Wednesday, July 05, 2006

JESUS AS 'BRAVEHEART?'

Move To Make Churches More Attractive To Men

Is Jesus more like Mother Teresa or William Wallace? That is the question asked by John Eldredge in Wild at Heart, his popular book for men. Eldredge suggests that the answer depends on what you need from Jesus right now. If you’re a leper, an outcast, a pariah of society whom no-one will touch, then you’d probably want Jesus to be like the saintly nun who ministered in the streets of Calcutta. However, if you’re more concerned with how we tackle the moral challenges of society and advance the values of the kingdom of God, then he suggests we need Jesus to be more like the liberator of Scotland, made famous by Mel Gibson in the movie Braveheart. At the heart of this question is how the Church ministers to men. One organization that has successfully turned the spotlight on men’s issues in the church is Promise Keepers. After 12 years of running large Events for Men, Promise Keepers is sharpening its focus on ministry with men at a local church level. National director of Promise Keepers, Paul Subritzky, says “We are convinced that if men are to be reached in ever-increasing numbers, we have to do all we can to support the churches."
Jews For Jesus to Launch Its Largest Outreach

New York City will be met with the most intensive evangelistic outreach to Jews in July, The Christian Post reports. "This will be one of the largest and most strategic outreaches to Jewish people in the history of the Jews For Jesus ministry," said Susan Perlman, associate executive director for Jews For Jesus. This summer's outreach is "unique" to all preceding ones, Perlman stated. "Jews for Jesus made a commitment... to have an evangelistic outreach that had an intensive evangelistic outreach with a follow-up component in every city in the world that had a Jewish population of 25,000 or more."

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Plea from Inside Gaza

Dr. Hanna Massad pastors Gaza Baptist Church - the only evangelical church in the Gaza Strip - while his wife, Suhad, runs the Palestinian Bible Society Bookstore. The church is located in the heart of several terrorist group headquarters as it carries out its Christian Mission to Gaza. Via ASSIST News Service, Pastor Massad sends an urgent message: “Many people in Gaza are without water and electricity. The food supply is limited, and there is no gas... This time we are going through is a very tough time. It is one of the worst times we have had in Gaza. We continue to hear the noise of bombing almost 24 hours a day... This has caused damage in many homes. Even the ceiling inside our church fell down. We are very concerned about our children. It is causing psychological problems, not only for children but for many adults as well. Sometimes, we are not able to meet, and we have to cancel our meetings, especially the children’s ministry. The last few days have been very difficult for me, where I felt the spirit of fear and desperation. But yesterday and today, I felt more of the presence of God in the midst of darkness. I need more and more of His presence and power in order to minister to my people the message of hope and peace. We have only one way. We chose to live for Him and reflect his love to the Palestinian people."