News from Tom and Leslie Johnson

We wish you all a happy holiday season!
May the joy of Christ’s coming as a baby
fill your heart as you look forward to
His return.
Have a healthy and happy New Year of 2023!

We hope you have had a blessed Advent, celebrating the coming of Jesus. Today is the third day of Christmas, as some count, but we are not thinking about the three French hens mentioned in the famous song.

When we moved to Prague in 1996, several of my (Tom’s) first university students were refugees from the Yugoslav Wars, wars filled with unspeakable crimes against humanity. My students had been on opposite sides in the war. In a class on the ethics of war, a young woman told her experience of holding a friend in her arms while he died, after he had been hit by a sniper. A young man in the class said he might have been the sniper who killed her friend, since he had been a sniper on the other side at that time and place. They had all fled so they would not have to kill or be killed. Since that time, we have heard and seen the plight of numerous people fleeing for their lives, many of whom are our brothers and sisters in Christ.

On the recent Keith and Kristyn Getty “Sing! An Irish Christmas,” we heard the English poet Malcolm Guite recite his poem “Refugee.” We found it very encouraging. Guite included it as a reading for December 28 in a book of poems for Advent which he edited, which I quickly purchased.

Refugee
We think of him as safe beneath the steeple,
Or cosy in a crib beside the font,
But he is with a million displaced people
On the long road of weariness and want.
For even as we sing our final carol
His family is up and on that road,
Fleeing the wrath of someone else’s quarrel,
Glancing behind and shouldering their load.
Whilst Herod rages still from his dark tower
Christ clings to Mary, fingers tightly curled,
The lambs are slaughtered by the men of power,
And death squads spread their curse across the world.
But every Herod dies, and comes alone
To stand before the Lamb upon the throne.

Malcolm Guite, Waiting on the Word (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2015) Kindle, 2036-2042.

Thank you so much!

We appreciate you all and are thankful for the Lord’s work through you!

Tom & Leslie Johnson

News from Tom and Leslie Johnson

Thank You!
G20 Religion Forum in Indonesia
A Note from Tom

I would like to thank you because you made it possible for me to represent many millions of Christians at the first G20 Religion Forum.

The G20, which was founded to prevent future global economic crises, has been mostly a gathering of heads of state, finance ministers, secretaries of trade, and central bankers from the 20 largest economies. More recently the G20 leadership has begun to add discussions of topics that have global impacts on societies and economies. This year, while Indonesia was coordinating the events, discussion of religions was added.

Already for a couple generations the largest Indonesian Muslim group, with whom the WEA has a religious freedom joint working group, has been trying to allow the peaceful development of both Protestant and Catholic churches. This peaceful neighborliness of Muslims with Christians forms the background for the economic growth of their country. Now, through the G20, political and religious leaders from other major countries are publicly considering how to apply this model in their countries. Even the first steps in this process, such as top Saudi Arabian Muslim leaders having their pictures taken while attending meetings with Christians, will reduce the persecution of Christians in their countries, including saving the lives of Christians.

It is valuable for Christians to support this process and to have representatives at the table for the discussions. Again, thank you for letting me represent Christians in this forum by means of your giving, praying, and encouragement. My invitation to give a speech at this event was the result of years of study, writing, and meetings while you were supporting us. We hope you will continue supporting us with prayer and finances.

Tom chose to sit during his speech, partly because of a sore hip, partly because of the image of a table of discussion which he used.

Settling In

As of our last newsletter, we were still waiting for our stuff. About a week after that letter our moving van arrived. Woohoo!

As expected, we have put a LOT of stuff into storage. The house we are renting is a bit tight for 6 of us and 2 dogs. And it is still the plan to rent for 6-12 months and look for two houses (or one bigger house) to buy. So, we don’t want to unpack, only to have to pack it again.

We would appreciate your prayers as we go through this settling into Knoxville, finding a church, and getting our feet back under us for our ministries. Without your prayers, we could do nothing!

Leslie’s Update

Representing Refugees and Immigrants

As you know, I now work part-time for the PCA’s Mission to North America (MNA) Refugee and Immigrant Ministry as the Cross-cultural Training Specialist. In September, in that role, I attended meetings for the heads of the different ministries working under Mission to North American (MNA), not as the head of the Refugee and Immigrant Ministry, but on behalf of the director, Pat Hatch.

In October, I stood in for Pat and our ministry again at a Church Planters Summit held at Covenant Seminary. The idea was to have all the ministries of MNA there so church planters can see what is available as they work to grow new churches.

Now I am getting to know the ministries in the Knoxville area that are ministering to refugees and immigrants. Recently, I was trained as a volunteer for Bridge Refugee Services, and I met with the person who is the “School Liaison.” She and I will be planning some trainings together, and I may do some tutoring.

The fun fact is that these two works, MNA Refugee and Immigrant Ministry and volunteering for Bridge Refugee Services, go hand in hand. I thank the Lord for this privilege.

ACSI EU and Global

My work with international Christian school accreditation is continuing with ACSI Global. I am looking forward to going to Europe in April to work with a team at an international Christian school in their accreditation process. In the meantime, I will be meeting with school leaders of this school on Zoom for two days just before Thanksgiving to see how things are going and to give encouragement.

Praises:
We thank the Lord for:

• Tom’s opportunity to serve in Indonesia in early November. (See his update.) This grows out of the request from Indonesian Muslims for Tom and the WEA to do more with them for religious freedom. They repeated the request just before Tom departed Indonesia, after the meetings.
• The book about the Decalogue which Tom edited is getting distributed.
• Leslie’s opportunities to serve:
  • Serving the PCA Mission to North America (MNA) as a cross-cultural training specialist in the Refugee and Immigrant Ministry; Her hours will probably be increasing.
  • Serving another school by helping them through an ACSI accreditation process with the team visit happening next Spring.
  • A new addition: helping the School Liaison with her work helping refugee families navigate the school system in Knoxville.

Prayers:

Please join us in praying for:

• Getting settled in Knoxville: finding a new church, getting all the necessary things changed (driver’s license, car registration, doctors, etc.)
• Protection from discouragement for the refugee family we have been helping. They continue to wait and work on documents.
• The refugee family’s transition to a new culture and for all refugees who also are having transition challenges. They will need tremendous courage to face huge challenges in their up-coming transition.
• More churches to take on supporting refugees. We have done it in the past with the boat people and Vietnam refugees. Let’s do it again now with so many people who need help.
• All the refugees around the world, including those from Ukraine, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the list could go on.
• Please be praying for the Lord to use us where we are to serve Him and others well.

Thank you for your faithful prayer for us as well as your financial gifts that allow us to do the work He has called us to.

 

News from Tom and Leslie Johnson

Leslie’s Update

Be sure to read to the bottom of this update to see some important family news for which we would appreciate your prayers.

