09 Aug Do You Support the Ministry, or Just the Missionary?

A new article was added to the Resources section of the UBGlobal website: “Engaged with the Mission or Just the Missionary? Why and How One Church Shifted Its Approach.” It’s an enlightening article which probably applies to how your United Brethren church views mission support.

John Kless, pastor of a Pennsylvania church with about 160 people, says his church has long been enthusiastic about supporting many missionaries around the world. But he realized that they were more interested in the missionaries than the people those missionaries worked among.

“Our church had sent out a couple to serve among the unreached peoples of Papua New Guinea, but they had recently returned home to a ministry in New Mexico….We had forgotten all about the unreached of Papua New Guinea! It dawned on me that I loved missionaries but I couldn’t care less about the lost people they were sent to reach!”

The article describes the steps they took to focus more on unreached people, and not just on missionaries.

UBGlobal includes a number of other resource articles, including a series on understanding the various major world religions–Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Animism.

02 Aug Harrisburg Group Spends Ten Days in Honduras

At the end of June, 11 persons from Devonshire Church in Harrisburg, Pa., traveled to Puerto Cortes, Honduras. There, they spent 10 days reconnecting and ministering with their sister church, Iglesia Luz. Their primary ministry focus throughout the week was leading a weeklong Children’s Bible School, building relationships in the community, and serving the surrounding communities. They also helped with construction of a wall at the church, ministered at an orphanage, and helped the needs of elderly in the community.

Says Associate Pastor Derek Thrush (right), who led the trip, “During our time in Puerto Cortes, we experienced the leading of the Holy Spirit as we served Iglesia Luz and its surrounding community. We ministered to nearly 100 children each day, visited with and prayed with many in the community, and helped build a much-needed concrete block wall for the church. Our team was humbled by the warmth, love, and hospitality of our Honduran brothers and sisters in Christ.”

01 Aug The Church a Supermarket Chain Built

Ron Anderson, Global Ministries endorsed staff with European Christian Mission in Spain

I recently I had the opportunity to speak to a group of 150 Hungarian church planters and church leaders. The meeting was held in a new church in a village about 30 minutes east of Budapest. They call it the church that Lidle built, because the Lidle Corporation supermarket chain made a deal with them. A smallish church plant bought an older building and began to make it into their church home.

Shortly after they bought the land and building, the Lidle Corporation offered to buy it from them so they could put a supermarket at the strategic location. The church was not interested in selling, but after some negotiation they came to an agreement. The Lidle Corp. would build their supermarket on the front part of the property, and they would build a church building on the back part of the land. They would be able to share the parking and even the large room above the supermarket. It was in this building that the Church Planters Conference was held.

The Hungarian government had decided give oversight of many public schools to religious organizations such as the Roman Catholics, the Lutherans, and the Baptists. Janos Papp, president of the Union (pictured in the center), informed us that the government had just turned over to them the responsibility of 31 schools with a total of 15,000 students and 1,900 teachers. This allows the BU to introduce religious education, and to choose and train the teachers, even though the teachers will be paid by the state. The buildings will continue to belong to the local government who will also be in charge of the maintenance.

30 Jul Billy Simbo Accepts New Position in Sierra Leone

Billy Simbo (right), former bishop of Sierra Leone Conference, has accepted a new position as director of a non-profit organization called Diakonia Interdenominational Services for Counseling Evangelism and Teaching (DISCET). He applied for the position several weeks ago, and was notified on July 28 that he was being offered the job. He accepted the position, and is now awaiting the official letter of appointment.

Rev. Simbo wrote on July 28, “Prior to this job being available, I had felt a definite call to return to the land of my birth, and my son Alan and I have been working on an initiative called Love Sierra Leone Now. I am amazed at how the hand of God works in confirming a calling and then empowering those who would follow.”

From the DISCET.org website: “DISCET was founded in 1998 in Freetown, Sierra Leone, while the civil war was still raging. Since then, DISCET has trained over 400 church leaders in evangelism, church growth and effective preaching. DISCET promotes counseling, evangelism, and training to heal the wounds of the people of Sierra Leone, to show the way of the abundant life, and to train people in skills to ensure that Sierra Leone becomes the praise of the earth.”

16 Jul OneStory: Reaching Oral Cultures Through Bible Stories

It is estimated that two-thirds of the world’s people process new information orally, rather than in writing. Some are oral communicators by necessity, because they have no written language. Others may have a degree of literacy for certain basic functions, but will not use literate means to process more complex information such as found in the Bible.

For these oral communicators, life lessons are processed by observation, participation and oral communication—-stories, proverbs, genealogies, drama, song, chants, dance, ceremonies, rites of passage, oral histories, and epic. The gospel is communicated in the same ways.

To reach these people, an organization called OneStory works with mother-tongue speakers to develop and record chronological Bible “story sets” for each specific group–typically 40 to 60 stories in a two-year period. People tell these stories to each other, thereby spreading the gospel. These story sets form the beginnings of an “oral Bible” to be told and retold for generations.

