Micah Challenge

Prayer and Reflection



Friday May 9, 2008



Thank you for sharing and praying with the worldwide Micah Challenge community. We hope this email is challenging, inspiring and spurs us on!



Thank you for your patience and understanding during our short two week break.



Reflection


Is the concept of ‘integral mission’ new? Not really, says Rene Padilla, it goes back to the original mission of the church and therefore is the recovery of the biblical concept of mission.



In Acts 1: 8 we learn that every generation of Christians in every place receives the power of the Spirit that makes witness to the gospel possible.



What then is the role or mission of the church in this?



‘When the church is committed to integral mission and to communicating the gospel through everything it is, does, and says, it understands that its goal is not to become large numerically, nor to be rich materially, nor powerful politically. Its purpose is to incarnate the values of the Kingdom of God and to witness to the love and the justice revealed in Jesus Christ, by the power of the Spirit, for the transformation of human life in all its dimensions, both on the individual level and on the community level.’



Prayer



Let us pray:



* Rene Padilla suggests that:



‘The Christian life in all its dimensions, on both the individual and the community levels, is the primary witness to the universal lordship of Jesus Christ and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Mission is much more than words; it involves the quality of life it is demonstrated in the life that recovers God’s original purpose for the relationship of the human person with his Creator, with his neighbor, and with all of creation.’



So, we pray that we, as individuals and in our communities, will be able to witness to the lordship of Jesus and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in all its fullness.



* Please pray for Micah Challenge campaigns that are mobilizing the church and aim to hold their political leaders to account in the midst of great political instability in their country. Today we want to pray especially for Micah Challenge in Burundi who is in the process of forming a campaign.



Campaign facilitator Francois Ndibwami from Burundi writes:



‘The present situation in Burundi is alarming since the conflicting parties did not put into action the cease fire agreement which was signed between the Bujumbura Government and the last rebel movement FNL PALIPEHUTU.



While everybody was hoping for peace restoration after the elections in 2005, the FNL has attacked several cities killing 26 people and destroying their properties.



This situation is frightening and is adding to the numerous challenges that our country is already facing among which are the violations against Human Rights, the extreme poverty amongst the population, the high rate of HIV/AIDS, lack of education for children, no access to health care for families with no financial resources, impunity…



We are requesting each one of you to advocate for an immediate stop of hostilities and bombing. People in Burundi have lost many of their loved ones and need PEACE.’



* Please pray for Micah Challenge facilitator Iskandar Saher in Indonesia. He writes:



‘I am on a trip visiting 3 denominations in Sulawesi Island. In every meeting with church leaders I introduce the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Micah Challenge. It's sad because most of the people in the churches I visited have never heard about the MDGs, including government leaders!



Please pray that Iskandar’s sensitization work will enable church leaders to know their rights and motivate them to work towards holding political leaders to account to achieve the MDGs.



Meditate on the Statistics



As you spend time in prayer and reflection, you may like to take a moment to silently understand with your heart the focus statistic we include each week (see below). Our hope is that you will find this series of statistics a useful resource in preparing presentations.



Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger



Target 2: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger



‘Malnutrition is the underlying cause of at least 3.5 million deaths annually and accounts for 35 percent of the disease burden of children under age five.’



Source: Global Monitoring Report 2008, World Bank and IMF, April 08





Yours in Christ,



Regine and MC team



Please view all the Friday Prayer statistics we’ve used to date at Index of Millennium Development Goal Statistics.xls

Please see Index of Reflections on Integral Mission.xls