Representing Refugees and Immigrants at the PCA General Assembly

In June, Tom and I went to our denomination’s national meetings. We are a part of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and in June every year, they hold the national meetings, called “General Assembly” (GA).

I now work part-time for the PCA’s Mission to North America (MNA) Refugee and Immigrant Ministry as the Cross-cultural Training Specialist. While at GA in that role, I worked with a colleague, Osman, representing the ministry at a booth at GA. In addition to staffing the booth, I joined 3 others to present a seminar called, “Using Cultural Sensitivity to Build the Body of Christ” which was well received.

Osman and I also hosted a luncheon on behalf of our ministry. The luncheon included a panel of four people talking about their churches’ experiences helping recent Afghan refugees. It was very interesting, and the audience was spell-bound listening to these four people and their stories. Lord willing, more people are motivated to support refugee and immigrant ministry in their communities.

Other duties included being support staff at a luncheon and a breakfast sponsored by MNA. And I attended an alumni breakfast sponsored by Covenant College. It was fun to meet new people as well as see old friends.

For Tom, however, it was a difficult week. The first day we were there, we had to do a lot of walking. From the parking structure to the hotel lobby to the exhibit hall and back, it was too much, and he developed a lot of pain. Unfortunately, it was bad enough that he was unable to go to more than one or two events each day. He watched most of the meetings of the delegates from our hotel room via live stream.

Since that trip, Tom has started more intense physical therapy (PT) to try to help reduce the pain. The current theory is that there is a damaged muscle near the hip that the replacement did not address. Overall, he is still MUCH better than before the hip replacement. However, please keep him in prayer that the PT team would have wisdom on the best way to help.

ACSI EU and Global

Please pray for the International ACSI EU Student Leadership Conference (SLC) in September 2022 to be honoring to the Lord and encouraging and helpful to the student leaders who are attending.

I also continue to work with ACSI Global in international Christian school accreditation. The conversations have started with the school assigned for me to visit next Spring. As of this writing, the dates have not been set yet, but I look forward to seeing how the Lord is working in yet another Christian international school.

It is an honor to use the training and experience the Lord has brought my way to help people grow in cultural sensitivity. May the Lord be glorified!

What’s Next?

Amid the normal activities of life, we are preparing as a family to move. Where? We don’t know yet.

Our son-in-law is leaving the military in October and is actively looking for a new job. Aimee is also actively looking for a counseling job. Once one of them has a firm job offer, they will move. And they want us to move with them, either to continue living with them for a while or to live nearby. At this point, then, we don’t know where, but we have a general idea of when. We hope to move before October 1 of this year.

Please be praying for the Lord to put us where we are to serve Him and others well.

Refugee update from Tom

Praise the Lord with us! We just learned that the refugee family from the Middle East, with whom we have been working for almost 2 1/2 years, received their Canadian ID number. This means that, in principle, they have been accepted as future residents of Canada, though it may take a few months for all the needed paperwork, and refugees always face terrible uncertainty. I recently saw the dad and mom on Zoom in a meeting with the Canadian woman who is the head of the organization coordinating their move. Their son was at a church camp. They began rejoicing once they understood what the new documents mean, but I cautioned them that I will feel a lot better when I see a picture of them coming out of a Canadian airport. A huge thanks to the many who helped in different ways! And please keep praying!

Praises:
We thank the Lord for:

• Leslie’s opportunities to serve:
  • the PCA Mission to North America (MNA) as a cross-cultural training specialist in the Refugee and Immigrant Ministry;
  • another school by helping them through an ACSI accreditation process with the team visit happening next Spring.
• Projects moved well without Tom doing a lot, allowing time for his hip to recover.
• The Decalogue Project, an international book about the Ten Commandments, edited by Tom and William S. Barker, is on schedule for release at a conference this fall.
• Volume 2 of Tom’s book series, Christian Ethics in Secular Cultures is beginning to gain a warm reception.
• A request from Indonesian Muslims for Tom to do much more with them regarding religious freedom.
• Very promising documents from the Canadian government for the Middle Eastern refugee family we have been assisting.

Prayers:

Please join us in praying for:

• Wisdom for both of us as we continue to pray through the Lord’s callings:
  • For Leslie: more refugee work? More educational consultations? Taking on a job to help with finances? And of course, investing in grandchildren is not a question.
  • For Tom: what to research and write? How to work with Muslims and with the Vatican? What to delegate?
  • For both of us: when and where should we travel for ministry?
• Protection from discouragement for the refugee family we have been helping. Even though there is progress, they still have to wait and work on documents.
• The refugee family’s transition to a new culture and for all refugees who also are having transition challenges. They will need tremendous courage to face huge challenges in their up-coming transition.
• For more churches to take on supporting refugees. We have done it in the past with the boat people and Vietnam refugees. Let’s do it again now with so many people who need help.
• For all the refugees around the world, including those from Ukraine, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the list could go on. The latest estimate is that there are now over 100 million displaced people around the world!
• Tom as he expects to go to Indonesia for several days of meetings at the beginning of November.
• Please be praying for the Lord to put us where we are to serve Him and others well.

Thank you for your faithful prayer for us as well as your financial gifts that allow us to do the work He has called us to.

Recent Publications

1. God Needs No Defense: Reimagining Muslim-Christian Relations in the 21st Century, edited by Thomas K. Johnson and C. Holland Taylor (a Muslim scholar), hard cover: https://wipfandstock.com/9781666744323/god-needs-no-defense/; free PDF: https://www.academia.edu/50075224/God_Needs_No_Defense_Reimagining_Muslim_Christian_Relations_in_the_21st_Century.
2. Humanitarian Islam, Evangelical Christianity, and the Clash of Civilizations, paperback: https://wipfandstock.com/9781666704396/humanitarian-islam-evangelical-christianity-and-the-clash-of-civilizations/; free PDF: https://www.academia.edu/45458012/Humanitarian_Islam_Evangelical_Christianity_and_the_Clash_of_Civilizations.
3. Christian Ethics in Secular Cultures: Volume 2: Culture, Hermeneutics, Natural Law, Islam, and Missions, paperback (temporarily out of stock): https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Thomas-K-Johnson/dp/3862692337/ref=sr_1_9?crid=160UQNHXL0FOZ&keywords=Thomas+K.+Johnson&qid=1652537978&sprefix=thomas+k.+johnson%2Caps%2C160&sr=8-9; free PDF: https://www.academia.edu/74013380/Christian_Ethics_in_Secular_Cultures_vol_2_Culture_Hermeneutics_Natural_Law_Islam_Missions.
4. The Protester, the Dissident, and the Christian: Essays on Human Rights and Religion, with a foreword by C. Holland Taylor, paperback: https://wipfandstock.com/search-results/?contributor=Thomas%20K%20Johnson; free PDF: https://www.academia.edu/45375662/The_Protester_the_Dissident_and_the_Christian_Essays_on_Human_Rights_and_Religion.
5. “Does the Word of God Change the World? From Martin Luther to the 69 Theses of Thomas Schirrmacher,” Evangelical Review of Theology, May 2022: https://www.academia.edu/78964674/Does_the_Word_of_God_Change_the_World_From_Martin_Luther_to_the_69_Theses_of_Thomas_Schirrmacher.
6. “Religious communities as good neighbors in a post-secular global society,” December 2020 speech for a US State Department online conference for global religious leaders and diplomats, later published by the International Journal for Religious Freedom: https://www.academia.edu/73268382/Religious_communities_as_good_neighbors_in_a_post_secular_global_society.

