Philippine Missions Association

A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A BLESSED NEW YEAR to you!  May this letter find you in the best of health, physically, financially and spiritually, as we end one more year in this fast-changing world!  In this past year, the Arab world tasted political freedom, and most countries in Asia (esp. China & India – the 2 largest nations in the world) continue to prosper, while the West and Japan continue to struggle economically. For Filipinos, it feels good to truly celebrate this season with hope for a better year ahead with a highly popular regime (in spite the tragic floods caused by typhoons Juaning, Pedring, and lately Sendong in northern Mindanao this past week)!  We learned to love football, and rejoice that justice has begun to truly prevail in our land!  We can heartily sing “Joy to the world, the Lord is come,” for His love is being realized among us (“Emmanuel”)!

As we enter the 2^nd year of the 2^nd decade of the 21^st century, the next 8 years look bright as we seek to do effective missions in our generation, even with the challenges of militant Islam, secular humanism and consumerist materialism.  We can talk about closure to the Great Commission again (as in 1995), so that the end will come (Mt. 24:14) – this time more realistically!  A paradigm shift in mission strategy from the dominant Christendom’s imperial (with wealth & power) to “transformational mission’s” incarnational approach (with love and good works) has dawned, I think.  This shift must happen!  As Einstein said, “It’s stupidity to do the same thing again and again and expect different results.”  I wrote a monograph about this last August, and gladly found it published in Asian Missions Advance, 33 (October 2011): 20-22 (Pls. find it in this website for your reading pleasure).

Thus I end this year with continued optimism, esp. for my life-goal: “the evangelization of ASIA.”  Thanks for praying with me as I pray, “Lord, give me Asia, or I die”!  Amidst the many natural disasters, increasing militarization and political turmoils, multitudes are being brought into the Kingdom through “house church movements” and “Jesus movements” in Asia!

For me, 2011 has been a “Year of Take-offs,” esp. for my advocacy of setting up Christ-centered transformational development communities (where God’s shalom/kingdom prevails) through “insider (or Jesus) movements” (I.M.) in Asia and beyond.  Although it remains very difficult for us in the “frontier missions” movement to call the mainstream church and missions to do I.M., I rejoice to see many more missionaries and mission leaders (including and perhaps mainly Koreans since they are the most dominant nowadays in Asia) make the shift quite significantly, though not as dramatically as we want.  But the breakthrough has occurred indeed!  Globally this was highlighted (not for the first time) and popularized in the May-June 2011 issue of Mission Frontiers, calling I.M.’s wholistic church multiplication strategy as “Jesus Movements.”  May there be acceleration, if not multiplication or exponential growth in 2012!

I’ve seen “take-offs” in my 4 major involvements:

1.  Lausanne-Philippines (LPP) went nationwide with regional “Marches for Jesus” (M4J), culminating with a national conference in partnership with Church Planters League in Puerto Princesa last Oct. 25-28.  The board will have a strategic planning retreat on Jan. 29-30.  May there be an inter-denominational “Global Ministry Center” in each municipality/city to actualize locally the “spirit of Lausanne,” which calls the whole church to share the whole gospel with the whole world and “in the whole society” – all sectors, esp. government, business, academe, media & medicine. (I’m very glad that my daughter Tsina (Chinese nickname: Kibi) is now a collegian, taking Nursing in U.P.-Manila as her pre-Med).

2.  For community transformation, my school Asian School of Development and Cross-cultural Studies (ASDECS) has had our second batch of international graduates in our Masters in Development Management (MDM) program – 11 in Cambodia and 5 (with one Swede) in Laos.  Our certificate-granting Center for Transformational Development (CTD) also graduated 52 church and mission leaders to become more effective change agents in their community (as “elders of the city or province”) in Marinduque, MetroManila and Cebu.  We’re praying that our programs will multiply early next year, esp. as we seek to equip Christ-followers for “servant leadership” and “social entrepreneurship” in transformational communities.  We may even start a degree program in Ghana and/or Ethiopia next year!

