The Johnson’s – December 2021

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December 21, 2021

11:52 am

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Announcements, Missions

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.