Forthcoming: The Decalogue Project: Disciples from Six Continents Engage with God’s Ten Commandments, edited by Thomas K. Johnson and William S. Barker.

We appreciate you all and are thankful for the Lord’s work through you!

Special Request to Help Evacuate a Global Scholar’s Family

The Need

One of the privileges we have had over the years in our work with Global Scholars is to meet other academics from other countries, people who love the Lord and want to glory God through their academic studies.

One such person is Slavik Lytvenenko from Ukraine. His specialty is the study of Patristics, the early Christian Fathers of our faith. Before moving to Prague, he taught at a Christian college in Eastern Ukraine. When we met Slavik, he was working on his Ph.D. At the same time, we met his wife, Oksana, and their three children who attended the Christian International School of Prague. Over the years, this family has become dear friends of ours.

They have remained in Prague as their kids have grown and Slavik’s teaching ministry has been in Prague as well as Belgium and the US.

However, their family remains in Ukraine. Born and raised in the Donetsk region, Slavik and Oksana have been quite concerned for their family. Let me use Slavik’s words that we received this morning in an email.

I am trying to raise support for our family in Druzhkivka who are about 30 miles away from the war zone and about 40 miles from Donetsk. Our government is now recommending for such people to get evacuated in light of what is going on there right now. So, my Mom will be moving to Kyiv, and we have friends who can host her there for a while. Oksana’s Mom has decided to stay because she is suffering from cancer (for a couple of years now) and is too weak to move anywhere at this point. We’ll keep helping her where she is. Oksana’s sister with her husband and three kids will be relocating to a town near Lviv (the most western region in Ukraine).

Since the beginning of the war in the fall of 2014, that area has been struck with poverty, and we’ve been helping our family ever since. However, our resources are quite exhausted, and I’d like to look for some support to help them at this critical time. According to our estimations, we need about $4,500, and I have more specific figures if needed. 

Because Slavik is already a supported Global Scholars, we have asked and received permission to send out the link to his support account. No money will come through us at all. It will all go directly through Global Scholars to Slavik and his family.

Would you prayerfully consider supporting Slavik in helping his mom and sister-in-law and family get evacuated from the Donetsk region, as well as help Oksanna’s sick mom get to a safe place near her home?

If you are open to helping, please use the link below to the Global Scholars giving page. There is a dropdown menu to find professors to support in alphabetical order. Look for Lytvynenko, Viacheslav Slavik and Aksanna. Click on that name and then add whatever you feel led to contribute to help this family.

There is NO pressure here. We know this is a tight time financially for many people. Give only as the Lord leads.

Thank you for considering helping a family in need of evacuation to safety in Ukraine!
Please keep Ukraine and Belarus in your prayers!

News from Tom and Leslie Johnson

May you have a blessed Christmas and New Year,
filled with health, peace, and joy!

Tom’s Update

In January it will be 28 years that we have been on staff with Global Scholars, about a decade longer than the adventures of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, but, so far as I can see, our quest is not finished. My current chapter started almost three years ago when we started working with Indonesian Muslims to protect religious freedom. For me this required months of research, 40,000+ miles of travel, countless video and phone calls, writing academic and popular articles, writing one book and co-authoring (and co-editing) another book, giving speeches in person and online, participating in podcast interviews, speaking at last summer’s big event in Washington, DC, and then helping to report on the event.

However, this long chapter is not finished. Our Muslim/Christian joint team has two events on the drawing board, one about a year from now, another about two years out, probably one in Asia and one in Europe, hopefully including high-level participation by Roman Catholic scholars and bishops, along with the Muslim/Evangelical team. These events will require research, writing articles, speeches, etc.

About me: after three strenuous years I was exhausted, partly because of pain in my leg that was injured 23 years ago. The docs have read the CT and MRI and recommend a hip replacement. I hope to get to the point where I can sit in an airplane and walk a distance without much pain. Now I am one of the people who sit during the singing at church. Of course, arranging surgery takes longer than anyone likes.

This fall I finished writing Christian Ethics in Secular Cultures, volume 2: Culture, Hermeneutics, Natural Law, Islam, and Missions. It will be published soon by the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance. Volume 1 was published in 2014. As with several of my books, I expect it to be available from major booksellers a few months after initial publication by the WEA. As part of the WEA agreement to have these books online as free downloads, I do not receive any royalties from the publishing companies. This is missionary publishing. (See insert below.)

The Comenius Institute in Prague, which we helped start in 1999, is flourishing amidst challenges. As board president I receive frequent reports. In 2021, three of the PhD students in our mentoring program finished their degrees, one in New Testament, one in psychology, one in missiology (at Oxford). Our Roma (Gypsy) study program is supporting and mentoring several leaders from Roma churches to get their high school equivalency. During covid lockdowns this has included buying computers for them. One of the men I started to mentor almost 20 years ago, Jan Habl, was just promoted to full professor in a Czech university and serves on our board. He commented recently on the mentoring program for PhD students, which Dr. Peter Cimala took over from me already 8 years ago, “I remember wandering in the early days of my Ph.D. thesis. Tom literally saved me.” Dr. Habl is a specialist in ethical education and is fully transparent about his Christian faith while teaching in one of the most secular regions of Europe. Some of his books are now available on Amazon, an example of our international mission work coming back to help re-evangelize North America; see When No One is Looking.

What is Missionary Publishing?

Missionary publishing = publishing resources for people who may not have the money or access to the resources in North America. The reason? Over 90% of the resources for Christians are in North America; however, more than 90% of Christians live outside of North America, where there are no resources! Hence, the need to provide free to low cost books and other resources for people outside North America.

