One of the principal challenges for mission workers in Creative Access Nations is the security of communications.  All of us have heard stories of people whose visas have been rescinded because the word ‘Christian’ in an email has been traced back to them.  The risk of their communications being intercepted and something incriminating being found is a major concern to mission workers in large parts of the world, as it is not only their own ministries which are vulnerable, but the work of the mission and the safety of local believers.

Syzygy is therefore happy to bring to your attention something which may solve this problem once and for all – the IronKey.  This is a flash drive which inserts into the USB port on any computer.  The difference is that we believe it to be significantly more secure than anything we have found to date.  While nothing is ever completely secure, the physical structure of the IronKey prevents it from being taken apart for analysis, and it is utterly durable.  The data on it is 256-bit encrypted, which is a military standard.  If it detects any unauthorised attempt to decode it, the data on it will be destroyed.  We believe that it is so hard to get into, that it will just not be worth anyone’s while to invest the resources necessary.

The IronKey is of particular value to missions workers in CANs because it contains its own browsing software and virtual keypad, so that it can be used in any internet cafe in the world without passwords being hijacked or an IP address being traced.  Emails are completely secure as the recipient can only open them when armed with a predetermined code.  This of course means that you can’t instantly email everyone in the world securely, but with a bit of planning you can have a new level of confidence in the security of your communications with your family, church and mission headquarters.

For those of you who are interested in the full details, our Technical Adviser Adam Brown has written a product review – just click here.  Or read more of the official stuff at https://www.ironkey.com/

While the cost of this amazing piece of technology is not cheap – currently $71, Syzygy is hoping to negotiate a discount on bulk supplies, so if you are interested in getting one, email tim@syzygy.org.uk.  We are also exploring a cheaper alternative which will look more like an ordinary flash drive but will have enhanced security at a fraction of the cost.  If you’d like us to contact you when this is available, please let us know.

This story came to me from Agape and is too good to waste!

Several months ago, some Christian groups in Bologna (Italy) gave out 10,000 flyers and invited people to a Christian concert.  Not one seeker came at all.  Only a few insiders.  Yet at the end of October, Apollo XVI astronaut Charlie Duke was invited to speak, and crowds of several hundred students came.  Jesse Marco from Bologna reports: ‘We have no words to describe what just happened these last days here in Bologna.  One church planter commented,  Charlie, we have been here 23 years, and never have we seen these kinds of crowds, and never have we seen doors open like this.’

Charlie spoke at the scientific high school where nothing Christian is ever let in the door.  The previous week a 15 year old student had shot himself.  Charlie was able to share his testimony in detail, and part of  his testimony is that his wife was suicidal before she gave her life to Jesus.  He shared that and the students were listening to his every word.  After he had finished with his testimony and closed, the headmaster came up and thanked Charlie for coming and reviewed the main points he shared in his testimony.  Jesse said, ‘WOW!!  Never in our wildest dreams in a school where atheism is their god could we have imagined this would happen.’

In the Astronomy Department of the University of Bologna over 120 students turned up to hear Charlie.  Some had to stand outside the hall listening.  This event was set up by the university and specifically by a man who asked that God shouldn’t even be mentioned.  After speaking, there was a time for questions and answers and the man who said no God asked Charlie to share about the challenges of life after reaching the pinnacle of your career at age 36.  Then that night at dinner, he told Charlie again to make sure he talked about his personal life.

Jesse writes:  ’On Tuesday evening we met for dinner with all the university officials who were responsible for the evening.  As we walked into the room which seats 300, it was standing room only again.  Charlie walked into the hall I was behind him and had not seen the crowd yet.  We then heard a very loud applause and were overwhelmed as were the school officials.  He opened his talk by thanking Agape Italia for bringing him to Bologna.  This was in a room with many students.  We are so thankful for all God did and again the doors this opened for all of us here in Bologna.’

Please pray that Agape team in Italy and associated churches in Bologna would be able to follow up their many contacts from this event.

Pray for the many students who have head a Christian testimony for the first time.

Pray for the ministry of Charlie as he shares his testimony around the world.  You can read more about him at www.charlieduke.net

How do you respond to stress?

One of the reasons people do not always recognise that there is too much stress in their lives, is that they don’t understand their own response to it.  People react in different ways, and knowing how you react is a good way to understand the warning signs.  When I worked in Zambia, I knew that when I spent the evenings going round apologising for how I treated people during the day, it was time to go on holiday.

