Pastor Powell's Column

April 2009

Slum Dog Millionaire

No, I haven’t seen the movie yet, despite its many Oscars. I’m not sure I will, because of what I’ve heard about the almost unbearable scenes of child torture. Nevertheless, The Fellowship has a keen interest in this story. Why?

Because we are there.

No, not in the movie. But in the mean streets of Mumbai, India. Our Bethany is serving the street children, bringing them hope and life through Jesus. We are in regular communication, and her college student sister has volunteered to go help out this summer. No millionaire stories among these kids. And our hearts, our prayers and our financial support are with them.

President Obama just made his first trip to Narnia.

Welcome, Mr. President. We’ve been there for a decade now. Several short term teams, as well as two long term couples we support, soon to be a third. They don’t make the headlines, but they dig in for the long haul, learning language and culture, and sharing the Word. They are ambassadors, but of a different kingdom.

The statistics are grim for the AIDS crisis in Africa.

We’ve just heard the first hand report from Dr. Jen Hall, reporting from her war-zone hospital in Cote d’Ivoire. The Lord is mightily using this woman of faith and courage. And college student Jenna Schofield knows a bit about the AIDS crisis after her 6 months of ministry with HIV orphans in South Africa.

How’s the recovery in East Africa after the Tsunami of two years ago?

Ask the Thompsons, who serve on the island city of Mbasa, off the Kenya coast.

Can we imagine the cruel inhumanity of Darfur?

Sudanese Pastor John can. We have partnered with him and supported him for eleven years, six of those while he lived with wife and children in the heart of Darfur. Now he is in southern Sudan, helping to rebuild that area so devastated by Khartoum’s savagery in the recent civil war.

Days of protest in Athens, Greece?

The Fellowship is there.

U.S. airbase to be evicted from central Asian republic?

The Fellowship is there.

Muslim jihadists seize hostages in The Philippines?

The Fellowship is there.

Chinese authorities suppress Muslim minority in remote provinces?

The Fellowship is there.

U.S. helping to build Europe’s new missile defense system in Czech Republic?

The Fellowship is there.

The Fellowship family spans the headlines because it spans the globe. Not only our missionaries, but also our various homelands and our serviceman. “The new internationalists” – that’s what Newsweek magazine called Bible-believing Christians last year. Why the global presence? It’s because the Lord our God rules over all the nations. And because He sent His Son to die for the whole world. And because He sent His church to take this Good News to every creature.

The words of John the Apostle lay well the foundation of our internationalism: “Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

The Fellowship: A Community Church
with a World Vision.