17 May A New Church, Honduras Style

The meeting place in the Honduran town of Clinton.

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

Rev. Juanita Chavez (right), superintendent of Honduras National Conference, sent this photo from a recent trip to the town of Clinton, where a new church plant is under way. On this particular day, a team was erecting a shelter for the church to use for gatherings.

Although the structure may seem quite simple, it’s amazing to see how God is multiplying these types of church plants around the world. Donald McGavran, church planter, missiologist and author of The Bridges of God, wrote of such people movements, “…their churches are necessarily built like their houses–and are as indigenous as anyone could wish.”

In Honduras and among many of our Central American conferences, they have the capability to multiply this type of structure and, as such, reach more people and communities with the good news of Jesus Christ.

16 May Project: Outreach to the Vai People in Africa

Bishop John Pessima (right), the leader of Sierra Leone Conference, is pleased to announce that after 150 years of missionary ministry in their country, they have now established their own mission field. They have begun ministry among among the Vai People who straddle the border between Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Although much of Sub-Sahara Africa is heavily evangelized and churches have long been established, the Vai People remain quite unreached with the gospel. Predominantly Muslim (Sunni), only 0.23% of the region’s 124,000 people are Evangelical. The New Testament was translated into their language in 2002, but the entire Bible has not been completed.

Sierra Leone Conference has been sending teams to the region to share the Jesus Film and do evangelistic work. They would now like to send a small team to continue doing their evangelistic and discipleship work, and to open a school as a platform for planting churches.

Global Ministries has already set aside funds to cover the team’s travel expenses from our “Antioch Fund.” This fund covers the travel expenses of our partner conferences when they send missionaries to unreached people groups outside their own country.

Sierra Leone Conference is looking to raise another $10,000 per year to support this ministry. If you would like to assist them, you can send your gifts to Global Ministries indicating that the donation is to support the Sierra Leone – Vai Mission.

If you would like to know more about the Vai People, visit the Joshua Project website.
Interested in supporting this project? Please contact the Global Ministries office in one of these ways:

Phone: 260.356.2312
Toll-free: 888.622.3019

15 May Project: Training Center in Nicaragua

The United Brethren in Christ have 33 churches and numerous church plants in Nicaragua. These churches and pastors, located primarily to the west of the Managua, meet regularly for leadership training and the development of lay workers.

The conference has no place to house people when these events occur. In addition, we have numerous teams visiting the country on a regular basis, such as the baseball team that traveled to Nicaragua this past January.

During the summer of 2012, Global Ministries staff member Jeff Dice will be working with the national conference to build a second floor to an existing building in Masaya. This dormitory space will provide housing for a variety of activities.

Four separate teams from the United States have already committed themselves to assist Nicaraguan volunteers in its construction this summer. The conference has raised $5000 and another $34,300 has been raised in the United States toward the $60,000 project.

Interested in supporting this project?

Please contact the Global Ministries office in one of these ways:

Phone: 260.356.2312
Toll-free: 888.622.3019

14 May Burtnetts Serving in Bulgaria This Summer

Mike and Jennifer Burtnett and family are serving in Bulgaria June 15 – July 2, 2012. Along with 9 other teammates from the JAARS youth group, they will be blessing kids, a Bulgarian church planter, and Wycliffe missionaries in this eastern European country.

They have a Facebook page for the trip, and a site for contributing toward the $15,000 needed for the trip.

The Burtnetts serve at the JAARS Center near Charlotte, N.C. JAARS is a partner organization of Wycliffe Bible Translators that provides technical support services and resources to speed Bible translation. Mike is youth pastor to 100-plus missionary kids who live near the center. Jenny designs JAARS’ quarterly magazine, called “Rev. 7.”

14 May Hendricks Family, Lindsey Woodall Leave the Field

The Troy and Julie Hendricks family are no longer part of the Global Ministries endorsed staff. In 2003, they began serving in Spain with SEND International. However, several issues from a very difficult year brought them to the States in October 2011, and they are resigning from SEND International as of May 31, 2012. Troy has landed a job in the Toledo, Ohio, area, and they are currently searching for housing and a job for Julie. Troy and Julie will return to Spain in June for the high school graduation of their daughter Hannah, to take care of household belongings, and to say good-byes with friends and teammates.

