18 Jul Coleta UB Sponsors 6 Children

CH Global, one of the mission organizations with which we partner, recognized one of our churches on their website. Coleta UB church, with just 35 people, is sponsoring 6 Haitian children through CH Global. Three of those children are sponsored by the church, and 3 are sponsored by individual families.

CH Global wrote, “CH Global would like to extend a special ‘Thank You!’ to the Coleta UB Church for being such an example of generosity and having open and outward hearts!  The children living in these extremely difficult circumstances will come to know lasting stability and have great opportunities for the future as a result of your support!”

18 Jul Central Ohio Group in Haiti

Dan Kopp, for the Central Ohio Haiti Mission Team

A group of teens and adults from UB churches in Central Ohio is currently in Haiti. On Sunday, July 17, they worshipped at two United Brethren churches in Haiti. Here is a report from Dan Kopp (right), pastor of NorthPointe UB church in Lewis Center, Ohio.

How far did you walk to church yesterday?

In Pastor Richard’s church, it’s an average of 30 minutes. No parking lots necessary. The vast majority walk. Did we mention they start at 6 a.m.? A practical, yet admirable thing, due to the heat. But many walk back mid-day for afternoon or evening services that usually last a couple hours.

Sunday school gets underway at 6:00 and the regular service around 7:00. We were at the mercy of the transportation arranged for us, so we arrived a little after the service had begun. They were already well into worship. High energy. Dressed to the nines. The Sunday service, like the Sabbath in the Old Testament, is TRULY the high point of their week.

And it was most definitely a high point for us. A vocal team of 8-9 and a REALLY, really talented keyboarder and guitarist and drummer. The pastors spontaneously lead in worship at times as well. The offering is also high energy with a joyful praise song, and the folks spontaneously come forward–almost dancing as they place in their tithe. During the service we were greeted, as were a few others who stood during the service, with a beautiful flower pinned to our collar.

One of the high points for our team is the opportunity to share our testimony. Each non-preaching member of the team was to do it at least once. It’s one of those GREAT “stretch me out of my comfort zone” times. I am so proud of how open, transparent, and God-used these times were.

In this service we were blessed to share a puppetry that lived out the parable of the Lost Sheep. Rows of children spread out in front of the stage. We also shared a special, “Amazing Grace” in English. My wife’s husband had the extreme honor of sharing a message of comfort regarding the Suffering Servant, a Savior who truly understands life’s wounds.

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13 Jul Recognizing Churches that Give to Missions

Jeff Bleijerveld (center) giving certificates to the top-giving churches. On the left is Art Page, senior pastor of Salem UB (Chambersburg, Pa.), and on the right is Marty Pennington, senior pastor of Mainstreet Church (Walbridge, Ohio).

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

Global Ministries is very blessed to be the international arm of the United Brethren in Christ. On July 7, during the National Conference business meeting, we acknowledged those who were the largest donors to our ministry during the previous year (2010). The top ten churches, in terms of total giving to Global Ministries, are listed below.

This year we added one more category: the per-captial award. That recognition went to Log Cabin United Brethren in Boise, Idaho. Although, they have an average attendance of just 26, they gave more per member than any other church in the denomination. Their divided their giving fairly evenly between missionary support and relief needs.

Top Giving UB Churches in 2010

1. King Street (Chambersburg Pa.): $67,737
2. Salem (Chambersburg, Pa.): $31,170
3. Brown Corners (Clare, Mich.): $31,100
4. Mt. Pleasant (Chambersburg, Pa.): $30,650
5. Mainstreet (Walbridge, Ohio): $27,650
6. College Park (Huntington, Ind.): $26,194
7. Parkwood Gardens (Guelph, Ont.): $24,865
8. Emmanuel (Fort Wayne, Ind.): $18,300
9. Banner of Christ (Bryon Center, Mich.): $16,304
10. Grace (Sherkston, Ont.):L $12,469

Highest Per Capita
Log Cabin UB (Boise, Idaho): $9,870

13 Jul Hong Kong UBs Heading to Thailand

Mark Choi, mission director for Hong Kong Conference, reports that a group of 20 adults and children from the Hong Kong churches will leave for Thailand tomorrow, July 14. They will spend six days with our two churches in Thailand, teaching four classes of English to 90 students, and conducting a carnival with students in the Chinese high school.

13 Jul Jamaica: a Community in Fear

Owen Gordon (right), a UB minister in Jamaica and president of Jamaica Bible College, sent this note on July 11.

“Over the last several weeks, there has been a series of violent incidents and killings in the York Town area. The result is that persons have been shot, members of the community and church have been traumatized, and the citizens are living in fear. Persons are afraid to venture outside after dark. Our Sunday and Wednesday night meetings are sparsely attended.

“Having just started to minister at York Town since April, I believe God sent me to York Town for a purpose, and I am appealing for special prayer not just for the United Brethren church, but for the other churches in the community. Pray for much wisdom as we seek to lead the people of God, provide encouragement and guidance for the community, and trust God for a restoration of peace and calmness in the community.

