In The Faith – A Chronicle of the Christian Faith

A new study offering a year-end perspective on the current state of American churches has been released, unveiling a number of interesting finds.

Comments Off
Filed under: One News Now

The effort by the White House and congressional Democrats to pass healthcare legislation in 2009 was marred by broken promises, waffling lawmakers, and a skeptical public.

Comments Off
Filed under: One News Now

Denominational issues were front and center in 2009 as some religious bodies welcomed new leaders and others grew more open to the homosexual agenda.

Comments Off
Filed under: One News Now

The courts decided in several important cases throughout 2009 which concerned an array of topics ranging from religious offenses to marriage definitions and tax exemptions.

Comments Off
Filed under: One News Now

The debate over the closure of Guantanamo Bay, a homeland security controversy, and a terrorist shooting at Fort Hood highlighted this year’s stories on the national security and terrorism front.

Comments Off
Filed under: One News Now

A conservative military watchdog says she doesn’t think military leadership went far enough in rescinding a policy for troops in Iraq that in some cases made pregnancy a court-martial offense.

Comments Off
Filed under: One News Now

A federal appeals court is critical of Chicago officials and how they dealt with a ministry’s use of an old building.

Comments Off
Filed under: One News Now

The past decade spelled success in research with adult stem cells.

Comments Off
Filed under: One News Now

Fouad Marsi and Greg Yoder at Urbana 09.

USA (MNN) — Air security has tightened dramatically around the world in the wake of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's attempt to bring down a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day. While this is just another in a growing list of Jihad attacks on the West, one ministry leader says this is good news for ministry to Muslims.

President of Crescent Project Fouad Masri says there's uncertainty in Islam. He says, "At the end of your life [in Islam], if your good outweighs the bad, you get to heaven." However, there is uncertainty about where the line is drawn, and Allah can change his mind.

Masri says there's only one way to escape that. "The only way to escape the system is to die in Jihad — in a war — trying to establish the rule of Islam. So the sign that more and more people want to join Jihad is a sign that people are thirsty for salvation, or thirsty for assurance."

Muslims are what Jesus describes as "sheep without a shepherd," Masri says. "What you're seeing is people who spiritually are like sheep. And, spiritually, they have no shepherd telling them, 'Yes, they can have assurance; yes, they can have forgiveness; yes, they don't need to kill themselves and kill others.'"

However, Masri says Christians in the West simply avoid Muslims altogether. They try to argue with them about their faith. Some simply call them enemies and ignore them.

In his session at Urbana 09 with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Masri says there are three things Christians can do to win Muslims to Christ: 1-Love them. 2-Develop friendships with them. That will allow you to 3-Bridge the divide allowing you to share your faith.

Hundreds of students participated in Masri's sessions this week. He says because many Christians are unaware of the issues facing Muslims around the world, nothing happens. "As they get exposed to the spiritual, social and injustices of Muslim women [or instance], now they're saying, ‘Let's do something.'"
Yale is a student from Chicago. He says God has convicted him that he needs to be more loving in Muslim outreach. "They're people like you and me — people who want to be loved."

Aaron is a Cornerstone University Student and says, "Over the last three years, God's really put it on my heart to work with Muslim people. So, that's why I've come. I don't have much experience with them personally, but I came to find out more. I will be graduating soon, and I'm planning to do my student teaching in Turkey."

Masri says, "In our three sessions, we had about 900+ people. And, around 650 of those men and women are interested in building bridges with Muslims, sharing the hope of Christ with them on college campuses and in their neighborhoods."

Crescent Project will follow up by encouraging these young people to start a Bridges small group study. The names of the 650 will be entered to win Crescent Project's Sahara Challenge program in June.

Masri says that's a 7-day program in Atlanta, GA. "We cover Islam as a religion, ministry skills, cultural skills and then church planting."

More information about the Bridges Program and the Sahara Challenge are available to CrescentProject.org.

Comments Off
Filed under: General

Oscar Muriu at a press conference at Urbana 09.

USA (MNN) — Thousands of college students gathered to be challenged to take the Church to the next level.

Oscar Muriu, senior pastor of Nairobi Chapel in Nairobi, Kenya, is speaking for a second time as a keynote speaker at an Urbana missions conference. Muriu spends much of his time doing what he can to raise up leaders in the church. The InterVarsity Christian Fellowship missions conference Urbana 09 is a perfect place to do so.

Muriu spoke with passion and urgency as he challenged Urbana students about money on the mission field. His main call was a challenge for students to respond to a new and higher calling for missions than ever before, using Jesus as a model.

"Moving from pride to humility, moving from power to powerlessness, moving from privilege to poverty, and moving from harmony to brokenness; this, then, was how Jesus incarnated into our world," urged Muriu. "And this is what then becomes a model for missions for us today."

Muriu insisted that this generation of students humble themselves as they go onto the missions field, always thinking of others as better than they in accordance with the Philippians 2 model. He pleaded with students to give up the power they have by voluntarily moving into poverty alongside the destitute, suggesting that this is exactly what Christ Jesus did for us.

"We need a new movement," Muriu challenged. "A movement of young men and women who will choose voluntary poverty to serve the destitute poor. A movement of young men and women who will give up privilege and power. A movement of young men and women who will serve for a lifetime or maybe 10 years in the slums of this world. Young men and women who are radical in their engagement.

"Will God find in your generation these young men and women, or must He wait for the generation that comes after you?"

With such a high challenge, students could hardly be apathetic toward Christ's Great Commission. To top off his talk, Muriu reminded students, "Within 10 and 15 years, you will be the missionaries on the field. Take us to the next level."

Many students at Urbana are looking to share the love of Christ by entering the mission field. Many have heard a call into missions during their time spent at Urbana. With a call to be more like Christ by giving all they have for His sake, this generation will assuredly rise to the occasion and may just give the missions world the revitalizing shake it needs.

Pray that students will take what they've learned at Urbana and put it into practice. Pray that the Lord would continue to stir the hearts of those who have been hearing messages like Muriu's all week, and that He'd prepare them for the large tasks ahead of them.

Comments Off
Filed under: General