Water Buffalo Theology

Water Buffalo Theology, written by Kosuke Koyama,

is an expression of an Asian theology, rooted in the Thai Buddhist culture that has developed through Koyama’s missionary experience in Thailand.  While the book itself discusses contextualization, the discussion is rooted in Koyama’s development and contextualization of Christian theology in the Thai Buddhist society.  In the development of his theology, Koyama opposes syncretism, while also opposing a veneer Christianity, or what is exemplified in the book as “kitchen” theology. In other words, theology must be able to culturally express Christianity in terms that carry both the form and meaning of the Gospel message, while rooting itself within the culture, and thus allowing the Gospel to prophetically interpret, challenge, and change that culture and be fully understood by the believers.  In the preface, Koyama defines contextualization as a two step process, “First, to articulate Jesus Christ in culturally appropriate, communicatively apt words; and second, to criticize, reform, dethrone, or oppose culture if it is found to be against what the name of Jesus Christ stands for.”

In the first section Koyama specifically evaluates the history, theological situation and past missiological issues in Asia.  The section starts with a brief overview of the theological situation, and important historical issues on a country-by-country basis.  The author highlights some deeply rooted cultural beliefs and practices, which highlight some of the challenges in understanding Christianity.  Koyama insightfully includes not only the importance of history, but also nature.  He writes, “Theological thinking must hold both history and nature to be equally important.” (1999:20) Nature is cyclical (rainy season, dry season, rainy season, etc.) and encourages a cyclical view of human history as well.  This stands in stark contrast to the “once-for-all” historical action of Christ.  Koyama writes that, "God is not cyclical.  God is linear.  God is not many-times, but is once-for-all." (1999:20) Theological thinking must include consider nature, and the rain must be seen as “His” rain and understood in the linear history of God.  Koyama continues by highlighting how the Western missionary presence in Asia has been both “gun and ointment” or had both a wounding and healing presence.   (1999:32) 

 Beginning to mold thinking towards the receiving culture, Koyama points out that the “fragrance” of the missionary presence, is dependant upon how it is received.  "The missionary ointment itself, then, can be fragrant only insofar as the fragrance of Christ is in it and the same fragrance is appreciated by the ones who repent." (1999:42) The chapter finishes with an unanswered question, whose answer will either justify or challenge this presence.  "Is it possible… for the Christian mission to be 'the salt of the earth' (Matthew 5:13) unless it lives in the confusion of history of 'guns and ointments?'" (1999:42)  In this historical review of mission, Koyama also presents the “inefficient” God who challenges missionaries, and modern culture, in their valuation of “efficiency” as an important personal, cultural and structural attribute. 

 This first section is a preface to what Koyama defines as the first section of contextualization, which is to express the Gospel in culturally appropriate means.  In order to be able to make an evaluation on how to appropriate express and communicate the Gospel, one must first know and understand to whom it is being communicated.  Therefore this should be considered a critical step in the contextualization process.  One must risk being considered “inefficient” in presenting the Gospel, and first understand to whom they minister, before beginning to minister to them.  One might be anxious to begin their ministry of evangelism and start off with an evangelistic outreach to Hindus by serving hamburgers, and wonder why the Gospel was so offensive.

The second section is rooting the Gospel, which Koyama defines in the preface as the first component of contextualization.  In the process of rooting the Gospel one makes use of the information gathered, and relationships formed while getting to know the culture and people with whom one lives.  Koyama provides a great example of a failure to root the Gospel culturally in what he describes as “kitchen” theology.  In this example, he shares how one might sit and drink tea with the missionaries in the living room, expressing proper theology, but their real life is in the dirt floor in the kitchen.  Hiebert provides one such example of going to a Christian preacher for help, but then also turning to the local magician afterwards.  In other words, they share what they are “supposed” to talk about with the missionary, but their real conversations happen afterwards.  Koyama writes that, “Their theological activity goes on while they squat on the dirt ground, and not while sipping tea with missionary friends in the teak-floored shiny living room.”  (1999:60).

