Can we learn to love those who are different than we are with the love God requires of his people? Yes but only as we pray for, learn about and serve them - blessing the nations among us. Through prayer we gain the heart of God for the strangers among us as we embrace God’s love for all people. Through the Ethnic Embrace USA prayer journey you will......

Encounter 40 different people groups, who now call the USA home. Many of these people are far from Christ. These “nations” include Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and others.

Explore 40 different Scripture passages that tell us about the love God has for the “nations.” There is a story that runs throughout Scripture that we must embrace to love the “nations” as Jesus does.

The Lord is bringing the “nations” to us and has called us to embrace all peoples with his love. Are you ready to respond? Through the Ethnic Embrace USA prayer journey we pray you will be.

The recently released print version is beginning to be used by individuals and churches to equip for being the blessing we are called to be. Order a single copy for yourself or 300 like one church in Birmingham did and use it to inform and train your people.

Place your order at: http://www.ethnicembraceusa.net/Take-the-Journey.html

                                                                        Did you know that there are now an estimated 6 to 8 million Muslims who are our neighbors, living here in the USA? Regardless of how this might make you feel, we know our call in Christ is to love our neighbors which is why we must pray for them. Did you know that many Muslims are spiritual seekers who want to know spiritual truth? Most Muslims are not opposed to the Gospel, they just haven't heard it presented - not once or in a way that makes sense to them. That is why we must pray for them. There is no better season to pray for Muslims then during Ramadan which in 2013 is July 9th to August 7th.

But how do we pray for Muslims? Ethnic Embrace USA, a partnership of Mission America Coalition and Ethnic American Network, was launched to provide resources for the Church to help pray informed cross-culturally for the many people groups who now call the USA home. For Ramadan, visit www.EthnicEmbraceUSA.net to download a 30 day Ramadan Prayer calendar representing the 30 largest Muslim people groups in the USA. While there download the "How to Pray for Muslims - 10 Prayer Points" 

Due to the work we're doing through Ethnic Embrace USA, this comment from Roger E. Olson's blog caught my attention this morning:

"when evangelical Christians from other, non-Westernized, cultures come to us they almost always see and point out (when coaxed) our own syncretisms—especially the ways in which we American Christians uncritically blend secularity with our Christianity."

Olson asks an important question that we might want to wrestle with at the start of 2013: How Secularized Has American Evangelical Christianity Become?

Soong-Chan Rah, a Korean immigrant pastor, does us (that is if you are a Anglo Evangelical American like me) a great service in his book: "The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity." Rah writes about what he calls the "White captivity of the Church" by which he means the Churches captivity to American secular culture. Perhaps unaware, as American Evangelicals, to often we are held captive to our cultural thinking. With another Christmas season just completely its easier to observe our consumerism and commercialism. Our national debates too often glaringly show our fierce individualism. But how much of this is Biblical?

On the other hand, many of our diaspora peoples and ethnic churches have a much more vibrant faith we can learn from. Because of their unique backgrounds and Christian worldview we can learn a lot from immigrant churches if we we are willing. Olson and Rah are hitting upon something that we need to understand and work through.

This might be a difficult word for American Evangelicals to receive today but it's an important word if we have any desire to move toward a more holier faith in 2013. An important question to ask and pray into is how much syncretism has invaded our own thinking and that of our churches? Syncretism is the combination of different forms of belief or practice. The word is usually used in a cross cultural mission context to describe the mix of previously held beliefs with new Christian beliefs of a people.

It is always easier to see syncretism in another culture than in our own but we must examine our worldview against Scripture regularly to see if what we believe hasn't been infiltrated with other culture ideas, ideas we may hold near and dear, that are not rooted in the Word. We won't be able to remove all of our syncretic thinking, though there is much rethinking and recalibration needed, as culture is a powerful force. But we can take steps toward a more holier faith in 2013. Jude encourages us with these words: "But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit."

