Philippines
International Kairos Consultation,
Philippines, November 5th-11th, 2006.

The International Kairos Course Consultation was momentous – to say the least! This was the largest gathering of Kairos Course leaders ever assembled since the course began in 1994. Forty-three delegates representing eighteen countries and eight languages from Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceana and the USA gathered at our, nearly completed, LSI Center in the Philippines for this Consultation.

The highlights of the Consultation for most were the ‘reports’ and the ‘bonding’ that took place – most did not know each other prior to this Consultation but the strangeness of being with people from different countries, with different accents and different cultures quickly disappeared as warm and close friendships speedily developed. The ‘Kairos Family’ was a term often used to describe our connection!

We learned so much from each other, everyone had a story to tell about their unique experience with the Kairos Course in their country. Together we shared our highlights and successes as well as our challenges and frustrations.  All were shared with humor and thanksgiving – it was wonderful to see the way the Lord was honored during the country reports!

The Kairos Course is being well received in many new countries such as Thailand, Kenya and Indonesia and the eastern European block countries of Romania and Albania, both of which have a huge burden for and connection into Turkey!

Hearing the many mission initiatives resulting from the course was also inspiring. Indonesia, for example, has only had the course for less than a year and already outreach has been initiated into the largest Muslim block in the world!

Task Force papers were presented on all the key issues of the Kairos Course. The importance of these papers were not lost on the delegates as there was complete unity on the purpose of Kairos and that is to see the Church mobilized for strategic cross-cultural mission to the world’s least reached peoples! Building a ‘missions movement’ is the goal when introducing the course into a country! There are still more that 6000 peoples who have no access to the Gospel – a situation which burdens us deeply!

Delegates came from both ‘free’ and ‘restricted access countries’, the former often work under very difficult and dangerous conditions. Praying for all the delegates, especially those from difficult countries, was a huge privilege!

Dorothy and I are so thankful for a growing team of International Kairos Coordinators who are extremely gifted, passionate and work so well together.

From humble beginnings in the Philippines, God has expanded Kairos into more than eighteen countries and eight languages. And this is just the beginning – not only are we seeing rapid expansion but also new ministries that are growing out of Kairos that are proving very effective in seeing indigenous churches planted among least reached peoples!

An International Leadership Team (front row of Consultation Group pic) has been formed to help move Kairos forward, to keep it sharp and effective and to make sure the Church in every country and in every language group gets the chance of becoming part of God’s worldwide mission of mercy to the world’s least-reached peoples! 

LSI Facility Opening

The final night of the Consultation was used to dedicate our nearly completed facility. This is a dream come true – the fulfillment of a promise given in 1987! We used that evening to share our (Living Springs International) story, which actually began in 1976 when a team of young people from a church in NZ set up a ministry base to help see a strong national Filipino Church emerge! We have since journeyed through several eras and phases to now having a team of Filipino leaders, men and women of God committed to seeing this strong Filipino Church engage meaningfully in reaching least reached peoples both within their own country and throughout the world.

The provision of this facility comes with the arrival of a new era in our ministry – one that we believe will see our Center become an international Center for training, planning, missions and ministry! For this reason the facility will be known as ‘A Center for Strategic Initiative’.

A big thank you to all who gave to make the Consultation possible and to those who prayed – thank you all so very, very much!

Your partnership is highly valued!

Love and blessings,
Max and Dorothy Chismon