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Our friends at 24-7 Prayer have also written a prayer guide for Ukraine to help us intercede for the vulnerable, governments, the Church, and an end to this war. Join with us in praying for the nation at this time.

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We know most Alpha courses begin during the month September, which means that right now, there are invitations across the world for people to sign up to a course and discover a personal relationship with Jesus. Will you pray with us in these exciting days? 

Here are just a few areas and parts of the world you can pray for this month:

India

India continues to feel the impact of COVID-19. Every Monday, the Alpha team runs virtual prayer rooms for pastors to intercede for them for one hour. Join us in praying for this initiative and for church leaders up and down the country during these challenging times.

Slovenia

One church in Slovenia had an incredible turn out of 150 guests on a recent Alpha course run online, with people joining from across the country. After the course, the team connected guests who are not part of a church with their local parish. As Alpha continues to run, pray that many would come to know Jesus and find community in their local church. 

Kuwait

An international ex-pat church in Kuwait ran over 300 Alpha Online courses last year and saw many people encounter Jesus. They recently launched The Marriage Course and hope to use this tool to reach more people outside of the church in the community. Pray that many couples would be strengthened and find faith.

Latin America

August celebrated International Youth Day, so we are encouraging churches across Latin America to run Alpha Youth simultaneously over the next few weeks. Through this initiative, we hope to invite over 5,000 young people to explore Jesus on Alpha. Join us in praying!

Kenya

Most churches in Kenya offer services in Swahili, and it’s been our desire to offer Alpha’s materials in their local language. In September, we’re launching the newly translated Alpha Film Series in Swahili. Pray that many would connect with this new resource and encounter Jesus as a result.

UK

We want to see more people come to know Jesus. In the UK, ‘Invite a Nation’ is launching in September, a citywide invitation initiative with bus adverts, launch events, and mass invitation drops. Please pray that many would accept the invitation, try Alpha, and discover a relationship with Jesus.

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Show Notes

The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark

Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman

Biography

Nicky Gumbel is the pioneer of Alpha and Vicar of HTB in London, one of the largest Church of England churches in the UK. He is the author of many books and is married to Pippa.

The post Leadership Conversations with Nicky Gumbel Podcast: Nicky Gumbel’s Call to the Church in This Unique Season appeared first on Alpha.

In June of 2014, Nicky Gumbel sat down with Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh – Iranian evangelists and survivors of one of the world’s darkest places: the notorious Evin Prison. In this conversation, Maryam and Marziyeh recount their 259 days in captivity, and how this hell on earth was a place of unlikely grace.

Once both Maryam and Marziyeh came to know Jesus separately after years of questioning and searching, they met each other and decided to go on mission together illegally distributing Bibles in Iran. The two of them were so effective that authorities began to take notice. “Officials announced in parliament that a big Christian group had started distributing Bibles … in reality it was just us two girls with backpacks” says Marziyeh. Maryam and Marziyeh’s efforts to evangelize Iran region by region, were cut short one fateful day when they received a phone call from the police station.

After multiple interrogations, and 14 days in a cold, damp detention centre, the two of them were ultimately transported to Evin Prison – a prison where people are routinely tortured, abused, and violated. For Maryam and Marziyeh, this prison would become home for the next 259 days. In the midst of the brutal conditions and the constant threat of execution, the both of them made their jail cell a mission field, continuing to share the good news of Jesus. Marziyeh reflects on the experience saying “Everywhere can be a church – even a dark, brutal place like prison.” Against all odds, Evin Prison would become the only church many of these prisoners had ever known.

Perhaps the most compelling part of the interview comes towards the end, when Maryam responds to the question “What kept you going?” She says with deep conviction, that without God’s presence and power, both of them would not have been able to handle even one day in prison. Both Maryam and Marziyeh remarkably attribute every miracle, every prayer, every moment where the gospel was shared to the God who sustained them – the God who turned Iran’s darkest prison into a church.

