Dreams Foster Dreams
March 2007
Our ultimate dream is that God’s name would be exalted and His Kingdom would come through the multiplication of churches among all the peoples of the earth. On the way to that ultimate dream, there have been several shared dreams that have arrived in my inbox recently. Please go ahead and read some of my mail.
The first comes from a student studying in seminary to become a church planting missionary in Japan. Let’s call him Andrew. He plans to come to Japan for the November Church Planting Institute (CPI) National Conference.
My dream is for many Japanese-speaking people to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and find joy in living for Christ. I want to see many thriving churches planted across Japan, where people can experience loving communities, where they can worship God with sincere hearts, serve each other, spread the Gospel and encouraged to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. I want these churches to be so contagious, that people who come to these churches will have a strong desire to become church planters themselves…. I want to meet others who have a similar vision and work together to make this a reality. I am very encouraged to have found out about CPI.
Some have said that God must really love the Japanese people as he has called so many to minister to them. Ask God to bless the lives of those he is calling to serve in Japan. Pray for the new families our BGC field is trusting God to send as missionaries and begin new initiatives, with new approaches, in a new era of missions partnership in Japan.
The second letter comes from Nathaniel Adawonu our African friend from Togo, West Africa. Our dream when we started Japan CPI was to not just be committed to planting churches but also plant Church Planting Institutes (CPIs) globally. That dream is now becoming a reality. Nathaniel’s dream is even larger as they are targeting several countries in West Africa. Last year in Accra, Ghana, 120 leaders from over 20 agencies and 7 countries gathered to dream about church planting movements in their region. They are planning a larger conference this year. This is from Nathaniel’s invitation letter to the many leaders and pastors in West Africa.
A defining moment of the 2006 conference came when all participants prayed with one voice: “Father, may your kingdom come in our hearts, as well as in our nations, cities, and villages. May our denominations and ministries do your will! May you raise up true leaders and worshipers for the harvest. May West African nations take your gospel to the world….” [These] participants shared at least one thing: the need to develop missions leaders who will think and act strategically in the spreading of the gospel, in order to make His invisible kingdom visible through His church in Africa…. The CPI conferences, and ongoing CPI initiatives, exist solely to serve those involved in African church planting efforts, by helping to equip and support them in establishing healthy, growing churches that are a vital part of national, indigenous church planting movements.
Please ask God to bless the West Africa Church Planting Institute (CPI) conference which will take place June 18-22, in Accra, Ghana. Pray for our friend Nathaniel as he is busy with preparations for this conference. Ask God to also bless the preparations for another CPI Conference in Dakar, Senegal in 2008. Pray also for leaders in the several other nations around the world dreaming of starting a CPI for their people.
Andrew and Nathaniel have their dreams and I have other dreams too for Japan CPI. In order to help these dreams into realities we are having more Regional Equipping Seminars this spring in Japan. Also God is raising up Church Planting Networks (at least three right now, including the Rengo LEAD Teams) throughout Japan. The dream machine, the Japan CPI Conference, is November 6-9. May you speed these dreams on with your prayers for God’s name to be exalted and His Kingdom come in Japan and around the world.
John and Elaine Mehn
Financial Partnering: International Ministries, Baptist General Conference
Phone: 800-323-4215
Account Number: 49651
http://www.bgcworld.org/