The New Year often brings with it a fresh outlook and new perspective on life and a revival of hopes and dreams yet to be seen and accomplished in the coming year. For Mission 193 and all its dedicated volunteers and travellers, the New Year marks the final ten months of the project and the countdown of the remaining 63 countries to be visited.

2008 offers you the last chance to participate in what could be one of the most exciting times of your life – can you afford not to be involved?

Intrepid and excited teams have travelled in two’s or more to countries far and wide on Mission 193. With hearts full of faith, a suitcase containing two bibles, a pocketful of scriptures to pray and proclaim over the land…not forgetting a camera in hand … people have travelled to unfamiliar nations for God.

On each and every visit, reports have flooded back telling the news of how the Holy Spirit has led, provided and displayed His goodness and kindness during each mission.

Hoteliers, tour guides, caretakers, border guards, ministerial officials, royalty and church members – to name just a few, have all been overwhelmed by the gift of bibles and blessed in the knowledge that there is a God who cares enough for them and their nation to send someone from far away to meet with them!
Miracles have been reported, lives have been changed and many have come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

There’s still time left and 63 opportunities for you to be involved in claiming a nation for Jesus with Mission 193. Why not book a cruise and visit a few islands in the South Pacific Ocean or the Caribbean? Perhaps a safari in Africa or a visit to countries close to the warm equator is more your thing? If one of the countries listed is your home nation, would you consider asking family or friends back home to participate in Mission 193? Or, maybe you just fancy ‘picking a country’ to visit and trusting God for the rest?

The countries left to be visited by you this year are:

in the Caribbean & Americas: Colombia, Dominica, Grenada, Panama, St Kitts & Nevis, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago.

in Europe: Belarus, Moldova, Montenegro, San Marino.

in Eastern Europe and Asia: Armenia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Qatar,, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates.

in Australasia: East Timor, Fiji, Indonesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.

in Africa: Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, (The) Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Republic of the Congo, Sao Tome & Principe, Seychelles, Somalia, Swaziland.

Participating in Mission 193 will give you a new perspective on life and a fresh envisioning of the purpose and plan God has for you. Why not apply and trust Him to continue to take care of the finer details this year?

To download your application form and to read the reports of other travellers, please visit www.mission193.com today.

We believe the Bible is no ordinary book. We believe it is the inspired Word of God and reveals Christ to us. Read more on what we believe about the Bible.

It is estimated that at present there are around 200 million people in the world who do not have the Bible available to them in their own language. We long for the day when every language group in the World has the Word of God in their own language.

Members of King’s Church will be pleased to know that from the tithe we have been financially supporting the work of Wycliffe Bible Translators in their efforts across the World. We also recently gave a gift to the work of the Bible Society in India to help with the production of Bibles that had been recently translated for one of the many language groups in India.

Pray for this wonderful work going on across the World. For more information on Bible Translation work, go to: http://www.wycliffe.org/

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Matthew 28: 19 (ESV)

You have just read what is sometimes referred to as “The Great Commission”. It’s basically the one thing Jesus told his first disciples to do, and they in turn were to tell the next generation of believers to do, and so on. It’s not complicated; it means you baptise people so that their old life is buried and they start a new life where whatever Jesus taught, you firstly practise it yourself, and then you teach those whom you baptised how to do it!

It applies to us today as much as it ever did to them. It’s not one of the things we should be getting round to when we have the time; it’s not some plaintiff plea from Jesus for the keen ones in the Church to do; it’s the thing Jesus has commissioned his Church to do.

Imagine for a moment a generation of believers all obeying what they have been commissioned to do, with no one person having a desire to hang on to independence or seeing their spirituality as a “private thing”. Imagine that every person who claimed to be a Christian has been taught to observe all that Jesus had commanded his first disciples to do, and in turn discipling others to do the same. What a community! Think about it…real discipleship!

What would it mean practically? Well, what were some of the things Jesus commanded his first disciples to do?

Matthew 5:48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (ESV)

Matthew 10:7-8 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. (ESV)

That’s probably enough for the moment! Be perfect and be full of power! Imagine what would happen if every Christian were taught how to be both perfect and powerful! The result would mean we’d be just like Christ was when he walked on this planet in his humanity; seeing what his Father wanted in Heaven and depending on God the Holy Spirit to make it happen on Earth!

In these days there is an increasing God-given dual desire for both a righteous standing before God with a clear conscience and for a visible demonstration of the power of the Gospel of the Kingdom. The two go together. There are no short cuts. The process of discipleship is what Jesus commanded his disciples to do in order for this to come about. In other words, discipleship is a community project that results in Christ-like purity and power!

In the Early Church, Paul expresses something of the heart of discipleship. Look how he writes to the Galatians: “my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” Gal 4:19(ESV)

Paul was desperate to see Christ formed in the Galatian believers. As we look at one another, we should be no different. We need one another to see Christ formed in us. Discipleship is a major part of that process.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said: “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ”. He went on to say, “Only the believer is obedient – only the obedient believe”.

There’s a clarion call in the words of Jesus to be disciples and make disciples. With all the freedom of opening every home in the church to others, with the new found desire for fellowship and breaking bread together, let’s make sure that discipleship is still at the heart of all our lives. That we follow Christ and allow and help one another to follow him in all that we say and do. That’s how those desires born of the Spirit will result in Christ-like purity and power.

When I was in Kenya a few years ago, we went to a home in a small village, and in this home there was a well in the back garden. This well consisted of a piece of rope going deep down into a hole in the ground. It didn’t seem much; but in fact it was the source of life for the community in that village. From that well came water for cooking, washing & drinking. Without that well they wouldn’t have been able to survive or function as a thriving community.

Wells are a great image for us of life, value and salvation. We see throughout the Bible that wells were a place of communities. Villages and towns were built around wells, they were a necessity to family life; being able to do everyday things, like cooking and cleaning, bringing up children. Wells also had significance as a place where people met;

• Cultures met together [Exodus2v15]
• Men and women met together who became betrothed [Gen 29 v1-14]
• The natural met the supernatural [Gen16v7, John 4v17]

Isaiah prophesies that we can, with joy, draw water from the well of salvation! That’s pretty incredible really. You and I CAN DRAW WATER from this well, we don’t have to travel for days, or dig for hours to get this water we can simply draw from the well. We don’t have to draw from it like it’s a wishing well and maybe we’ll get lucky, or in a state of despondency, because Isaiah says we can do it with joy!!

What is this well or WHO is this well?

Jesus said this about Himself;

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4v13&14

Jesus has become our salvation, therefore for us to draw water from this well of salvation is drawing from Jesus. Jesus is our fortress, our strong tower, our deliverer, our redeemer our ever present help in time of need. Therefore when we draw water from the well we are drawing from Jesus!

Do you need a miracle in your health or your finances? Do you need a fresh touch of his Spirit, or boldness to share the gospel? Whatever situation you find yourself in, I encourage you to draw water from the well of salvation, spend some time in the word; pray; be with people who are filled with Christ; put your bucket deep down into the well of your relationship with Jesus and allow him to meet all your needs!

“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” John 7v37