Global Missions

A Global Missions Glossary

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

Jesus’ instructions were clear and unequivocal: “Go … and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28.19) Paraphrasing Article 6 of the Lausanne Covenant: “The whole Church is commissioned to take the whole gospel to the whole world.” What may be less clear are some of the terms and phrases used among global mission practitioners and mobilizers. This post is intended to help (at least a little) with some of the vocabulary:

Adherent: A follower of a particular religion, church or philosophy. This is the broadest possible category of such followers and includes professing and affiliated adults and also their children (practicing and non-practicing) who may reside in a given area or country.  

Adoption (of an unreached people): Making a commitment to an unreached people until there is an indigenous, reproducing church established among them. Aspects may include prayer, research, and networking toward church planting. Sometimes called “people group adoption” or adopt-a-people.  (There is currently no centralized People Group adoption systems. For more information, or to explore adopting an Unreached People Group, check out Finishing the Task, Global Adopt a People Campaign, or Adopt a UUPG of the IMB.)

Advocate: People group advocates are individuals who have committed themselves to one specific people group (ethnic group), to learn about them, their environment, culture, demographics, status, etc. They pray about how churches can be established among them. They may network and partner with others to encourage their involvement.  

Affinity Bloc: Families of peoples related in aspects such as religion, culture, history, politics, and geography. In nearly every bloc there are widely dissimilar and unrelated linguistic minorities, but often there is one particular culture that is dominant. 

Church planting: Missionary role of evangelism, discipleship and training of leaders for the establishment of a body of believers, or a church. Does not refer to a physical building.  

Closed Country: Countries that limit or prevent Christian ministry by expatriates as missionaries. Alternatively they are called creative-access countries, restricted access countries, closing countries, restrictive countries, sensitive countries.  

Cluster: Grouping of peoples within each affinity bloc which are closely related peoples and, for strategic purposes, may be clustered together. These relationships are often based on a common identity of language and name, but sometimes on the basis of culture, religion, economy, or dominance of one group over another.  

Collaboration: To combine forces and resources to meet a common goal.  

Contextualization: Adapting a biblical concept, mission method, etc., without changing the substance, to make it understood within the context of an ethnic culture. 

Ethnocentrism: Seeing the world through self-colored glasses, so that your culture always looks best and becomes the pattern everyone else should fit into. By no means is ethnocentrism restricted to the majority culture in a country, but it is a nearly universal tendency among humans. 

Ethnolinguistic People: An ethnic or racial group speaking its own language. A people group distinguished by its self-identity with traditions of common descent, history, customs and language. Also known as a people.  

Evangelism: An effective presentation of the Gospel by someone from the same culture, and within a culture where the missiological breakthrough of a viable church has already taken place.  

Expatriate: One who has taken up residence in a foreign country.  

Field: The location where ministry, church planting, and evangelism takes place.  

Field-based: Strategy determined by those on the field, rather than from those at the “home,” sending, or resource base.  

Frontier: Pertaining to unreached areas or peoples.  

Frontier Missions: Cross-cultural evangelism to People Groups where no missiological breakthroughs have occurred (or among a People Group where no viable church exists).  

Harvest Field: All who are not true Christians; not part of the Body of Christ.  

Harvest Force: Those of the Body of Christ who are involved in a direct or indirect way in helping to bring in the harvest of souls.  

Indigenous peoples or persons: Those individuals or groups who originate from a particular area; a national, a native.  

Joshua Project Unreached Peoples List: A listing of “country-distinct” peoples each over 10,000 in population that were chosen by their ethnolinguistic distinction and their status of being less than 2% Evangelical and less that 5% Christian adherents.  (see: Joshua Project)

Martyr: A Christian believer who dies in a situation of witness as a result of human hostility.  

Mission: The loving work of God to bring humankind to himself as the Church (missio dei). Secondarily, the overall ministry of the Church for world evangelization. 

Missiology: The study of missions and mission strategies; the theology of missions; how and why we do missions. 

Mission agency: A Christian organization helping to further God’s work in the world. “Mission board” and “sending agency” are virtually the same thing. 

Missionary: One who is sent with a message. The Christian missionary is one commissioned by a local church to evangelize, plant churches and disciple people away from his home area, among people of a different race, culture or language (i.e. cross culture).  

