A New Buddhist World Prayer Site

The 2020 Buddhist World Prayer Guide is available in several languages again.  While translations in more languages are still needed it should be noted, that last year contributors managed to translate the prayer guide into the languages French, German, Hindi, Spanish, Laotian and Mandarin Chinese. - Are you interested? - then check: https://buddhistworldprayer.org/2020-prayer-guide/

What same-sex "marriage" has done to Massachusetts

This is more than just educational...See for More.

Are Unreached People Groups part of the Great Commission?

John Piper in his resource website takes time to look deeper into this question. Is the need to share the Good News just a new trend to interpret the teaching of Jesus or is there more behind? Aren't there Christians in all corners of the world? What does the New Testament tell us about those without Jesus? Well just check yourself ....

Need for Churchplanting In Japan?

This might be your question: Japan has come into the headlines through natural disasters more often in the recent years. How about their spiritual condition? How much access has an average Japanese to Christian church life, how far does he have to go to find an evangelical church with a clear testimony of the "Good News"?
You may wonder, for many Japanese it is far easier to buy a good expensive car than finding the most precious "Good News" in their neighborhoods. How comes? There is simply no church around!
Check for more about the present church planting situation under: Japan's Unreached a

Church Growth In Taiwan? (A Report)

For those who just would like to know the numbers about the growth of Christianity in Taiwan internet research can be not only very confusing it can be very misleading too.
You can find everything from suggestions to unprofessional commented numbers in blogs and old wiki webpages, but rarely something helpful and realistic.
Yet there are a few addresses with reliable numbers, one is the TMF website and one is the recent report from OC.
Check: http://www.ocresearch.info/?q=wiki/taiwan-church-growth-report-2015

Amazing Facts

Sometimes it helps to check a biblical timeline in order to find the answer to questions. Here is a video on youtube, that just summarized some of this in a short demonstration of how God provided protection of this revelation. Did you for instance know...
that Abraham must have known SEM one of the three sons of Noah, because he was still alive?
Check it out and click on "Abraham"

Taiwan helps Japan in earthquake Relief

The Taiwan government is stepping up efforts to assist Japan in the wake of the magnitude-6.5 and 7.3 earthquakes that struck Kumamoto Prefecture April 14 and 16 on the country’s Kyushu Island, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs April 16.

The Taiwan government announced it  would donate a further US$500,000 to Japan, in addition to an earlier aid contribution of US$92,000.

“The aim is to help authorities in Japan reconstruct the quake-hit area and help those affected rebuild their lives as soon as possible,” the MOFA said in a statement.

“The Taiwan government has also informed the Japan government that search and rescue teams from Taiwan stand ready to provide assistance if needed.”

Since the first temblor struck the area, the Fukuoka Branch of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Osaka has worked to ensure the safety of Taiwan citizens. According to the MOFA, a total of 1,320 tourists on Kyushu Island have been confirmed safe, while one individual has been hospitalized. Furthermore, MOFA officials arranged for the evacuation of eight citizens from Kumamoto Prefecture’s Mt. Aso region, and are working to reach a further 10 citizens stranded in the area.

The MOFA statement also said more staffers from the Tokyo-based Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan are traveling to the region to provide additional support to Taiwan citizens.

Over the past few years, Taiwan and Japan have offered each other considerable resources and funds for post-disaster relief and reconstruction. Taiwan was the top contributor of foreign aid to Japan following the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the eastern area of the nation on March 11, 2011, while the Japan government donated US$1.2 million to Taiwan after a deadly earthquake toppled buildings in the southern city of Tainan this February.

Are East Asian Nations really all Semites?

There is a hot, still ongoing discussion about the true background in the various biblical tables of nations to distinguish the origin of Asian nations. This especially relates to the question from whom of the three sons of Noah they are descending, from Sem, Ham or Japhet? In his paper Paul Phelps argues not only the Chinese, but all the Asian nations should be regarded as Eastern Hebrew nations (Paul Phelps), while many like  Henry Morris see them clearly as descendants of Ham. He writes about Gen. 9:24: 

"Descendants of Ham included the Egyptians and Sumerians, who founded the first two great empires of antiquity, as well as other great nations such as the Phoenicians, Hittites, and Canaanites. The modern African tribes and the Mongol tribes (including today the Chinese and Japanese), as well as the American Indians and the South Sea Islanders, are probably dominantly Hamitic in origin."

