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| Wednesday, November 29, 2006
The Nations2Nations Consultation 2006 Nations2Nations Consultation 2006November 27th to December 3rd 2006, Amsterdam, Holland Writers : Christin Bruggman, Dawn Fung Nations2Nations Leadership Training School, Davao, Philippines "Nations2Nations is not about tolerating but embracing Jesus in one another. Nations2Nations is Revelations 7:9." Armando Benner You have heard of Youth with a Mission (YWAM), the international missions agency founded by Loren and Darlene Cunningham. How about Nations2Nations? The movement is founded by YWAM Amsterdam Director, Armando Benner, and YWAM Jeffries Bay Director, Edwin Fillies. From it sprang Ethnos, a multicultural arts ministry reaching to ethnic churches in the local area, and Tabernacle to the Nations, a 24/7 prayer station. In 2006, the leaders of Nations2Nations organised a consultancy for those who are part of it and who are hoping to understand more of it. But what exactly is Nations2Nations? To be as clear as possible, we report the Nations2Nations Consultation 2006 in three parts : An interview with Armando Benner, a post-consultation review from YWAM's communications writer Christin Bruggeman, and an evaluation from Dawn Fung who attended the event. I. Interview with Armando Benner On a strange Thursday evening sometime in 2006, Dawn Fung received a note from Benny Prasad : Armando Benner, YWAM Director of Amsterdam, would be in transition at the Singapore airport - would it be possible to host him for the few hours?  From left : George Chua, Dawn Fung, Armando BennerDawn : What is Nations2Nations? Armando : Nations2Nations is a celebration that provides a platform for all nations to come as equals before the Lord. We believe every nation has a contribution to bring around the banqueting table of the Lord. [A nation can be identified into] Spheres of society like artists, politicians, educators, business people [who] have a worship anointing that must be released. What occurs during Nations2Nations is a synergy for an inclusive picture that basically creates a welcoming atmosphere for other nations. It can be thought of as a gathering of social groups to come, join and taste that the Lord is good. Nations2Nations can be seen as giving a voice to the voiceless, to celebrate not uniformity because that is boring but unity in our diversity. Nations2Nations is not about tolerating but embracing Jesus in one another. Nations2Nations is Revelations 7:9. It happens when you see the Malagasy dancing with the Israeli and the Indian guitar player worshipping alongside the painter and the dancer who are expressing different styles. Nations2Nations is just a picture of heaven on earth [accordingly to the kind of imagery in Revelations 7:9]. Dawn : Tabernacle to the Nations hosted a festival week in November 2006 that gathered creative people around the world in diverse cultural worship. What is the significance of this? Armando : Tabernacle of the Nations is a 24/7 house of prayer. In Acts 15:16[-17] God said he wants to restore the fallen Tabernacle of David and then the nations will come to his knowledge.  DJ Bernardo (Mexico) celebrates in Nations2NationsGod wants to restore a house where he feels welcome, where he is adorned with abandonment in a passionate way, in freedom. There is a connection between this house of a place of freedom and the nations. I believe that God wants to [begin to] restore the picture of Revelations 7: 9 or a Nations2Nations here on earth, a little window or a glimpse of heaven in our cities. The Tabernacle of the Nations gives hand and feet to Nations2Nations. It gives us a place to celebrate Jesus by the artist, the body of Christ including international or ethnic churches of the city of Amsterdam as well as to intercede for the city and the world. The Tabernacle of the Nations is a building is situated in the infamous Red Light District of Amsterdam. We believe that the fame of Amsterdam is not going to be just drugs and prostitution but that God will be adored non-stop by the nations in their own style and flavour [in the heart of the district]. The Tabernacle of the Nations provides an invitation [for people from all nations to take part]. When other groups e.g. Moroccans see the Ethiopians worshiping with the Congolese, the Dominicans and Brazilians, with the Dutch and the Koreans, they will say, "Perhaps this party is also for me." They will realize that Christianity is for everybody, not just the Caucasians [which is still perpetuated in parts of the world today]. At the end of the day, [I reckon] both Nations2Nations and the Tabernacle of the Nations will become powerful evangelistic tools. II. The Post Consultation Report Wave from the Nations By Cristin Bruggeman From 27 November to 1 December, Nations2Nations held a consultation in Amsterdam. Dozens of people attended from all over the world, and two Discipleship Training Schools (DTS) joined for many of the sessions. This consultation was marked by many dynamic worship times and teaching. There seemed to be a natural progression during the week of "from the nations" to "to the nation". "From