Missions Resource Organization: These agencies support the work of field missions and missionaries by offering information, resources, materials, and mobilization of the Church.  

National: Any person who is from the country to which a missionary is going.  

Network: An extended group of people with similar interests or concerns who interact and remain in informal contact for mutual assistance or support.  

Non-Resident Missionary: Professional career missionary who is working towards the evangelization of a particular people or cluster, but resides outside the group, usually in a city with good international communications facilities and no surveillance. 

Para-church: Refers to a Christian organization independent of any church denominational structures. 

Partnership: An association of two or more autonomous bodies who have formed a trusting relationship and agreed upon expectations by sharing complementary strengths and resources, to reach their mutual goal.  

People Group: A significantly large sociological grouping of individuals who perceive themselves to have a common affinity with one another. From the viewpoint of evangelization, this is the largest possible group within which the gospel can be spread without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance.  

Prayer journey: A trip to pray on location for the lost. Team members may spend extended time prayerwalking, asking God to bring the Gospel to that unreached people group. It does not entail evangelism or mercy ministries.  

Prayerwalking: Praying “on-site with insight.” Taking prayers outside the church walls as we walk through an area. Praying in the very places we expect to see God bring forth His answers. Usually low profile and unobtrusive in appearance. 

Praying Through the Window: Prayer initiatives developed for the purpose of worldwide focused prayer for the countries and peoples in the 10/40 Window.  (see Pray Thru the Window) 

Reached/unreached: A term that is widely used today to describe people groups and areas that have or have not responded to the preaching of the gospel. Strictly, it should be a measure of the exposure of a people group to the gospel and not a measure of the response.  

Regular Missions: Pertaining to cross cultureal evangelism by a different-culture worker, in association with same-cultural workers if possible, where a missiological breakthrough has already taken place.  

Strategy Coordinator: One who develops and implements a strategy to reach a people group, working with a team or network. Support: The finances and prayer needed and given for mission trips & work. 

Syncretism: Fusion of differing systems of belief. Mixing Christianity with heresy.

Synergy: The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects. Cooperative interaction among groups that creates an enhanced combined effect.  

Tentmaker: A cross-cultural witness who works at a paying, usually secular, job overseas. Often they are able to gain entry into “closed” countries which restrict traditional mission efforts.  

10/40 Window: The area of the world between latitudes 10 degrees and 40 degrees north of the equator in the Eastern hemisphere, covering North Africa, Middle East and Asia. The window has in view most of the world’s areas of greatest physical and spiritual need, most of the world’s least-reached peoples and most of the governments that oppose Christianity. (see What is the 10/40 Window? and Window International Network) 

Unreached /Least Reached People Group:  A people or people group among whom there is no viable indigenous community of believing Christians (i.e.  no church) with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize their own people without outside (cross-cultural) assistance.  The general defining criteria is a People Group that is less than 2% Evangelical Christian and less than 5% Christian Adherents.  (see Joshua Project) 

World Evangelization: The whole Church taking the whole gospel to the whole world. The goal of giving every person the opportunity to hear the gospel in a way they understand, to become disciples of Christ, and to join with others in fellowship without leaving their own culture or people.  

If the Gospel Overtakes China…

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

In the news recently are reports that China’s Communist Leaders Fear Christian Population May Reach 300 Million by 2030. I first heard it mentioned on an episode of Breakpoint podcast, then later read about it from a couple of sources, including The Christian Post linked above. I have long been aware that the church in China was growing rapidly, exponentially. I have read that there are believed to be more Evangelical Christians in China than in the USA – more even than in the USA and Europe combined. But until this recent report, I don’t think I comprehended that the committed Christian population in China will soon match the total population of the USA! (USA estimates roughly 330 million population.) Astounding. Clearly God is doing an amazing thing among the Chinese people.

What has most grabbed my attention, however, is not the sheer number of Christians in China, but the seeming divergent tales of two cultures in response to the growing number of Christians in China and despite the growing number of Christians in China.

First, are the reports that the Communist Chinese government is aware and afraid of the growing number of Christians. They have tried persecution, executions, etc., but nothing has stopped the growth of the Church. Now realizing that the gospel cannot be stopped, and that at some point the number of Christians will lead to radical changes undermining the power of the Communist government, Party leaders fear losing their near absolute control.

