22 Oct Small Business Training in Nicaragua

The three North Americans with the Nicaraguans who participated in five days of small business training.

Nicaraguan participants in the training.

Victor Mojica leading a training session in Nicaragua.

Jeff Bleijerveld (right), Director of Global Ministries

Exponential growth of the Church is occurring in many non-Western countries. Three factors seem to be consistently present:

1. The rapid multiplication of disciples who make disciples.
2. Church structures that are adapted to the environment.
3. Pastors and church planters who are developing small businesses.

Many look at the use of small business as a way for pastors and church planters to simply support themselves. But there are many other advantages.

Acts 18:1-4 gives the example of Paul and coworkers Aquila and Priscilla, who supported themselves as tentmakers. In this way, they gained access to people in the Corinthian marketplace among whom they could evangelize and make disciples. Their example and integrity earned the respect of outsiders and believers.

Global Ministries has been providing training for pastors and church planters who want to use small business to transform their communities for Christ.

Last week, three of us from the United States spent five days in Nicaragua. I was joined by Jeff Dice (non-traditional Global Ministries staff member) and Victor Mojica, a Hispanic pastor who leads the Clearview UB church in Goshen, Ind.

We conducted five days of small business training with 11 pastors and church planters in Nicaragua. The small business training provided everything they would need to know to effectively start and manage a small business, but also focused on how to use the business to expand their ministry. It’s what is known as the dual bottom line – successful business and successful ministry.

The training this past week was the second such effort. The first was conducted in Sierra Leone. Global Ministries hopes to continue offering similar training events in Central America, Africa, India, and Asia.

If you’re a small business owner and would be interested in knowing more about serving as a trainer, contact Jeff Bleijerveld in Global Ministries.

22 Oct Leadership Training Event in Mexico

Gary Brooks (right)

Gary Brooks, a former United Brethren pastor and missionary in Honduras, recently returned from Mexico, where he helped Bishop Denis Casco conduct a leadership training seminar for members of our churches in Mexico. Gary, who currently lives in Florida, has participated in a number of training events for Mexico Conference. Here is Gary’s report about last week’s event.

Twenty adults participated in the seminar that was held in Dr. Mora, Guanajuato. This is a rural area about an hour or so out of Queretaro. I taught about the dangers of carnal leadership. The focus of this mini-series of lessons was King Saul. Our study included most of 1 Samuel. Bishop Denis Casco taught a series of lessons from Nehemiah.

While I taught about the hazards of being a carnal leader, Denis focused on the characteristics of a spiritual leader. Among these are found:

• His interest in God’s people.
• His personal involvement in their lives.
• His intercession on their behalf.

We closed out the seminar by setting aside a brother for the gospel ministry.

The following day, we drove to Celaya to visit an elderly man and his daughter. Denis shared the Gospel with them, and they both readily made professions of faith.

Saturday evening, we boarded a bus and returned to Mexico City. Sunday was a day of relaxation. As is our custom, we strolled along the Paseo de La Reforma. We saw a colorful parade, line dancing, and a “professional” Mexican wrestling match, and even got a free hug that I’ll never be able to explain to my loving wife.

These seminars are valuable opportunities to provide continuing education for lay church workers and pastors in the churches of the United Brethren in Christ scattered throughout this beautiful country south of our border.

This is just one of three outreaches led by Bishop Denis Casco in Mexico. Another is the Vacation Bible School that reaches out to children. The third is the moral and spiritual support our Mexican brethren receive from periodic visits made by Brother Denis.

If people would like to contribute to the leadership development needs of Mexico Conference, they can do so by sending a gift marked specifically for Mexican Leadership Development.

02 Oct Global Ministries Team Begins Fall Meeting

The Global Ministries Leadership Team begins its fall meeting tonight, Oct 2, and will continue until Friday, Oct. 4. They’re meeting at Gull Lake Ministries, a Christian conference center in Hickory Corners, Mich.