Leslie’s Update In November, I had the privilege of training people here in Fayetteville about cross-cultural issues we face when working with refugees. It was a four-week series about our biblical call to reach out to strangers, what culture is, and the differences we have between cultures. I had the joy, too, to share one of the evenings with my daughter, Aimee. As a licensed professional marriage and family therapist, she has had training in helping people with trauma and PTSD. Rather than try to teach that myself, I asked Aimee to come in to share what trauma and PTSD are, how we can recognize signs, and how to help.  I learned a lot that evening listening to her. ACSI EU and Global I continue to work with ACSI in the areas of international accreditation and European conferences. Right now is a slow time for me as we are between the big conferences. I also continue to work with ACSI Global in the area of international Christian school accreditation. Currently, I am working with a school in Bolivia to prepare them for the accreditation team visit in April. Lord willing, we will be able to do that in person. ICCM Cohort Update The board overseeing the Institute for Cross-Cultural Mission (ICCM) in Washington, DC, met mid-November and decided to close the institute for a variety of reasons. This means the end of my cohort studies. It was meant to be three years long, but I was part of it for only half that time. However, I am encouraged that the Lord used the cohort to introduce me to new friends who are also eager to study, and to help me learn a lot about our country’s racial tensions. He also used the cohort to push me into a ministry with training volunteers working with refugees. So, NOW what? Starting December 1, 2021, I am now officially working three hours a week for the Mission to North America Committee of the Presbyterian Church of America in Refugee and Immigrant Ministries. My official title is “Cross-Cultural Training Specialist.” Besides running trainings for churches who work with refugees, I will be helping the Director of the Refugee and Immigrant Ministries, Mrs. Pat Hatch, with a variety of administrative tasks. I will also be volunteering with the We Welcome – NC group with training volunteers. We are planning future training opportunities for their volunteers in the Raleigh/Durham area, as well as churches who are interested in refugee ministries. One of the women also works with Welcome House, which is developing short-term housing for refugee families as they look for more permanent housing. I am excited to see how the Lord leads and uses me to be an encouragement to others doing cross-cultural work right here in the US. Please pray for the Lord’s wisdom as I prepare and teach people about cross-cultural understanding.

A Much-Needed Time for Rest for Tom You have watched and read and seen the fruit of Tom’s work these past few years with the Humanitarian Muslims. The amount of energy and work he has put in is, from my (Leslie’s) perspective, immense. Now that the jointly produced book has been launched, Tom needs to stop and rest. We know that God does not want us living a life of exhaustion all the time. There are times to push hard; but then there are times to stop and re-gain strength by resting. Additionally, Tom is having hip and knee problems again and may be facing 1 or more surgeries over the next year. We will know more early in December exactly what the prognosis is. This has led us to think it is time for Tom to take a sabbatical. He needs to stop and rest his body and his brain. And he needs to have his hip and knee treated appropriately. Thus, we are planning on Tom taking a year-long sabbatical. The first few months are to be complete rest and medical work, a deep sabbath, allowing God to rejuvenate his body and soul. The next several months would be a time of praying and studying, researching, and writing what he is called to write. Probably in those last few months, he would be working again with the Humanitarian Muslims, preparing for a big event next September 2022. But this would be at a slower, less intense level than he has had over the last three years. Twice Tom has had extended times for research and thinking, a research grant 35 years ago and a partial sabbatical 18 years ago. Much of what he has done on the international stage arose from what he learned during those times. People we trust have recommended that he not retire anytime soon because there is a more for him to do. We want this to be a time of equipping for the future. Please join us in prayer that he could completely pass off current duties for this season. Pray, too, for him to truly rest. (We all have a hard time with that, don’t we?) And pray for the Lord’s wisdom about his next writing projects. UPDATE: The Lord has provided people to take over most of Tom’s responsibilities for the next few months. We are very grateful for the Lord’s provision.  Special Refugee Update We have no news to report. The paperwork for the refugee family is still stuck in the system. Please continue to pray the paperwork gets processed SOON so they can transition from the refugee camp to the new country as soon as possible. For the first time since covid hit…. We are behind in our support account. It is a bit concerning since we are currently not traveling at all to Europe or other places. In the past, travel is what drained our support account. And we have not been to our supporting churches. Additionally, many of our individual supporters are getting to that age of retirement and are unable to continue to support us, and rightly so. The Lord is the provider God who will take care of our needs. Please be praying for new supporters, and opportunities to speak at churches about our work. Click HERE for the link to get to Tom’s academic website. Click HERE for the link to get to Leslie’s website and blog. Praises: We thank the Lord for: Tom’s opportunities to speak and write openly about the Christian faith while working with Muslim leaders and diplomats to promote religious freedom; Leslie’s new opportunity to join local and national ministries training volunteers working with refugees about cross-cultural values and communication; Gifted colleagues who have taken over significant parts of Tom’s work, allowing him to slow down; Tom’s opportunity to get a hip replacement in 2022; Being able to live in peace while sometimes communicating regarding people who have suffered horrendous abuse and are fleeing for their lives Prayers: Please join us in praying for: NEW: Pray for wisdom for both of us as we pray through the Lord’s calling for us in 2022. What does the Lord want us to be working on? For Leslie: more refugee work? More educational consultations? And of course, investing in grandchildren. For Tom: rest? focus on hip replacement and health? A book to write? Pray for protection from discouragement for the refugee family we have been helping. Their government paperwork is still moving slowly. Pray for the paperwork to get finished and for them to move to the new country safely and efficiently. Also continue to pray for the refugee family’s transition to a new culture. They will need tremendous courage to face huge challenges in their up-coming transition. That God would renew our churches so that we can more powerfully both proclaim the light of Christ and demonstrate his grace in a world of pain. Thank you for your faithful prayer for us as well as your financial gifts that allow us to do the work He has called us to.

 

                                                

Tom speaking at the National Mosque in Washington, DC, this past July 2021.

Reactions to our Book Launch:
God Needs no Defense

Since our July book launch at the Nation’s Mosque in Washington, a German colleague, Esther, has been tracking the media response. Though less than a hundred people attended due to Covid restrictions, she has counted about 40 news reports in nine languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Korean, Portuguese, Indonesian, and Norwegian). It is interesting to see myself quoted in a newspaper I cannot read! The level of media reaction shows, I believe, that millions of people around the world are eager for better approaches to the role of religions in society, and this desire has increased since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.

While making recommendations on this topic I have consistently tried to articulate normal Christian beliefs so that no one thinks of me as a neutral philosopher of religion. Our attempt to replace violent jihads and crusades with serious discussion flows from the best version of Christian beliefs. I attempt to follow 1 Peter 3:15, “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense [apologia] to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” Apologetics must replace warfare. Christianity Today caught the spirit of our efforts in the title of their report: “Christian and Muslim Leaders Agree on Legitimacy of Evangelism.”

With the Muslim scholar who was the co-editor of the book, we released an interview about the book as a podcast. It can viewed or heard here. We arranged a transcript of the multiway interview entitled Muslim-Christian Relations: Becoming Good Neighbors. And I have prepared the text of my speech at the mosque, Future Relationships among Muslims and Christians.