This results in the Thai people “seasoning” the Gospel with some of their own Buddhist understandings in order to make it more palatable to their beliefs.  The challenge in rooting the Gospel is finding the cultural means in order that the Gospel is understood, without the Gospel simply appropriating other terms in a syncretic manner.  Koyama writes that, “Our dilemma is this: if we say 'salvation through the blood of Jesus,' our Thai audience is completely lost.  If we say 'salvation through the dharma,' they would see no difference between the Christian faith and Buddhism.”  (1999:59)  Koyama continues with the presentation of neighborology, which highlights the importance of how the Gospel is presented.  This also reflects Samuel Escobar’s presentation of the other Great Commission in John 20:21, which is that it is not only important that the Gospel is presented (Matthew 28:19-20) but how the Gospel is presented (John 20:21.)  Koyama presents the material through an example of visiting a sick woman, who ultimately responds,”you missionaries are always trying to teach people while you really do not understand the people.  The Buddhist monks are much better than you missionaries… He will understand me.”  (1999:65) Such responses are the result of looking at others “in my own terms” (1999:65) and a failure of “exegesis of the life and culture of the people among whom he lives.”  (1999:65)  The section concludes with discussions on key theological issues in Asia, and the example of re-rooting the Gospel through the theology of pain.

The third section turns to the second part of contextualization, which is an evaluation of culture in light of the Gospel.  In this section, Koyama reminds the reader that we do not interact with Buddhism, but with Buddhists, and encourages a very personal interaction.  One might extend this to also say that we don’t work with Bolivia, but Bolivians.  In other words, this is not a theoretical exercise that can take place within the study, but must take place within actual relationships and within dialogue with real people.

The fourth section describes the process of interpreting the Christian life.  While one might be quick to be a “prophetic” voice to a culture, the Church is often slow, and reluctant, to search for its own cultural personality, in fear of syncretism, or possibly simply in the fear of loosing control.  One must be reminded that any worship, any theology, any expression of our beliefs, are only a partial representation of the truth.  Koyama speaks of developing a “personality” of theology.  Too often, theology is itself considered as the truth of the Gospel, while Koyama reminds us that “Theology can only stammer about the person and work of Jesus Christ."  (1999:134)  For Koyama, theology must have a starting point in history, and in the reality of the world.  He writes that, “"third world theology begins by raising issues, and not by digesting Augustine, Barth, Rahener.  I must say, though, that they do help in raising theological issues."  (1999:15)  If Theology must start by raising issues, which differ by each culture and within cultures, one must assume that the resulting theology will explain these issues within the framework of the core Christian beliefs.  In other words, theology is a human understanding and expression of God, and God’s work in history, and therefore these understandings may safely differ in expressing the same core truths of God’s work in history. Extending this “personalization” of history, Koyama asks “Is Christ Divided?” in discussing differing denominational views.  The existence of differing theologies across denominations, while retaining core Christian beliefs, is an example of how theologies have been personalized over the years.  Koyama reminds the reader that we must understand that the theological differences expressed through denominations are minute in comparison to the core theological beliefs that are shared.  "But it is of great importance for us to remember that these theological insights are humble theological insights.  They are servants, not masters, to the 'inexpressible gift' of God in Christ (2nd Corinthians 9:15.)"  (1999:142) 

 In the end, the Church is the Church of Christ, who holds all things together, was crucified for us, and into whom we were baptized.  Such an understanding requires an appropriate humility, and a crucified mind.  Koyama reminds us that the life of Paul, and the life of a missionary must not be theoretical, must not simplify human history, or human nature, and must be able to recognize God at work throughout the world.  The communication of the Gospel, is not simply the communication of a news cast, or an information bulletin.  "What is to be communicated, however, is something more than an idea.  It is life, history, hope, and love… This communication is only possible through the medium of a living person, the communicator himself or herself.  The God who says 'Your problem is my problem' cannot be made real through 'communication-logy,' but only through the life of the communicator… If the message is incarnated in the messenger and produces a messageful person, the message will be communicated."  (1999:155)