The retelling of these “stories” opens the door to evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. Audio recordings are also used in many cases and can even be used in radio broadcasts.

As members of Wycliffe Bible Translators, Roger and Marilyn Reeck (right) are workshop leaders and story production consultants (checking the stories for accuracy, clarity, etc.). The story consulting is done mainly online, so they can do there work from anywhere.

Roger and Marilyn have been working in One Story projects in the following countries:

Honduras. In Honduras, where they live, they supervise One Story projects for the Garifuna and the Misquito language groups. The Misquitos have completed one set of stories and are working on a second set. The stories are being used in home groups in remote communities as a church planting effort.

Guinea Bissau. The second area of concentration has been in Guinea Bissau, Africa. There are ongoing projects in the Kriolu, Mansonka, Biafada, and Kobiana language areas. Kriolu is the national language, and they already have two story sets completed.

Suriname. Last year Roger travelled to Suriname, a small country on the north side of South America, to lead workshops for projects in 3 different languages.

Venezuela. The Reecks recently returned from helping lead the first of five workshops to be held for 5 different language groups in Venezuela. In each group, national Venezuelan missionaries work as facilitators over these Indian projects. Several of these people groups are located on the Orinoco River. Roger will be the consultant to the Curripaco project and Marilyn to the Bari and Karina projects.

The OneStory partnership includes Campus Crusade for Christ, Pioneers, Trans World Radio, Wycliffe International, and YWAM. For more information about the One Story Project visit OneStory.org

11 Jul Ron Anderson on the Spain English Camp

Ron Anderson (right, with wife Brenda), Global Ministries endorsed missionary in Spain

Last week the church here in Camarma, Madrid, ran an English Camp for 110 children. We have been running camps for several years, but this one was marked by the fact that the church did most of the organization while our part was to provide a team of teachers.

The core team came from United Brethren in Christ churches in Pennsylvania and Michigan. In addition to teaching English, the team also had time to do some sightseeing.

The impact that the camp had on the church and the community was very noticeable. People around town were very appreciative for both the quality of the camp and the spirit that each of the staff had. Pastor Todd Fetters, from Devonshire UB church in Harrisburg, Pa., preached about Jesus on Sunday to an overflowing crowd which included unconverted parents of the children that had come to the camp.

11 Jul Jeff Dice: Back Home in Michigan

Jeff Dice returned to Michigan on July 5, along with his wife April, after undergoing a heart procedure in Managua. On Facebook, he reported on Monday, July 9, “Great news for me–my doctor thinks he can treat my heart arrhythmia with a tiny pill. We’ll know for sure in two weeks when I undergo another stress test. Dr. Machado grew up in Nicaragua, coming to the States in 1979 at age 18. It was fun speaking Spanish and relating to him as he has worked with Dr. Rivas, my doctor in Nicaragua. God is good and I am thankful.”

09 Jul June Brown Doing Great After Heart Surgery

We asked you to pray for June Brown, who had surgery on July 3. June’s close friend and fellow former missionary Ruth Benner sent an update on the surgery. June had 2 stints put in her right coronary artery, and was discharged the next day. She’s back home, driving, and went to church on Sunday, July 8.

09 Jul Returning After Five Years in a Closed Country

Last week, a Global Ministries staff member from Blue Rock UB church in Pennsylvania came home after serving in a closed country in Asia for five years. During this time, Melissa worked among a people group who did not have the Bible in their own language.

Pray for Melissa’s next steps, as she gets settled back in America while studying for a Master’s degree. She has been accepted at Biola University in La Mirado, Calif., for their Masters program in Linguistics and Biblical Languages.

Pray also that the Lord will multiply her work and fruit among the people group in Asia among whom she labored for five years, and that God’s Word will transform lives there.

03 Jul Christian Endeavor Relaunched in Sierra Leone

On June 3, 2012, Christian Endeavor was relaunched in Sierra Leone with the installation of a new executive committee by John Pessima, bishop of the United Brethren Sierra Leone National Conference. The service was held at Faith UB church at Lumley, in the Freetown area.

Among the offers were two of the four UB conference superintendents: Sorie B. Kamanda (Pastoral Development and Church Renewal) and Emmanuel Farma (Church Services).

The new union has local Christian Endeavor societies in United Brethren church (most United Brethren leaders have been in Christian Endeavor), and new societies in the United Methodist Church, the Sierra Leone Baptist Convention, and in the Countess of Huntingdon Connexion Church.

Christian Endeavor in Sierra Leone is now the biggest CE Union in Afrika, according to the website of the <a href=”http://worldsceunion.org/blog/index.php?id=77″>World’s Christian Endeavor Union</a>. Other Christian Endeavor groups can be found in such West African countries as Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Liberia, and Ivory Coast.