Today our cultural is largely secular so we need to honestly examine how much of that secularization has creeped into our own thinking and into our churches. The Apostle Paul admonitions us with this question: "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?" (2 Cor 13:5) It is a perfect time of year to do that.

How might we pray into this as we start the New Year?

"Unreached" is a missiological term that means that less than 2% of an ethno-linguistic people group are Evangelical Christians, and less than 5% other Christian population. (For more about these definition click here). What this means is that there is insufficient Gospel presence for a Church Planting Movement to begin that will transform a people for Christ. Reaching every people group with the Gospel of the Kingdom is our mandate given to us by Jesus in Matthew 24:14. Our commission is to "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus also tells his disciples in Luke 10:2, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." The harvest is still plentiful and the workers are still few, so we need more prayer to finish the task we have been given.

Here are 12 effective ways to pray for Unreached People Groups:

1. That God draws them to Christ (John 6:44)

2. That they may seek to know God in Christ (Acts 17:27)

3. That they be saved (Romans 10:1)

4. That Satan will be bound from blinding them to the truth (2 Cor. 4:4)

5. That God may send Christians to bring them to Christ (Matt. 9:37-38)

6. That they will repent of their sin and turn to God (Acts 3:19)

7. That the Holy Spirit will convict them and guide them into all truth (John 16:8, 13)

8. That their idols and empty religious practices would be demolished against the truth of Christ (2 Cor 10:4).

9. That they will admit their need and humbly seek Christ (John 7:37-38)

10. That they would know the hope that is in Christ alone (Psalm 146:5)

11. That they would have all their needs met in Christ (Phil 4:19)

12. That they would be counted among the multitudes for Christ (Rev 7:9)

What else could be added to this list?

Today, many of the Unreached People Groups of the world are living in our cities and communities right here in the USA. Visit us at EthnicEmbraceUSA.net to learn more about how to pray for the nations among us.

We are all searching for happiness, a blessed life, but too many don't know where to look. Finding happiness is really no secret but it does require seeing life differently than how the world does. Of course, when you consider the state of the world and the fact that we don't find much happiness there who really wouldn't want to uncover the "Secrets to a Blessed Life."  

It's pretty simple really. The answer to our happiness is on our bookshelves or somewhere else tucked away in nearly every home in America - God's Word. The problem today is too many, Christians included, don't know God's Word. American's are a Biblically illiterate people as we seek our happiness in ways that are at best only temporary. For far too many the Bible is an irrelevant antiquated relic instead of the guaranteed source of joy and wisdom for living today.

In Psalm 119 however the Psalmist begins with these words: "Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD. Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart..." (v 1 & 2). Blessed is the highest form of happiness attainable in this life. The Psalmist understood that only by walking with and seeking the LORD through His Word and in Prayer can we find what we are looking for - lasting happiness.

In the "The Secrets of a Blessed Life," across 22 days, we explore what the Psalmist understood to be true about God's Word - that only by living out God's Word, in spite our obstacles and adversities, can we find lasting happiness. "Secrets to a Blessed Life" digs into Psalm 119 looking at how the Psalmist describes God's Word, the attitudes he approaches God's Word with and benefits that are his as he seeks to know God's Word better. Such can be ours as well.      

You can download "Secret of a Blessed Life" free as a PDF, or for your kindle or iPad by clicking here. Hope you will find it a blessing!  

At Christ Fellowship in McKinney, Texas, we started 2011 with "21 Days of Prayer." This is the second year in a row we are beginning a New Year with an extended prayer season for our whole church family. For 2011, our prayer focus is 21 attributes of God. Knowing these attributes we believe is important to increasing our understanding of the God we love and serve. Praying through these attributes we believe will deepen our faith. Everyone at Christ Fellowship received a hard copy of a prayer guide to help us unite in prayer. This prayer guide is also available in PDF format at the following link:

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.christfellowshiphome.com%2Fam_cms_media%2F21daysofprayer.pdf&h=e1d3f