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.