Regarding Gen. 10:16-18 Morris writes:

The Biblical mention of a people in the Far East named “Sinim” (Isaiah 49:12), together with references in ancient secular histories to people in the Far East called “Sinae,” at least suggests the possibility that some of Sin’s descendants migrated eastward, while others went south into the land of Canaan. It is significant that the Chinese people have always been identified by the prefix “Sino-” (e.g., Sino-Japanese War; Sinology, the study of Chinese history). The name “Sin” is frequently encountered in Chinese names in the form “Siang” or its equivalent.

The evidence is tenuous but, of all the names in the Table of Nations, it does seem that two sons of Canaan, Heth (Hittites = Khittae = Cathay) and Sin (Sinites = Sinim = China), are the most likely to have become ancestors of the Oriental peoples. Since it seems reasonable that divine inspiration would include in such a table information concerning the ancestry of all the major streams of human development, it is reasonable to conclude that the Mongoloid peoples (and therefore also the American Indians) have come mostly from the Hamitic line.

30 Ham Nations and their Migration Places

As interesting and biblical this sounds, this is not what other Asians more familiar with local Oriental traditions are willing to agree. One of them is Paul Phelps. Instead of summarizing what seems ("t does not seem") the author of the newly published book "Oriental Origins in the Bible" demonstrates how the Hebrew text itself hints into another direction and says: 

[All men in fact belong to one family because Adam and Eve were parents 
of all (Gen. 3:20,) but there are three genealogies after the Flood; Gen. 9:18-19,

The sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth...  These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was peopled. 

   Bible scholars have traced Ham’s descendants to Africa, the Mediterranean, 
the Indian Ocean, and into the South Pacific regions.  The name Ham means hot 
and indicates that Ham’s people went into hot climates.  Japheth’s descendants 
are traceable to the Aryan people of Europe, central Asia, Iran and north India.  
The name Japheth means enlarged (expanded in size) which reveals the nature 
of the Japhetic people, and is also prophetic of their world-wide expansion. 

    Bible scholarship tradition has the view that the descendants of Shem settled 
only in western Asia, mostly Arabs and Jews.  But this conclusion does not take 
east Asia into account (half of humanity) and gives only a small portion to Shem.  
But that cannot be correct because Shem was given the greatest honour of all. He also said, “Blessed by the LORD my God be Shem...” (Gen. 9:26). According to the Biblical record, Shem is the original forefather of both the 
West Asian people and East Asian people.  In the Genesis account, the ancestry 
of all the East Asian people can be traced to Shem. Shem means honourable name, which fits well with East Asian cultural values.  
In the Hebrew Bible, God is referred to as ‘The Honourable Name’ (HA-SHÈM), 
thus associating God with the people of Shem.  In Genesis 10:21, Shem is called 
“the father of all the children of Eber,” meaning the Hebrew people.  The word 
Hebrew means ‘of Eber,’ or ‘descended from Eber.’  Gen. 10:25,

                To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg,

                for in his days the earth was divided, 

                and his brother’s name was Joktan. 

The Hebrew race has therefore descended from Eber in two branches: Peleg 
and Joktan.  The name Peleg means division, (indicating the division of mankind 
in Babylon, Gen. 11:7-9), and the name Joktan means diminished, (indicating the 
diminished lifespan of mankind at that time). 

   Joktan’s family of thirteen sons is the largest family of early Bible times.  Only 
Joktan’s first-generation lineage was recorded; Gen. 10:26-29; I Chron. 1:19-23.  
(Even this much is unusual because Joktan’s descendants are not mentioned in 
later Bible history.)  All later Bible history is based on Peleg’s lineage (Gen. 11) 
so readers have traditionally thought Peleg’s descendants are the only existing 
Hebrews.  Peleg’s lineage has more visibility in the Bible because it led up to 
Abraham—and God took Abraham’s people to lead the Bible narrative.  But the 
descendants of Joktan made another even larger branch of Hebrews.  The total 
disappearance of Joktan’s people from the Bible narrative means that his family 
left west Asia entirely and migrated to another land far away. 