We hope you are inspired and challenged as you listen to the story of these two great women of faith.

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Show Notes

Captive in Iran by Maryam Rostampour & Marziyeh Amirizadeh

Biography

In 2009 in Iran, Maryam and Marziyeh were imprisoned and sentenced to death because of their Christian faith. Maryam and Marziyeh were born into Muslim families but converted to Christianity and began to share the Gospel with those around them. They were arrested in March 2009 after being accused of evangelism and apostasy. After 259 days in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison they were released.

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To reach more people with the amazing testimonies of lives changed by Jesus, the Alpha team in South Korea are taking a new approach to storytelling. Stories are made into illustrations which then form a series of carousel images on Instagram. Coupled with text, the experience is very much like reading a short story book on social media.

Read below the story of one Alpha guest who had a powerful experience of God’s guidance whilst doing an Alpha course online in South Korea.

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هذه هي المحادثة الكاملة بين نيكي جومبل وفرانسيس كولينز من مؤتمر القيادة عبر الإنترنت لهذا العام. فرانسيس كولينز قائد وذكي عظيم. في الماضي ، قاد فرانسيس فريقًا مكونًا من أكثر من 2000 عالم في 6 دول مختلفة في إنجاز مذهل يتمثل في إجراء تسلسل دقيق لثلاثة مليارات من أزواج القواعد النوكليوتيدية في الجينوم البشري. اليوم ، يعمل مديرًا للمعاهد الوطنية للصحة ، ويساعد الدكتور أنتوني فوسي على تحريك الولايات المتحدة خلال أزمة COVID-19.

في صميم كل ما يفعله فرانسيس اليوم ، علاقة نابضة بالحياة مع يسوع – على الرغم من أن هذا لم يكن الحال دائمًا. في حياته المبكرة ، كان فرانسيس قد وصف نفسه في نقاط مختلفة بأنه ملحد أو ملحد. نشأ في منزل فكري ، من منظور فرنسيس ، لا يبدو أن هناك متسعًا كبيرًا للإيمان والدين والله. لم يكن حتى كان فرانسيس في العشرينات من عمره بجوار سرير امرأة كبيرة تحتضر حتى بدأ يسأل نفسه عما يعتقده حقًا حول الأسئلة النهائية في الحياة. بعد عامين من البحث عن الإله المسيحي واكتشافه ، وهب فرنسيس حياته ليسوع.

منذ ذلك الحين ، كان فرانسيس مدافعًا عن الطبيعة التكميلية للعلم والإيمان. بالنسبة إلى فرانسيس ، لا يتعارض الاثنان مع بعضهما البعض ، لكنهما يعملان معًا لتكوين صورة رائعة عن الله. “في تجربتي ، العلم والإيمان يتعايشان على أساس يومي” يقول فرانسيس وهو يتأمل في أكثر من 4 عقود كعالم مسيحي. إنه يشجع الناس على قراءة كل من كلام الله في الكتاب المقدس (الإيمان) ، ودراسة عمل الله في الخلق (العلم). في هذه المقابلة ، ناقش نيكي وفرانسيس ما ورد أعلاه بالإضافة إلى تعهد مشروع الجينوم البشري ، وتأملات فرانسيس حول الوباء ولماذا لا يزال يأمل في المستقبل الذي يمر عبر أزمة COVID-19.

نأمل أن تستمتع بهذه المحادثة مع أحد أمهر المفكرين والمساهمين العلميين في العالم.