One must use great care in reading and understanding the message and principles of Koyama and Water Buffalo Theology.  One core understanding is that Koyama does not advocate for a simplification of the Gospel, nor a watered down Gospel.  Whether talking about presenting the Gospel in palatable terms, or “personalizing” theology, it would be a great misunderstanding to assume that Koyama is talking about creating a “palatable” Gospel.  Explaining the Gospel in “palatable” terms is vastly different from adopting the Gospel to cultural beliefs.  There is a vast difference between the recognition that theology is a human expression and creation, is also vastly different from assuming that a theology only must respond to culturally relevant questions.

One might argue that through contextualization Koyama distinguishes between the work of the missionary and the work of God, the Gospel.  The heart of contextualization is allowing the Gospel to be communicated through a crucified mind, and Christ providing a prophetic voice.  Through so doing he is able to focus on how a missionaries work, style of communications, and words must be chosen in a way that is culturally palatable and understandable.  This must be balanced with the Gospel retaining its full message, and being able to challenge the beliefs and the culture.  In other words, the Gospel must be understandable, but in its full reality.  Syncretism must be avoided.

One example, of a failure of this balance, experienced in my own life is what I discovered on a visit to Huatulco, Mexico.  Hautulco, I am told, means “people of the wood” in an ancient language in the region.  Huatulco was originally evangelized by the Catholic Church, where the missionaries found a people who worshiped a wood pole.  In their attempts to help the locals convert this worship towards the one Lord, they converted this wood pole into a wooden cross, in the same place, which proved to be a palatable form of worship to the people. Today, a Catholic church exists on the beach in that same place.  Yet, in an example of “kitchen” theology, with a short hike one can find a place where those same people offer another type of prayer for their wellbeing.  About a 30 minute hike from that same location one can find a stone, where the tradition continues to offer requests to the divine by placing miniature objects around the stone and offering an animal sacrifice.  During our visit there we were able to see clear examples of recent animal sacrifices.  While the Catholic missionaries where able to present the Gospel, in this case, in a very palatable form, the Gospel was failed to be understood in a manner that would lead to a complete contextualization, where the Gospel is able to prophetically speak to the cultural traditions.

Contextualization raises questions within the Latin America context.  In particular one must analyze the rise of the “Faith and Prosperity Gospel”, which is experiencing tremendous popularity.  This is coming as a result, largely, of the charismatic church (in particular the Assembly of God) having largely local leadership, and through the great expansion.  Is this an example of contextualization of the Gospel or simply bad theology?  What about Liberation Theology? Is this a contextualized expression of the Gospel responding to the experience of cyclical poverty in Latin America?  What about the division between the Catholic and Protestant Churches in Latin America?  Is Christ divided?  Is the global Church allowing structural sin in creating such a division?  If one argues that Christ cannot be divided, how does one express this great division in the Church?

Kosuke was a Japanese, Protestant Christian theologian. After teaching at a theological seminary in Thailand, he was the executive director of Association of Theological Schools in Southeast Asia with his office in Singapore from 1968 to 1974, and the editor of Southeast Asia Journal of Theology. To his close friends and family, he was known as "Ko". he is considered one of the leading Japanese theologians of the twentieth

I have just received this blog which highlights the needs for biblical teaching regarding Islam and knowledge instead of hatred and ignorance.

 http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2011/10/what-is-chrislam-and-does-anybody-really-preach-it.php

Jack Van Imp was an evangelist in Detroit Michigan and refused to work with people that appeared in a photo that had a young man with long hair in it. The other commentators evidence deep ignorance of the issues and the deep seated inability to be both biblical and  intelligently informed.

None of them seem to understand that the loss of identity is a major drawback in Muslims coming to Christ and making them "Christlam" people does not solve the problem Biblically or socially. Again it brings out the problem that often interpreters of the Bible do so within a rarified atmosphere that limits their ability to constructively see the principles behind the Biblical stories or statements thus the hermaneutic is skewed in favour of their own culture and not God's intentions.

