First Filipino Alliance Church Announces Associate Pastor's Resignation

April 15, 2007

Edmonton, Alberta -- First Filipino Alliance Church (FFAC) announced today that Dr. Sadiri 'Joy' Tira, founding pastor and former Senior Pastor, has resigned from the position of Associate Pastor, effective August 31, 2007.  Mr. Paul Robert Roque, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Elders, read Dr. Tira's resignation letter to the congregation, then Dr. Tira with his wife Lourdes briefly addressed the congregation.

Tira's letter of resignation was accepted by Rev. Ricky Mapa, Senior Pastor of FFAC, as well as Chairman of the Board of Elders.

Dr. Tira was called by Milbourne Alliance Church to start a Filipino fellowship in Edmonton, Alberta -- what would in a few years become FFAC -- in 1984.  He served as founding and Senior Pastor of FFAC from 1984-2006.  With Dr. Tira, FFAC became the first self-governing, self-propagating, and self-supporting Filipino-Canadian congregation of the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church (C&MA) in Canada.  While Dr. Tira was Senior Pastor, FFAC also went through two successful building projects, being the first Filipino Alliance congregation to own a building facility. 

Alongside his ministry with FFAC, Dr. Tira has been serving with the Filipino International Network (FIN), FFAC's partner ministry.

FIN is a catalytic movement of Christians committed to motivate and mobilize Filipinos globally to partner for worldwide missions.  This ministry was launched out of Edmonton as an initial partnership between FFAC, C&MA, Campus Crusade for Christ, and The Klemke Foundation (Edmonton).  Since its launching in 1995, FIN's partnership has grown into a network of missions-minded individuals, churches, and institutions.

The resignation comes at a positive time, during which FFAC is thriving; as well as during a time that FIN's ministry is expanding.  Dr. Tira and his wife hope to focus on global missions full-time by way of training diaspora Filipinos, research, and writing.

 
NEW LAUSANNE COMMITTEE FOR WORLD EVANGELIZATION SENIOR ASSOCIATE

April 17, 2007

Edmonton, Alberta -- The Lausanne Executive Committee for World Evangelization through its Chair, Rev. Doug Birdshall has appointed Sadiri 'Joy' Tira as Senior Associate for the Diaspora.

Joy Tira, a long-time pastor with the Christian & Missionary Alliance in Canada, is founding and current International Coordinator for Filipino International Network (FIN) based in Edmonton, Canada.  The Filipino International Network (FIN) is a catalytic movement of Christians committed to motivate and mobilize Filipinos globally to partner for worldwide missions (www.fin-online.org)

The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (LCWE) seeks to encourage and stimulate the involvement of churches, denominations, ministries, networks and individuals in the cause of world evangelization.

Lausanne provides a place for theological discussion and the development of practical strategies to address crucial issues facing the Church in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The LCWE grew out of the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization held in Lausanne, Switzerland.  The gathering was called by a committee headed by Rev. Billy Graham.

During the 1974 Congress, more than 2,300 evangelical leaders (from 150 countries) developed The Lausanne Covenant, a declaration that provides the theological underpinnings for intentional world evangelization.  Since 1974, the Lausanne Covenant has challenged Christians to work together to make Jesus Christ known throughout the world.  Also, hundreds of organizations use The Lausanne Covenant as their ministry Statement of Faith.

In addition to regional, national and international consultations and conferences on evangelism, Lausanne publishes a monthly e-newsletter on evangelism, the monthly LausanneWorldPulse.com and Lausanne Occasional Papers (LOPs) – historically important documents on matters impacting global evangelism. 

Joy Tira joins other Senior Associates:  Patrick McDonald (Viva Network) for Children at Risk; Joni Eareckson Tada (Joni and Friends) for Evangelism among Disabled People; Evvy Campbell for Holistic Mission; Joseph Vijayam for InformationTechnology; Elke Werner for Women in Evangelism; Peter Brierley (Christian Research) for Church Research; Todd Johnson (World Christian Database) for Study of Global Christianity; Phill Butler (visionSynergy) for Strategic Evangelism Partnerships; Stan Toler for Stewardship; Berit Helgøy Kloster for Tentmaking; Kent Parks for Least Reached Peoples; Glenn Smith for Urban Evangelization; and Mats Tunehag for Business as Mission.

Asked how he feels about his role with LCWE, Tira simply said: “I am honored and humbled by this ‘high calling’ to serve the Master and His global-church.” He added a timely observation: “The nations can no longer be defined by geography because there has been an accelerated mass movement of tribes and peoples. These diasporas (i.e scattering or dispersion) are God’s way of reaching and discipling the nations.” Being an ethnic Filipino who is now naturalized Canadian, feels that there should be a strong network among Christian Diaspora groups for coordinated evangelism and discipleship. He would like to see a functional synergy among the scattered Chinese, Filipinos, Koreans, South Asians, Hispanics, Arabs, Jews, Africans, etc.”

Joy Tira’s ministry training in missiology and intercultural studies in addition to his proven networking skills fits him well to his new role with LCWE. He received his Doctor of Ministry in Intercultural Studies from Reformed Theological Seminary (Jackson, Mississippi) and currently pursuing his Doctor of Missiology specializing in international migration from Western Seminary (Portland, Oregon).

The leadership of LCWE will convene in Budapest, Hungary from June 18-22, 2007 to plan the next Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization to be held in Cape Town, South Africa in 2010.

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Released by FIN News 17.04.2007