The cost of global corruption - be informed!

Global Corruption is a huge concern.  It is the largest cause of suffering and conflict across the world.  Billions of persons are denied access to the most basic of needs, such as clean water, basic health care, food, and security.

We can make a difference - it starts with educating yourself on the issue, and then moves into action!

Join @EXPOSED2013 and @UnashamedlyEth and shine a light on corruption!

Please watch the video below on the Corruption Perceptions Index (by TransparencyIntl)

Please sign up to sign a light on corruption at http://www.exposed2013.com

Dr Frank Chikane speaking at the Ekklesia Stellenbosch University Winter school - a reminder to live justly

Today Dr Frank Chikane spoke at the Stellenbosch University winter school today - it was inspiring, challenging and a wonderful reminder of the task of the Christian leader in the world. Dr Chikane is a former cadre who fought for justice and faced great personal threat in undoing the evil of apartheid in South Africa through his ministry and life. He was frequently detained by the security police, jailed, banned, threatened, and even poisoned (almost dying as a result). He was expelled from his denomination, yet he remained a faithful Christ follower seeking justice for all because of his faith. He was not a politician, rather he entered the political arena for the sake of seeing the will and ways of Jesus established in society. The will of God superseded all else in his life, his politics, his church, and his own safety and comfort. Today as Dr Bruce Theron introduced him he reminded us that while Dr Chikane was in solitary confinement, and was frequently jailed over more than a decade, he read the Bible more than 900 times and always remained prayerful to know what God wanted him to do with his energy, influence, relationships and ability in the world. It was discernment and deep faith that informed his courageous Christian witness and action. I was deeply encouraged and moved by his story.

Bigger stories - Are you creating bigger stories that transform communities?

This is a beautiful video by The Work of the People - it asks a few critical theological and missional questions.

What did Jesus come to do? If we know what Jesus came to do, and we are called to be the 'body of Christ, then what is the work of the Church?

I'll be using this, and a few other videos, as part of my lectures to a group of Master of Theology students in Missional Leadership next week.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this video, and particularly what you think about the mission of the Church.

A few photographs from the World Prayer Assembly stadium event in Jakarta Indonesia

There are about 100 thousand people gathered in the Jakarta Stadium tonight for the World Prayer Assembly stadium prayer gathering- amazingly there are another 373 stadium gatherings throughout Indonesia at the same time. It is estimated that about 9 million people have gathered for prayer tonight across this nation. It is always a wonderful experience to pray together with so many people from all over the world!

Our broadcast will be seen by a few more million people across the world tonight and another 400 million people when we rebroadcast this event on Pentecost Sunday, 27 May 2012 (which is also the Global Day of Prayer).

We set up a studio to do interviews with parter ear organizations in prayer, ethics, justice and mission work across the world. Here are a few pictures of some friends doing their interviews among them Jason Mandryk from Operation World, Pete Greig from 24-7 prayer, and a host of others.

It is so great to share in this event with so many great friends! I will have the joy of highlighting the work of our Ethics campaign (Unashamedly Ethical - http://www.unashamedlyethical.com), and our corruption and poverty campaign (EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption - http://www.exposed2013.com) in a 10 minute interview at the end of our broadcast this evening.

A reminder to live as a servant

I struggle to serve. I frequently pray that I would serve others with much more grace and intensity - I seldom get it right! Yet, I know this is the way of Jesus - kenosis leads to theosis (self emptying love is an aspect of the character of Christ).

This quote encouraged me in my quiet time this morning:

To weep with those who weep, to accept the role of a servant, to give up anger when we have a right to be angry — to do these things is to acquire the character of a person who fits in with Jesus Christ.

- Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. (via mshedden)

At the World Prayer Assembly in Jakarta this year I experienced that great inner dichotomy between love of self and love of others. I am far too quick to want to 'get things done', to be involved in organizing and orchestrating events and situations. I am far too slow to listen, to wait, to be unseen, and to truly serve.

Today I pray that God would continue to transform my character and make me more like Jesus.

Staying in touch from the World Prayer Assembly in Jakarta

Day 1 of the World Prayer Assembly was great. I was so deeply moved by the rich diversity of cultures and nations represented at the conference. There are quite a few South Africans here which is a joy!