the nations" means that the Great Commission isn't just the task of one or a few nationalities, but it has been given to all believers. Armando Benner (Venezuela) and Edwin Fillies (South Africa) shared how God first gave them the vision of Nations2Nations and formed their friendship. This vision started small with a few others, but is growing into a wave. "We are not celebrating nations," Armando said. "We are celebrating the Lord!" There have been over a dozen Nations2Nations gatherings all over the world, and consistently when the nations gather together and worship God through their own cultural expressions, the Lord has released a new sense of dignity and identity to people and given them His heart for the lost. Maureen Menard shared that Nations to Nations isn't a ministry, but a movement of the Holy Spirit. It is the anointing of God that moves among us during these meetings that releases people to worship and to be His voice. That is why Nations2Nations is so difficult to define -- it is something God is doing among us. Nations2Nations is a key to recognizing the potential in YWAM because it makes room for everyone to have an equal voice. During this consultation we had the privilege of having many expressions of worship and the leading of the nations into His presence by Pieter McKarthy (South Africa), Benny Prassad (India), Pedro Eustache (Venezuela/USA) and the Ethnos team from Amsterdam. Iranian Christians lead worship in Farsi on one of the evenings, as well as a West African choir on another evening. Our worship times varied from dancing in celebration, to kneeling in repentance and worship, to ministering to one another. On Wednesday morning, Mohieb El Haj (Egypt) brought a word that God wanted to give us a breakthrough during our worship, though he didn't know what that it would look like. Over the course of the worship time, others came forward and it seemed apparent that God wanted to minister to the women. But it wasn’t just about the women in the conference, but a prophetic action on behalf of the injustice toward women all over the world. The women came into the center of the stage and the men surrounded them. Everyone prayed, repented, and stood in the gap for oppressed women. The next morning, we found out that the same day the city of Amsterdam passed a law that 1/3 of all the brothels must close by the end of December. Of course many, many people have been praying for the "women in the windows", and it is on their prayers that this decision went through, but it seemed God really did give breakthrough that morning in the city of Amsterdam as we proclaimed freedom for women. This seemed to be a transition into "to the nation". Encountering the presence and heart of God is the most mobilizing experience possible. God cares about nations, and He is using this movement not just to restore dignity to peoples, but to help them to recognize their destiny in Him and their place in His plan in going "to the Nations". Marc Stettler (Switzerland) and Steve Ashworth (USA) shared from their personal experience how God can use us to disciple nations through impacting the spheres of society. Discipling a nation always begins with making and discipling converts, but it goes deeper than that. God calls some believers to influence a particular sphere of society, such as government, or education. Lynn Green, YWAM's International Chairman, spoke Thursday afternoon about leadership. He contrasted Eli and Samuel from the first seven chapters of 1 Samuel, and spoke about the great impact leadership has on the morality of the people. He challenged us not to be passive like Eli, or in a spiritual stupor, but to be an activist when it comes to seeking God. Repentance needs to be a daily act he said, especially for those of us in authority. Darlene Cunningham shared with us via Genesis on Thursday evening. She spoke about how Nations2Nations relates to YWAM as a whole. She emphasized Loren's call to the whole world and YWAM's call to be international, saying that Nations2Nations celebrates that call. 'Our staff worldwide carry at least 150 different passports, but I think it's more," she said. But she challenged us that it is more than celebration; it is a mandate for us to come into kingdom culture. It is kingdom culture that we are to promote. This entails servant leadership, which is different than the leadership in any of our cultures. On Friday morning after commissioning the DTS outreach teams into many nations, Benny Prasad shared how as an Indian coming from a very small place, he has traveled to 110 Nations with his Indian Passport, challenged to seek nothing other than obeying God even unto death! In tears he led us to repentance in being too self-centered and not God-centered. Later that morning, Lynn shared on the power Governments have, and how organization can have Principalities that govern them. His call and challenge was for us to be above organizations and serve the King and His kingdom so we may disciple all nations. On the last day, we had a processing time where we shared what God had been speaking through the week and what that it meant as far as application. We discovered that there