Second, in contrast to the reports from China, here in the USA, many Evangelical Christians are among the Americans living in fear that the Church has lost the culture, and that China may soon take over the USA (here) – and maybe even the world! (here, here)

So here’s my question: Why is it that so many who believe the Gospel – and who believe in the God of the gospel – fear those who are afraid of the gospel that they know they are unable to overcome? Why do we not trust – and pray – that God is working out his purposes? (Habakkuk 2.14, Romans 8.28)

For those interested in learning more about what God is doing in China, check out:

2019 World Watch: Top 10 Places of Persecution Around the World

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

Earlier today Open Doors USA, an organization that tracks religious persecution around the world, particularly the persecution of Christians, published the new 2019 World Watch List, ranking and chronicling the Top 50 countries where persecution of Christians occurs.

The Top 10 (or Bottom 10, if we consider these worst to less-worse):

  1. North Korea
  2. Afghanistan
  3. Somalia
  4. Libya
  5. Pakistan
  6. Sudan
  7. Eritrea
  8. Yemen
  9. Iran
  10. India

Some will be surprised that China does not make the Top 10. This is perhaps especially so given the arrests of scores of members of the Early Rain Covenant Church in China, including the congregations pastor, Wang Yi, that has been in the news. China comes in at #27 on this list.

It is stunning to me to think that there are 26 nations where religious oppressing is greater than it is in China.

Open Doors does more than just track the tragedies; they support those who are persecuted.  If you want to do something, begin by downloading the Prayer App, posting a prayer on the Prayer Wall, and/or writing a letter to a persecuted Follower of Jesus.  There are also opportunities to get more deeply involved, to become a volunteer or an advocate.  To learn more about these opportunities, contact Open Doors.

“If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”  (1 Corinthians 12.26)

The Missional Puritan: On Mission With God

/ Dennis Griffith / 2 Comments

Hey, this Missional thing is nothing new!  Listen to what the old English Puritan, John Owen, wrote in the 17th Century:

God has work to do in this world; and to desert it because of its difficulties and entanglements, is to cast off His authority. It is not enough that we be just, that we be righteous, and walk with God in holiness; but we must also serve our generation, as David did before he fell asleep. God has a work to do; and not to help Him is to oppose Him.

Missional may be a relatively new term coined to challenge an apathetic or directionless church, but it is not new.  It is the living out our biblical mandate.  God has work to do in this world – and in this community.  If we are in Christ we are enlisted to be as seeds scattered wherever our Sovereign God determines to send us, to take root and bless our generation.  (See Jeremiah 29.4-7)

When Helping Hurts

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

With the re-emergence of ministries of mercy by Evangelicals have also come definite challenges.  I am delighted that this trend of compassion continues on the upswing. But I am also aware of both the theological and practical dilemmas that inevitably face anyone who is engaged in such outreach.

The video above in an interview with two highly qualified mercy ministry experts, Brian Fikkert and Steven Corbett. I don’t know much about Corbett, but it was my privilege to get to know Brian when he was establishing the Chalmers Center.  (Brian’s son was also on my daughters first soccer team. )  And Brian, along with a few of his colleagues, were instrumental in helping the church I then served to develop our ministry among the poor in Walker County Georgia.

In the video Fikkert and Corbett discuss the premiss behind their excellent, must-read, book: When Helping Hurts.  They address practical and philosophical dimensions of such issues as cultivationg dependency, etc.

Can Mission Become an Idol?

/ Dennis Griffith / 7 Comments

“There is a first-rate commitment to a second-rate mission.” That is what Roger, a leader in global church planting, said as he looked at the rock climbers ascending a cliff in the Alps. Many of us called into ministry feel the same way. Rather than giving our lives to climbing a rock, building a business, or amassing a fortune, we are committed to what really matters; a first-rate mission – advancing the Gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ.

But what if we’re wrong?

Roger spent decades serving Christ by planting churches on four continents. But after reflecting on his labors for the kingdom of God, his confession surprised many of us. “I’ve given most of my energy to a second-rate mission as well,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. Church planting is important. But someday that mission will end. My first calling is to live with God. That must be my first commitment.”

