GOOD NEWS FOR EVERYONE
ISSUE 1, 2024
INTeRACT
Common Language
Called to Serve
Anatomy of a Bible Resource
Sharing good news through sport
Learning by doing in Indonesia
Coming soon: Little Book of Joy
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CONTENTS 04 08 10 12 14 Common Language
Sharing good news through sport
News
The latest news from the Lifewords global family
Called to Serve Learning by doing in Indonesia
Anatomy of a Bible Resource Coming soon: Little Book of Joy
Get Involved
Lifewords and you
Issue 86 / 1–2024 Editorial team Jess Bee Kris Calver Steve Bassett Photographs Lifewords unless otherwise stated Design S2 design and advertising Ltd Print Yeomans Creative
Lifewords is the operating name of Scripture Gift Mission (Inc), registered charity in England and Wales, 219055 Registered office 1A The Chandlery, 50 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7QY Interact is free, available three times a year from your nearest member of the Lifewords global family of organisations (see page 15).
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WELCOME May the
hope ofwith Gofilldyou
all joy and peace
as you trust in him, so that you may
overflow with hope
by the power of
the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 (NIV)
As we start a new year, this verse from the Bible is our prayer for ourselves and for you – that we may be filled with God’s joy, peace, and hope. And that we may be equipped to share these precious gifts with others. In this issue of Interact, you can read about how people in Kenya and Indonesia are seeking to do just this by bringing the light of Jesus to their communities. In Nairobi, Pastor Salano offers joy and hope through sport as he trains and mentors young people to play football and live in the wider world. In Indonesia, Ince is enriching her community through education and by supporting local families. You can also read about our brand-new resource, Little Book of Joy – an exploration about how joy is foundational to our journey of faith and mission to tell others about Jesus. Thank you for your partnership in helping people discover God’s joy, peace, and hope.
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Pastor Salano
“When you plug into the community and start speaking their language – with the vision of allowing God to work in their lives – the Holy Spirit will do the rest.” This is Pastor Kennedy Salano, Director of Sports Evangelism for Assemblies of God Church in Nairobi, and a big football fan.
COMMON LANGUAGE
Words Jess Bee Photos Lucy Favier
Five years ago, the leadership of Pastor Salano’s church wanted to engage young people and reach out to them through football. “We realised many years ago that the only language that these young people understand is the language of sport,” says Pastor Salano. The church community was hesitant. “It was the first time that as a community and as a church we
were engaging in sport,” says Pastor Salano. “I told them, ‘On Saturday, we are going to meet, we are going to connect with the community, and play sports.’ And amazingly, on that Saturday, people came out, in their hundreds. Some of the young people we were meeting got connected with the church. We have seen God doing tremendous things and lives being changed.”
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E
NURTURING AND MENTORING The driving force for reaching out to young people is to share the good news of Jesus with them, but the impact of the ministry touches their whole lives, identifying and nurturing their talents. “We’ve seen some of these young people play for the national team and some have got sponsorship to study abroad,” says Pastor Salano. “We are so amazed by what God can do and how we can encourage these young people through the talent of sports.” Anthony Kahoro plays for Nairobi Water FC, in the second division. He’s also a coach, and he serves with the teenagers’ ministry and the worship team in church. “I have been nurturing young kids to become better both in life and in football,” says Anthony. “I’m a football coach and also a life coach, mentoring young kids, and making them better, both now and in the future.” Anthony’s journey with God started in 2010. “I’d had so many frustrations in life: being a football player, at the same time a father, it became hard. In 2010, I reached a point where I wanted to have purpose in life, to receive Jesus, and since then it has been both a tough but a wonderful journey in Jesus,
Anthony Kahoro
“We have seen God doing tremendous things and lives being changed”
with him enabling me to become the person that he wants me to become. “Before I received Jesus as my Saviour, I used to play for myself. I used to be selfish. I used to [look up to] the likes of Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, they were my role models. When I received Jesus, my role model changed – Jesus became my role model. Not just my role model, but my Saviour. My life changed from being a selfish 5
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“Jesus became my role model”
person to become a person who loves other people, who wants other people to become better and change their lives. The people who I used to play football with, when they see me now, they see a lot of change, a significant change. I’m now doing everything for Christ and for his glory.”