“This Sunday, July 17, at 5 pm, we are asking all of God’s people to join us in prayer for the community and where possible to join us in a Witness Prayer Walk through the community. Nothing is impossible with God. We wish to walk through the community praying and encouraging persons in the strong all-powerful name of Jesus. There is no distance in prayer.

“One of the persons shot will be buried on July 23, with the service being held at the church at 10 am.”

11 Jul The Translation Task Yet Remaining

From Dave Spencer, UB endorsed staff in Brazil: “I just returned from a trip to the upper Amazon where at least three different language groups are crying for translations. Please remind UBers that there are hundreds of opportunities to serve the Lord. While we have over 500 translations of the Bible in the English language, of 7000 languages in the world, less than 500 have a translation of the Bible. Over 2000 languages don’t even have a translation program in progress! Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send forth workers!”

04 Jul Summer Ministries in Nicaragua

Jeff Dice, who is in Nicaragua with his family helping with work teams, sent a note on July 2 about the group of 25 teens and adult sponsors from College Park UB (Huntington, Ind.), who had been in Nicaragua since June 20.

“The group from College Park just left. They did a great job of connecting with the community around Sergio Canda’s church. The kids were great. They did a 4-day VBS style camp which was constantly fighting the weather. They kept a great attitude and we accomplished everything we had hoped we would.”

He added these notes about upcoming ministries in Nicaragua.

“We are starting a two-week English camp in Masaya on Monday with two sessions each day. Projects are going well. April [Dice] has been asked to present a women’s conference July 28. The subject she’s been asked to address is abuse in the home. Pastor Juan estimates that more than 50% of the women who attend church by themselves are being abused at home. This will be a challenge for April.

“I will begin traveling around to all the churches this week to start the process of assembling a Nicaragua church/pastor directory.”

03 Jul The Changing World of Missions

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

There is good news regarding the “good news.”

The latest edition of Operation World reported that evangelicals numbered 84.5 million (2.8% of the world’s population) in 1960, but in 2000 they were 420 million (6.9%). Evangelical Christianity is the world’s fastest growing major religion even in areas traditionally closed to missionaries.

In the Islamic world, North Africans have been turning to Christ in the last decade–perhaps explaining at least in part the desire for reform throughout the region. Middle East Media reports surging interest in Christian literature, while in Indonesia the church is estimated to have grown by 20 million since organized attacks against Christians began in 1998.

Latin America’s evangelicals now number 60 million people, two-thirds of whom are Pentecostals. Responding not only to the needs of the poor and disenfranchised within their own borders, they have been carrying the gospel overseas to Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

In the countries of the former Soviet Union, the Alliance for Saturation Church Planting and the CoMission, a cooperative effort of 35 denominations and agencies, reports 2500 new church plants in four years, including 767 in the Ukraine alone. Ukrainians are now sending workers to 11 unreached areas, including Kazakhstan.

In Asia, the church in China has gone from 30 million in 1949 when the communists took power to more than 100 million today. In India there is a vibrant and brave missionary movement of 200 Indian agencies and several thousand missionaries reaching out to their own tribal peoples, and also to Bhutan, Tibet, Nepal, and the disputed Cashmere Region.

Africa is the most Christian continent in all the world today. In Kenya, nearly 50% of the people claim to be evangelicals. Nigeria is sending missionaries throughout the world, but particularly to Arab North Africa.

The world as we know it has been turned upside down. Once the Global North was predominantly Christian. Today, it is the Global South. Nearly 80% of all evangelicals live in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and they are more engaged in mission than ever before. North America is being rivaled by South Korea, Brazil, China, India, and Nigeria as the leading sender of missionaries.

This doesn’t mean we are being relieved of our duties, nor are we unnecessary in the task of global evangelism. What it does indicate is that our role is changing from leaders to participants, and that the way missions is being done will continue to change significantly.

01 Jul Poland Team

A team of 15 persons are currently in Poland, helping to conduct an English Camp for teens in Kutno, Poland. They are working with Global Ministries endorsed staff Arek and Donna Delik. Donna sent a note on June 29 saying, “We are in the middle of English camp, and we are very thankful for the team from United Brethren church, who have given themselves 100% to the teenagers in the camp and show a lot of love to them. Some of the team members even sacrificed their spare time for ‘ice-cream’ to help Arek do the flooring in the new church building. We are really blessed by them.”

Donna reports that work is coming along well on the church building. After three months of demolition and cleaning up on the building they purchased last fall, construction began in earnest in April. “The roof construction is in its final stage of completion. Now the building looks quite different from the original one–taller, more spacious and functioning. Nonetheless, it is still far from finished. The metamorphosis has just begun.”

The team from the United States participated in the second service held in the unfinished building.

” It was another beautiful day. We enjoyed having the roof above our heads protecting us from the strong sun. We hope that we won’t be worshipping in this building only every few months. We are praying that we could have our normal service in this building permanently very soon. We are aiming to get the worship hall ready by the end of this year; however that means we have to finish all the basic construction and facilities like electricity, heating, bathroom, etc., first. We really need god to help us accomplish the impossible.”

You can download the Deliks’ June 2011 PDF newsletter, which includes many photos of the construction work and other information.