Go and make disciples of all nations!

- Matt 28:19 NIV -

                                                                                                                                                                                       ∴ Date : 2020-02-01 

 ▶ TI Editorial

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Ministry skills in the workplaces

Johnny Chun / Executive Secretary of TI

 Of the 7.7 billion people of the world, 33.3 % are classified as Christians.

   According to the Joshua Project, among the 17,104 people groups around the world, 7,162 people groups and 41.9% of

the total population are the unreached who live without Christ. To reach them with the Gospel, witness is urgently needed.

The question we ask now is “ How are we going to reach them and witness?”

   In the last three decades, there has been many new global mission movements such as Market place theology, Tentmaking Missions, Business as Mission,

Mission through Diaspora Groups including the Workplace Ministry to bring more people to Christ. Tentmaking mission has been serving as one of the best

ways to share the Gospel in the market or work places.

   As we all know, Tentmakers are disciples of Jesus Christ, called by God and commissioned by God’s people to meet people and share the gospel in their

workplaces. Their ultimate goal is to make disciples and build His church in any cultural situation, who use their professional skills to facilitate their ministry.

   And another urgent question raised to Tentmakers on the workplaces is “Do you have any strategies and ministry skills (contents) to persuade them with

the Gospel?”

   In a long time, mission societies emphasized on Christian workers’ or tentmakers’ spirituality and their training on their inner qualities but ignored the

importance of ministry skills such as the point of contact, pre-evangelism, ways to build disciples of Christ in their work-places. It means we succeeded to

send well trained soldiers to the battle ground but without weapons.

   We Christians workers today need to learn more advanced ministry skills to win the lost souls in this rapid changing materialistic market places.

   “ If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.”  -Ecclesiastes 10:10-

 ▶ Tentmaker's News

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Remembering our dear brother Ken Smith, a tentmaker who served as the Tentmaking Movement’s pioneer

By  Ken & Shirley Smith
 
   Ken Smith was one of God’s special servants.  And Ken Smith was just an ordinary guy.  God has a way of doing that.  Ken Smith went home to Jesus in

January of 2019, but not before doing a whole lot of extraordinary, ordinary daily service for the King.

   Kenneth O. Smith was born in 1923, raised on a farm in California, served in the US Marine Corps and got his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering

from Univ. of CA, Berkley & Davis.  He participated in church activities growing up and sports, football, basketball, swimming.  With his degree, he went into

Agricultural Engineering and worked for the USDA in cotton mechanization, and then as a Large Scale Farm Manager in AZ and CA before moving with his wife,

Shirley, and 3 daughters to Mindanao, Philippines, working as a Plantation Engineer in pineapple production for 5 years for the Del Monte Corp.  

   Then, with the girls grown, he and Shirley launched into a new adventure and accepted a position as a consultant for the Ministry of Agriculture and Water in

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, serving ten years as the head irrigation engineer, and then as the head engineer for the USDA and the US Dept. of Interior on their work

there.  And when they packed their suitcases for the move there, they packed their faith as well, accepting another position that the Lord had opened for them:

they became Tentmakers – using their vocational skills to serve a country that was not open to missionaries but desperately needs what Jesus freely offers.  

   They opened their home to people, shared their daily lives, shared Shirley’s wonderful hospitality and gift of cooking, answered questions and shared their

study of God’s Word.  Eventually, the fruitfulness of this quiet ministry came to the attention of the Saudi authorities and they were suddenly ushered out of

the country and found themselves back in the U.S.  

   That may have seemed at the time like a crushing defeat, but when anyone says, “Now what, Lord?  Here I am; use me,” He does!  Ken got his real estate

license in Washington, joined the Board of Mission to Unreached Peoples, a Seattle based Tentmaker Mission serving in closed and restricted countries throug

hout Asia and Eastern Europe, as well as the Board of Tentmakers International, sharing the wealth of knowledge they had gained through their years of

ministering in such a closed country.  Both Ken and Shirley continued serving wherever the Lord directed opportunities, very active in their church, in the

Mission and traveling frequently in their role as encouragers and advisors, into their 90s.  The Lord took Shirley home in August, 2018, and Ken in January,

2019, and there was assuredly great rejoicing upon their arrival!  Ordinary people whose ordinary but willing service God can use for His own extraordinary

ends!

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 ▶ Tentmaker's Story

Fear for “tsunami” hitting Iranian Christians

By  Steinar Opheim

   The killing of one of Iran’s top leaders by US forces may cause a “tsunami” of problems for Christians in Iran. The turmoil may also create new opportunities

for sharing the gospel, believes one of the most influential leaders among Iranian Christians.

   “Christians in Iran react with uncertainty and anxiety to the liquidation of Iran’s military leader Qassem Soleimani. In case of escalation of hostilities and

engagement in war, Iranian Christians will suffer more than any other segment of society,” says Lazarus Yeghnazar in an interview with Christianity Today.

< Wide network>

   As the founder and leader of what has become 222 Ministries, Yeghnazar has been one of the most influential leaders among Iranian Christians. According

to Christianity Today the network he has built up, includes satellite TV broadcasts and more than 50 underground churches in Iran.

   Yeghnazar is sure that Iran sooner or later will be at war with western nations.

   “The regime in Iran is going to provoke the West to attack. Who knows how long that will take? When it comes it will create a tsunami of disaster and a

tsunami of opportunities. Today the church is ill-prepared to meet those opportunities. That is why we are so committed to leadership development for Iran,”

says Yeghnazar.

< Ask for commitment – not numbers>

   In the interview he sends a clear message to Western Christians. “Don’t go after numbers. You should rather ask how deep the church is growing and how

committed the growing church is. The tsunami will come, and if the seeds have not gone deep in the hearts of the believers, it will wash away.”

   Global Intent and Tent have followed up several professionals in Iran over the past decades. Iran hires professionals with needed skills and there are

available jobs in a variety of sectors including healthcare, education and IT. and IT.