TOOLS FOR DISCIPLESHIP AND EVANGELISM Lifewords is an important part of the football ministry, providing resources to help share good news and to disciple young people. The resources – including An Invitation, Daily
Strength, and Inspiring Prayer – offer a way in for Pastor Salano and his team to pray with the young people, encourage them, and give them something that they can take home to study and read. On one occasion, the team from the church held a sports tournament for over 500 young people where they were able to share the gospel with the Rendille, one of the least-reached people groups in Kenya. “We used the tournament as a platform to reach out to them with the gospel of Jesus Christ,” says Pastor Salano. “We believe that
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the seed that we planted, of reaching out to them through sport, using the materials that we were given by Lifewords, will be able to enlarge and expand them spiritually.”
PASS IT ON Anthony wants to pass his experiences and faith on to others, to nurture and mentor young people to have a relationship with God, setting them up for a life beyond football: “My first wish for them is to know Christ Jesus. It’s the first step one can make in becoming a better player, and not just a better
player, but a better person in life and in society. In football, one per cent might make it to professional football, so the 99 percent, where do they fall? They become either coaches or spectators. The important thing is, that if they can receive Jesus, that is the biggest step they can take.”
“The impact of the ministry touches their whole lives, identifying and nurturing their talents”
PRAY Give thanks for Pastor Salano and his ministry to young people. Praise God for how lives have been touched and transformed. Pray for the young people – that they would find purpose, hope, and community.
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world NEWS 50 languages
In 2020, Lifewords launched its 50 languages project – 找到 a three-year initiative to revitalise Bible resources in 50 希望 pivotal global languages. The project aimed to create materials that could potentially resonate with over 5 billion native speakers, and up to 8 billion when factoring in secondدﻋﻮة language speakers. Transcending the intricate challenges of translation and typesetting was a challenge, especially when dealing with complex scripts like Marathi, Pashto, or Thai, but in 2023 (the project’s concluding year) the final Bible booklets in Arabic, Chinese, and Urdu, came off the presses. At the same time, finishing touches were given to the final animations in دعوت ناا ہ مہ Korean, Tamil, and Telugu. “These renewed Bible resources, in print and digital animation forms, have been making their journey across continents,” says Jarek Jankowski, Global Bible Resources Director. “The animations in particular, have found a viewership in the millions, with numbers escalating daily. These resources are finding a place in diverse cultures and backgrounds, are touching hearts, and are sometimes the first encounter with God’s Word for many. “The profound impact of this project stands as a tribute to Lifewords unwavering supporters and prayer partners. Their dedication has championed a mission: to ensure God’s timeless message has the potential to touch lives everywhere, no matter the language or location.”
Caring for children in Colombia Pavement Project in Colombia has been helping some of the thousands of children who have been left in vulnerable situations as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Churches and social projects have been seeking to provide support to families, and the Pavement Project team in Colombia has been encouraging these organisations to make emotional and spiritual care a part of their support. “The demand for Pavement Project training has been ongoing,” says Clenir dos Santos, Pavement Project Director. “Our trainer, Nely Molina, conducted training sessions for three churches in Bogotá in September and October last year.”
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Beatitudes on tour
ER PHOTOS © KRIS CALV
Last Autumn, our beatitudes-based project, NINE BEATS, took to the road for a six-date tour in the UK. Through music, spoken word, and thought-provoking conversation, each event was moulded to the venue and community in which it took place – from solo “unplugged” performances in Edinburgh and Leeds, to a whole band in Norwich, Birmingham, Sheffield, and London. A standout in the events was a rendition of the powerful NINE BEATS song Lament, where a sense of deep reflection was shared as the Collective and audience joined together in embracing the “beat” that says: “blessed are those who mourn”. “Thank you to all who joined us for fantastic times of music, storytelling, spoken word, and an exploration of these ancient sayings of the beatitudes,” said Steve Bassett, NINE BEATS creator. “In our wild world, they tell us there is another story to explore, and a different rhythm to live by.” “It was so good to see the respect and love that exists between each NINE BEATS member. It was so clear on stage and made the performance even more powerful.” London “A beautiful evening. It really touched my heart.” Norwich “I’m beginning to realise that the beatitudes are one of the only things that make sense in this crazy world.” Sheffield
Top: Heatherlyn Bottom: Ben Okafor
In addition to training new workers, in September, Pavement Project and Viva Network organised online and in-person meetings as part of Colombia’s month of focus on the emotional and mental wellbeing of children. Parents, leaders, teachers of children, and other interested individuals met to discuss child protection policy, and mental health and friendships in children.