The key texts are also available as free downloads:

1. God Needs No Defense: Reimagining Muslim-Christian Relations in the 21st Century, Festschrift for Thomas Schirrmacher edited by Thomas K. Johnson and C. Holland Taylor.
2. Humanitarian Islam, Evangelical Christianity, and the Clash of Civilizations, Thomas K. Johnson, WEA World of Theology, vol. 20.
3. “The Case for Ethical Cooperation between Evangelical Christians and Humanitarian Islam,” Thomas K. Johnson,  Evangelical Review of Theology (2020) 44:3, 204–217.

Since this event our Muslim/Christian joint group has been discussing what to do next. It would be premature to say much. Thank you to the many who helped in various ways. And praise the Lord for the opportunity to talk about the Christian faith in such an unusual situation!

Tom: Other news

After the mosque book presentation, I was exhausted, partly from hard work for several months, partly from pain in my right leg, injured in a mountain bike accident 20+ years ago. I had a CT of my knee and an MRI of my hip, leading to seeing the right specialists in the coming month. I am eager to hear what treatments they propose. I hope the recovery time is not too long, though I expect to take some rest time this winter.

Recently I participated in the Christian World Communions conference on zoom. This group has been meeting since 1957 simply to help communication among all the groups of people who are called Christians. About 30 people participated, as usual. Major church bodies send one or two people, such as the Catholic Church, the Mennonites, Baptists, Lutherans, Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Quakers, Adventists, Methodists, etc. For several years I have represented the WEA at these meetings.

Over the last few months, I have received about a dozen articles on the Ten Commandments from Christian authors around the globe. We are calling this “The Decalogue Project.” There should be a book or two, many website articles, a few academic journal articles. I hope this will become quite beneficial. In the coming weeks I also hope to finish the text of volume two of my project Christian Ethics in Secular Cultures. Volume one is available here as a free PDF and here as a paperback from Barnes & Noble.

From Leslie:

ACSI EU Student Leadership Update

The ACSI EU team hosted a virtual Student Leadership Conference (SLC) in September. We had 255 participants from 18 different countries and 24 schools from around Europe and Africa. The theme of the conference focused on how each of us can contribute to building and sustaining a Christ-centered community. Our keynote speakers (Roslyn Barnes and Tim Totten) shared on what a Christian community is like, and how our faith, love and hope affect our relationships to the communities we live in. I gave three workshops early in the morning here in the US/late morning or early afternoon in Europe. It is an honor and privilege to work with the ACSI EU team serving these students. Thank you for your prayers. (To read more about what is happening through ACSI EU, here is the September update.)

ICCM Cohort Update

My ICCM Cohort had our first in-person retreat in September. It was a blessing to meet my fellow participants in person. I continue to read, watch, participate in cohort meetings, and learn, but my learning is taking a new direction.
As you may remember, this past summer the practicum I had arranged last year fell through. I prayed; I sent out a letter for possibly working in other schools; and I had a thought – to write the people who are connected with We Welcome, a ministry to support refugees and immigrants connected with World Relief. Though I never heard from the schools I wrote, I received a response from the women who work with We Welcome – NC (North Carolina) who wanted to talk. Immediately.

The next day, I talked with these women that work and network between different ministries serving refugees in the Raleigh/Durham, NC, area. Then I also contacted Pat Hatch, who is the Director of Refugee and Immigrant Ministry for the Presbyterian Church of America’s (PCA) Mission to North America.

Between these two organizations, I now have exciting work ahead. The We Welcome – NC and I are planning for future training opportunities for their volunteers in the Raleigh/Durham area, as well as churches who are interested in refugee ministries. One of the women also works with a ministry there called Welcome House, which is a ministry to developing short-term housing for refugee families as they look for more permanent housing. One is just opening here in Fayetteville and the first Afghan family arrives Tuesday, October 19. The church sponsoring the Welcome House Fayetteville has asked me to train their volunteers about cross-cultural challenges that will come up working with refugees.

I also have been asked by Pat Hatch to join her team working in the Refugee and Immigrant Ministry for the PCA’s Mission to North America. I will be a “Cross-cultural Training Specialist,” training churches and volunteers involved in ministering to refugees and immigrants. I will also help Pat with some administrative work.

Between these two new opportunities, I will have plenty of work to apply to my practicum for my ICCM cohort. Thank you for your prayers that I would find a good practicum. I am excited to see how the Lord leads and uses me to be an encouragement to others doing cross-cultural work right here in the US. Please pray for the Lord’s wisdom as I prepare and teach people about cross-cultural understanding.

A Much-Needed Time for Rest for Tom

You have watched and read and seen the fruit of Tom’s work these past few years with the Humanitarian Muslims. The amount of energy and work he has put in is, from my (Leslie’s) perspective, immense. Now that the jointly produced book has been launched, Tom needs to stop and rest.

We know that God does not want us living a life of exhaustion all the time. There are times to push hard; but then there are times to stop and re-gain strength by resting.

Additionally, Tom is having hip and knee problems again and may be facing 1 or more surgeries over the next year. We will know more early in December exactly what the prognosis is.

This has led us to think it is time for Tom to take a sabbatical. He needs to stop and rest his body and his brain. And he needs to have his hip and knee treated appropriately.

Thus, we are planning on Tom taking a year-long sabbatical. The first few months are to be complete rest and medical work, a deep sabbath, allowing God to rejuvenate his body and soul. The next several months would be a time of praying and studying, researching, and writing what he is called to write.

Probably in those last few months, he would be working again with the Humanitarian Muslims, preparing for a big event next September 2022. But this would be at a slower, less intense level than he has had over the last three years.

Twice Tom has had extended times for research and thinking, a research grant 35 years ago and a partial sabbatical 18 years ago. Much of what he has done on the international stage arose from what he learned during those times. People we trust have recommended that he not retire anytime soon because there is a more for him to do. We want this to be a time of equipping for the future.

Please join us in prayer that he could completely pass off current duties for this season. Pray, too, for him to truly rest. (We all have a hard time with that, don’t we?) And pray for the Lord’s wisdom about his next writing projects.

Special Refugee Update

We have no news to report. The paperwork for the refugee family is still stuck in the system. Please continue to pray the paperwork gets processed SOON so they can transition from the refugee camp to the new country as soon as possible.

For the first time since covid hit….

We are behind in our support account. It is a bit concerning since we are currently not traveling at all to Europe or other places. In the past, travel is what drained our support account. And we have not been to our supporting churches. Additionally, many of our individual supporters are getting to that age of retirement and are unable to continue to support us, and rightly so. The Lord is the provider God who will take care of our needs. Please be praying for new supporters, and opportunities to speak at churches about our work.

Cross Cultural Communication

Are you looking for help in understanding cross-cultural communication? Leslie is trained in the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), which assesses a person’s intercultural capability, as well as the Cultural Intelligence/Cultural Values assessment. (For more information on the IDI assessment, you can look at it here.) If you or your team would like help growing in your cultural sensitivity, feel free to contact Leslie to discuss options.

If you are interested, please contact her at lesliepjohnson@lesliepjohnson.com. Thanks!