This raises the question of whether God intended the Bible to be used as a yard stick or as a pointer to the Kingdom of God, certainly Paul spent his time teaching the Kingdom to gentiles that did not have a Kingdom framework Acts 28 v 31, Peter expounds the Kingdom 1 Pet 1 v 3,4 and in 2Pet 1 v 3 how to be unified with the King of the Kingdom and Jesus shows forth the Kingdom and his role in that Kingdom.

Ron

Kingdom values and Muslim extraction

The major problem world mission is facing today is that of the outdated church structures which no longer accommodate new peoples from other ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds. The wineskin got old over time and new one is needed for cross-cultural mission in our time.

                                 Muslims can trace their origins from Hagar's life with Abraham

The lesson that can be learned  is that any church that neglects the role of history of mission and ignores reviewing relevant structures for expansion will definitely become irrelevant in cross cultural mission as was the case of Churches affiliated to WCC that saw a serious decline in their role in world mission, due to theological and structural deficiencies. Today and in our own time, it is our responsibility to review those structures so that they can fit the fresh wine (Mark 2: 22).  M. Warren asserts that, “we need structures specifically focused on cross-cultural evangelism”. Cisse

Usually Muslim Background Believers (mbbs) face psychological challenges of being extracted from the culture and community they are familiar with. Their post conversion experiences from Christians frustrate and make them feel returning back to the culture they feel at home. This is because they only mimic what they have learned, from those who converted them,  to a Western version of Christianity thus imbibing Greco-Roman cultural concepts totally foreign and irrelevant to their cultural contexts and expressions.

       “If however, they discover Christ, not of American, Indian, Roman, or Greek roads but  
       of the Islamic route, the Sirat al-Mustaqim, then they can  be  Christ centric (Isa’iyya)  
       rather than Ecclesio-centric. They can stay as insiders in their communities, love
       God, obey Christ and transform their Islamic culture and relevant structures into what
       God originally intended for the Muslim peoples. Muhammad moved people along
       the continuum from the worship of many gods to the worship of  only   one God”.                  

                                                            Main Mosque in Kabul

Therefore, perpetuating the extraction of the mbbs out of their culture and isolating them from their communities makes them both irrelevant to their people, ineffective and incapacitated to evangelize their own folks.
               “If the holy Spirit is moving and speaking to people outside the Church, We must    
                    listen, learn and re-evaluate what we are doing lest  in our  enthusiasm to preach
               the gospel, preach our own worldview and what is appropriate in our own culture
               and damage other peoples”.

Moldova

When Nancy and I stared our work together our vision was to help Muslims living under Communism. The result was that the closest we could get there was Iran. For the past few years I have been teaching in Moldova and fulfilling (finally) that vision. This month I was there teaching in the CTE college with Uzbeks, Karakalpaks, Kazakhs, Tajiks, Azeris, Georgians and other nationalities on average 6 hours per day. Exhausting but thrilling to see the level they are committed to.
The problems many will now face is that their churches are often run by people that have no training and no ability to be culturally sensitive. The result is obstruction, rejection and distrust of them coming home. One on fire young girl told me that then only qualifications her pastor had was a driving license!
It will take wisdom and patience to affect the next generation.

  

Missions

This next two weeks Nancy and I are visiting Northern Ireland and hope to make a visit also to dear friends in the south as well.
The Bangor missions convention is 75 years old this year and they have gone through a renewal and attracted many young people, have great vision for the future and offer excellent networking for all those who participate. Bishop Michael Nazir Ali gave the first address on the persecution of Christian minorities around the world. This led to the observation of the growing marginalisation of Christians in the UK at this present time. History may well repeat itself if we do not stay alert. However his message was sobering, has it not been like this since the time of Christ and that he called us all to take up our cross and follow Him in suffering and persecution. Watch this space!

A New Survey: Read more on: On the web: http://www.cardus.ca/research/education/

Protestant Schools Focus on Faith; Catholic Schools Focus on Intellect.