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Called to Serve
Words Dan Hardie
Meet Ince: 24 years old, passionate about Jesus, and head teacher of a kindergarten school in Bumi Indah. Ince is just one of many young people who feel called to partner with Lifewords in Indonesia, to share the Bible, serve the community, and reach out to children.
“Many of the children who come here would not normally go to school”
Home to around 3,000 families, Bumi Indah is a small subsistence community on the outskirts of Jakarta in Indonesia. It’s the hometown of some of the Bible college students who serve with Lifewords. It’s here that some years ago, Gunar Sahari, Lifewords Indonesia Director, built a kindergarten to serve the community. “The vision was to have a ministry outpost where the students could spend a year in the field, learning the different skills in outreach, church ministry, teaching, and serving the local community,” says Gunar.
AT THE HEART OF THE COMMUNITY The Bumi Indah Rainbow Kindergarten is now well established as a three-story centre of activity, enabling up to 10 students or alumni to live in this community. Each week, they run daily kindergarten activities, children’s ministry, and church services. Many of the children who come here would not normally go to school. Ince (top left image) is a full-time teacher at the kindergarten and is also head teacher of the school, handling all the government
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compliance, registration, teaching standards, and curriculum. She has a heart for evangelism and children, and leads the extra-curricular children’s ministry every Wednesday and Saturday with two other Bible college alumni and one current student. Here the children can choose to come to extra classes to learn more about Jesus and engage in music and song. In the learning sessions, Ince and her colleagues use Lifewords resources to share the Bible with children.
MAKING AN IMPACT Ince is from a poor family on Sumba Island. During college, she was one of the best students. She was bold, brave, with natural leadership qualities, and wanted to make a difference. She did her practical ministry in Bumi Indah, and really loved the people, children, and community. “I try to follow God’s will to serve here,” she says. “The children are full of life and have so much ahead of them. I love our motto: ‘Children Today, Leaders Tomorrow’ because I believe this is the impact we can make here. We also impact families as many parents will join our programmes. Some will even learn English with us, as we teach the children.” It’s a challenging role for someone so young. “Sometimes
I feel inferior because I am still young,” says Ince. “I am only 24 years old, and I have to deal with parents who are older than me, and also government officials and administration. It can be a lot.” But this is why it feels important to receive the support and encouragement from Lifewords, and to be part of the network of the wider Lifewords children’s ministry in Indonesia. As she meets others who are doing the same work in many different places across Indonesia, Ince feels part of something bigger. When she gathers with other leaders and volunteers for additional training or to gain access to more booklets, she feels more empowered and equipped to do her ministry well.
GROWING IN MINISTRY Long term, Ince wants to go back to Sumba Island to serve children in her home village. “There’s a lot of children there, but no kindergarten, so children need to travel a long way for school. Starting a kindergarten will give us an opportunity to serve the families, be part of the community, and be a light.”
“Starting a kindergarten will give us an opportunity to serve the families”
PRAY Praise God for Ince and the other volunteers – for their sense of calling and commitment to serve. Pray for the children and their families – that as they are educated and supported, they would discover God’s love. Pray for Ince, that God would strengthen her and help her in her ministry.
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ANATOMY OF A BIBLE RESOURCE
Words Steve Bassett
Little Book of Lifewords leaps into 2024 with a brand-new title in our “little book” series – Little Book of Joy will launch on 29 February, joining the other five books in the collection.
“I find the whole little book series, especially the recently acquired new ones, easy to relate to and poignant in their subject matter. They help me focus on what is important in my everyday life and discard what is not. They bring me joy and enhance my already deep faith.” Clive Roberts
With the world in turmoil, it may seem counter-intuitive that the theme for a new Bible resource is joy. And for some, it might be surprising that the Bible talks about joy at all, when it is so often portrayed as boring, irrelevant, even toxic – a joyless book. But the Bible – this ancient collection of 66 “little books” – is our faith story, exploring the nature of God, humanity, and the world in which we live. Love, hope, redemption, and joy flow right through it.