One of the key determinants in anyone’s response to stress is whether they are introvert or extravert.  Many people don’t know which they are, and sometimes people assume that because they are shy or lacking in social confidence they are introvert, or that if they’re outgoing, they’re extravert.  But that’s not necessarily true.

A quick and easy way to tell your ‘version’ is to ask yourself what you feel like doing at the end of a busy week.  A week you’ve worked late every evening to hit a deadline.  A week when a sick child has kept you up every night.  A week when crisis has followed crisis and you haven’t had time to eat properly.  And now it’s Friday, and it’s all over.  What do you feel like doing?  Getting a few friends together and going out for a meal, or do you want to shut your door and read a book by yourself?

By and large, extraverts want to gather their friends around them, because they recharge their batteries in community.  Introverts would rather be alone, since solitude provides them with the space they need to recuperate.  Neither is right or wrong, they’re just different, and knowing which you are will help you interpret your behaviour when you’re under stress.  It’s particularly important that couples understand each other’s response to stress, since if one wants to talk while the other wants to hide, there can be significant relationship problems.

So if you find yourself locking the door, turning off the phone, and pretending you’re not at home, that could be perfectly normal behaviour for you.  Likewise spending an evening at a café till it closes might be your way of managing the stress.  But if you find yourself doing this every single night, it’s a warning that you’re under more stress than you can reasonably cope with, and that’s when you need to do something about it.

Next month: tools for self-analysis

Last month the world went back to Cape Town for the second time this year, but this time not for football.  The third Lausanne Conference on World Evangelisation was being held there.  In a truly worldwide consultation, 4000 church leaders and representatives, from nearly 200 countries, were joined virtually by remote participants at 650 different venues across the globe where live streaming of the events was shown, and by over 100,000 individuals observing online.

John Oh embraces an Asian believer after she shared the story of her family's struggles as Christians.

This was a marked contrast to the historic Edinburgh Convention which took place 100 years earlier, and which is being commemorated in this and several other missions conferences taking place in 2010.  On that occasion the delegates were overwhelmingly from northern Europe and North America, and no Roman Catholic or Orthodox delegates were invited.  The Cape Town conference, however, brought together people from diverse cultures and denominations, who brought colour and spectacle to the proceedings by dressing proudly in a variety of ethnic and ecclesiastical clothing.  This time round, over 50% of the delegates represented countries which would been considered largely unevangelised by the delegates in 1910.

One contingent sadly lacking was the Chinese church.  A constitutional commitment to global evangelisation was required from churches wishing to send delegates, and since the official Three Self Patriotic Movement does not have this, it was anticipated that China would be represented by leaders of various unregistered churches.  Sadly they were all prevented from leaving the country at the last minute.  The absence of this dynamic delegation representing one of the world’s largest Christian communities was deeply significant.

Another notable absence was former Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu, who has recently retired from public life.  A tireless and prominent campaigner against apartheid, and subsequently a vocal advocate of forgiveness and reconciliation, he would have been a highly visible testament to the conference’s twin motifs of faithfulness to historic Christian truth and a call to radical action encapsulated in the conference’s theme: ‘God in Christ, reconciling the world to himself’ (2 Corinthians 5:19).

Nevertheless, many global leaders made significant contributions to the proceedings.  Billy Graham and John Stott, founders of the Lausanne Movement who are both now too old to travel, sent recorded greetings.  Other headline names led expositions of Ephesians but significantly many of the speakers were from Africa, South America and various parts of Asia, often representing areas not traditionally considered Christian.  It was encouraging to see the western world relinquishing its traditional dominance over such events, since it now represents so few Christians in comparison to the rest of the world.

Perhaps the most significant outcome from the conference is The Cape Town Commitment, a statement of faith and a call to action.  A draft of the first part, a declaration of belief crafted by evangelical theologians representing all the continents, is available at

http://conversation.lausanne.org/en/conversations/detail/11544.

The second part is due for publication later this year.  The aim of this document is to provide a firm evangelical commitment to truth and action to inspire the church globally in its mission.

Lloyd Estrada (Philippines) tells a Bible story.

After the second Lausanne conference in Manila in 1989, over 350 missional partnerships between different churches and agencies were started.  Syzygy hopes that Cape Town 2010 will give the global church the impetus and sense of urgency needed to finish the task of global evangelisation in this generation, which ironically was one of the objectives of the conference in Edinburgh one hundred years ago.  Let us pray that this generation achieves even more than that one did.