I receive occasional updates from my friends in Cairo. The following one came on Dec 19 from a staff member of the Kasr Dubara Evangelical Church.
I wanted to update you briefly on what is happening in our country and particularly in our church. On Friday last week fighting broke out again between the police/army and the protestors that remain in Tahrir Square. This time there was no gas used, but the military brought men in plain clothes to throw rocks at the protestors from the roof of the parliament building, and also began shooting live ammunition at the protestors and chasing them with crowd control batons and brutally beating hundreds of people. We opened the hospital again and received hundreds of people Friday and Saturday. On Saturday night/early Sunday morning the military tried to enter our church premises to arrest protestors and doctors/volunteers. Thankfully they were unable to enter the locked gates - certainly by the hand of God protecting everyone, as they had cornered a large group of protestors, whom they were arresting and beating unconscious. It was a very grim night for the people volunteering in the church but thankfully God protected every one of them.
We had to close the hospital and the church due to this incident. Today the church leadership met again to pray and discuss whether or not we should open the hospital and we felt at peace to do so if needed. The church itself is closed to meetings. Tonight we held the weekly prayer meeting in the north side of town in another church.
Please pray with us for wisdom and protection. Pray that the Lord would continue his good work in our country. We sense that he is shaking every idol and false god in Egypt, exposing all corruption, the lies and darkness in this country. This not only in the politicians and authorities but also in exposing the spiritual darkness. Isaiah 19:1 ....the idols of Egypt shall tremble at his presence; and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it."
This is what we feel he is doing. We pray that this will lead to true repentance and the fall of the mountain of darkness and deception in Egypt.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Thoughts on "Ekklesia" (the Church) and Its Role in Culture...
John 10:16: "I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd." Although this passage does imply that there is diversity in the “folds” that belong to Christ, I do not read it as an insistence on the diversity of the folds. I recognize the "other folds" to be other socio-cultural groups. However, I read it primarily as Jesus' insistence on the oneness of the flock. His determination is to bring the other folds into the one flock.
It's a small difference, but an important one to the way we view ourselves and God’s purposes for the church of Christ in the world. I believe and have taught believers in the US that they have much greater commonality with Christ-followers in Pakistan or China than they do with Middle Class Americans who have no use for Jesus. It's very challenging for Americans to live in that reality, but I believe it is the Biblical truth. That's not to deny cultural diversity but it is to insist that all followers of Jesus belong to the "one flock." In the same way, I hope that Egyptian believers realize that they are "one flock" with Korean, European and Latino Jesus-followers.
So while I hope and anticipate the gospel will spread through cultures propagated by believers who remain inside their cultural heritage, I also believe the Kingdom of God calls people out of their culture as "aliens" (1 Peter 1:1, 17; 2:11) to be citizens of a new Kingdom and embrace many values that are counter to our culture--whatever that culture is. So Kingdom culture (if it's right to speak of that) overlays all human culture and calls for ultimate allegiance. So our goal is not to preserve diversity of human cultures although that is naturally a part of what we do, the goal is to bring all human cultures under the Lordship of Christ so that the rich diversity of human cultures will reflect Him who has been given as head of the church--the fullness of him who fills all in all (Eph 1:23).
It's a small difference, but an important one to the way we view ourselves and God’s purposes for the church of Christ in the world. I believe and have taught believers in the US that they have much greater commonality with Christ-followers in Pakistan or China than they do with Middle Class Americans who have no use for Jesus. It's very challenging for Americans to live in that reality, but I believe it is the Biblical truth. That's not to deny cultural diversity but it is to insist that all followers of Jesus belong to the "one flock." In the same way, I hope that Egyptian believers realize that they are "one flock" with Korean, European and Latino Jesus-followers.
So while I hope and anticipate the gospel will spread through cultures propagated by believers who remain inside their cultural heritage, I also believe the Kingdom of God calls people out of their culture as "aliens" (1 Peter 1:1, 17; 2:11) to be citizens of a new Kingdom and embrace many values that are counter to our culture--whatever that culture is. So Kingdom culture (if it's right to speak of that) overlays all human culture and calls for ultimate allegiance. So our goal is not to preserve diversity of human cultures although that is naturally a part of what we do, the goal is to bring all human cultures under the Lordship of Christ so that the rich diversity of human cultures will reflect Him who has been given as head of the church--the fullness of him who fills all in all (Eph 1:23).
