Please send any updates to ken@missionresources.com
Puts valuable training tools and resources for Christian ministry to Buddhists. Access vital maps, charts, testimonies, and short vignettes on historic missionaries to the Buddhist world. There resources are just the beginning of a virtual library of vital helps for you to reach out to your Buddhist neighbor with the Gospel. The mission is to equip the Christian community with relevant information and appropriate training for ministry in a Buddhist or Asian pluralistic context.
Contact:
SCBS
P.O. Box 116
Sierra Madre, CA 91025
email: JSNarnia@aol.com
The ABCDnet acronym stands for "A Buddhist Christian Dialogue." The site was created "to promote true interaction between Christians and Buddhists in dialog. It is not the goal to blend the distinct spiritual gems of Christianity and Buddhism and compromise our respective religions, but to promote mutual understanding between the parts in sober and positive confrontation." The site is Christian in origin. "It is the particular purpose of ABCDnet to present the full message of Jesus Christ in an intelligible way for Buddhists."
ABCDnet contains thoughtful articles about Jesus and Christianity that are designed to appeal to Buddhists. It is the work of a network of believers known as the Dialogue Academy.
In September 2001, at a meeting in Manila, Philippines leaders from several nations in Asia sensed that God was asking them to call Christians around the world to an unprecedented prayer initiative for the world's one billion Buddhists. Out of this emerged a call for one billion hours of prayer focused on the Buddhist world. Information about Buddhist World nations is being updated and made available through the web. A Daily Prayer Guide is also available. If 20 million Christians spend an average of one hour a week throughout the coming year praying for the Buddhist world, the target will be exceeded! Visit the web site above to log your commitment to pray and also to access further information, web links, and news items.
If you want access to a ready reference guide to the branches of Buddhism, the history of Buddhism, what Buddhism teaches, common Buddhist terms, Christianity and Buddhism etc then you need to visit this site and add it to your bookmarks. OMF have a valuable range of web sites that provide background to the major world religions. This is one of them.
This one-week intensive will expose you to the historic lessons drawn from Nestorian, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Evangelical, and contemporary mission efforts as they are interwoven with an excellent overview of Buddhism as it is practiced throughout the world. Lectures, audiovisual presentations and actual visits to Buddhist temples and museums will give you a well-rounded educational experience.
For more info. check out http://www.crosswinds.net/~sonrise
For fourteen years (1970-1984), James Stephens was a devout member of the Japanese Buddhist sect in America known as Nichiren Shoshu Academy, aka Soka Gakkai. He converted about fifty four people into Buddhism and was a graduate of their Study Academy. In 1981, after an accident in the midst of a Buddhist pilgrimage to Japan, Jim began to have serious doubts about his Buddhist faith. What followed was a three year quest for the truth, which lead him through a tour of New Age and Hindu practices, astrology and Christianity. This search resulted in an encounter with the lives of several Christians and a young architect named Lauri Mallord. These divine connections culminated in reading many of the prophecies that came true in the person of Jesus Christ and in Jim and his Buddhist wife Elizabeth turning to Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life in 1984.
In 1988, Jim and a small fellowship of Christians established Sonrise Center for Buddhist Studies. The vision of Sonrise Center is the establishment of contextualized faith communities and development of disciples who have chosen to follow Jesus Christ as their Master from among Buddhist people groups. Our desire is to be of service to the Christian community as a experimental learning community to assist them with relevant information and contextualized training for ministry in a Buddhist and pluralistic context. James continues as the Executive Director of Sonrise Center and recently graduated from Fuller School of World Mission on June 12, 1999 with a Master's in Intercultural Studies. His special dual concentration was in Leadership Development and Christian-Buddhist Studies.
Our present work is the establishment of a contextualized learning community which is based upon the groundbreaking work of Peter Senge from M.I.T. As Christians we desire to live our faith out in a community that will provide a welcoming environment for spiritual pilgrims from Buddhist, pluralistic and countercultural backgrounds to explore Christianity in a supportive atmosphere. Our intent is genuine dialogue, wherein devout Buddhists and Christians may feel the liberty to openly explore what it is to be a spiritual pilgrim in the twenty first century. Who is My Neighbor? Follow the footprints for answer... SCBS is a 501(c)3 Nonprofit Organization. Sonrise Center for Buddhist Studies.
From Grace Wiebe comes a note of a book worth checking out, "Buddha's Prophecy of the Messiah" by Inta Chanthavongsouk (1999). Her note contains a couple of endorsements that point to the book's worth.
Dr. A. Dale Golding, Far East Broadcasting Company chaplain comments, "Although I have lived and worked in Asia for 30 years, I was not aware of the prophetic teaching of Buddha concerning the coming Messiah. Reading this book has been a revelation. I commend Inta Chanthavongsouk for his diligent research which has resulted in he authorship of this book and I recommend it as a valuable missionary tool."
Pat Kamert, a Bible study leader says, "This book helped me to understand Buddha's true teaching and to relate better to those of the Buddhist faith with whom I am working. It opened the door for many conversations and exchanges of ideas."
The book is available for US$5.00 (plus postage) from:
The Lao Conference of Churches
PO Box 845
La Mirada, CA
90637
Tel: 562-947-465 Ext 3126
Fax: 562-943 0160.
Visits since January 30th, 2001