was a lot of depth and variety to what God had been speaking both corporately and individually. III. An Outsider's Evaluation The Purpose of Coming Together by Dawn Fung  Leaders at Nations2NationWhen I packed my bags and flew to Amsterdam, God dropped me a sign. He sat me between a Vietnamese who was a professor on shrimp farming, and a Dutch who barely spoke a word. The Vietnamese had studied in Australia and was keen to practise his English. We showed each other pictures of our loved ones. He told me how his son complains about shrimp as a staple for their home meal. The Dutch taught me the Dutch alphabet, coughed loudly and shared that he regularly travelled to Singapore. We were basically a trio of strangers relating from nations to nations. This incident reminded me of my interest in international relationships. I had always been enthusiastic about a world of connected friends but unsure how my pocket could sustain the cost. Yet the God of creation is the God of the whole earth, and He is My God who looks after my every need. He made sure that when the consultation commenced, I had already dropped my name card with two different nationalities. So then, is Nations2Nations an international festival? It bored me, this idea. However the good Lord had something up his sleeves. Although there was the usual (and stagnant) idea of diverse cultures in their costumes celebrating their identity, I found that Nations2Nations gave me more than that. How? I suppose it was the fact people from about 30 nations came to worship God everyday in that consultation. It revealed to me the tangibility of Revelations 7 : 9. All of us from every tribe, tongue and nation laid aside our cultural differences while wearing them (to ignore the cliches of postcolonial dialectics) to worship the one true God with all our hearts and souls and minds. It was the shared experience of this community that permeated into our conversations that made the consultation, well, authentic. It imparted an experience that I identified in the bible to be here and yet. What was exceptional was the result of the shared moment in front of the living God. The fact of nations to nations exploded into various spheres of national identity - businesses connected with arts that connected with relief work that connected with government to increase the resources of ministries and individuals for evangelism. It brought about a voice in the UN for the Khoi San tribe, and resources to start a university for the five million odd poverty stricken people. Arab and Israeli missionaries spoke about building discipleship schools together. And it sounds like a mini-UN but Christ focused. No leaders of Nations2Nations monopolised a stand on this, which I found healthy. Yet it is not an organisation or a business. What I reckon it is, is a community. And that seems to explain the various groups that have popped out of Nations2Nations like Tabernacle to the Nations, and Ethnos. It explains why the word "movement" is preferable to "organisation". It creates opportunities for people to do kingdom culture with fluidity and acceptance. For this reason, it should attract us. How many artists have written, performed, spoken and dreamt of the reality based on the book of Revelations? The apocalyptic book is probably the most fascinating of all end time prophecy, not withstanding that it is the last book of the Bible. Its severe imageries of warfare belies the origin of surrealism. Its crisp tone of judgment cannot be ignored. Its victorious stand of the saints is empowering, as we Christians look forward to the day that God will wipe away all the tears from our faces, and we will dwell in the eternal city. As a community of people who dwell on fascinating ideas from the bible as creative input, surely a day will come when we taste of its reality on this earth, as it is in heaven. That is why a movement like Nations2Nations is relevant to us. It brings together the tangible while calling forth the invisible. The serious heart cry of any Christian to see the gospel spread to the nations must involve seeing the nations reaching one another, and celebrating their God given identity in Christ. That is the crux of such nostalgia. For me, attending the consultation opened my eyes to the wider world of church and God's kingdom here on earth (the two are separate things). One is the people of God worshipping Him constantly, and the other is the reign and realm of God advancing in the world, through his people when they connect and commune in His word. As a Christian in the arts then, Nations2NAtions realises the dream of the Great Commission and my ability to be involved through my gifts in the arts with other nations, in other spheres of society, to impact nations. Nations2Nations is a relevation of what is to come, and what can happen if we come together today. In 2007 Nations to Nations meetings will be held in Havana, Cuba; Kona, Hawaii; and Antannanarivo, Madagascar. Meetings are also being planned in Spain and South Africa. More info at www.nations2nations.org Article from Christin Bruggman is courtesy of Nations2Nations.
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