A new study of K-12 Christian schools shows that Protestant Christian schools do a better job of developing their students' spiritual formation while Catholic Christian schools do a better job developing their students' intellect.

These are among the findings of a two-year study of Christian schools in the United States conducted by Cardus, a Christian think tank.

Catholic school students have better academic outcomes, are more likely to attend prestigious colleges, more likely to achieve an advanced degree and have higher income levels as a result. This is consistent with the goals of Catholic schools. Catholic school administrators place much emphasis on academic achievement and Catholic schools have more rigorous course requirements than Protestant schools.

Could it be that whilst protestants are successful in teaching their children they have not given them the academic tools to deal with a post modernism, biased scientific arguments and rampant agnosticism?
A good place to start is to watch the You Tube lectures by John Lennox.

Who is to blame?

This is the new mantra that is spewing out of the media, politicians and man on the street here in UK. Who is to blame for the madness and terror unleashed on UK streets this week?


For a change they cannot blame God. That's one option not mentioned.  I think that we have to go back to the David Hume in 1779 who espoused  the primacy of secularism, this was regurgitated by A T Robinson the Bishop of Woolwich who wrote a best seller called "God is Dead" in 1963. Out of that foundation a whole raft of initiatives have given way to this  position of primacy. Secularism has had a place in society but with God dead anything is valid and "every man does what is right in his own eyes". These people on the streets were driven by a culture whereby those in positions of leadership and example have let them down.  Churchmen have compromised themselves on gay issues and the breakdown of family life and being irrelevant to many ordinary people. They have become ecclesiastically motivated and not Kingdom based. These young people were led by hooligans but many came from normal backgrounds. If Sportsmen can take drugs, cheat and be paid enormous salaries why can't they have a piece of the pie. If Politicians can put in false expenses why can't they get a piece of the pie. If newspaper men (who only want the truth) can hack into peoples phones to make a scoop to raise circulation figures why can't they get a piece of the pie. They are beset by greedy people all around them and the lines of accountability have been torn down and opportunities are far out of reach for them.
Liberals using human wisdom sought to restrict parents from correcting their children, as one man put it "I can't slap my kid, send him to his room or act against his behaviour for fear of the social worker being called.

Today I was told of one child in my own peaceful town who was queuing with her mother in a shop. When she was pulled back into the  line and she turned on her mother saying "leave me alone bitch! Liberals in the media, school boards and seats of power must take responsibly for the fruits of their interference in society.

Its time for another renaissance, a radical overhauling of just where secularism has got us and the high cost of individualism still to be paid. Human wisdom is foolishness with God and we must return to a re-evaluation of
whether we have understood the message of Christ and His Kingdom and depart from a church-ianty that is toothless and mediocre.

Ron George

THERE IS ANOTHER WAY.

The hellish actions of a lone man of hate has made his name, Norway and Islam come to mean a new dimension of hate to all peoples of the earth. Oslo will never be the same, camping will always have connotations that evil can protrude into even the most peaceful and idyllic atmosphere and the angelic face of Anders Breivik will be synonymous with the most diabolical behaviour since the SS  gas camp maniacs of WW 2.

His actions seem to have been fed by a body of information that was divorced from logic, reality, reason and compassion. It was nationalistic to the most extreme, selfish and in opposition to the very religious doctrines that he claimed he held to, that of the suffering Christ.

Sadly his ideas are only a stone’s throw away from an underlying tension that many countries, especially in Europe and the developed world are facing. That of sharing their wealth, resources and institutions with the poor, the oppressed and the weak of this world. Immigration and the fear of being swamped to the point that the present culture and lifestyle of his own nation would not exist in ten, twenty or fifty years time drove him to punish those that had links with the leaders of that open handed policy. So who is at fault for feeding this ogre?

First of all we must realise that this attitude is not new.  In times of plenty migration is seen to be a good thing because goods and services can be cheaper for the ruling classes because immigrants work longer, for less and make do with the  scraps that the culture will throw to them. The Egyptians tried to eliminate the Jews, fearing that they would take over the land. Britain has been swamped from time to time by Saxons, Celts, Irish, French, Polish,  Russians, Arabs, Persians, Members of the British empire from the 1950’s onwards and  Asians from Uganda but the overall experience has been that they have settled down, added to the culture and made a life that is richer for all.

