torstai 25. lokakuuta 2012

Turku wiped out!

Imagine the outcry around the world if a town the size of Turku was wiped out. Yet few say anything about the fact that every year a similar number of Christians are killed for their faith around the world.

This happens despite the fact that most countries have signed up to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This was first formulated in the United Nations in 1948 and grants the right to choose one’s religion and to practice it.

Paul gave us a model of Christians standing up for the rights granted to them under the law as we can read in Acts 16,22 and 25. We should both pray for our suffering brothers and sisters and seek for ways to awaken our government to the situation so that it will also take action.

The Finnish Ecumenical Council has taken up this matter in the past two years and it seems that the Finnish government is taking the matter more seriously now. We are in the middle of a week of prayer concerning this subject arranged by the ecumenical council. We will pray for this in Turku Rukoilee in the Methodist Church in Hämeenkatu at 18.30 today (25th October).

It will also be the subject of a presentation to the United Nations this evening. When Christians pray and become active then things happen. Let’s be part of this.

Graham Turner

P.S. Remember to vote prayerfully this weekend for good representatives who will take seriously the rights of people in this city.

maanantai 22. lokakuuta 2012

HOPE 2012

Syyskuun viimeisenä viikonloppuna Turun Logomoon kerääntyi noin 540 nuorta 80 eri paikkakunnalta kauan odotettuun HOPE-tapahtumaan. Tapahtuma ei ole kuitenkaan itse tarkoitus, vaan tapahtumalla on tarkoitus.
HOPE kerää uuden sukupolven nuoret yhteen:nuoret, jotka rakastavat Jumalaa koko sydämestään ja haluavat elää jollekin suuremmalle kuin itselleen.
Viikonlooppuna nuoria rohkaistiin muuttamaan maailmaa paitsi sanoin, myös teoin. Näyttämään, että me emme ole passiivinen sukupolvi. Viikonloppu oli täynnä toivoa, inspiraatiota, opetusta ja voimaa.
Nuorten joukkoa palveli altis 180 hengen talkooporukka, joille myös iso kiitos onnistuneesta tapahtumasta.
Jopi