Praises:
We thank the Lord for:

• A successful book launch of God Needs No Defense. Their jointly authored book is available on websites and should soon go to bookstores. (See Tom’s report above on the response to this book with links.)
• A gifted colleague has taken over for Tom to advise the State Department.
• Leslie’s opportunity to continue working with her ACSI EU and Global colleagues to strengthen Christian teachers, administrators, and schools.
• A well-attended virtual Student Leadership Conference. (See Leslie’s report above.)
• Leslie’s new opportunity to join local and national ministries (see her report above) training volunteers working with refugees about cross-cultural values and communication. This is in answer to the prayer for wisdom to find a new practicum for my ICCM cohort program.

Prayers:

Please join us in praying for:

• Pray for protection from discouragement for the refugee family we have been helping. Their government paperwork is still moving slowly. Pray for the paperwork to get finished and for them to move to the new country safely and efficiently.
• Also continue to pray for the refugee family’s transition to a new culture. They will need tremendous courage to face huge challenges in their up-coming transition.
• The Lord’s purposes for COVID-19 to be accomplished around the world and that he would end it. Soon. Lord willing, by the end of 2021, since it still has an impact on a lot of ministries around the world.
• Creative ideas to help persecuted Christians around the world and safe places for them to go.
• Tom to effectively pass on his current responsibilities for a season of rest, research, and writing.
• Tom as he considers which books to research and write next, particularly during his sabbatical
• For Christians around the world to be strengthened to serve God and others in their communities, whether those “others” are different in beliefs, color of skin, nationalities, etc.
• Leslie as she starts training volunteers who are working with refugees.

Thank you for your faithful prayer for us as well as your financial gifts that allow us to do the work He has called us to.

Tom & Leslie

News from Tom and Leslie Johnson

         

Refugee Special Request Update

Thank you so much for your generosity toward our refugee friends!

Because of gifts from many in the US, Canada, and Europe, the budget need has been met. There is a little left over to pay forward toward the needs of another refugee family coming under the care of the same organization in Ontario.

he Canadian paperwork for the family is moving slowly, which is common for refugees, but the fact that this paperwork is in motion should protect them from deportation to their country of origin. (Tom is copied on many of these communications.) But there are many things that can go wrong in such a large transition! And even if the legal, financial, and travel matters go okay, they are facing countless changes: new country, new church, new school, new jobs, new friends, etc.

 Please mention them to our Heavenly Father regularly.

A Successful Book Launch –Tom’s Update

Giving a speech at the Nation’s Mosque in Washington, DC, now that’s something I didn’t expect when I graduated from a traditional Protestant seminary 40 years ago! But then I did not expect to spend years on religious freedom, did not comprehend that old Muslim/Christian conflicts would become globally important, nor expect that the world’s largest Muslim organization would want to work with the world’s largest Protestant organization to set a new direction. The occasion was the launch of a book I coedited with a Muslim counterpart, God Needs No Defense: Reimagining Muslim-Christian Relations in the 21st Century, available as a free download here, during the International Religious Freedom Summit called by Senator Sam Brownback

The title God Needs No Defense is a response to the way many people in several countries think they are defending God by means of violent jihads, whether they are in Afghanistan, Nigeria, or Somalia. This title was first used for an essay by that name which is famous in parts of the Muslim world, published by Abdurrahman Wahid, who was the first democratically elected president of Indonesia (1999-2001), as well as a leading Muslim theologian. We included that essay in our book, along with another pivotal essay by Wahid; then the Muslim scholars working on this book asked me to write essays from the perspective of Protestant theology that parallel the themes addressed by President Wahid, so that this group of four essays by Wahid and myself became the philosophical core of the book. In this way our joint Muslim/Christian team is setting a new role model to replace the model of jihads and responding crusades, that of serious theological discussion of the ethical foundations for life together in multi-religious societies.

At a nice dinner at the end of our first long meeting with this group of Muslims in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2019, I made a mini speech in which I said I would be disappointed if the Muslims at the table did not try to convert me to Islam because we Christians are always trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. We are all trying to convert each other; I am convinced Christianity is true and our Muslim counterparts are convinced that Islam is true. At the same time, we want our grandchildren of both faiths to be good neighbors to each other, and it is our job as theologians of both faiths to explain how and why Muslims and Christians can be good neighbors and friends. Jointly we are responding to both religious extremism and secular extremism.

The book was a festival volume (Festschrift) presented to Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher (from Germany), the new head of the World Evangelical Alliance, by Pak Yahya Staquf, head of the world’s largest Muslim organization (from Indonesia). The event was hosted by Imam Talib Shareef, head of the Nation’s Mosque, the first American mosque built by descendants of American slaves. This group of American Sunni mosques is embracing the type of Muslim theology represented by Yahya Staquf.

It has been fascinating to see how the media reported on this event. Christianity Today used the title, “Christian and Muslim Leaders Agree on Legitimacy of Evangelism,” Religion Unplugged used the title, “The World’s Largest Muslim Organization Just Honored Evangelicals.” James Dorsey, an expert on religious and ethnic conflict at the Middle East Institute commented, the “recent unprecedented alliance between Muslims and Evangelicals takes on added significance in a world in which human rights are on the defensive.” And the prominent German newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine, contrasted the models of relating to Muslims used by the Vatican and by the WEA.

“The encounters [of the Vatican with Muslim leaders] were important simply because of their symbolism. However, they have not produced a sustainable Christian-Islamic dialogue. In 2019, Pope Francis issued a declaration on the fraternity of all people with the Egyptian Grand Imam Ahmad al-Tayyeb, and in 2021 he visited the Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Iraq. As early as 2007, the then Saudi King Abdullah was a guest of Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican State. However, this has not led to theological cooperation.

“Greater hopes are attached to the dialogue currently led by two large independent organizations: the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), whose national member organizations include several hundred million Christians, and the Indonesian Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the world’s largest independent Islamic organization with more than 90 million members. A year ago, they founded a joint working group that wants to be a voice against religiously motivated violence and religious persecution.

“They reaffirmed their cooperation at an event on July 13 at a mosque in Washington and with a book on Christian-Islamic dialogue published by both sides. WEA Special Envoy for Engagement [with Humanitarian Islam] and co-editor Thomas K. Johnson said that despite all the differences between the two religions that continue to exist, it is possible to live peacefully together, beyond the paths of jihad and the Crusades. That doesn’t rule out proselytism from either side.”

I would like to thank all of you who have been praying, giving, and encouraging to make this kind of effort possible. I would also like to thank the US State Department, which, at my request, issued special travel documents to allow the Schirrmachers to travel to the US in spite of Covid travel restrictions “as a matter of national interest.”

Click HERE for the link to get to Tom’s academic website.