They wrote, “We have realized that returning to ministry in Spain with SEND at this moment in our lives is not the healthiest choice for our family. This has been an agonizing decision as we truly love Spain, the people, and our work there.” Please pray with the Hendricks family as they make this transition.

Lindsey Woodall is no longer a member of the Global Ministries endorsed staff. She had been teaching in Honduras, but has returned to the States and is working as a paraprofessional in the Stryker, Ohio, local school system. Lindsey is the daughter of Nick Woodall, pastor of Stryker UB church in Stryker, Ohio.

03 May Interview with Jen Blandin in Macau

Jennifer Blandin has been a United Brethren missionary in Macau since 1996. She recently returned to Macau after a one-year educational leave.

In this podcast, Global Ministries director Jeff Bleijerveld interviewed Jen via the internet. Listeners have the opportunity to learn about Jen’s previous work in Macau, the nature of her recent graduate studies, and how her studies are impacting her ministry today, and life in the world’s gambling capital.

You can listen to the podcast here. It’s just 12 minutes long.

If you would like more information about Jen’s ministry, or would like to become part of her support team, contact the Global Ministries office at 1-888-622-3019.

12 Apr Josh Kesler Tells about the Nicaragua Baseball Trip

Right now, you can listen to an interview with Josh Kesler (right) about the January 2012 baseball trip to Nicaragua. Josh, senior pastor of The Well in Huntington, Ind., served as team pastor for the trip.

In January of 2012 a team of baseball players traveled to Masaya, Nicaragua to participate in training events, exhibition games, and a number of relational activities with local athletes and dignitaries. Local United Brethren churches, pastors, and members were able to develop friendships among an entirely new circle within their community and lasting relationships were formed with the visiting short-term volunteers.

The story was written up on UBCentral, with lots of photos. That information primarily came from Jeff Dice, who led the trip. But now you can hear–actually hear–the story of the trip from Josh Kesler.

12 Apr June 8-9: Mission Team Leader Training

Global Ministries will hold its next edition of this popular seminar June 8-9 in Chambersburg, Pa. This seminar is for persons interested in leading or participating in a short-term mission team. It’s a highly informative, interactive, and inspirational seminar.

June 8-9, 2012
Criders UB church
2380 Loudon Road
Chambersburg, Pa. 17202

The cost is $50 per person (or $45 each if you bring 5 persons from your church).

Ministers can earn 1 CEU for attending and can attend free of charge if they bring at least one other person from their church.

09 Apr A One-Day Missions Course Coming Your Way

We are offering a course which will cover a broad range of mission-related issues–history, trends, key concepts, strategy–and cover the history of United Brethren missions.

This course satisfies a requirement for ordination in the United Brethren denomination. However, people wanting a well-rounded view of missions are welcome to attend for just $50. This is the first time the course has been offered.

Date Options

Date: Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Location: King Street UB Church, 162 E. King Street, Chambersburg, Pa.

Date: Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Location: Shoreline UB Church, 769 N. Locust St., Oak Harbor, Ohio

Jeff Bleijerveld (right), Director of Global Ministries, is the teacher. Here’s what Jeff says about the course:

“Although only an introduction to missions, we will cover a broad spectrum of missions related issues that have both global and local impact. We’ll discuss both effective and detrimental mission strategies, and consider various trends in missions–historical and current trends, and trends specific to United Brethren missions. We’ll wrap up with practical help in implementing missions in the local church, including the opportunity for you to outline a basic missions policy for you or your local church based on the principles you will have learned.”

The cost is $100 if you are seeking ordination, $50 for everyone else.

09 Apr Summer Children’s Ministry Project

Global Ministries is partnering with national church planting efforts in Turkey. We invite our children’s ministries, whether a vacation Bible school, midweek or Sunday school, to participate in raising $10,000 to support a Turkish Children’s Bible Camp project. Turkey is the first Islamic country in which the United Brethren church has launched outreach efforts.

The video above tells about our new work in Turkey and the Children’s Project. The video will also be included in the next Mission Moments DVD, which will be mailed to each church in the coming weeks.