FOUNDATIONS OF JOY In this new little book, we hear the Bible’s voice on “creation joy” – the idea that creation itself joys in the Creator. Then, there is the “fruit of joy” – how it forms part of the work of the Spirit of God in our lives and in the world. “Justice joy” illustrates how living with deep joy generates a world of joy not hate, hope not despair, love not fear, reshaping the world in God’s image. This links to “sustaining joy” – how even through the deepest travails, joy whispers that a new story can come. “Fully-alive joy” is where we explore how all humans experience joy – it’s not confined to religion or ideology, yet the Bible describes a particular joy from knowing the source of joy. All of which leads us to “Jesus joy” – through his birth, his life, and his death, Jesus brought joy to the world. A “resurrection joy” that cannot be held back.
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ok”
DISCOVERING JOY Although we can find joy in many ways and places, we often battle political, socio-economic or religious trauma, our inner thoughts and feelings, depression, mental struggle, relationships and family stress. Stigma. Othering. Shaming. All of these can be thieves of joy, so the resource leads us to hear how joy can be found again in “restoring joy”, and how release comes when we express joy – we’re invited to journal short responses as we reflect on the Bible text. The resource concludes by rounding off with two important passages. First – “run to your joy”, where nothing holds back the purest joy. And finally, the “way of joy” – bringing us into Jesus’ beatitudes, where joy is expressed as “blessing”. This is the path to joy that Jesus invites us all into. JOY-BRINGING Each little book has its own design feel. For Little Book of Joy, the brief was to capture an essence of vibrancy, colour – upbeat and freewheeling, like the 1960s technicolour antidote to the grey, austere 50s, or the psychedelic artwork of a Hendrix album or beat generation film poster. As we experience our own lockdown world and austerity era, the vitality of joy needs to be envisioned. With the weight of world events around us, joy seems in very short supply. Our prayer is that this will bring a little joy to many people.
PRAY Praise God for a new “little book” and for how it helps us engage with God’s joy. Pray that God’s joy would colour our lives and transform the way we see the world. Pray for the launch of this new resource – that it would be useful to many as they share the Bible with others.
We are excited to release new resources in 2024, starting with Little Book of Joy, and to launch the “little brick of little books” to help people get the resources into more places. In addition, watch out for developments in animation and other digital / video Visit applications of the series. lifewords.globa l to pre-order Little Book of Joy
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GET INVOLVED LI FE WO R DS A N D YOU
You and your church Your church has loads of opportunities to reach your community with the good news of the Bible and we’re here to support you in that ministry. How do you and your church share the Bible with others? Churches gather people together to worship, share life, and serve the community. They are places of welcome and support for people who are struggling, and encouragement for those who are searching – and they provide space for local groups to meet together. To help, we have created a digital hub for your church to access digital and printed resources for your groups, community events, pastoral ministry, and seasonal services, enabling you to share the transformational words of the Bible with congregations, visitors, and communities. Visit lifewords.global/churches to see how your community can journey together through the Bible and share God’s Word with others.
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Get in touch with the Lifewords global family. Find us online at www.lifewords.global, or contact your local office.
AUSTRALIA australia@lifewords.global
BRAZIL projectoc@lifewords.global
CANADA +1 905 683 6482 info@sgmcanada.ca
Leap into Easter This Easter, we have a range of resources for you to share with others. From our Finished/Risen card that invites us to think about the life-transforming events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday, to The Easter Journey booklet and animations that help us journey through Easter week; from our thoughtprovoking Day Three: Believe the Women resource to Witness: Easter Voices, we have lots on offer to help you and your church engage people with the Bible this Easter. We are also excited to tell you about the launch of a brand-new “little book”. Little Book of Joy will launch on 29 February alongside our “little brick of little books”. Intrigued? Keep an eye on our website for information and updates. Visit lifewords.global to browse and order from our Easter range, and for news on Little Book of Joy.
KENYA +254 20 2730100 kenya@lifewords.global
INDONESIA +62 81294210986 indonesia@lifewords.global
INDIA +91-9538811181 india@lifewords.global
POLAND europe@lifewords.global
UK & INTERNATIONAL OFFICE +44 (0) 20 7730 2155 uk@lifewords.global
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LIFEWORDS LITTLE BOOKS
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Leaping into 2024 with a brand-new “little book”
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