Leslie’s Update

The ACSI EU team is planning the Student Leadership Conference (SLC) which will be held September 22-24. Though we had hoped to be in person, once again it will be fully online.  Though in Europe covid restrictions were lightening, the countries were often not allowing students to travel without parents. Schools were then unable to sign up their students for an in-person conference. Then the delta variant started having an impact. Thus, we had to make the decision to be completely online again. Please pray for wisdom for the team as we work through preparation for this event. Pray especially for the speakers and workshop leaders, as well as Roslyn Barnes as she works with student discussion leaders.

My studies with the Institute for Cross-Cultural Mission (ICCM) has continued throughout the summer months and I continue to read, watch, participate in cohort meetings, and learn. A problem has come up with my practicum. It got put on hold in January due to COVID. In mid-July, I learned that it needed to be completely cancelled. Please pray for me to find another practicum that helps me apply what I am learning. Pray for me to also manage time well so I can continue to delve into books and webinars about topics of cultural sensitivity.

Leslie is still looking for a few more “guinea pigs,” people who are willing to take the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), which assesses a person’s intercultural capability. (For more information on the assessment, you can look at it here.) It costs $30 and about 20 minutes to take the assessment. After you take the assessment, Leslie would offer free of charge a debrief that would take about an hour to an hour and a half.

You would be expected to pay for the assessment, but the debrief would be free. It would help me get some practice in a skill I am interested in developing.

If you are interested, please contact me at
lesliepjohnson@lesliepjohnson.com. Thanks!

Click HERE for the link to get to Leslie’s website and blog.

Praises:

We thank the Lord for:

• Fantastic financial help which arrived for the refugee family, and they are fully funded!
• A successful book launch of God Needs No Defence. Their jointly authored book Is available on websites and should soon go to bookstores.
• Tom’s opportunity to coordinate a team of Evangelicals and Indonesian Muslims.
• Continuing opportunities for Tom to advise the State Department.
• Leslie’s opportunity to continue working with her ACSI EU and Global colleagues to strengthen Christian teachers, administrators, and schools.
• Leslie’s opportunity to study theology and intercultural competence to contextualize her training and experience to the US setting.

Prayers:

Please join us in praying for:

• The refugee family’s transition to a new culture. They will need tremendous courage to face huge challenges in their up-coming transition. Pray for protection from discouragement. Their government paperwork is moving slowly. Pray for the paperwork to get finished and for them to move to the new country safely and efficiently.
• The Lord’s purposes for COVID-19 to be accomplished around the world and that he would end it. Soon. Lord willing, by the end of 2021.
• Creative ideas to help persecuted Christians around the world and safe places for them to go.
• Leslie’s work with ACSI Europe as the team plans the Student Leadership Conference for September 2021. Pray especially for the school chaperones as they lead their students through yet another online conference.
• Leslie to find a new practicum for her work in the ICCM cohort program.
• Continued wisdom for Tom as he (on behalf of the WEA) engages the world’s largest Muslim group about religious freedom.
• Wise next steps for WEA-Vatican relations. Covid-19 has caused serious delays in meetings.
• Tom as he considers which books to write next.
• For Christians around the world to be strengthened to serve God and others in their communities, whether those “others” are different in beliefs, color of skin, nationalities, etc.

Thank you for your faithful prayer for us as well as your financial gifts that allow us to do the work He has called us to.

 

 

News from Tom and Leslie Johnson

Refugee Ministry Update

Thank you so much for your generosity toward our refugee friends! Because of gifts from the US, Canada, and Europe the budget need has been met! We are praising our Lord for your generosity! We plan to use what is left over to pay forward toward the needs of another refugee family coming under the care of the same organization in Ontario. Please let us know if you have questions.

Now that the financial need is met for the family we have been called to help, we would request you join us and all pray urgently for them. There are so many things that can go wrong in such a large transition! And even if the legal, financial, and travel matters go okay, they are facing countless changes: new country, new church, new school, new jobs, new friends, etc. Please mention them to our Heavenly Father regularly. We will keep you posted as we learn of progress in their transition.

We have been busy with other matters as well. For example, last week saw the launch in Washington, DC of a new book which Tom co-edited with a Muslim counterpart, God Needs No Defense: Reimaging Muslim-Christian Relations in the 21^st Century. It may be downloaded here. We will plan to send you a more complete newsletter in about a week.

 

             

 

News from Tom & Leslie Johnson

Refugee Special Request Update

I (Tom) try to pray daily for the Christian refugee family with whom we are working. Sometimes they get overwhelmed with the uncertainty of their situation. When we first met in early 2020, we set up a system of encrypted text messaging on our phones; I get regular reports in this way.

Initially we worked on plans A (America), B (Brazil), and C (Canada). Plan C is working, thanks to a small number of dedicated Christians in Ontario. The extensive legal and financial paperwork is ready to go the Canadian government, and a church is ready to receive the family and accompany them through the transition. Our church in North Carolina just sent a first check to Canada toward the family’s transition costs.

Please pray:

1. That the family will experience comfort and courage from the Holy Spirit. They are paying a large price for accepting Christ. The risk of being sent back to a Muslim country is still hanging over them; they could face execution if sent back.
2. That the paperwork would be approved by the government. We had a specialist in immigration law review the papers before submission.
3. That the budget bucket gets filled to the top. So far, our church has received $19,000 of the needed $27,000. Please consider what you can do. To avoid delays we should have the budget donated or pledged before the end of June. If you can, please tell me about donations or pledges, johnson.thomas.k@gmail.com

Recently the father wrote that every night before bed they read a chapter from the Old Testament, a Psalm, and a chapter from the New Testament, before praying for many people. I would like them to get a new opportunity to serve in the church and in society, and I am grateful that they mention me in their prayers.

Checks should mention “Refugee Ministry” and be sent to:
Cross Creek Presbyterian Church
430 S McPherson Church Rd.
Fayetteville, NC 28303

If you cannot send a US check, write to Tom or Leslie to arrange donations. Several friends sent donations in other ways; we have transferred those funds to our church.

International Religious Freedom Summit

n 2018 and 2019 I (Tom) participated in the US Ministerial in Support of Religious Freedom held by the US State Department in Washington during the summer. That is not happening this year. In its place, without the State Department, former Ambassador Sam Brownback has called an International Religious Freedom Summit, https://irfsummit.com/. Many organizations that participated in the former “Ministerials” are participating in this Summit, including the WEA. Some of the individual sessions are still being planned, so I cannot say much about what I have to do, but I expect it to be a busy week for me.

US State Department Meetings

After a short break, the US State Department is restarting zoom meetings with religious leaders, scholars, and diplomats. Though I am unsure of the results, I am happy to participate. In some of the meetings I have been the only Christian spokesperson; in others the only Protestant. At every step I try to earn the right to communicate part of the biblical message by means of the quality of what I say about religious freedom. Because I am not paid by the State Department, I have freedom to say what I believe; and because the WEA represents such a large body of Christians, it is hard for the State Department to reject a WEA spokesperson. It is a strange role, but I am glad for the opportunity to bring both serious research and the Christian message into these meetings.

