DNA friends in India win $1,000 video contest to fight gendercide

This video, created by our friends at Art for Change in New Delhi, won the first-place $1,000 prize in a contest run by All Girls Allowed, an organization fighting ‘gendercide‘ in China and beyond.

“Best of all was seeing where all the short video reached!” says Stefan Eicher, director of Art for Change. “Two highlights were: hearing back from someone who survived birth in a family that wanted her a boy, and hearing about a government legislator in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh who was deeply moved by the video and plans to show it to the chief minister of the state and use it in their government programs.”

Art for Change is partnering with the Let Her Live campaign, a movement to restore the dignity and equality of women and girl children in India, and will use the prize money toward info packs, street theater performances, and college-campus screenings of the new documentary film “It’s A Girl.” The money also will pay for the production of a CD of songs previously written in a song-writing workshop on female foeticide (the killing of baby girls).

DNA’s relationship with Art for Change has been long and fruitful. “Darrow [co-founder of DNA] has been a mentor to me,” Stefan says, “and in many ways all that I am doing here with the arts has been birthed out of the vision and ideas he planted in us.”

Learn more about Art for Change and Let Her Live by clicking the live links above!

Fukushima, Japan: being restored from the inside out

When you have just a bird’s-eye view of the catastrophes that laid siege to Japan about 16 months ago — earthquake, tsunami, nuclear disaster — it could seem impossible to find a loving, restorative God in the midst of it all. But if you get up close, on the inside, you will find incredible power and renewal — you will see Him working all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Even in such destruction, He uses the local church to heal, restore, and build His Kingdom. Over the past year, DNA national organization Friends with the Voiceless, Intl. (FVI) has been instrumental in this work.

(From left) Midori and Eisuke from FVI spent time in Fukushima relief shelters, comforting the residents who left their homes behind. (photo from DNA partner Soohwan Park)

A 2006 Gallup poll found that Christianity is the fastest-growing faith among Japanese youth. Japan is thirsty for the gospel, and FVI is helping pave the way for its people to receive it.

As many doctors, nurses and pastors fled the district of Fukishima, the area most damaged by the nuclear disaster, a few stayed — one pastor explaining that he dreamed he saw Jesus walking with His cross toward the power plant.

Aside from physical destruction, in Fukushima, families have been torn apart as many husbands have gone to find work elsewhere. Divorce has skyrocketed. In this country where 29 percent of youth describe themselves as “very lonely” and suicide rates are high, FVI helps unite and equip the Church to bear the hope of Christ.

Since the nuclear disaster, FVI staff members have made 15 trips to the province, conducting “Fukushima Future Forums” with dozens of pastors in attendance. In March 2012, one of these Forums geared for young Japanese Christian leaders had 50 attendees — half from Fukushima. At these events, Christian leaders are invited to recommit their lives to the Lord and commit to rebuilding Fukushima from a biblical worldview.

The first Fukushima Future Forum ended with husbands washing their wives’ feet: a biblical but counter-cultural act in Japan. (photo from DNA partner Soohwan Park)

As a result, while many people continued to flee the province, one Forum participant moved in and planted a church. Another started an out-of-the box “listening ministry,” and a network of young participants formed to practically serve Fukushima residents.

Also at the Forum last March was a pastor from Ukraine who ministered to survivors of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. He offered great encouragement and invited Fukushima pastors to come to Ukraine and meet other Christian leaders with similar experience. That visit is planned for October 2012.

(From left) Eisuke Kanda and Shun Jinnai co-lead Friends with the Voiceless, the DNA national network in Japan. To contact them, e-mail info@disciplenations.org.

Upcoming seminar with Darrow Miller: The Power of an Idea

At the end of August, Darrow will lead a two-day gathering in Singapore to discover and discuss how ideas have consequences. Hosted by Youth with a Mission, this event will include the subject of the Monday Church, helping connect our vocation with the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Join us, if you can, or pass this information to a friend!