On Josephus'  table of nations ( 1st A.D.), Joktam is placed in Pakistan

While his arguments for this view could be supported from current research in view of at least some Han-Chinese groups and several people groups in the Indian subcontinent (some claim the Brahmans of India are descendants of Abraham), it is difficult to apply this view for most of the more than 700 non-Chinese people nations in China. –Alexander Zephyr uses Ps. 83 to remind that conclusions done through pure grammatical and cultural comparison are not sufficient for a sound result. Ps. 83 clearly states shows what happened with the descendants of Peleg, which would include Joktams people in the Middle East and refuses to accept Phelps and Kwoks pure speculation regarding the Joktam migration to the East. -Further research must be done. In order to better reach those people nations for Christ and explain what their ancestors once knew from their creator research regarding the Ham AND Sem nations in Asia need to be reflected.  

Taiwan Prayer Updates for August 2015

1] Pray for the Short Term Teams coming this month to evangelize.

2] Praise God for the good English camp at Ping Lin Elementary School conducted by the team from San Diego.  

3] Pray that God will guide in efforts to follow-up the children who attended. 

4] Pray for the Nan Jing Lu Team to minister at a junior high school this month. 

5] Pray for Gary and Mabel Meade as they endeavor to lead the Gongguan Hakka Team working in the church plant in Gongguan.  This area has close to 36,000 Hakka people. 

6] Praise God that Brenda Chan who loves children and is gifted to work with them has joined the Hakka team full time.  Praise God for the thirty-eight who registered for VBS in July. Pray for a much needed ministry center in Gongguan. Pray that God will blossom this church plant into a full grown church.

7] Pray for grace and wisdom in following up outreaches at Ping Ling Elementary School and San He Elementary School. 

8] Praise God that over twenty students professed faith in Christ at Tian Wei Junior High School. Pray for follow-up.   Pray for Living Water Baptist Church launching a new church plant in Tian Wei.

9] Praise the Lord that the Los Angeles team was able to minister to forty-seven children in Daxi Cuo. Pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to draw these youngsters to Christ.

10] Pray for the SEND team that as summer concludes they will be renewed physically, emotionally and spiritually after the rigorous efforts of the past few months.

11] Pray for the SEND East Asia Hub development as its people are serving to engage more unreached people groups in the immediate area by sharing the vision, the spiritual need and organize UPG prayer meetings to more mature churches with a willingness to commit for more. 

12] Pray for a smooth development of TAB (Taiwan And Beyond), the renamed outreach network (formerly called TECC= Taiwan Expatriate Caring Committee) among the major migrant groups in Taiwan (Filipinos, Vietnamese, Indonesians and Thai people) and a growing vision for cooperation supported by migrant church' pastors.

13] Pray for the launching of SEND EA's project "Hope for Asia's Unreached People Groups (UPG)" and good partners to establish an UPG outreach-movement among several local East Asian churches. 

The Rising Mission Movement in China

The Rising Missions Movement in China (the World’s New Number 1 Economy) and How to Support It (By David Ro)

Examining Engagement in the Asian Buddhist World (A Lausanne Global Analysis).

This issue covers two broad topics: mission in East Asia and new approaches to research and planning for mission (timely in view of the Lausanne Researchers’ International Network meeting taking place later this month, 23-28 May, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). Specifically we feature China’s rising missions movement; we continue our series of articles on engagement with other faiths by examining Asian Buddhism; and we consider the benefits both of strategic foresight in ministry and of building national church databases for mission. (Read More)

Every student - A meaningful website for people in your age!

Check it out http://www.everystudent.com/

Chinese New Year, Chinese Immigrants and more...