Two recent additions to the team are:

• Ruth Ralph, whose husband, Mark, is senior pastor of Mt. Zion UB church in Wayne, Ohio.
• Mark Wallace, executive director of Christian Horizons Global. He is a licensed UB minister in Canada, and is a member of the Mill Crossing UB church in Cambridge, Ontario.

02 Oct Gerlachs Getting Settled in Thailand

Bryan and Emily Gerlach arrived in Thailand in mid-September. The Gerlach represent an expansion of our work in Thailand. Although our Thai churches are located in the northern mountains, we are shifting our focus to the city of Chiang Rai.

Many young people who migrate from the mountains in search of jobs and education find themselves being lured into the drug and prostitution industries. Bryan and Emily will be part of a multi-national team providing housing, discipleship training, education, and job skills training to vulnerable young people.

But first, the Gerlachs need to learn the Thai language. For that, they will spend a year in the city of Chiang Mai, in central Thailand. They start classes today, October 2.

A week after arriving in Chiang Mai, the Gerlachs wrote:

We are finally getting adjusted to the time difference and feeling rested in the morning when we wake up. Our flights were incredibly smooth thanks to prayers from all over, and we have been blessed to stay in an amazing guest house about 15 minutes south of the city center. It has been a productive week taking care of a lot of ‘living life’ type details and getting to know some awesome missionaries and Thais too.

Right now our biggest goal is to find an apartment near our language school in the city. Global Ministries has asked us to live downtown, close to school, in order to really get into the Thai culture and life. (Where we are staying right now is pretty much missionary central.) We are both really excited about being close to the action and relying on Thais for friendship and support, but it comes with challenges too.

We don’t have many good connections downtown—yet–and the cost of living is just always higher in the city, so we will have a small place (studio or one bedroom) that isn’t as cheap as we were hoping. We know that the Lord will provide for us, though, and he has already. There is a missionary here starting a “Business As Missions” business which helps foreigners find a place to live, so we’ve already been blessed by his services tremendously.

Language school starts for us on October 2. We’ll be joining a class of three other students who have already begun their studies. We were tested for our own level and assured that we will fit in well with where the other students currently are. Undoubtedly there will be gaps in our knowledge, and other things that we already know that they don’t, so it will be interesting to see how that all works out.

Our first week was not an easy one adjusting to life here, but we’re confident that it is where God wants us.

Chiang Mai is a modern city with a population of about one million, including a lot of Westerners and numerous tourists . Chiang Rai, with about 200,000 people, is somewhat less modern.

Global Ministries is looking for additional people to go to Thailand—youth workers, people with business skills, persons with skills in the trades, and church planters.

The Gerlachs need additional financial support. They raised enough of their needed support to get the green light to go to the field, but could still use more supporters. If you’re interested in supporting the Gerlachs, please contact Global Ministries at [email protected].

(Read more about the Gerlachs here.)

01 Oct Pastors Tour of Haiti

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

During the recent Pastors’ Tour of Haiti September 9-16, the team was able to visit with 80 United Brethren members receiving training in small business development. Training of this nature is one of the best solutions to poverty as people are provided an opportunity, not a hand out.

The training was provided through a generous grant to our partners CH Global. The instructor, Eric Musee a Kenyan national, is the director of Go Ye Africa. Eric trains and coaches church planters throughout Africa, many of whom support themselves through small business. However, he had never been invited to Haiti before. The students were surprised at the similarities in their circumstances and responded well to receiving this training from an African brother in Christ.

30 Sep Four Sierra Leoneans Attended Ghana 2013 Conference

Delegates from Sierra Leone at the Ghana 2013 conference. L-r: Mr. Edward Jusu Jr., Mrs. Sally Conteh, Bishop John Pessima, Mr. James Abdulie.

Bishop John Pessima and three other persons from Sierra Leone Conference attended Ghana 2013, a conference on disciple multiplication in Accra, Ghana. It was held September 25-28.

This conference focused particularly on the African context. The first conference of this nature took place in Tokyo in 2010. Although speakers at this event were primarily from Africa, there were also speakers from Asia, Latin America, and North America.

