1040 is coming to Asia! We are coming back to where it all started. The historic 1040 tour with Jaeson Ma continues this August with public screenings and performances in key 10/40 Window spots like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea. Jaeson Ma will be delivering his powerful message. Are you ready to answer the call? This is going to an astonishing event that you won’t want to miss. Be there, be inspired, and be prepared to join the incredible movement of God in Asia. Check out our complete tour schedule here and stay tuned for more tour information!

In this lighthearted extra 1040 clip, Jaeson Ma goes through an intensive workout process with famed Korean bodybuilder, personal trainer, and Christian celebrity “Big Joe” (trainer for Lee Byung-hun on Hollywood Blockbuster G.i. Joe). Check out what happens!

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In this interview recorded for 1040, Mike Bickle, famed pastor and Founder and President of International House of Prayer (IHOP), calls what’s happening in Asia right now “the greatest move of God in human history.” Christian leaders across the board agree- Asia plays a key role in God’s movement in the world today. Watch 1040 for the full story and spread the movement!

Join us at our World Premiere at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) in Hollywood Friday, March 12th. Get ticket now: http://caff.eventbrite.com

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1040 featured star and Korean hip-hop artist Sean from Jinusean (지누션) talks about reaching out to the youth and sharing the Christian message in this interview recorded for 1040. Watch the film for Sean’s full story and learn about his work with Compassion International.

Join us at our World Premiere at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) in Hollywood Friday, March 12th. Get ticket now: http://caff.eventbrite.com

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For those who have been following the story of Robert Park, the US missionary who was detained by North Korea- he has been freed and has safely arrived in Beijing as of this weekend:

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100206/n-korea-frees-christian-activist-park-arrives-in-beijing/index.html

The sharp decline in fertility threatens the social harmony and “sustainable development of Korean society.”  Concern over the “national crisis of super-low fertility” has prompted calls for political and cultural changes from unexpected quarters.

“Crisis” is not too strong a word. Its low fertility rate means that South Korea will soon become an aged nation. Within 25 years, Korea will go from 7 percent of its population being over 65 to 20 percent. In this respect, it will become much like its neighbor and rival Japan—a homogeneous society whose low birthrates threaten its survival.

Along the way, South Korea’s export-driven prosperity will fall prey to its demographics. As the number of working-age people declines, more and more of its economy will go to supporting its aging population. Currently, there are seven working-age people for every retiree. Within 10 years, that number will be reduced to four and a half. By the middle of this century, the ratio will be close to one-to-one—simply not sustainable.

After years of encouraging families to have only one child, the government has done an about-face. It established a “Low Fertility Rate and Aging Society Commission” under the direct control of the president.

But as Choi Seon-jeong realizes, government policies aren’t enough. He notes that attitudes “towards marriage and having children has changed a lot among the younger generation. They think more highly of relationships with their partners and are less likely to depend for fulfillment on their children.”

Choi called on “religious groups . . . to advocate respect for life, abortion prevention and positive values on marriage and parenthood, [and urge] the younger generation to form families and have children.”

This is good advice for any society. What makes it extraordinary is that Choi is the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of Korea!

Commenting on the irony, Choi says that “as the needs of Korean society have changed” his federation’s goals have changed. They are now promoting “child-bearing and child-rearing.”

“Needs of society,” promoting child-bearing and child-rearing, respect for life? You won’t hear those words from American Planned Parenthood officials. Their sole concern is personal autonomy—the “right to choose” is so sacrosanct that even talking about respect for life is seen as a threat to individual autonomy, and talking about the birth dearth is depicted as an attack on the freedom of women.

What’s happening, you see here, is that the Koreans are recognizing what Phillip Johnson, the great scholar, calls the postmodern impasse. In today’s “I’ll do it my way” relativistic society, with no over-arching moral truth, when we get what we want—that is, choice and self-gratification—we discover we can’t live with it.

Fewer kids mean that we become extinct. And their worldview, they discover, just doesn’t work.

The Koreans have come to their senses. Maybe they can get their American counterparts to face reality as well.

Source: Crosswalk – South Korea Tries to Save Its Future – By Having Babies

Upon joining, the Christian Council of Korea (CCK), a church alliance representing 64 denominations and 21 organisations, renewed its vow to cooperate in world evangelisation nearly two years after it formed a “historic” partnership with the WEA.

“I believe God is glorified through this and He blesses us abundantly,” CCK’s president, the Rev Eom Shin Hyung, said during a speech welcoming WEA officials to South Korea.

Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe, international director of the WEA, meanwhile, praised the churches of South Korea for the “good example” that it can set for the world.

“The passion, vision, and devotion that Korea churches have for evangelism can make a great contribution toward world churches,” he stated, according to Seoul-based Christian Today.

Dr Tunnicliffe urged South Korea’s churches to work together to overcome the enormous challenges worldwide.

CCK’s entry into the WEA, which represents 420 million evangelicals, comes as key leaders from the Lausanne Movement are gathered for their biennial meeting at the Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary (PCTS) in Seoul.

While leaders hope to maximise the fellowship of the international Lausanne constituency during the June 8 to 12 meeting, most pressing on the agenda will be the confirmation of plans for Cape Town 2010, the third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelisation.

“Many key details of Cape Town 2010 will be finalised in Seoul,” reported Dr Michael Oh, president of Christ Bible Seminary in Japan and a member of the Lausanne Administrative Committee.