This evening I managed to Skype home to Courtney and Megan. I am always amazed at how accessible communication has become in the last few years. It is wonderful to be able to talk to them at home and not be watching the cost - free wifi = free call! I miss them so much and this helps me to stay in touch.

Our talk during the marketplace track with Ed Silvoso went well today. He is a passionate and energetic speaker whose passion is matched by his intellect! I'm sure there were about 2500 people in the hall. I only had 10 minutes to talk about ethics, corruption and the role of Christians in standing for justice (mainly focusing on the Unashamedly Ethical movemeng). I think it went well.

Tomorrow I am sharing a session with my friend and mentor Joel Edwards. We will be talking on the role the Church in the Millennium Development Goals, and addressing poverty. I am looking forward to that session (this one will focus on the work of Michael Challenge and the EXPOSED campaign). Joel is a real gift!

On the 17th we will be at the Jakarta stadium where a prayer gathering will take place with about 120 000 people! We will have a studio there and do a live television broadcast as well as pre-recorded interviews for our broadcast on the 27th of May. Please spare a prayer for all of these events!

God bless bless,

Dion

World Prayer Assembly in Jakarta Indonesia

I leave for Jakarta (via Dubai) in a few minutes.

This time I will be at the World Prayer Assembly - a very special global gathering of Christians from across the planet (about 6000 or so). See http://www.wpa2012.org for details

I have the privilege of having 3 speaking slots at the conference (all around poverty and corruption / ethics), and a slot on the Global Day of Prayer studio broadcast on the 17th of May on GodTV.

At this conference I'll representing the work of our 'EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption' campaign (see http://www.exposed2013.com for more), and the Unashamedly Ethical movement (see http://www.unashamedlyethical.com for details).

Please could I ask for your prayers for this journey and work? My desire is to activate many more Christians and Christian movements for God's work of justice and mercy.

Please also pray for Megie, Courtney and Liam at home. I miss them already!

The mission of the Church and the world.

I have been rediscovering Leslie Newbigin - this quote from him is wonderful! He captures the evangelical responsibility of Christians and the Church beautifully. The person and ways, and will, of Christ brings healing, wholeness and blessing to every sphere of life.

We have to call all people to come this way with us, for we shall not know the full glory of Jesus until the day when every tongue shall confess him. And we do not know the fullness of what the service of Jesus means until we have struggled to bring all the manifold works of learning and industry and politics and the arts into obedience to him. So mission is not a one-way promotion but a two-way encounter in which we learn more of what the gospel means. We are learning as we go. This is the only way we affirm that the gospel is not just “true for us” but true for all. The missionary action of the Church is the exegesis of the Gospel.

- Lesslie Newbigin, Truth to Tell: The Gospel as Public Truth pp34-35.

When God speaks what do you do?

This week I have been at a very significant conference of influential global business leaders. It was a wonderfully inspiring time to listen to now many of these persons prevailed against significant odds to achieve what it they believed they had heard God calling them to do. Some took risks to start new enterprises and ventures, some gave up power, prestige and wealth to take up a life of service, others took a stand against an issue of corruption or abuse.

There was a fairly common narrative - God has a will for the world. God graciously invites us into His wonderful will and work in the world. However, it takes faith, courage, and obedience (and perseverance!) to faithfully achieve what God wants to do.

I am is servant - that is my calling. I am called to serve God. In doing so I have discovered that it most often means that I am called to serve God's people. This is blessed and rewarding work.

During this week I heard God speaking to me. It was very clear! Some may ask how I know that God was speaking to me - all I can say is that God spoke, I perceived it clearly and convincingly. I can only assume that this is similar to how someone like Wilberforce was encountered by God in order to give his life to fighting slavery. It takes courage to go against reason and seek to be obedient - I am trying to do that in my life.

So, I shall be spending time praying, thinking, reading, listening, engaging in community, watching the world, reading the scriptures and figuring out what it means to be obedient to God's gracious call to enter into God's loving, gracious, and just will for me and world.

I'd love to hear from you whether you have ever heard God speaking to you? If so, what did you do in response to that encounter?