Secondly we must realise that immigration is two way and whilst people do come to our own land, we also move out to other places like Canada, Australia, Europe like waves of the sea bring change and producing richer experiences for all.

So who is at fault for this culture of fear and selfishness?

First Muslim activists themselves. A minority make public claims that they will take over the land, and set about creating alternative communities like a Muslim Parliament, areas of some cities are no go areas for the police, they sometimes demonstrate on the streets against some of the freedoms that we pride ourselves on like the incident with Salmon Rushdie’s book burning. Our own anarchists and Animal Rights activists  act in the same way.

They seek to have a twofold legal system that will be the introduction of the Sharia law for their people without realising it is that very law that their people have fled away from and come to Europe in the first incidence. The vast majority of immigrants want to settle, work, live at peace and privately worship in the only way they have known. In time their children and grandchildren act as go betweens and find a path to integrate and accommodate the new cultures they face. This is in fact producing a reformation in Islam and other faiths as questions are raised and new interpretations of their ancient books are undertaken. There is a Mutazilites renaissance taking place.(see my article of this subject)

Secondly there are those who feed such fears based upon a lack of understanding of processes that take place in Europe of helping with integration along with ideas and changes that take place in this community. Yes the first generation might well feel isolated and outside of the structures of governance and wealth creation but it is always harder to start all over again in another culture when you do not have the links, networks and institutions that assist in this process. The children of these people began to create these links and become participatory. Added to this converts join the Islamic fold, marriages take place and they also water down that extremist faith by bringing their own world views and values based upon their nationality into the newcomers faith. The church in this land has its own problems with people who read into every incident a malicious interpretation and see “reds under every bed” as it were. In fact the very experience of the USA was that they claimed that “the commies are coming” and broke out into a mindless disgorging of hatred and mis-interpretation of the ultimate events in the post war years.

The problem is that these Christians who hate Islam have not stopped long enough to ask why has God allowed the rise of Islam, what does he want us to learn from them and would He not evaporate them if his was accomplished.? These Christians who are xenophobic, insecure and paranoid need to return to their faith in God and allow Him to bring about His perfect will without enveloping themselves is a show of concern and hatred. Most of these people who rant and rail against Islam are often members of a church. Their fear is that the institution that they belong to will crumble as it has to interact in a multi cultural environment. Traditionally they have been used to teaching their congregation from a safe platform without being questioned about  some of their bizarre and denominational positions. In a multi-cultural atmosphere people will not go along with these power plays and will raise penetrating questions. One famous tele-evangelist in USA claims that all Arabs are terrorists!  He does not even know that 10% of Egypt and 30% in Lebanon are Christians. Some of the Palestinian terrorists are in fact Christians. They seem to miss out on any contact with Michelle Hussain the lead BBC reporter, or Rageh Omah a documentary producer or others who are stand up comedians like Omid Djilili, Maz Jobrani or Tissa Hami. There is a multitude of auditors, doctors, lawyers, engineers and administrators within British society that are Muslims culturally but have accommodated themselves to the prevailing British way. The sheer ignorance and insecurity of the “the Muslims will overwhelm us” brigade is a deep embarrassment especially when the command not to bare false witness against our neighbour is fundamental to our faith.

What can be done?

1.     Let us see Breivik as a symptom of our own insecurities and a warning that we need to be confident in our past, learn from mistakes made and be willing to make friends, listen to our visitors, help to be at rest in this culture and learn what we can from them as well.

2.     So far the church has failed to develop a theology of Islam and other faiths. We need to be humble enough to accept that if we cannot see our own weaknesses God will draw people to us that will expose those weaknesses. That because we did not take the news of the Kingdom of God out to them He has arranged to bring them to us.We need to learn how to share our faith pragmatically and intellectually.

