John & Mary Henry
35 years serving with YWAM
January 2021 News and Prayer
Hi Friend,
Hello and Happy New Year.
Oliver, a German citizen and one of our volunteers said, "What happens in the USA affects the rest of the world." If you have been paying attention to the national news in the USA, you have probably been shaken with deep concern about the divisiveness and anger. As Christ-followers, Mary and I turn to the Lord in prayer every morning. We've started the year with a Daniel fast and church prayer meetings with her sister, Madeleine.
Like David, the ancient king of Israel, we encourage ourselves by remembering God's promises. David wrote: "The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous." (Psalm 19:9) Instead of anxiety about current events, we have placed all our hope in the Lord.
Instead of getting anxious, we go to the Word of God for wisdom and understanding. What often gets folks all excited is concerns for justice. When we teach, we emphasize God's justice, not Social Justice. To seek justice, we teach that the one who has been most offended is God himself.
For example, I, John, have studied Justo Gonzales to get a Hispanic perspective on justice. (Don't misunderstand. The Hispanic people are not a monolith, but Gonzales offers a Majority World, not a Western World, perspective. The Majority World of the Global South is 80% of the Body of Christ today.)
My point is that there are very different ways to hear and understand current events. And there are different ways to understand Jesus’ teachings. For example, the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matt. 20) is heard by most people in the Majority World like Jesus’ contemporaries would likely have heard it. Most would have identified with those who were hired to work the last hour. Rather than think the pay was unjust, as the workers who spent all day in the fields did, the majority audience in Jesus’ day would have thought the payment was just because they waited all day and they were ready to work too.
While both positions, those who worked all day and those who didn’t, are paradigms of justice, neither is the point Jesus is making. Jesus speaks in parables to show us our hearts, to see who we are in light of God’s justice. In another example, the Parable of the Prodigal Son points out how selfish that younger brother was, demanding his inheritance before his father had even died. He was wrong. But the older brother was also wrong. Both failed to see the value of a right relationship with the Father.
Social Justice is an endless and restless fight for what’s right from our own perspective, even if we advocate for others. But until we repent, and change our thinking to see from God's perspective, we will all remain restless. If we are unrepentant, we will protest and make noise about injustices. We will be restless until the day we truly repent and admit that God is just. Then we will find our rest so we can become a witness of God's justice.
Below I have included a graphic that shows one of the lesson we teach to Converge interns. It's about how to live in the world, but not of the world. The prophet Micah wrote: "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." By doing so, we will experience the blessed hope of the glorious appearing of Jesus who will judge the living and the dead and the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God. When we are truly repentant, we will see the New Heaven and the New Earth and God's home will be among his people. And there will be no more injustice, no more death or sorrow.
As Christ-followers, we are to follow God into every sphere of influence, from our hearts, through our actions, in our private world as well as in the public arena. I want to invite you to get more of our teachings. You can become a sponsor of this ministry by purchasing unlimited access to the Converge Course. (Tap Here to Go to Course.) I encourage you to get the course and then review all the teachings. Then you can encourage young adults to do a Converge Internship so they can learn to make a difference.
Thank you for sharing the journey with us!
Blessed Hope for a New Year,
John & Mary
Our Vision is to Mobilize Young Christians as Witnesses
in Every Sphere of Influence
from their Hearts and through their Actions
In 2020, we adjusted. Be began the year by co-teachng a Relationships Workshop in Queens, NYC. Then the Covid shutdown forced cancellation of trips to C. & S. America, and Europe. So, we began multiple Zoom Workshops, Seminars, Mentoring, and Team Meetings. We launched and trained 25 Internship Coordinators from 9 countries on 5 continents. This year we processed 485 Inquiries. Registered 37 Internships and 49 student applicants for 13 projects.
Our YWAM Ministry has taken us to 47 Countries to train and send 516 Students and Staff to serve on campuses and as missionaries in spheres of society.
EVERY PRAYER, EVERY SACRIFICIAL GIFT, EVERY OPPORTUNITY IS TO THE GLORY! OF GOD
By the grace of God, we will see more fruit in 2021!
Prayer Requests
Pray for Becca as she completes her final semester at Rowan University.
Pray for Nathan as he continues to look for work.
Pray for Justin. He has completed his studies and seeks work too.
Pray that we reach our goal of 100 Internship Coordinators in 2021.
Please pray about becoming one of 30 ministry partners to join our financial support team.
We so appreciate you!
Our Vision
To know God and Make Him Known through Every Sphere of Society.
Our Mission
Connecting Students & Young Professionals to Christ's Mission.
Our YWAM Converge Team
Learn more about our 11 YWAM Converge Staff and 3 Projects.
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