الإشتراك

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وتظهر الملاحظات

مشروع الجينوم البشري

لغة الله بقلم فرانسيس كولينز

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مجرد المسيحية بقلم سي إس لويس

سيرة شخصية

فرانسيس إس كولينز ، دكتوراه ، دكتوراه. تم تعيينه المدير السادس عشر للمعاهد الوطنية للصحة (NIH) من قبل الرئيس باراك أوباما وأكده مجلس الشيوخ. أدى اليمين الدستورية في 17 أغسطس 2009. في هذا المنصب ، يشرف الدكتور كولينز على عمل أكبر داعم لأبحاث الطب الحيوي في العالم ، والذي يغطي النطاق من الأبحاث الأساسية إلى الأبحاث السريرية. الدكتور كولينز هو طبيب متخصص في علم الوراثة اشتهر باكتشافاته البارزة لجينات الأمراض وقيادته لمشروع الجينوم البشري الدولي ، والذي بلغ ذروته في أبريل 2003 بإكمال التسلسل النهائي لكتاب تعليمات الحمض النووي البشري. شغل منصب مدير المعهد القومي لبحوث الجينوم البشري في المعاهد الوطنية للصحة من 1993 إلى 2008.

الدكتور كولينز هو عضو منتخب في كل من الأكاديمية الوطنية للطب والأكاديمية الوطنية للعلوم ، وحصل على وسام الحرية الرئاسي في نوفمبر 2007 ، وحصل على الميدالية الوطنية للعلوم في عام 2009. في عام 2020 ، تم انتخابه عضو أجنبي في الجمعية الملكية (المملكة المتحدة) وحصل أيضًا على الفائز الخمسين بجائزة تمبلتون ، التي تحتفل بالفضول العلمي والروحي.

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This is the full conversation between Nicky Gumbel and Archbishop Thabo Makgoba from this year’s online Leadership Conference. Archbishop Thabo is the youngest person to ever be elected to the position of Archbishop, and it was not by accident. Makgoba overcame profound injustice and adversity to become the reconciling, loving and justice-seeking leader that the South African Church needs. In this interview, Nicky asks him questions about his upbringing facing apartheid, how he holds a forgiving disposition, his relationship with the late Nelson Mandela & more.

To start the conversation, Nicky has Archbishop Thabo rewind to his days as a youth, growing up in a dangerous region of South Africa. The Archbishop shares heartbreaking stories of the racial injustice, and gang violence he and his family had to endure. Despite the unfair suffering, the listener can’t help but pick up on the lack of bitterness and resentment in the Archbishop’s recollection. Makgoba stands today as an example of the healing work possible for those who forgive with the help of the Spirit. He quotes his mother, a great example to him in the area of forgiveness, “Jesus is bigger than your pain, and so the most important thing you can do before bed is either give your pain to God or resolve it with the person who has caused it.”

For the bulk of the interview, Nicky asks Makgoba to share about his unique relationship with the great Nelson Mandela in his final years. The Archbishop humbly shares about the relationship he was able to build with the anti-apartheid revolutionary. He describes the moments of prayer, the laughs they shared and what Mandela implicitly and explicitly taught him.

Archbishop Thabo is also an incredible example of someone who walks the walk of fighting against injustice, as he spends much of his time and energy advocating for the poorest of the poor in South Africa. In fact, his love for the poor even impacts the shoes he wears when he preaches. “During prayer and reflection from the pulpit, I wear my running shoes so that afterwards I can run to picket, and defend the poor” says the Archbishop. The Archbishop lives a life marked by Jesus’ words to have concern and compassion for the least of these.

We hope you enjoy this conversation with South Africa’s ever-impressive, ever-inspiring Archbishop Thabo Makgoba.

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Show Notes

Faith & Courage: Praying with Mandela by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba

Biography

The Most Revd Dr Thabo Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town was born in 1960 and grew up in Alexandra Township, Johannesburg. He holds a BSc, a BA(Honours) in Applied Psychology, and a MEd in Educational Psychology, all from the University of the Witwatersrand. He lectured at Wits University and was Dean of Knockando Residence at Wits College of Education (formerly Johannesburg College of Education – JCE), as well as Senior Lecturer. He is married to Lungi Manona and they have two children, Nyakallo and Paballo. He recently authored the book: Faith & Courage – Praying with Mandela.

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