3.  For national transformation, the Philippine House Church Movement (PHCM) has launched 4 related programs.  Foremost is to turn our country into a rice-exporting nation through the introduction of an organic fertilizer, which will double if not triple the yield of our rural farmers (the poorest of the 70% poor in our land) and to buy their produce at a higher price than what the rice cartels have paid them (that’s why they’ve stayed poor all these years!)  Second, we’ve introduce the benefits of brown rice to our diet, since 90% of the nutrients are milled away in white rice; this will make us a healthier people who will no longer be sick with diabetes, hypertension, etc. Third, we’ve introduced the use of a Filipino invention: a fuel saver (called Catalyst) that can help motorists save 20-30% of their gas consumption.  Their savings can be used in our fourth program called “Investors Clubs,” where any group of up to 15 members can pool their savings together to develop a social enterprise.  May our people learn how to become employers and not just be employees!

4.  And for global transformation, the Philippine Mission Mobilization Movement (PM3), launched our flagship program for each church to set up an “OFW ministry” desk last April 15.  The 300+ participants were asked to be partners with us to train and send 1,000,000 Outstanding Faithful Witnesses/missionaries by 2020.  Our Intercessors did “spiritual warfare” in Corregidor last May 5-6 to cast down the one remaining “prince of the air” called DEATH over our land who has hindered us from becoming God’s LIFE-giving people.  We look forward to being joined by the main Filipino Prayer movements to raise 5 million intercessors for the nations, as the Prophetic movement here anticipates this decade prior to the 500^th anniversary of the planting of the cross in our land (that’s AD 2012-2021) for God to raise Filipinos as His harvesters in the end-times.  And above all, since August, God has also raised a group of Tsinoy businessmen who have committed their resources to help multiply OFW ministries at POEA and across the land!

My mission, China Ministries International-Phil. (CMI-Phil) sent our 106^th tentmaker missionary into China as we celebrated our 16^th anniversary, and hopes to mobilize 20 more by end of next year.  I hope our I.M. and tentmaker model of mission will be promoted more and more as I serve with the leaders of the Asian Frontier Missions Initiative (AFMI) and Asia Lausanne Committee (ALCOWE).

This has been a most productive year of writing for me, too.  Published were: (1) “Continuities with Suffering as a Bridge to Evangelizing Buddhists.”  In Paul de Neui (ed.).  Suffering: Christian Reflections on Buddhist Dukkha.  Pasadena: William Carey Library. (2) “Mission as Transformation: Holistic, Ecumenical and Contextual.”  In Shirley Roels (ed.).  Reformed Mission in an Age of World Christianity: Ideas for the 21^st Century. Grand Rapids: Calvin Press.

Also in: www.calvin.edu/admin/cccs/rcc/chapters/Lim.pdf. And (3) “Filipino Insider Missions in the Buddhist World.”  AFMI-ASFM Bulletin 6 (January-March 2011): 28-36.

To be published this year are papers that I presented in various international conferences: (1) “Effective Partnerships for Church Multiplication and Insider Movements,” presented at SEANET, Chiangmai.  (2) “Transformational Missional Training for the Evangelization of Asia,” presented at the 7^th Asia Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization,” Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.  And (3) “Journeying Together in Muslim Mission in Philippine Churches.”  Paper presented at the 30th Anniversary Conference of the Presbyterian Church of Korea Mission in the Philippines, Pasig City.

In all these, I’ve sought to promote what I believe is God’s simple (not complex) master-plan on how to disciple all peoples fastest!  Though 27% of the world remains totally unreached (perhaps a bit reduced in the last 2 years), we can accomplish total world evangelization by equipping all Christians (99.95% non-clergy) to exercise their royal priesthood, to intentionally make disciples of their friends and neighbors!  Properly trained in I.M.-type church, campus and marketplace ministries, we can reach the 86% of today’s non-Christians (Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Communists, etc) who do not know of any Christian friend.

I thank God for your partnership in the Gospel through the years!  May God bless you abundantly in the new year, so that you and your family will be channels of His blessings to all who come across your lives!

With best wishes for 2012,

(sgd) david

David S. Lim

(Mobile) 0917-6612888