New from Tom & Leslie Johnson – Nov/Dec 2019

Tom’s Report on the Indonesia Trip
I spent November 6 to 14 in Indonesia for the General Assembly of the World Evangelical Alliance as one of 800 delegates representing 650 million Christians whose churches belong to the WEA.  A few thousand people from the local churches joined us for the opening ceremony. In addition to speaking at a workshop, I had numerous meetings with individuals and time with the staff of our department whom I do not see very often. My academic assistant, Kyle Wisdom, was a tremendous help.

What to do in response to persecution and opposition was a theme in many meetings; next steps are being planned.  I am especially grateful for the time I had with the Vatican bureau chief for evangelical relations who attended as an official observer. He and I began to identify topics to discuss when I next visit their offices in Rome. My speech should be published soon by the WEA Theological Commission in the Evangelical Review of Theology. A preliminary version is available here

While in Indonesia I also coordinated a team of Christian scholars who met with a team from the Humanitarian Islam movement, which has its offices in Jakarta. This is the world’s largest Muslim organization, representing some 90 million people. We had a very friendly meeting, lasting a good part of a day. An Indonesian cabinet minister who is a Christian joined us for dinner. There should be more to report on this relationship. I am preparing a study on the distinctives of this type of Islam.

I was exhausted when I got home, but I am thankful to you and to God for these opportunities. Such work would not be possible without a faithful group of people praying, encouraging, and giving. Now I am considering how to follow up on these meetings. Pray for God’s wisdom.
Thank you for the prayer and financial support that make our work possible.

  Tom prior to speaking…

Delegates to the WEA Assembly

Leslie’s December Notes

Financial Update
Thank you for the encouraging donations in the last few weeks! We are optimistic about getting caught up by the end of the year. It is on our hearts to continue our efforts for several years. To do that we continue to need a loyal and generous team behind us.

Tom’s health
Tom survived Indonesia and the change of food. However, he did need to start taking meds while there to calm his system. We are thanking the Lord for the effectiveness of the meds and his relatively good journey.

Next….
I am working on developing a fourth workshop for my “Teaching with Cultural Intelligence” series. Please join me in praying for wisdom in the content. I would like to help teachers work with different cultures in their classrooms well.

Thank you for your continued support in prayer and with finances! We cannot do what the Lord has called us to do without your help.

Materials To Download

The Department for Theological Concerns of the World Evangelical Alliance has released the 10th edition of our resource CD online. It contains both major WEA book series (Global Issues and World of Theology), our International Journal for Religious Freedom, back issues of the Evangelical Review of Theology, our Journal of Islam and Christianity, along with hundreds of other books in English, French, Spanish and several languages, all of which we recommend, all as free downloads. I have participated in this project for about 15 years. For our library click here (overview) or here.

My book Christian Ethics in Secular Cultures was just published in Albanian, available for free here.

Two recent books I revised and edited in English for German friends, as free downloads:

  1. Modern Fathers: Neither Wimps nor Tyrants.
  2. Corruption: When Self-Interest Comes before the Common Good.

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.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Psalm 23:1-3

Praises:
Join us in thanking the Lord for:

  • Tom’s safe trip to and from Indonesia.
  • Leslie’s safe trip to and from Panama.
  • Tom’s opportunity to meet with different people while in Jakarta.
  • Tom’s good meetings with the Humanitarian Muslims.
  • Good health for Tom throughout this important trip, especially that his food allergies were managed in all the different times of meals.

Prayers:

Please join us in praying for:

  • Continued wisdom for Tom as he (on behalf of the WEA) engages the world’s largest Muslim group about religious freedom. What are the next steps?
  • Wise next steps for WEA-Vatican relations.
  • The project Komensky 2020, celebrating the Christian life and teaching of Jan Amos Komensky (Comenius), has launched in public schools, libraries, and churches across the Czech Republic. Our project leader, Doc Dr. Jan Habl, received a presidential medal from his university for this effort. Here is a Czech website with pictures of teachers participating: http://www.najdilektora.cz/vyhledavani/#/search
  • Creative ideas to help persecuted Christians around the world.
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