Chinese throughout the world have just completed their celebration of their New Year.  Many neighborhood homes are visited to show friendship.  PRAY that the seed/Word sown by many churches, groups and individuals will germinate into many conversions who will demonstrate their faith by baptism and identification with a local church. 

Chinese Immigrants 

     There are many homogeneous groups of people who move from their homeland to another country normally to find work.  They are known as the "Chinese Immigrants."  Taiwan is no exception.  There are many Indonesians, Vietnamese, Thais and Filipinos who have come to work in Taiwan's factories, construction sites, building projects, hospitals and in homes.  Ron and Shelby, SEND missionaries in Chiayi, have a special burden for these people groups.  They give these requests related to the Diaspora:

   1] During Chinese New Year forty-five Thai workers accepted Christ at a TECC supported Thai Bible camp attended by 230 workers.  Prayer is needed for follow-up and training these converts. Especially SEND is looking for workers to assist this ministry. Also during Chinese New Year Rita Chen who is ministering the Vietnamese in Taichung in her church plant experienced the LORDs power in conversions of Vietnamese. 

   2] There are two or three Filipino fellowships/church-denominations with more than 300 churches /fellowships spread throughout most of the larger cities of Taiwan and also in country side.  Over two hundred are baptized every year.  The Logos World Mission was born in Taiwan and has since planted churches in ten countries overseas.  Our partner mission [SEND International] assist Logos World Mission in their outreach.  Pray that God will keep His hand of blessing on this people group.

   3] There are almost a quarter of a million foreign brides married to Taiwanese.  The government has some programs to help them integrate into society.  We try to help them with various needs especially in their need for legal advice.  Often their children have special educational and adjustment needs, because they can not assist their own children in learning the Chinese writing and themselves have not gone through it. In Chiayi we endeavor to help with their social needs and hopefully have opportunity to share the Gospel with them.  This ministry needs special prayer for wisdom and effectiveness.

   4] Our burden is for a deeper involvement of the Taiwanese churches in the mission of foreigners employed in our country.  Praise God there is a vision to reach fellow Chinese all around the world.  Pray the vision for more cross-cultural ministries among Chinese churches is growing and allowed to expand. 

Prayer vor the Project "Vision 119"

VISION VOICES: PARTNERS IN PRAYER FOR VISION 119

www.send.org/vision-119

"Since the creation of the world His [God's] invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. . [They] exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man.."  Romans 1:20, 23

Family Cary and Verna Perdue are reporting: We have just come through the Christmas season with its many opportunities for outreach with the Gospel. Please read some of the updates below concerning these outreaches and ask the Lord  to germinate the seed that was sown and to blossom it into the fruit of salvation for may precious Taiwanese.

There is also an attached page that gives specific pointed requests that reflect deep needs. 

    

One pens, "Our Christmas Sunday service on December 21 was held under a clear sky and went smoothly. God heard the prayers of many people. Through God's great grace 196 people participated that day and we hope that all who came received God's blessing. This year was the fifth time that the church has used the auditorium of the LiuJya Junior High School to put on the Christmas Sunday worship service. Each time the school has generously let the church use this facility without charge. This time Principal Tsai also came to show his interest."

    

And still another writes, "Because Christmas Day is not a public holiday in Taiwan, our church chose to do our celebrating on the weekend before Christmas. Friday evening was a good success. We used a portable sound system and with 17 people we had fun as well as a great opportunity to sing about Jesus in the community. It was really exciting that five of our group were children with whom we are working and some of the parents joined us for refreshments after."

A SEND missionary laboring in DaLin exclaims, "Praise the Lord for about 150 people attending our Christmas program at Ping Lin Elementary School Dec. 21. Pray the Lord to bless Mr. Hu, the school principal, and the many supportive teachers and staff who have welcomed us to the community. 

     Teacher Huang performed with his violin, and says, 'I feel peace when I come to church.' Pray for Mr. Huang and the many that came under the influence of the Gospel.  They need the long term peace which only Christ can give."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWtvQanCRU8

The Vision - SEND International - Church Planting | Missions