(260) 356-2312
Does the thought of working with Syrian refugees interest you or someone you know? ELIC, our partner in the Middle East and Asia, has a few spots left on their teams going to Lebanon this July. We are looking to fill those spots with United Brethren people. Help share an opportunity to impact the lives of refugees through the power of education! Contact the Global Ministries office if you’re interested.
Ignite is a one-day get-away sponsored by Global Ministries. Through plenary sessions and workshops, you’ll grow in your knowledge and application of God’s mission.
Date: May 7, 2016. Registration opens at 8:30 a.m.
Time: Sessions begin at 9:00am
Cost: $35
Location: Rhodes Grove Camp, Greencastle Pa.
Registration
You can register in two ways:
About Our Speaker
For the last ten years, John Bailey has served as a mission mobilizer in two large congregations in Alabama. In this capacity, he has overseen the distribution of millions of dollars given to missions and has facilitated hundreds of mission trips. John is the author of Journey to a Better Way: a Wesleyan Perspective on Doing Mission Better.
For more information and to register online, go to the Ignite page at UBGlobal.org.
In the photo taken soon after having traveled 40 hours, the team is receiving some pointers on Thai culture and basic phrases.
Global Ministries associate directors Frank Y and Donna Hollopeter are traveling with a team from Huntington University’s Institute for TESOL Studies (ITS) in Chiang Rai, Thailand. ITS executive director Shoshannah McKinney, along with a group of seven students, are teaching English and practicing conversation in a number of schools and local ministries. Pray their words and actions would be seasoned with grace and that participants will be open to hear the good news of the gospel.
Are you, or is your church, looking for a Christmas missions project? How about providing a bicycle to a pastor or church planter in Nicaragua?
Brown Corners UB church in Clare, Mich., has already made it possible for six pastors to receive bicycles so they can minister more effectively in their rural communities. Three more pastors would benefit from having a bicycle. The entire cost for three more bicycles is $500.
If you’d like to help, send your gift marked “Bicycles for Nicaragua” to:
Global Ministries
302 Lake Street
Huntington, IN 46750
Additional personnel are needed for two construction teams going to Jamaica in February 2016.
The first team is the Eden UB Church (Mason, Mich.), which is going to Jamaica the first week in February. They need two persons to assist them. For more information about this, please contact Dwight Kuntz or Martha at the Eden UB Church.
The second team is from Living Grace (formerly Union Chapel) in Fort Wayne, Ind. They are going to Jamaica the second week in February. They could use 2 or 3 persons. If interested, please contact Pastor Gary Reiber for more information. His email is <[email protected]>. Or, you can contact Dwight Kuntz.
Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries
Following are some items from Jeff’s report to the October 2015 meeting of the Executive Leadership Team.
Central America
Africa
Caribbean
China
Thailand
Other
Jeff Bleijerveld (right), Director of Global Ministries
This past year, we formed an official partnership with the English Language Institute/China (ELIC). Since 1981, ELIC has been placing passionately committed Christians in teaching roles across Asia and the Middle East. A number of United Brethren people have served with ELIC, including Global Ministries Associate Director Frank Y.
We are sending churches a packet of information, along with a DVD that contains a short video highlighting our partnership and the opportunity to be involved in either short-term or long-term ministry on ELIC/Global Ministries projects. We recommend that you use it during your announcements on Sunday, November 8, or at your earliest convenience.
Through ELIC, we have the opportunity to send a team of eight UB volunteers to work among Syrian refugees in Lebanon next summer. ELIC’s 7+1 program makes it possible for one volunteer to travel free for every seven that join the team.
We hope that you’ll take advantage of this unique opportunity and present this ministry to your church family. If you have questions, feel free to contact us at [email protected].
Jeff Bleijerveld, director of Global Ministries, will lead a vision trip to visit Guatemala, home of our newest national conference. The trip will include participation in their national conference, and visits to local church and project sites.
Accompanying the group will be Mark Wallace, a UB minister from Canada and director of Christian Horizons Global. He will introduce team members to some of their work in Guatemala. They have been our partners in Haiti, providing support to UB schools and the development of small business projects.
Global Ministries is sponsoring a number of other short-term trips during 2016–to Jamaica, Honduras, Spain, Poland, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Sierra Leone.
Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries
We’re preparing for this year’s Thanksgiving Missions Offering. Last year we raised $46,736 for our Antioch Fund to help support the mission efforts of our partner national conferences. This year the United States will focus on raising funds to support our short-term mission efforts. (Canada, our partner in Global Ministries, has its own focus this year.)
While Global Ministries creates budgets for trips, there are always cost overruns as a result of delayed flights, unexpected costs, emergencies, or just being asked by our hosts to do things we hadn’t planned. When these sorts of things happen, Global Ministries absorbs the expenses, since it’s pretty hard to ask for more money once the team returns home.
As a result, we have accumulated a sizeable deficit over the last few years—one we’d like to erase. In addition to wiping out our deficit, we’d like to build up an account to subsidize some trip expenses like medicines and supplies for medical teams, or to help small churches that might lack the base needed to raise funds.
Information is on its way to each of our churches. Churches have been sent a letter and order form for materials this past week. Bulletin inserts will be sent in the weeks prior to the American Thanksgiving in November.
Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries
Bishop John Pessima (right) of Sierra Leone provides us with the following report concerning recent flooding in the Freetown.
“You may have heard of the situation in Freetown last week. I was in Bo when it took place and was called by my family to go home because the mission house perimeter wall was badly affected. Part of the wall fell toward the city downhill from the house but fortunately did not damage people’s property.
“Secondly, some of our members in the Western part of the city, particularly Faith UB Church in Lumley, were affected. The children there were in school when the flood took place, but thank God no one was hurt. The teachers kept them inside the church while the classrooms flooded.
“Many displaced people were housed in the national stadium, but this became intolerable for many. So our local churches have been offering what support they can while praying and soliciting support to meet the needs of the displaced and to reconstruct the mission house wall. Please, we need your prayers and support in this very difficult situation we are faced with.”
If you would like to provide assistance for this need, direct your gift to:
Global Ministries
302 Lake Street
Huntington IN 46750.
Indicate that it is for “Freetown Flood Relief.”