What Roger articulated was a temptation that many of us in ministry face. To put it simply, many church leaders unknowingly replace the transcendent vitality of a life with God for the ego satisfaction they derive from a life for God. Before exploring how this shift occurs in church leaders, let me take a step or two backwards and explain how I have seen this tendency within the Christian college students I’ve worked with in recent years.

Is impact everything?

The students I meet with often worry about what awaits them after graduation. This is a reasonable concern for any young adult, but for many of them the worry extends far beyond finding a job with benefits. They fixate, and some obsess, about “making a difference in the world.” They fear living lives of insignificance. They worry about not achieving the right things, or not enough of the right things. Behind all of this is the belief that their value is determined by what they achieve. I’ve learned that when a student asks me, “What should I do with my life?” what he or she really wants to know is, “How can I prove that I am valuable?”

When we come believe that our faith is primarily about what we can do for God in the world, it is like throwing gasoline on our fear of insignificance. The resulting fire may be presented to others as a godly ambition, a holy desire to see God’s mission advance–the kind of drive evident in the Apostle Paul’s life. But when these flames are fueled by fear they reveal none of the peace, joy, or love displayed by Paul and rooted in the Spirit. Instead the relentless drive to prove our worth can quickly become destructive.

Sometimes the people who fear insignificance the most are driven to accomplish the greatest things. As a result they are highly praised within Christian communities for their good works. This temporarily soothes their fear until the next goal can be achieved. But there is a dark side to this drivenness. Gordon MacDonald calls it “missionalism.” It is “the belief that the worth of one’s life is determined by the achievement of a grand objective.”

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God’s Glory Among the Nations: What’s it Worth to Us?

/ Dennis Griffith / 2 Comments

by Rick Wood

As evangelical Christians, we often speak of living to glorify God. I usually sign my columns here with, “For His Glory.” But what does that really mean in our everyday lives? How does this desire to glorify God affect the way we live, the commitments and sacrifices we make, and the price we will pay to build God’s kingdom so He will be worshiped and glorified by all peoples?

As we seek to establish God’s kingdom within every unreached people and destroy Satan’s dominion over their lives, we must ask ourselves the question, “Are we willing to pay the price needed to see these peoples come to Christ?” Is there a price we are unwilling to pay? Will we say to God, ‘I am sorry, but Your glory among the nations and Your worship by all peoples is not worth my time, my money, my ________?'” You fill in the blank. Are we willing to give up the possessions we hold dear, to suffer, or even risk the loss of our lives for the sake of His glory and His kingdom? These tough questions strike at the heart of our concept of God, the nature of our relationship with Him and our priorities in life. They are difficult for all of us to honestly face and answer.

In a world wrapped up in the passionate pursuit of materialism, comforts, pleasures, safety and the abundant life, where do the examples of a Jim Elliot or a Graham Staines fit in? Both were martyred as they attempted to bring the Gospel to an unreached people. Do we see their lives as well spent, or do we pity them for being so foolish as to leave the comforts of their homes and risk their lives to bring the love of Christ to people who were unworthy of their attention?

Who chooses most wisely: the one who plays it safe and seeks all of the things this world has to offer or the one who “gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose,” as Jim Elliott wrote, so that God’s kingdom would be established and His glory made known to all peoples? The answer that each of us gives to these very important questions will reveal a great deal about where our heart is, what we value most and the quality of our walk with Christ.

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One For the Thumb

/ Dennis Griffith / 2 Comments

Do you want to know an easy way to remember the 5 largest blocs of Unreached People Groups?  It’s as easy as looking at your thumb. In fact, looking at your thumb is the way to remember. Use the acrostic: T-H-U-M-B

  • Tribals
  • Hindu
  • Unreached Chinese
  • Muslim
  • Buddhist

A people group is considered unreached when less than 2% of its population are Evangelical Christians.  Perhaps the best resource for learning about all Unreached People Groups, and details about each people, is from Joshua Project.

Mission @ the Heart of God

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

There are the five parts of the Bible:

  • The God of the Old Testament is a missionary God, calling one family in order to bless all the families of the earth.
  • The Christ of the Gospels is a missionary Christ; he sent the church out to witness.
  • The Spirit of the Acts is a missionary Spirit; he drove the church out from Jerusalem to Rome.
  • The Church of the epistles is a missionary Church, a worldwide community with a worldwide vocation.
  • The end of the Revelation is a missionary End, a countless throng from every nation.

