfuless i aswerig, ad a gift of worship to the Livig God. to ecourage, eable ad equip advocates globally to meet locally (Jerusalem), orgaize atioally (Judea), cooperate regioally (Samaria) ad lik globally to promote religious freedom, justice for the poor, rule of law, huma life & digity, peace & recociliatio, family & commuity, ad ethical itegrity. As a lawyer myself, I ca tell you that workig i the legal professio ca be loely ad stressful. Log hours. Difficult issues. Difficult cliets. If a TV show about workig as a lawyer showed the reality of the challeges ad the amout of time a attorey speds sittig i frot of their computer workig o legal briefs or other miutiae, it would t last for more tha oe 30 miute episode before viewers tured it off. If they were still awake. But whe people eed legal help, how may thik: I hope that my lawyer is hoest. That s where our ASKig of the Father comes i. May of our Advocates live ad 1

2 practice law i coutries where corruptio is rife, there is a expectatio that lawyers are bad ad judges ca be bought. They received o traiig i ethics, ad there are very few, if ay, examples of legal professioals with itegrity. Advocates Iteratioal ad the etwork of Christia lawyer fellowships serve as a vessel for helpig our advocates to lear from oe aother to be salt ad light. Some of the fellowships are actively seekig ways to make a differece i the public square i their atios. Some of the fellowships, o the other had, do all they ca to simply help each other stay alive. Here are two brief examples. I oe predomiatly Muslim atio, there are three Advocates we kow. The first was a seveth geeratio Imam i traiig whe Jesus appeared to him i a dream. He followed Christ, leavig his Muslim traditios behid. He was disowed by his family ad fled his coutry. He retured ad subsequetly led two other Muslim lawyers to faith. Please pray for Advocates like him. I Germay, the fellowship is called Christ ud Jurist, ad is 300 members strog. I Berli i October 2018, they co-hosted, alog with the Lawyers Christia Fellowship of the UK, a coferece of over 200 legal professioals from across Europe. The 50 Natios/1 Fellowship Coferece was ulike most lawyers cofereces. The focus of the coferece was uity, forgiveess ad recociliatio, ad was bathed i prayer. I was pleased that Stuart ad Celia McAlpie were able to joi me ad my wife i Berli. Durig the coferece, a Germa judge amed Peter (a good fried of mie) was oe of the keyote speakers. I his talk he shared that his gradfather became guilty as a judge durig the Nazi regime. Peter the asked o behalf of himself, his family ad his atio for forgiveess. Aother good fried from South Africa, Teresa, came to the podium ad offered forgiveess o behalf of her ow family ad atio. Her gradfather had died durig World War II while fightig i Europe. It was a powerful demostratio of our eed for givig ad receivig forgiveess ad there was ot a dry eye i the room. May were opely weepig. The prayers coverig that gatherig were aswered i a powerful way. We covet your cotiued ASKig for the ogoig work of stregtheig these Advocates ad Christia lawyer fellowships across Europe. After all, beig a lawyer is ot so bad. God is the righteous Judge (Psalm 50:7), ad Jesus himself is our Advocate before the Father. He ot oly represets us, but he took our puishmet upo himself. (1 Joh 2:1-2). Pray that we Advocates will be more Christ-like i the legal professio. Here are several ways you ca ASK for Advocates Iteratioal ad lawyers aroud the globe: I additio to their busy legal practices or servig as judges, these me ad wome are i our churches, ofte servig as elders (as I do) or deacos; ruig miistries or servig o the boards of miistries. Pray for these Paul s ad Deborah s. Law studets represet the ext geeratio. Please pray for these Timothy s ad Esther s. You may kow of attoreys or legal professioals i your church who are t eve aware that there are Christia legal fellowships. Please pray for that they will fid fellowship with like-mided colleagues, or make the time to start a ew fellowship. Begiig i 2019, we are lauchig a ew iitiative to pray daily for each cotiet with our Advocates via videocoferecig. To lear more, visit May the Lord bless ad keep you i His perfect Grace ad peace, Bret M. McBurey Presidet & CEO of Advocates Iteratioal Bret McBurey 2

