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June 1997 News: 

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Mercy Ships International  

University of the Nations

NEARLY FORTY YEARS' experience of one of the world's largest missionary organizations has been captured in a unique new study Bible to be published next month. 
        The Christian Growth Study Bible  - to be unveiled at the international Christian Booksellers Association convention in Atlanta, Georgia - captures the foundational teaching of Youth With A Mission, summed up in its motto "To Know God And To Make Him Known". 
        Founded in 1960, the international and interdenominational organization has 10,000 full-time workers in more than 120 countries, and has seen thousands more involved in short-term ministry programs and training over the years. 
        A joint project between YWAM-England, the International Bible Society and US publishers Zondervan, the new Bible distills teaching from the mission's Discipleship Training School, a six-month program for all new staff and others just wanting to 
grow in their faith. 
        In the past 20 years more than 50,000 people around the world have completed the course, which includes teaching on the father heart of God, intercession, worship, evangelism, stewardship, guidance and missions. 
        A two-year project involving almost 100 YWAM writers and teachers around the world, the new work is believed to be the world's first-ever missions-oriented study Bible, with 30 thematic tracks leading readers through a study of the nature and character of God, and missions. 
        Subtitled "Discover Your Personal Path Toward Knowing God And Making Him Known", the study Bible "reflects the belief that when we know God more intimately, we inevitably want to reach out and share his love with others," says the readers' 
introduction. 
        Using the New International Version, the new study Bible also includes profiles of unreached people groups, mini-biographies of missionary "heroes" from history and the present day, and extracts from books by senior YWAM leaders. Contributors include YWAM founder Loren Cunningham, former international director Floyd McClung, and well-known international Bible teachers John Dawson and Dean Sherman. 
        General editor Lynn Green - the mission's field director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa - said that when first approached with the idea, the mission had not been sure about taking on such a project. "But God made the way so clear that we 
had to say, 'Yes, Lord'," he said. 
        Managing editor Betty Barnett said: "We hope that readers will find the same dynamic that occurs so often in our classrooms, where people are affected in the heart as well as the head, and that they will get a sense that God's destiny for them and their purposes in the world are far beyond anything they might have imagined." 
        Zondervan Bible group managing editor Dirk Buursma said that the new study Bible would appeal to a wide range of people "who have a sense of wanting more out of their Christian life - someone who doesn't just want information, but to know how to 
apply what they are reading to their life". 

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