The three persons joining Bishop Pessima are:

• Mr. Edward Jusu Jr., the youth and young adult national coordinator.
• Mrs. Sally Conteh, the Women’s Missionary Fellowship national president
• Mr. James Abdulie, national president of the Master’s Men International.

Global Ministries was able to assist these four delegates using funds from the Antioch Fund. The Sierra Leoneans paid for their visas and conference registration, and the Antioch Fund paid for their flights.

The fund is designated to assist our United Brethren international partners in missions and mission mobilization.

If you would like to make a contribution to this fund, send your gift to Global Ministries, 302 Lake St. Huntington, IN 46750. Indicate that your gift is for the Antioch Fund.

25 Sep With Supt. Chavez in Western Honduras

Juanita Chavez amidst a group of praying Hondurans.

Juanita Chavez and a Honduran young man.

A circle of Hondurans praying in an outside location.

Juanita Chavez, superintendent of Honduras Conference, recently traveled through the regions of El Copan and Santa Barbara in Honduras. The intent was to bring encouragement to a number of church planters. She and her fellow workers also held a number of church-based theological classes for pastors and church leaders.

During their time, they participated in a number of worship services. On one such occasion, three teenage girls decided to become followers of Jesus. They also met a 20-year-old man in a mountain village who gave a parcel of land that is part of his inheritance so that a new church could be built.

Continue to pray for the work of Honduras Conference. With more than 100 churches, they have only just begun to multiply churches throughout the country. Pray, too, as they consider how God might be calling Hondurans to become engage in foreign missions.

23 Sep Death of Alan Wright, UB Missionary in Sierra Leone

Alan and Marilyn Wright with their daughters, Carol and Joanne.

Alan Wright, a former UB missionary in Sierra Leone, passed away on September 18. He was a former physics teacher at Centennial Secondary School in Mattru during the 1960s.

Alan Wright was born in London, England, and graduated from Exeter University. He felt called to serve as a teacher in Sierra Leone. He taught for one year at a boys’ high school in Freetown, and in 1964 joined the staff at Centennial.

At Centennial, he met Marilyn Saufley, a nurse at Mattru. She was the daughter of Charles and Ruth Saufley, who had served as UB missionaries in Sierra Leone 1928-1932. She wrote, “Having been reared by faithful Christian parents, I cannot recall the time when I did not believe in the Lord. I considered mission work a way to come closer to the Lord. Perhaps this fact and an early impression that I should serve as a nurse in the country where my parents served, led me to my present position.”

Alan and Marilyn were married in July 1963, with Rev. Jerry Datema officiating. The Wrights became members of Salem UB church near Chambersburg, Pa. At the time of Alan’s death, he and Marilyn were living in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

19 Sep Ankle Surgery in Store for Roger Reeck

Marilyn Reeck, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Honduras

A UBCentral article on August 13 requested for Roger Reeck, who was experiencing great pain in his ankle yet needed to make a lengthy trip to Mozambique. Roger’s wife, Marilyn, sent an update on September 19.

A sincere thank you to all for your prayers for Roger. He returned to Honduras two days ago rejoicing in the Lord’s goodness, protection and grace. Praise the Lord!

Yesterday, Roger was examined at a mission hospital by a visiting orthopedic surgeon from Oregon. He concludef that Roger has several conditions in the left ankle area including arthritis due to the progression of flat feet and injuries. The major one is Posterior Tibia Tendon Dysfunction.

His recommendation is to fuse three of the bones, which could relieve up to 80% of the problem. The doctor returns for a week in February and will schedule the operation for then. This is the same diagnosis made by a doctor in Dallas when he saw him a few months ago.

After the operation, Roger will have to keep his foot immobile for three months. We will now be rearranging and rescheduling the activities that he had planned for the fall and for the spring. He is juggling trips to Guinea Bissau, Venezuela, Mozambique, and possibly to Bolivia.

Roger leaves for meetings in Dallas in two more weeks.

Another item for praise is that Marilyn had cataract surgery on one eye a few weeks ago and it did not seem to be healing correctly. She sought a second opinion and feels more confident that her vision will improve soon.