3 2018 was a year of great grace for ASK Network. We saw the miistry icreasigly established i atios where we already had faithful leadership. We are so grateful to so may who have gathered, asked ad bee obediet to what God has asked of them. We have see the icrease that oly God ca give. We praise Him for that. For istace uder the ogoig leadership of Charles ad Miriam Kaloki i Africa, ASK has grow cosiderably i several atios, ad bee lauched i some ew oes. A sigificat gatherig of Souther Africa atios was held i Zambia this past October where Flemigs Mtoga has take a strog lead, eve receivig esteem from govermet parties. We have bee thakful to see ASK mature i other cotiets too; Europe ad North America takig a faithful stad i challegig days. At a ASK Cotietal Coferece i Florida USA last Jauary, Ray ad Arlee Borg (Caada) received the call to leadership for the North America Cotiet. As a result, Beverley Coad who had faithfully held that positio was freed to travel for ASK more extesively iteratioally. Such examples of a healthy trasfer of leadership is such a sig of God s favor ad evidece of the growth God has brought. Prayig i Idia Ca we begi to visualize a world where all atios could be prayed i but also prayed for by other atios? Where the Sword of the Word is wielded with authority? SO what does 2019 hold for us? I light of the ecouragemet of all we witessed i 2018, let us take this lovely scripture from Corithias ad pray it for ASK i our ow atios, but also particularly for atios where ASK has ot yet bee plated or has ot yet flourished. Stuart McAlpie miisterig i Africa There have bee other firsts this year. ASK teams traveled twice to Idia to teach the simple but profoud priciples of prayig the Word of God for ay situatio, small or large. There is ew ecouragemet i South East Asia where we have see the first sigs of growth i Thailad. Aother sigificat first was a visit to Cuba where the soil is well prepared through may years of waitig ad, we discovered, a leader prepared. We see this as a gateway to Cetral ad South America. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, ad he will deliver us. O him we have set our hope that he will deliver us agai. You also must help us by prayer, so that may will give thaks o our behalf for the blessig grated us through the prayers of may. For our boast is this, the testimoy of our cosciece, that we behaved i the world with simplicity ad godly sicerity, ot by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, ad supremely so toward you. 2 Corithias 1:10-12 (ESV) May all of ASK Network s efforts be led by God s grace ad ot earthly wisdom. Ame. 3

4 is the third largest ad most populous islad i the Mediterraea. Its early history dates to the 2d milleium BC ad because of its strategic locatio, it has bee occupied throughout the ceturies by major world powers. was partitioed i 1974 with the Muslim Turkish occupatio of the orth (36%), leavig the Greeks ad Easter Orthodox i the south (64%). The Republic of (the south) is the recogized legal govermet of the whole islad. Oly Turkey recogizes the Turkish Republic of the North s govermet. is i the midst of a burgeoig migrat crisis as smuggler etworks take advatage of the Mediterraea Islad s partitio ad proximity to the Middle East. As i Greece, whe Europe s refugee crisis erupted with Syria s descet ito civil war, support groups have tried to deal with the social ailmets that have arise with the iflux. However, the iterior miister has stated that, is saturated ad ca o loger absorb such flows of immigratio is a destiatio coutry for wome who are sex trafficked ito prostitutio ad forced ito domestic labor. Childre withi the migrat ad Romai commuities are also vulerable to traffickig. is ot compliat with iteratioal pressure to ed huma traffickig. There is o law specifically baig huma traffickig i the Turkish Republic of the North. Let s ASK: For God to reveal His heart to the church to fid His solutio to the refugee crisis. What I m iterested i seeig you do is: sharig your food with the hugry, ivitig the homeless poor ito your homes, puttig clothes o the shiverig ill-clad, beig available to your ow families. Do this ad the lights will tur o, ad your lives will tur aroud at oce. Your righteousess will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. The whe you pray, God will aswer. You ll