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Egyptian Evangelical Church Responds...
I received the following statement from Pastor Sameh Maurice of the Kasr Dubara Evangelical Church. The church is located at Tahriir Square in Cairo. It is the church I attended while living there.
Dear friends,
We really appreciate your prayers and concern. We've received your messages loaded with love and we know you're hearts are with us. We are safe with our families and friends, and we're ever thankful for that; but our safety is not really our main concern now.
Right now, we stand united with our courageous young people who broke the barrier of fear and started to demand their basic human rights for a dignified life, freedom and social justice. We feel the pain of our nation, our hearts bleed with our people. For generations now, young Egyptians feel betrayed by people in authority and those who are fighting for it. Corruption, excessive and illegal personal gains have caused a wide spread poverty among our people.
If you want to know where we stand from the present events; we refuse to give in to lies and to fear. We do not accept the lie that says accept a repressive and non democratic regime because the alternative is worse. Is our God limited to few options?
The church and the saints in Egypt, for many generations now, have been praying for years for blessings for our nation. We are asking our living God who sees and hears to come and save. We're asking for a new era of freedom and dignity. We are asking for a new system where leaders with integrity and fear of God would tend to the need and the aspiration of Egyptians.
Please pray with us.
Sameh Maurice
Dear friends,
We really appreciate your prayers and concern. We've received your messages loaded with love and we know you're hearts are with us. We are safe with our families and friends, and we're ever thankful for that; but our safety is not really our main concern now.
Right now, we stand united with our courageous young people who broke the barrier of fear and started to demand their basic human rights for a dignified life, freedom and social justice. We feel the pain of our nation, our hearts bleed with our people. For generations now, young Egyptians feel betrayed by people in authority and those who are fighting for it. Corruption, excessive and illegal personal gains have caused a wide spread poverty among our people.
If you want to know where we stand from the present events; we refuse to give in to lies and to fear. We do not accept the lie that says accept a repressive and non democratic regime because the alternative is worse. Is our God limited to few options?
The church and the saints in Egypt, for many generations now, have been praying for years for blessings for our nation. We are asking our living God who sees and hears to come and save. We're asking for a new era of freedom and dignity. We are asking for a new system where leaders with integrity and fear of God would tend to the need and the aspiration of Egyptians.
Please pray with us.
Sameh Maurice
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Egyptian Christians Respond
I received the following email message from a good friend who is also an evangelical church leader in Cairo.
“For such a time as this”
Over the last few months the Lord has clearly spoken to us many times to prepare ourselves for something to come. For what, we did not know, nor could we ever of imagined the magnitude of this situation! I want to start first with giving thanks to the Lord that though the Church building is located right next to the hottest spot of confrontation between the security forces, the army and the largest demonstrations, the Church building is unharmed. Though two main government buildings only a few meters away from us were on fire and heavily damaged. At the moment we are not able to reach the Church and to meet there.
Our prayer meetings had begun to intensify the last three months, accompanied with forty days of fasting by the end of the year, in which more than one thousand two hundred (1200) people participated. We heard many prophetic messages about what is to come, clear words indicating a huge change is coming in 2011. On New Year’s eve, a clear word from Exodus 34:10 came to us saying, that He is going to things that no one ever heard before in our land. The feeling we had was similar to the feelings of Esther, a time of a great danger mixed with a time of great victory, and how the Lord put her in this position “for such a time as this” Esther 4:14
As I said in the beginning, we could never of imagined this situation! So, while we are going to the streets with our neighbors to protect our homes from the mobs, we are still on our knees in prayer, praying in small groups all over the city. As a leadership team we are trying to form action groups, to organize our efforts to respond to medical needs, to participate in cleaning the city from the huge amount of trash accumulation, and also to coordinate traffic control, since all the police traffic agents have left their positions leaving the streets in total chaos.
Our people are encouraged and courageously active in helping with practical needs, however, we need your prayerful support as the situation is not stable at all.
Pray with us for:
The safety of the church and boldness of our people, (perhaps like Esther, we are here “for such a time like this”) , the new relationships that are being made as our church members are meeting some of their neighbors for the first time. Pray also that each one of us would be a source of peace and hope, as the dominant feelings on the streets are anger and fear.