3.     Each country has its “prophets of doom” and conspiracy merchants, for this minority to dominate the landscape is foolish. One I know in the UK claims that almost all British institutions are in Muslim hands, including the Police, Parliament, Major companies and schools. Often their own experience of racism and oppression in their homelands influences their interpretation and agenda. They should be challenged and rebuked.

Ministry Developments contd.....

Dear Friends,
Since I have had knee surgery I have found myself a little slowed down but that has given time for more reading and planning for a revision of my books and what changes need doing. Most of last night I was going over and over a new chapter that is very exciting for me. It will go over the conflicts that Muslims will have to resolve concerning statement made in the Qur'an. This was helped by a visit to the British Museum in London. There I was staring up at huge Assyrian carvings of Sargon II  721 BC who repopulated Samaria (2 Kings and Isaiah 23). The Samaritans  arose from this invasion by Assyrians into Southern Israel. The Qur'an says the golden calf worshiped by the Israelites in the wilderness was molded by a Samaritan... In fact, the term Samaritan was not used until 722 BC, several hundred years after the events recorded in Exodus.The Qur'an says that the golden calf worshiped by the Israelites at Mount Horeb was molded by a Samaritan. The term Samaritan was not coined until 722 B.C., several hundred years after the Exodus, when the idol was crafted.


We plan to publish these books digitally and use them for teaching in the areas that are coming up overseas. If you would like to help us by buying pre-publishing copies the money will enable us to print them in larger numbers and get prices right down. Right now they are at £15  or $22 each.

Current status for Nancy and Ron George

Dear Friends, As I was getting older, slower and the work was growing bigger, more complex and each field was expanding enormously Nancy and I with the help of the World In Need (WIN) trustees started a search for the next CEO for WIN. It did not mean we would leave the work, abandon our many friends or retire from active duty. It just meant a shift in role and responsibilities. It took us four years to both find the right person and also to define our new role. In many ways that new role is still in the making but is basically one of teaching the many fields that we have established training centres in, representing the work in UK and trying to express our knowledge and experience onto DVD, articles, MP3's and as many other formats as possible.

I found that I have about 1000 articles on my laptop and these in fact have given impetus to write another book on the origins of the Qur'an and Islam itself, it is indeed a story of a revolution betrayed. It is taking time to disentangle the many thoughts and influences that are there. I can see that one of my gifts is to take very complex ideas such as Islam, the Qur'an, the Haddiths and the environment of Jewish apocryphal writings, along with other influences to boil it all down to a meaningful body of work that will serve the church, the missions family and the overseas churches that they might be saved from the coming catastrophe.

Do you realise that Islam has doubled in population over the past 25 years and will further double in less than that. In UK there are from 1.5 million to 2 million demanding their rights, separate schools, areas of towns opting out of being under British law and increasing in militancy. By 2020 they will overtake Christians in number and they can then demand further rights. By 2070 they will be the majority of the people in the UK. This all has enormous implications for our children and grand children. They have used their economic clout to  force McDonald's to use Halal meat and schools and workplaces to allow time off for ritual prayers. All this mean an impoverishment of the nation culturally and economically. Many Muslims leaders express the concern that Islam has never invented anything and that Spain published more books last year that all the Muslim countries put together throughout all of time.

THERFORE my time will be taken in supporting others engaged in the issues at stake, writing and researching  historical and moral questions and having a much wider audience. I will hope that we can raise the funds to increase our travel expenses to centres where missionaries are trained in Moldova, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, India, Korea, East and West Africa and any other place that will listen to what we have to say.

Importantly we shall be editing and e mailing out news of changes on our new magazine www.worldchristianministries.org which has important articles and books that people overseas cannot afford to buy or access. This magazine will make that possible.

Join us in this work and get on board our blog to keep up to date. Help us with finding places where we can teach and challenge Christians in churches, schools, colleges and mission conferences.

Regards,

Ron and Nancy
ron@worldinneed.co.uk
www.worldinneed.co.uk
www.worldchristianministries.org