13 Dec News and Thanks from the Deliks in Poland

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

Arek and Donna Delik (right) are UB endorsed missionaries in Poland, doing church planting and other ministries with Operation Mobilization. The Deliks received $10,000 from our Easter/Self Denial Offering toward the completion of the Youth Drug/Alcohol Rehabilitation Centre in Kutno. Donna wrote:

Thank you very much for the UB donation for the building project again. We are so overwhelmed by the great support we receive from the churches in the States and Canada. It’s not just about finance, but the many other ways like sending us team and individual churches sending us cards, etc. Please thank everyone on our behalf!

The following information, written by Donna, came from their December 2011 newsletter.

These days, besides teaching English, I have been working with my computer most of the time, doing a lot of financial work for the church, building project, OM, and Mission-Net 2011. I am not sure if it is too much computer work or because of the shorter days and longer hours of darkness, but I feel very sleepy all the time. I have decided to do something a little bit different for a few days: I joined Arek to do some handy work in the building, painting 100 planks for our new gates. It shouldn’t be hard, I suppose, yet it took us almost 2 hours to prepare the place for the work in the very first day.

Even though this winter is mild compared to last year, the temperature drops to sub-zero in the mornings, which isn’t very suitable to paint the planks, not to mention that it is a bit too cold to work outdoors. However, the cold didn’t diminish our determination, and we “created” a little warm workshop inside the building to get the work done. Even though it was hard work and my feet stayed cold all the time, it was a nice break from the routine, and frankly, we quite enjoyed doing something different together. After that, we rewarded ourselves with a nice meal.

09 Dec “Made in China” Week in Poland

Donna Delik (right), UB Endorsed Missionary Poland

In October a team of 8 persons from the UB churches of Hong Kong Conference traveled to Poland to work with Arek and Donna Delik, UB endorsed missionaries serving with Operation Mobilization. Donna is originally from Hong Kong. Donna wrote the following about the visit.

Chinese calligraphy, erhu music, Kung-Fu tea and Taoism: what brought them all together? These were some of the elements of our colorful Chinese week “Made in China” in October. Our dear brothers and sisters from Hong Kong travelled thousands of miles to Poland to share the gospel through Chinese culture with people they had never met.

The small team of 8 people demonstrated the kind of servanthood Jesus Christ taught us. We were very encouraged by their self-denial and serving attitude. Everyone was willing to step up to help the others without being asked. They didn’t speak a single Polish word, but their sincerity and warm-hearted personality broke the language barrier.

We met with teenagers in schools, who were enchanted by the vivid talk on the structure and development of Chinese language. Writing Chinese calligraphy proved to be challenging yet fascinating. We also held various meetings for the public in the community center. Pastor Carol Chan’s talk comparing “Truth” in Taoism and Christianity, presented the gospel very clearly to the audience. We believe that the seed was sown and pray that God will make it grow.

We enjoyed working with them, sharing meals at home together and drinking coffee in the local café. Fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ is a wonderful thing. We were truly blessed and encouraged by the team.

09 Dec $10,000 From Self Denial Offerings Goes to Mexico

Bishop Denis and Reina Casco

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

Global Ministries continues to disperse funds raised as part of our Easter/Self Denial Offerings. Among our recipients have been the United Brethren churches of Mexico Conference. Bishop Denis Casco sends the following message:

“The news of the $10,000 allocated for Mexico is a great blessing as we are involved in various church planting projects. The following is a list of projects that will be helped with these funds.

• Completion of construction at the Adonai Church in the State of Michoacan.
• The new construction in Queretaro in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods.
• Training pastors and leaders (two per year).
• Various Vacation Bible Schools, which have been a tremendous source of growth among our churches.

“God has provided in miraculous ways in Mexico, as there is little money from the churches to support special projects like these. But there are always very good friends like you who support us. I am extremely grateful for this, and hope God continues to bless the work in Mexico.”

07 Dec UB Team Ministers to Lots and Lots of Children in Asia

Craft activities for children in the Beautiful Family and Project Compassion programs.

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

During November, a team of nine persons–eight from Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and one from Jerusalem Chapel (Churchville, Va.)–traveled to South Central Asia. In addition to providing a leadership development event, the team offered a variety of English conversation activities to 600 students at the local high school. Those activities included a fun-filled time of crafts, games, and Bible stories to 220 children who are part of our Beautiful Family and Project Compassion Ministries.

Getting to our ministry site involved some 16-hour flights and a 12-hour overnight train ride to the literal “end-of-the-line.” But the warm welcome and joy in the faces of the children in the leprosy and AIDS programs made it all worthwhile. During our time, 22 children made decisions to follow Jesus.

05 Dec How Hong Kong Youth Think About Love

Hong Kong Conference has a Social Service Division which operates youth centers at several large high-rise estates which can house thousands of people. It’s a pretty big deal.