“It’s certainly our hope and prayer that the Lord will use Cape Town 2010 to impact to the very ends of the earth,” he added in the Lausanne Movement’s official weblog.

For the upcoming congress, the WEA has partnered with the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelisation and is playing an important role in Cape Town 2010’s planning and development.

Lausanne III is expected to gather around 4,000 Christian leaders in Cape Town, South Africa, and will link up millions more around the world via satellite when it takes place October 16 to 25, 2010.

The highly anticipated congress will seek to address what one Lausanne official called the “scandal of fragmentation” within the body of Christ, as well as the continuation of mission.

Source: Christianity Today: World Evangelical Alliance welcomes South Korea’s largest church body

The materials for the week of prayer 2009 are rooted in the experience of the churches in Korea. In their context of national division they have turned for inspiration to the prophet Ezekiel, who also lived in a tragically divided nation and longed for the unity of his people.

Traditionally celebrated between 18 and 25 January in the northern hemisphere or at Pentecost in the southern hemisphere, the week of prayer mobilises countless congregations and parishes around the world. During that week, Christians from different confessional families get together and – at least on that occasion – pray together in special ecumenical celebrations.

The production of the liturgical and biblical material for the week of prayer is jointly coordinated since 1968 by the World Council of Churches (Faith and Order Commission) and the Roman Catholic Church (Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity).

For this year’s week of prayer, a group of representatives from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea and the National Council of Churches in Korea chose as the basis the vision of Ezekiel (Ezek. 37:15-28) that depicts two pieces of wood, symbolising the two kingdoms into which Israel had been divided. They found it offered some compelling parallels to their own situation within a divided country and to a divided Christendom.

Resources for the week include an introduction to the theme, a suggested ecumenical celebration which local churches are encouraged to adapt for their own particular liturgical, social and cultural contexts, biblical reflections and prayers for the “eight days”, and additional prayers from, and an overview of, the ecumenical situation in Korea.

Source: Christianity Today: Ezekiel inspires prayers for Christian unity

The Catholic bishops’ Committee for Promoting Christian Unity and Interreligious Dialogue and the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) announced last week that South Korean churches will hold ecumenical activities such as prayer services, forums and exchanges throughout this year.

“During 2009 we hope all Christians in Korea find their mission to be ‘salt and light’ in the world,” said the Christian leaders in a joint statement released at the press conference, according to the Union of Catholic Asian News.

It will be the year Korean Christians “together sow the seeds of true unity and reconciliation, and overcome division”, it added.

Auxiliary Bishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong of Kwangju, a city about 150 miles south of Seoul, noted during the press event that, “Catholicism and Protestantism came to Korea about 220 and 120 years ago, respectively.”

But despite the long history of the two Christian traditions in Korea, they have not only had a distant relationship, but have even been in conflict at times, Kim admitted.

“2009 will be the year of confessing our faults to God and forgiving our brothers,” he said.

Through ecumenical unity, Korean churches hope to be “the stepping-stone” for a society that is suffering from “tensions and discord” in the political, economic, and social sectors.

NCCK chairman Kim Sam-hwan agreed saying, “Unity will give hope not only for the churches but for the whole society.”

The Christian unity year will kick off with a prayer service on January 18 at the Olympic Hall in Seoul, which will launch the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which will be observed by believers worldwide. An ecumenical forum featuring world-renowned theologians is set to be held some time in May.

Other ecumenical prayer services will be held at different locations throughout the year.

Source: Christianity Today: Korean Christian leaders declare 2009 a year of unity

The 6th Korean World Mission Conference (KWMC) consisted of daily services, mission forums and special lectures which provided missionaries with mission strategies from various mission specialists and scholars. This year’s speakers included the Rev Lorean Cunningham of Youth With A Mission, the Rev Reinhard Bonnke from Christ for All Nations, and Dr Ralph Winter of the US Center for World Mission.

At the closing service, the Rev Joon Won Kang, the chairman of KWMC, urged the missionaries in his message to keep going after the unreached.

“There are a lot of people running in this world … but where are they running toward?” he asked.

The mission leader reminded attendees to run towards God and remember to direct others to runing towards God.

“Even in difficult situations, remember that you are taking part in delivering the Gospel globally,” he said. “If God is with us, anything can happen.”

Korean missions has grown rapidly since the first KWMC conference 20 years ago. Korea now sends around 18,000 missionaries to 168 countries, making it the second largest missionary-sending country in the world. The July 28 – August 1 conference concluded with a new goal to send out 100,000 missionaries by 2030.

Another highlight to this year’s conference was its fully-documented declaration which was formally composed and presented. KWMC staffs the Rev John S Ko and the Rev De Heung Kang read the declaration, titled the “2008 Wheaton Manifesto”, in the honour of the world renowned evangelist the Rev Dr Billy Graham and Wheaton College who supported the founding of the conference 20 years ago.

The declaration starts with stating the historical significance of the mission conference, which started in 1988 to avoid “mistakes of misguided zeal and amateurity” of the earlier attempts of Korean missionaries. It also proposed 21st century mission strategies to be developed in the future.

The next KWMC conference is slated for 2012. Held every four years at Wheaton College since 1988, KWMC was founded by a small group of Korean-American pastors and endorsed by Dr Billy Graham. It is sponsored by three Korean mission organisations, Korean World Mission Council for Christ, Korean World Mission Association and the Korean World Mission Fellowship.

Source: Christianity Today: Korean missionaries harness energies for worldwide evangelisation