So I think we have to say the religion of the Bible is a missionary religion. The evidence is overwhelming and irrefutable.

Mission cannot be regarded as a regrettable lapse from tolerance or decency. Mission cannot be regarded as the hobby of a few fanatical eccentrics in the church. Mission lies at the heart of God and therefore at the very heart of the church. A church without mission is no longer a church. It is contradicting an essential part of its identity. The church is mission.

~ John R. W. Stott, from Authentic Christianity

Serving as Senders

/ Dennis Griffith / 3 Comments

There are no by-standers enlisted in the Great Commission. Everyone called by Christ is called both to Christ and to engage in the Missio Dei – the Mission of God in this world. 

That is not a new concept. I suspect few who have spent even the minimalist time in an Evangelical church would be able to honestly say that they have not heard the above statement, or at least something very, very close.  The question, however, that people seem to stumble over is: What is MY Part?

While there are several ways this can be answered, for the sake of simplicity in this post I will divide the roles into two categories:

  • Some people are Goers
  • Some people are Senders

Obviously some people will do both. But never should a Christian do neither.  Some go on short-term mission trips, and in that way, at least, many are goers.  But in the strictest sense of the roles, most of us short-termers cannot consider ourselves actual “Go-ers”. That should be reserved for those who commit to long-term cross cultural service. 

The role of the typical church member, and of local church missions committees, is to be Senders. But while that may be easy enough to understand, what seems to stump many people, and many committees, is a clear definition of what it means to be a Sender. 

Missiologist Neil Pirolo has penned a very helpful book: Serving as Senders. In this book Pirolo outlines the parameters of being a Sender.  You get the idea even by simply thinking about the outline of the Chapters:

  1. The Need for Senders
  2. Moral Support
  3. Logistics Support
  4. Financial Support
  5. Prayer Support
  6. Communication Support
  7. Re-Entry Support
  8. Your Part in the BIG Picture

While the book is short, and certainly not exhaustive even on this subject, Pirolo’s thoughts are a great starting point. I plan to provide a copy for members of the missions committee at our church.

Serving as Senders is also available as a free e-book. Click the link above, or click: Senders.

Seeds of Mission in Isaiah

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

The following is an edited excerpt of an article written by Daniel Bianchi, from Lausanne Global Conversation. I’ve edited it because the English in the original was pretty rough. But Bianchi’s observations about the themes running throughout the Book of Isaiah, and how they reflect issues related to the mandate for Global Mission, are worth noting.

***

1. A Vision of God’s Supremacy

A vision of God and his uniqueness is the basis of a committed mission to his people and to the nations.

Ponder about the existing link between the vision of who God is:

  • in creation
  • in history
  • in redemption
  • in eternity

…and how that should fuel, sustain, strength and direct my mission commitment.

Throughout Isaiah the prophet declares and gives evidence that YHWH is:

  • Unique
  • Glorious
  • Just and holy
  • Merciful
  • Redeemer
  • Powerful

2. The Challenge of Idolatry

In the backdrop of Isaiah lays the pervasive influence of idolatry. Isaiah confronts God’s people with their sin and, bluntly, vividly, and sometimes sarcastically, points out their gross idolatry.

Idolatry is:

  • Foolish when compared to the revelation of who God is.
  • Helplessness when compare with the acts of God in history and in the story of His people.
  • Oppressive when compare to the grace and freedom of their relationship with the true God.
  • Inconsistent when compared with the nature of God and their identity.

The influence of idolatry is present today.  

This is not only a question of bowing down to images of stones or wood. Is much wider in scope, deeper in influence. The gods and goddesses of today:

  • power
  • wealth
  • knowledge
  • sensuality
  • etc.

…are as real, evasive and demanding that those of Isaiah’s time.

Furthermore, this brings the question on how we, as people of God, in our time and place, are to realate to peoples of other faiths in a pluralistic and relativistic society.

Yes, the people of God sinned. In due time God sent judgment. Now the time for restoration, comfort and re-commissioning had come. He would stand for his own again, and would do new things: a new exodus was coming, a renewed relationship, and a new Servant was to be introduced. The “Servant” would accomplish God’s will – although -in unexpected ways.