call out for help ad I ll say, Here I am. Isaiah 58:7-9 (Message Bible) For the church to come ito agreemet with what God wats us to do to put a ed to the sex traffickig ad forced domestic labor practices. This is the kid of fast day I m after: to break the chais of ijustice, get rid of exploitatio i the work place, free the oppressed, cacel debts. Isaiah 58:6 (Message Bible) TURKISH CYPRIOTS OF CYPRUS Populatio: 214,000 Primary Religio: Laguage: Backgroud Islam Turkish The two largest idigeous people groups o are the Greek Cypriots ad the Turkish Cypriots. They have bee eemies sice the 16th cetury whe Ottomas ivaded. The Turkish Cypriots live o the orther part of the islad ad are separated from the Greeks by a defied border that is patrolled by the Uited Natios Peacekeepig Force. Most Turkish Cypriots are farmers ad traders. They come from the Sui brach of Islam, but most Turkish Cypriots today cosider themselves secular Muslims, allowig the use of alcohol ad ot requirig wome to cover their heads. There are roughly 1,000 kow Christias amog the Turkish Cypriots. ASK that Jesus will be revealed to the Greek ad Turkish Cypriots as the Price of Peace. Ask God to brig dow the dividig wall of hostility that separates the Cypriots of. (Galatias 3:26-29, Ephesias 2:14-18) 4

5 The atio of Kuwait is situated at the tip of the Persia Gulf, sharig borders with Iraq ad Saudi Arabia. Of its 4.2 millio people, 1.3 millio are Kuwaiti ad 2.9 millio are expatriates (70%). Kuwait is a semi-democratic system ad its high-icome ecoomy is backed by the world s 6th largest oil reserve, fiacig the atio s largescale moderizatio. I the 1980s, geopolitical istability ad ecoomic crisis led to ivasio by the Iraq which eded i 1991 after the Gulf War. Kuwait is 82% Muslim, 14% Christia ad 1.5% Evagelical. The udergroud Church is gaiig i stregth, ad coverted Kuwaitis are becomig public ad gatherig with boldess ad opeess. Most expatriates are me o short-term work cotracts resultig i greater tolerace of other faiths because foreigers comprise most of the workforce. There are may opportuities to miister to the omial Christias amog them. Kuwaiti families ofte leave the child-rearig to the maids ad aies that are committed believers but who live ad work i difficult circumstaces ad are mistreated or abused by their Arab superiors. Let s ASK: For the Church to grow i God s word; how to relate to the Kuwaiti families they serve; ad to be a example of godliess to their employers. Ad this is my prayer: that your love may aboud more ad more i kowledge ad depth of isight, so that you may be able to discer what is best ad may be pure ad blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousess Philippias 1:9-10 That the coditios will cotiue to improve through chages i the hearts of employers. Ad I will give them oe heart [a ew heart] ad put a ew spirit withi them. I will take from them the heart of stoe, ad will give them a heart of flesh [that is resposive to My touch]. Ezekiel 11:19 (Amplified) For God to ecourage ad use believers to wi those from other faiths. May have amazig access withi the homes ad lives of Kuwaitis. The Lord says, You people are my witesses ad the servat I chose. I chose you so that you would help people believe me. I chose you so that you would uderstad that I Am He I am the true God. There was o God before me, ad there will be o God after me. I myself am the Lord, ad there is o other Savior. Isaiah 43:10-11 TELUGU OF KUWAIT Populatio: 600 Primary Religio: Laguage: Backgroud Kuwait Hiduism Telugu The Telugu origially lived i souther Idia ad were amog its most prosperous people. Most have ow migrated to other atios where they are able to make a better livig. I Kuwait, the Telugu work as busiess ad medical professioals, as well as oil idustry laborers or domestic servats. The Telugu are a small portio of the 1.3 millio Hidus who comprise over oe-third of Kuwait s populatio. Each year durig Diwali, Hidus celebrate the victory of good over evil, the power of light over darkess. There is a large cogregatio i Kuwait reachig out to Kuwait s Hidu people groups. PRAY that Telugu would kow Jesus as the Light of the world ad the oe true God who is good. Ask God to give eergy ad creativity to Christias i Kuwait who are actively reachig out to Hidu people groups. (Psalm 145:9, Joh 8:12) 5