“For such a time as this”
Over the last few months the Lord has clearly spoken to us many times to prepare ourselves for something to come. For what, we did not know, nor could we ever of imagined the magnitude of this situation! I want to start first with giving thanks to the Lord that though the Church building is located right next to the hottest spot of confrontation between the security forces, the army and the largest demonstrations, the Church building is unharmed. Though two main government buildings only a few meters away from us were on fire and heavily damaged. At the moment we are not able to reach the Church and to meet there.
Our prayer meetings had begun to intensify the last three months, accompanied with forty days of fasting by the end of the year, in which more than one thousand two hundred (1200) people participated. We heard many prophetic messages about what is to come, clear words indicating a huge change is coming in 2011. On New Year’s eve, a clear word from Exodus 34:10 came to us saying, that He is going to things that no one ever heard before in our land. The feeling we had was similar to the feelings of Esther, a time of a great danger mixed with a time of great victory, and how the Lord put her in this position “for such a time as this” Esther 4:14
As I said in the beginning, we could never of imagined this situation! So, while we are going to the streets with our neighbors to protect our homes from the mobs, we are still on our knees in prayer, praying in small groups all over the city. As a leadership team we are trying to form action groups, to organize our efforts to respond to medical needs, to participate in cleaning the city from the huge amount of trash accumulation, and also to coordinate traffic control, since all the police traffic agents have left their positions leaving the streets in total chaos.
Our people are encouraged and courageously active in helping with practical needs, however, we need your prayerful support as the situation is not stable at all.
Pray with us for:
The safety of the church and boldness of our people, (perhaps like Esther, we are here “for such a time like this”) , the new relationships that are being made as our church members are meeting some of their neighbors for the first time. Pray also that each one of us would be a source of peace and hope, as the dominant feelings on the streets are anger and fear.
Egypt...
Egypt: 30 January 2011
It is a delightful irony that I found myself in the presence of old friends from Egypt—men and women who are heavily invested in the Kingdom of God—as, together we watch recent events in Egypt unfold. (We were attending a conference together in a location outside Egypt.) The popular uprising was foreshadowed by a coup in Tunisia, but the ramifications of the Egyptian event, though yet unknown, will far outstrip the Jasmine revolution of Tunisia. Unrest continues to manifest in other Arab and Muslim nations—Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon…
Tomorrow, Egyptians are trying to send 1 million people into Tahrir (Liberty) square to demand an end to the Mubarak regime. Amazing really!
My friends have now made it safely back to Egypt. Our former mission team has managed to board a plane and leave the country. I have been taking in a steady diet of TV and internet media to try to keep pace with the events in Egypt. I almost gave into the temptation to write my political and social analysis of the events. Aren’t you glad I resisted?
But there is something to say about what is happening in the “Kingdom of God” in Egypt and throughout the Arab world. The people want transparency, dignity, freedom from oppression. They are calling out for an end to-top down governance that fails to respond to the real needs of real people.
Egypt is a land of prayer. Egyptian Christians that I know gather for long seasons of prayer. The church our family attended there has recently established an all-night prayer meeting once a week. There is a yearly prayer conference that draws Egyptian Christians from all denominations to the shores of the north coast to seek God’s intervention in their country. That lasts for a week each year. Did you know that Egypt has many Coptic monasteries and the monks keep regular prayer vigils sometimes starting their prayers at ridiculously early morning hours—like 3 a.m.? I know because I’ve watched these prayers personally.
And Egypt is shaking…
The slogans and demands I hear Egyptians making sound like they are hungering for realities that only the Kingdom of Jesus can deliver.
I could not help but notice that the people of Egypt intuitively distinguished between the internal security police and the army. They ransacked the offices of the police and burned their buildings. The army, on the other hand, was rewarded with the affirmation of a grateful people. To me, that means something. It is the internal security police of Egypt who have abused, tortured and imprisoned Muslim background followers of Jesus. It is the internal security police who have interrogated Egypt’s Christians and destroyed their properties. It is the internal security police who have deported a steady stream of expatriate servants of Christ over the past nearly twenty years. And that doesn’t even take into account the untold injustices that Egypt’s Muslims have suffered at the hands of the police. The Psalmist expresses his despair over the Lord’s slowness to enact justice on His enemies and who among us hasn’t asked “how long O Lord?” I thank God for what He is doing in Egypt.