3. A Perspective of World Events

The prophet shed some light upon the unexpected ways that God has accomplished his purposes in the history of men. God called a pagan king: his anointed, pastor of his people, and a servant. Maybe that king remained totally blind to the fact that God was using him. Nevertheless, God did use him.

Going further, Scriptures, shows that sometimes God, in turn, sends judgment upon those nations and governments that He initially used to accomplish his purposes. This raises questions about how we might interpret todays events of history…

4. A Wider Scope for the Mission

Isaiah cares for his people and stresses God’s faithfulness and patience with Israel. However, he goes much further. He points to the Nations and the Peoples of the world.

Isaiah is a precious gold mine where we discover God’s universal and overarching purposes.

The stage is the Nations. The word “nation” has a rich theological meaning in the Scriptures. Some of Isaiah’s teaching on God and the nations:

  • Nations are insignificant when compare with God.
  • Nations will know the justice of God.
  • Nations will receive the light of God.
  • Nations will partake in the salvation of God.
  • Nations will have the witness of the people and the Servant of God.
  • Nations are the scenarios of God’s redeeming actions.

Conclusion

Isaiah shows that to join in God’s mission, we need a vision of God’s uniqueness and majesty.

This awe of God confronts all forms of idolatry and sin. First among his people. And then among the Nations. God is just, and will bring restoration and to execute judgment. He will accomplish His promise of redemption, hope and salvation to Israel and to the Nations through the calling, suffering and triumph of his beloved Servant and the resulting obedience of His people.

To read the original article click: Seeds

Haitian Hope

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

The eyes of America are turned toward Haiti, and hearts are going out to that poorest country in the Western Hemishpere, too.  Like many, it is with great interest I am watching the news and hearing of all the tangible aid that is going to the people who were tragically impacted by that 7.0 eathquake. 

I am glad to see people moved in this way – both people of faith and faithless people.  I am glad because every resident of Haiti is a creature made after the image of God – as am I, as are we all.  As those made in the image of God the people of Haiti have an inherent value.  Thus all attempts to alleviate their suffering is a proper response to their present plight. Their inherent value as bearers of the image of God demands it.

But one question remains in my mind: What is the objective of this relief?   Are we simply trying to help these people to put thier lives back together the way they were before the earhtquake? 

That hardly seems much better than their current circumstances. 

If you know anything about Haiti you know it is a vivid illustration of contrasts: The natural beuaty of creation inhabited by the ugliness of  humanity.  Not only is it the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, but it is also perhaps the most corrupt, unstable, and ungodly.  By no reasonable measure was life good even before the earthquake that has rocked their world. 

Here is a little background on Haiti:

Explored by Columbus on Dec. 6, 1492, Haiti’s native Arawaks fell victim to Spanish rule. In 1697, Haiti became the French colony of Saint-Dominique, which became a leading sugarcane producer dependent on slaves. In 1791, an insurrection erupted among the slave population of 480,000, resulting in a declaration of independence by Pierre-Dominique Toussaint l’Ouverture in 1801. Napoléon Bonaparte suppressed the independence movement, but it eventually triumphed in 1804 under Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who gave the new nation the Arawak name Haiti . It was the world’s first independent black republic.  (Source: Countries of the World)

What is less known and less reported is that during the 1791 revolution the slaves in revolt dedicated the island to Satan.  In their eyes, Satan was seen to be the opposition of the (pretense of) Christianity their oppressors instituted.  Subsequently and consequently, despite a long history of being a Roman Catholic Church-State, (which ended in 1987,) Voodooism is the real religion of the island.  Even 75% of the professing Catholics in Haiti practice voodoo. 

With voodoo as the prevailing religon, is it any wonder that instability, injustice, and treachery are marks of this civilization? 

As aid pours into Haiti, my hope is that it would be accompanied by even more prayer.  Haiti needs a change at its very core.  The people who live there, made after the image of God, need a major work of God.  My hope is that this earthquake has prepared the people to recieve it. 

Let me encourage you, each time you see Haiti on the news, in these coming days and week, in addition to any tangible assitance God may lead you to offer, take a moment to offer prayer for the transformation of that island.  To aid you in aiding the people of Haiti through informed prayer check out Operation World: Haiti. 

May God make beauty from the ashes of Haiti. (Isaiah 61.3)