Leslie’s Update

I am still working on ACSI projects, though because of summer, it has slowed down considerably. I have finished some of the work revamping the “Teaching with Cultural Intelligence,” and just have to finalize a few things.

My ICCM Cohort will continue throughout the summer months. One thing hanging is my practicum. It got put on hold in January due to COVID. Please pray we can pick it up again this summer. Pray for me to also manage time well so I can continue to delve into books and webinars about topics of cultural sensitivity.

Praises:
We thank the Lord for:

• Fantastic progress in helping the refugee family!
• Tom’s opportunity to coordinate a team of Evangelicals and Indonesian Muslims.
• Opportunities for Tom to advise the State Department.
• Leslie’s opportunity to continue working with her ACSI EU and Global colleagues to strengthen Christian teachers, administrators, and schools.
• Leslie’s opportunity to study theology and intercultural competence to contextualize her training and experience to the US setting.

Prayers:

Please join us in praying for:

• The rest of the money needed to come in for the refugee family.
• The refugee family’s transition to a new culture. They will need tremendous courage to face huge challenges in their up-coming transition. Pray for protection from discouragement.
• The Lord’s purposes for COVID-19 to be accomplished around the world and that he would end it. Soon. Lord willing, by the end of 2021.
• Creative ideas to help persecuted Christians around the world and safe places for them to go.
• Leslie’s work with ACSI Europe as the team plans the Student Leadership Conference for September 2021.
• Continued wisdom for Tom as he (on behalf of the WEA) engages the world’s largest Muslim group about religious freedom. Their jointly authored book should be released soon.
• Wise next steps for WEA-Vatican relations.
• Tom as he considers which books to write next.
• For Christians around the world to be strengthened to serve God and others in their communities, whether those “others” are different in beliefs, color of skin, nationalities, etc.

Thank you for your faithful prayer for us as well as your financial gifts that allow us to do the work He has called us to.

Tom & Leslie Johnson

 

 

Refugee Special Request Update

Thank you to the many who responded so quickly to our request to help our refugee friends! The story is developing. I (Tom) had started the process of helping them move in two directions. One of those options has closed. The other has continued to move forward. A new Christian ministry in another country is managing much of the paperwork, and a church in another city of that country, one which has extensive experience receiving refugees, has agreed to host this family, if we can get them there and arrange the needed financial support.

Because we now know the destination city, we have a more accurate budget estimate. That is $27,000 (USD), a little more than our earlier number. Our church office reports they have already received $15,650 toward the budget, almost 60%. We are grateful for your wonderful response!

A big thank you to all who donated so far.

I am grieved that I cannot do anything to help the millions of Christians who are refugees, but maybe, with God’s grace, this family can get a new start.

Because this budget is not appropriate for Global Scholars, our church in North Carolina is overseeing donations. If you can send a donation within the US, please send a check to:

Cross Creek Presbyterian Church
430 S McPherson Church Rd,
Fayetteville, NC 28303

You should mention in a note “Refugee Ministry.”  If you feel comfortable doing so, please send an email to Tom, so he knows about funds coming. His email is johnson.thomas.k@gmail.com

If you cannot send a US check, write to Tom or Leslie to arrange donations. Several friends sent donations in other ways; we have transferred those funds to our church.

Please pray for the people doing the paperwork in the receiving country, that God give them endurance and precision. Pray for the refugee family; I know the dad gets overwhelmed when he thinks about getting sent home to a Muslim-extremist country to be executed because he believed in Christ.

First Joint Book

Our Humanitarian Islam/WEA religious freedom joint working group is in the final stages of our first joint book. The book should be published in Indonesia in a few weeks to celebrate some special events in Jakarta. I wrote two chapters of the book. This project is a demonstration that some Christians and some Muslims can work together to promote religious freedom. Our hope is that projects of this type can slowly convince more Muslims to embrace freedom of religion, since so much persecution of Christians originates in Muslim extremism.

Leslie’s Update

ACSI
My ACSI Europe colleagues and I have started looking forward to the Student Leadership Conference held in September each year. We are praying it can be face-to-face this year and are planning accordingly. Last year’s was online. Europe is starting to open up now, so we are hopeful. Please pray for wisdom as we work out the details.

I have started work on revamping my series of workshops on “Teaching with Cultural Intelligence.” Pray for me to have wisdom to make this helpful for teachers so that children grow in their cultural sensitivity.

ICCM Cohort
I continue to grow and learn as I study and meet with my cohort, sub-cohort, and mentor. Pray for me to manage time well so I can continue to delve into books and webinars about topics of cultural sensitivity. (I am sure you can see the connection between my cohort and ACSI work right now.  🙂

An Undefined Process (by Tom)

For the last few months I have been participating in Zoom meetings with an informal group of Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, and Protestant leaders and scholars to talk about the genocide unrolling in the western Sahel. Many of the victims are Christians in Nigeria and neighboring countries. The participants in this group agree that any real solutions will have to be partly independent of governments. Please pray that God would give this group good ideas. Many of these people met at US State Department meetings on religious freedom; now we meet both with and without the State Dept. Our hope is that leaders of ISIS and Boko Haram would meet with Muslim leaders from other countries to be held accountable according to Muslim teachings. This might stop the bloodshed, and we cannot be sure it is impossible until we try.

Praises:
We thank the Lord for:

• Fantastic progress in helping the refugee family!
• Tom’s opportunity to coordinate a team of Evangelicals and Indonesian Muslims.
• Opportunities for Tom to advise the State Department.
• Leslie’s opportunity to continue working with her ACSI EU and Global colleagues to strengthen Christian teachers, administrators, and schools.
• Leslie’s opportunity to study theology and intercultural competence to contextualize her training and experience to the US setting.

Prayers:

Please join us in praying for:

• For the Lord’s purposes for COVID-19 to be accomplished around the world and that he would end it. Soon. Lord willing, by the end of 2021.
• Creative ideas to help persecuted Christians around the world and safe places for them to go.
• Leslie’s work with ACSI Europe as the team plans the Student Leadership Conference for September 2021.
• Continued wisdom for Tom as he (on behalf of the WEA) engages the world’s largest Muslim group about religious freedom. They are working on a jointly authored book.
• Wise next steps for WEA-Vatican relations.
• Tom as he considers which books to write next.
• Wisdom for Leslie as she develops her series of workshops on “Teaching with Cultural Intelligence.”
• For Christians around the world to be strengthened to serve God and others in their communities, whether those “others” are different in beliefs, color of skin, nationalities, etc.
• The refugee family who will need tremendous courage to face huge challenges in their up-coming transition. Pray for protection from discouragement.

Thank you for your faithful prayer for us as well as your financial gifts that allow us to do the work He has called us to.