Mission Vida Nueva Pastor Juan Arjona Todd and the church's community outreach director, Danny Perez work to turn empty lot into soccer fields. (Photo courtesy of North County Times, Hayne Palmour IV - Staff photographer). 

Please go to the article here and read about what Juan and Danny are doing to provide a recreation area for the inner-city children.

New Life is honoring our Missionary call with a one-week event called: Yes To Missions. Starting October 3rd through the 11th, we will be having workshops, meals, bible studies, camp fires and more! Over 13 of our supported missionaries will be speaking. Please download the schedule by clicking here for important information.

..."they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability." 2 Cor. 8:3 

Many of you may be familiar with Faith Promise, the title of choice for missions’ offerings in churches across America. Here at New Life, we will also use Faith Promise as the name for missions giving.  In October, we will have a World Missions Week that will conclude with “Faith Promise Sunday”, when we as a church will make our collective commitment to financial support of our missions program.

So, what exactly is a Faith Promise? 

A Faith Promise is a financial commitment in support of work in missions, agreeing to give a specific amount as God provides, “as you are able, and even beyond your ability to give.” Faith Promise is not designed to replace your normal giving, but to increase it and, in doing so, to expand your faith.

What is the Process?

The process begins with prayer. Rather than  asking, “How much should I give?” which focuses on bank accounts, and bills, consider asking “How much does God want me to give?” which directs the focus to Him.  It might be that God wants you to give more than you think you can because He wants to stretch your faith more than you can imagine.

The Faith in Faith Promise….

Faith grows, as we trust in God alone as our provider in the personal area of daily needs. “But just as you excel in everything- in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us- see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” II Corinthians  8:7

The Promise in Faith Promise is not to God, but from Him; it provides the opportunity to pause and take careful account of how God has faithfully provided for us. “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” II Corinthians 9:6.

Where will the money come from?

Increased giving starts not with increased income, but with God’s grace enlarging our hearts with the joy of giving. Additional giving may come as a result of unexpected sources, a successful investment, better management of finances, or from savings we have already been blessed with. As John “Wesley stated, “Make all you can, save all you can, and then give all you can.”

How do I make a commitment?

-  Pray, seeking God’s guidance in what    He would have you give.

-  Determine your annual commitment in support of missions through New Life and indicate that intention by filling out a Faith Promise card.

Faith Promise Cards will be available in the free literature rack prior to the missions’ conference.  Everyone will receive a card on Faith Promise Sunday. 

Your Faith Promise should include all planned giving through the church to missions for the entire year. 

 So, we challenge you to join with other members of the New Life family in increasing our support for missionaries around the world, enabling them to ”Declare His glory to the nations.”.

If the Lord is calling you to help with giving, we encourage you to download this Faith Promise guide to help you.

The following is an edited version of an email to supporters of CWI (Christian Witness to Israel). Please read to see if you can help them in their ministry:
HaGefen Publishing is compiling a detailed database of biographies of Jewish believers in Messiah throughout the ages, in both Hebrew and in English, with special reference to Israel (those who built up the church in Israel, believers in Israel, rabbis etc). Although this database is in its infancy, we would very much like to make it known.

We have also been instructed by the company who built the HaGefen website, that the more outside links we have, the more likely it is that the website will turn up on a search in Google.  For this reason, we are doing what we can to draw traffic to the site, and to establish outside links.

If you have a website, or a blog, or such like, where you could place a link to HaGefen Publishing, we would be most grateful. If there is anything you would need for that, please let us know. If you need the HaGefen logo then download by clicking here. A few suggestions of how HaGefen could be described:

Christian Witness in Israel since 1847 – HaGefen Publishing

HaGefen Publishing – CWI Israel - books and resources in Hebrew for the young church in Israel

HaGefen Publishing – ongoing research project on Jewish believers throughout the centuries 

To read much, much more:

In English - http://www.ha-gefen.org.il/len/aalphabetic%20presentation/

In Hebrew - http://www.ha-gefen.org.il/lhe/aalphabetic%20presentation/

For those of you who have Hebrew-speaking friends, please refer them to the Hebrew pages. And for those who hear the familiar argument "only Jews who are out of touch with Judaism could possible turn to Christianity", we have a special section of biographies of rabbis who became believers!  

Also, if you know of resources or sources that we may not be aware of, please let us know. (Biographies, journals, memoirs and so on.)

With many thanks,

www.ha-gefen.org.il

“The only way were going to stop them is to kill them.” This seems to be the present consensus of Iran’s national cabinet concerning the growing Christ-ward movement spreading throughout the nation. Legislation is now being prepared that would make it a capital offense to leave Islam. These strict measures have come about to stem the tide of a growing dissatisfaction with Islam among Persian young people resulting from the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Now today, it seems Iran is on the verge of yet another revolution, ironically caused by the first and with Jesus at the center. The story of how this has come about is perhaps one of the most intriguing examples of God’s sovereignty at work to accomplish his unchanging purposes among the nations.

A Little Background

In the early 1960s, just two decades before Iran would become completely closed to mission work, a team of American missionaries began a work among the Persian Armenian community in Tehran. Most of these Armenians were the descendants of a forced exile to Iran in 1604 under the Shah Abbas. Over the centuries they developed a unique culture, dialect, and appearance (don’t ask) as they assimilated with their host nation. The missionaries recognized the potential for these Persian Armenians to serve as a “bridge-people” between Islam and Christianity, and so began work among them with this in mind.

This Spirit-led hunch turned out to be correct. One of the first five disciples of the American missionary team was a man named Haik Hovsepian. In the late 1960s he received a call from God to go as a missionary to the northern province of Mazandaran with the specific purpose of starting a work among Muslims. Though he was officially commissioned by the church in Tehran for this purpose, his burden for Muslims was one that few Persian Armenians shared or understood at that time. Most believed he was wasting his time. However, by 1976, after about eight years of laboring, five house churches had been established with around 20 Muslim background believers. Though only a small beginning, somehow Haik had a sense that God was building a foundation for a much greater work. Having a gift for music, one of the most important investments he made in the future Persian Church was his translation and authorship of over 150 worship songs into Farsi. According to those who knew him, he envisioned the day such songs would be sung by millions of believers.

Read the remainder of this article in PDF format by downloading it here.

A forwarded article from our missionaries to Germany, Thadd and Laura Davis:

A worldwide survey by Germany's Bertelsmann Foundation has found religion is as strong as ever among most of the globe's young people, with Europe the main enclave where religion is on the decline.

On to the article:

"Releasing details Thursday, July 10, the respected social-science foundation said the findings would surprise Europeans. It said the notion that young people were less religious than their parents was a typically European perception, not a global reality."

Read the article by going here.

This is just a post to link to the full article here at the North County (San Diego) Times website. Go here.

Juan and the church held a yearly children's festival outreach - "El Dia del Nino" which was a great success. The turnout was significant. Read about it here (also at the North County Times website).

BEAMM, Missionaries that we support are dissembling a steel wharehouse building in North County to reasemble in Mexicali.

“This building donation is an answer to our prayers, and an encouragement to us that God is blessing our vision for ministry to the city of Mexicali,” said Julio Navarro, the church’s lay leader.

Read the full article about this work online on the Union Tribune's website, go here.