Loving God and loving one another - Dorothy Day

This is a profound thought:

We cannot love God unless we love each other, and to love we must know each other. We know Him in the breaking of bread, and we know each other in the breaking of bread, and we are not alone anymore. Heaven is a banquet and life is a banquet, too, even with a crust, where there is companionship.

- Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness (via invisibleforeigner)

Pray that the moments of your life are filled with opportunities for loving God and loving one another. Pray that even where there is 'a crust' with companionship that your togetherness in Christ would be a sustaining and nourishing meal of grace.

I am experiencing the grace of togetherness this week as I get to know sisters and brothers from all over the world at the Global Kingdom Partnership Network conference in Orlando Florida. Indeed, God has placed a rich blend of diversity in the body of Christ. We discover aspects of God's gracious diversity as we encounter one another in love.

Kenosis is theosis...

A last ride in Paradise before heading to the USA!

Yesterday I had an absolutely stunning mountain bike ride on Lourensford with the Cycle Addiction club. We are blessed with amazing riding here!

Tomorrow I head to the United States to participate in a significant Christian business conference (where the 8 Millennium Development Goals will be the central discussion points - so thankful that they have taken this important discussion on board!) The Church must learn to engage business if we are to be God's agents of renewal and transformation in the world.  We can halve global poverty by 2015 if we each just do our bit to witness, advocate and act on behalf of the poor.

In many cases Nation States are no longer the most influential and powerful regional influencers. This quote from Lesley Newbigin made sense in this regard:

[W]e may well be coming to the end of the era of the sovereign nation-state as we have known it for the past three centuries. Economic, financial, and technical forces have created a global system that is far more powerful than most existing states. The secular powers shaping human life are increasingly transnational If the Church is to speak the truth to Caesar, it is these powers that must be more and more in our sights.

— Leslie Newbigin, Truth to Tell: The Gospel as Public Truth p89

After Orlando I head to New York for some meetings regarding EXPOSED (see the EXPOSED2013 tab at the top for more information regarding this corruption and poverty project). I will be at the United Nations meeting some friends in the UNDP and also at the Salvation Army meeting Christine MacMillan, their general in charge of social justice initiatives. I will also be at Redeemer and a few other significant meetings.

Please pray for me (and for my family back home)! I get back on 3 May and then head off to Indonesia on the 12th of May. So it is a little hectic with travel at the moment. Skype is a wonderful blessing to stay in touch with Megie, Courtney and Liam.  But I always miss them so much!!! My goodness, these three people truly do occupy my life!  I am already filled with a little sadness at having to leave.

As for cycling - I will dream of the trails of Cape Town! But, keep an eye on my twitter and facebook feeds. You'll see me doing some running!

Please follow @EXPOSED2013 on twitter.com and on facebook at http://on.fb.me/exposed2013

God bless,

D

Cover the Night! Cape Town's Kony2012 event - a short video

My friend Shane Vermooten (@just_shane) made this great little video of some of us participating in Cape Town's Kony2012 'Cover the night' advocacy event.

Megie, Courtney, Liam and I went through to the City for the evening, met up with some others, and helped put up the Kony2012 posters.  See the video here:

There has been quite a lot of debate about the approach that Kony2012 has taken - i.e., to make Josephy Kony (the leader of the LRA) so famous that he has to be scrutinised and arrested for his horrific crimes in Southern Sudan and Northern Uganda.  

I feel that it is important to hold onto the fact that our liberty is interdependent.  We share a common humanity, and as a Christian, I believe that God holds us responsible for one another.  We are all His children (some who know him and some who don't).  We cannot be free while others are in bondage.

So, we did our bit!  It was also a wonderful opportunity to introduce our kids to the world of 'advocacy i.e., acting and speaking for those who find it difficult or impossible to do so for themselves.  We spoke to them about Uganda (where I have just been), the kids who are being killed, captured and maimed, and said that we can do something small that can help to make their lives better.

Let's pray that the little slogan comes to pass - 'Keep Calm and Catch Kony!' - Cover the Night took place all over the globe on 20 April 2012.  This was our Cape Town contribution.

You'll see Megan, Courtney, Liam and I in this video above.