The Social Service Division surveyed 3207 students, ages 12-23, during October and November, asking them about their perception of love. They could choose among 39 possible characteristics of love. Their top 5:

1. Trust.
2. Consideration.
3. Loyalty.
4. Good communication.
5. Honesty.

The bottom 5:

1. Romantic.
2. Satisfying sexual needs.
3. Making surprises.
4. Being able to provide support.
5. Fulfilling materialistic desires.

03 Dec The First North American Missionaries

Adoniram Judson

This week,Hillary Clinton became the first US Secretary of State to visit Burma–now called Myanmar–in 50 years. This gives occasion to recall another historical event regarding Burma.

On February 6, 2012, the 200th anniversary of the first North American missionaries sent by a mission agency from North America will be remembered in Salem, Mass. The program itself will take place at Park Street Church in Boston at 7:30 pm.

And who were those first missionaries? Adoniram Judson, Jr. and his first wife, Ann Hasseltine.

As an American Baptist missionary, Judson served in Burma for almost 40 years. At age 25, he became the first Protestant missionary sent from North America to preach in Burma (present day Myanmar). His mission and work led to the formation of the first Baptist association in America, inspired many Americans to become or support missionaries, translated the Bible into Burmese, and established a number of Baptist churches in Burma.

All three of his wives died either at sea of from tropical diseases, as did a number of his children. Judson himself died at sea in the Bay of Bengal on April 12, 1850, at 61 years of age.

You can read more about the Judsons on Wikipedia.

02 Dec Developing Leaders in Asia

Participants in the Leadership Challenge Conference (click to enlarge)

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

  Rev. Bob Bruce ( far right) and I had the privilege of sharing three days with 30 pastors and church planters in South Central Asia. The participants ranged in experience and education, but most were from among tribal groups that work primarily in agriculture.

During our time, we walked through 1 John and an adapted version of the five practices of the “Leadership Challenge.”

1. Model the Way
2. Inspire a Shared Vision
3. Challenge the Process
4. Enable Others to Act
5. Encourage the Heart

Using biblical models of leaders, we found that sharing stories, humor, and abundant opportunities for them to interact with one another resulted in some great applications they felt were worth taking home and using. We were also able to send each participant home with an Old and New Testament Bible Commentary in their regional language thanks to your gifts toward our Thanksgiving Offering.

21 Nov Central Asia Team Returning

Jeff Bleijerveld and the eight other members of the Central Asia team have returned safely to the United States. They flew into Chicago, and as this is being typed, are en route back to Fort Wayne, Ind.

14 Nov Update from the Earthquake in Turkey

I received this update, dated November 11, from Lori Wenzel of IN Network. We are in the early stages of starting ministry in Turkey in partnership with IN Network. Earlier we invited individuals and churches to contribute toward earthquake relief, which we are coordinating with IN Network.–Jeff Bleijerveld

Early this morning I talked by phone with Behnan who had just returned from the area where the earthquake struck in October in Eastern Turkey.

A 5.7 earthquake took another 80 lives that are documented and others are being searched for in the new rubble. More houses were destroyed and a multi-level hotel collapsed.

The people are experiencing a great deal of fear and are quite exposed to the winter snow and temperature. Behnan told me that the Evangelical Church in Van has been serving over 300 meals a day, and teams from the church are going out into the tent cities offering blankets and warm clothes to the people who are camping there and have lost everything.

We are receiving funds from many of you and your churches, and those gifts are being coordinated by IN Turkey to be sure they get where they are needed most. These gifts are important as the Church reaches out to their neighbors who are Christians, as well as to Muslim brothers and sisters.

In his latest email, Behnan reported, “Tonight in Van another earthquake took place (5.7). There are newly collapsed buildings. We were able to reach the believers and found that they are okay, but this sparked a lot of fear again. Right now everyone in Van is in the streets, and it is freezing cold. People are really in a desperate state. Please pray for Van and may God show His warmth to the believers and people of Van.”

09 Nov In East Asia with the Canadian Bishop

Brian Magnus and Jeff Bleijerveld (left) with Philippine superintendent Prudencio Lim (right) and two other persons from the Philippines.

From the Philippine national convention at the end of October 2011.

Brian Magnus (left) with David and Melissa Kline and children.

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

I recently completed a trip to Asia with Brian Magnus, bishop of the UB Church in Canada. Brian and I gathered with 47 key leaders and pastors in the Philippines, and later visited with Global Ministries staff in Macau and Hong Kong.

In the Philippines, we held a leadership conference, worked through a first draft of their national conference Discipline, introduced the historical foundations of the United Brethren Church, and gave an overview of United Brethren presence around the world today. A committee will continue working on their Discipline, which will result in national elections. Pray for them as they take the next steps needed to sustain their evangelistic and church planting efforts since 1983.

The United Brethren Church in Canada provides 50% of the support for David and Melissa Kline, UB staff in Macau, so it only seemed right to have the Canadian bishop visit with them and the rest of the Macau team while in the region. We saw a number of sites and had opportunities to visit with and encourage staff members. We also met with Ajiax Wo, superintendent of Hong Kong Conference, and saw some sites in Hong Kong before heading home.