I noticed one placard amidst the demonstrators in Cairo. The young woman’s sign read: “I am Muslim. I am against terrorism. I am against destruction.” I hope that Egypt’s moderate Muslims can join hands with many Christians there and find an expression of government that allows true freedom of conscience and religion along with necessary fiscal and social reform. Let us pray.
It is far too soon to declare victory. Something tells me the struggle for the soul of Egypt is just beginning. Darkness is deeply entrenched and it does a masterful job masquerading as light. The slogan of the Muslim Brotherhood is “Islam is the solution.” That premise is scarcely questioned by the vast majority of Egyptians. Nevertheless I am proud of my second home. I’m proud of the people of Egypt. I am deeply grateful to God for the Egyptian Christians—Evangelicals, Copts and Catholics and I have deep sorrow and pity for Egypt’s Muslim people. May God have mercy.
It is a delightful irony that I found myself in the presence of old friends from Egypt—men and women who are heavily invested in the Kingdom of God—as, together we watch recent events in Egypt unfold. (We were attending a conference together in a location outside Egypt.) The popular uprising was foreshadowed by a coup in Tunisia, but the ramifications of the Egyptian event, though yet unknown, will far outstrip the Jasmine revolution of Tunisia. Unrest continues to manifest in other Arab and Muslim nations—Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon…
Tomorrow, Egyptians are trying to send 1 million people into Tahrir (Liberty) square to demand an end to the Mubarak regime. Amazing really!
My friends have now made it safely back to Egypt. Our former mission team has managed to board a plane and leave the country. I have been taking in a steady diet of TV and internet media to try to keep pace with the events in Egypt. I almost gave into the temptation to write my political and social analysis of the events. Aren’t you glad I resisted?
But there is something to say about what is happening in the “Kingdom of God” in Egypt and throughout the Arab world. The people want transparency, dignity, freedom from oppression. They are calling out for an end to-top down governance that fails to respond to the real needs of real people.
Egypt is a land of prayer. Egyptian Christians that I know gather for long seasons of prayer. The church our family attended there has recently established an all-night prayer meeting once a week. There is a yearly prayer conference that draws Egyptian Christians from all denominations to the shores of the north coast to seek God’s intervention in their country. That lasts for a week each year. Did you know that Egypt has many Coptic monasteries and the monks keep regular prayer vigils sometimes starting their prayers at ridiculously early morning hours—like 3 a.m.? I know because I’ve watched these prayers personally.
And Egypt is shaking…
The slogans and demands I hear Egyptians making sound like they are hungering for realities that only the Kingdom of Jesus can deliver.
I could not help but notice that the people of Egypt intuitively distinguished between the internal security police and the army. They ransacked the offices of the police and burned their buildings. The army, on the other hand, was rewarded with the affirmation of a grateful people. To me, that means something. It is the internal security police of Egypt who have abused, tortured and imprisoned Muslim background followers of Jesus. It is the internal security police who have interrogated Egypt’s Christians and destroyed their properties. It is the internal security police who have deported a steady stream of expatriate servants of Christ over the past nearly twenty years. And that doesn’t even take into account the untold injustices that Egypt’s Muslims have suffered at the hands of the police. The Psalmist expresses his despair over the Lord’s slowness to enact justice on His enemies and who among us hasn’t asked “how long O Lord?” I thank God for what He is doing in Egypt.
I noticed one placard amidst the demonstrators in Cairo. The young woman’s sign read: “I am Muslim. I am against terrorism. I am against destruction.” I hope that Egypt’s moderate Muslims can join hands with many Christians there and find an expression of government that allows true freedom of conscience and religion along with necessary fiscal and social reform. Let us pray.
It is far too soon to declare victory. Something tells me the struggle for the soul of Egypt is just beginning. Darkness is deeply entrenched and it does a masterful job masquerading as light. The slogan of the Muslim Brotherhood is “Islam is the solution.” That premise is scarcely questioned by the vast majority of Egyptians. Nevertheless I am proud of my second home. I’m proud of the people of Egypt. I am deeply grateful to God for the Egyptian Christians—Evangelicals, Copts and Catholics and I have deep sorrow and pity for Egypt’s Muslim people. May God have mercy.
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