Global Workers
& Partners Week
GLOBAL WORKERS AND PARTNERS WEEK 2025 |
NOVEMBER 17-21
Global Multiplication
This year Global Workers and Partners Week brings you stories of multiplication from World Partners Supervised Global Workers across the world, beginning here at home in the Canadian mission field, and going as far as Romania.
As a denomination, the EMCC has been praying this year for God to increase not only his harvest, but also his workers. We hope these stories and interviews, which tell of His faithfulness to multiply, will bring encouragement and inspiration to you and beyond.
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Part 1 - Training Tomorrow’s Leaders ⇩
Dorothy Reid leads us into this week, sharing her prayer early in her ministry to see God’s multiplication, and telling us about his faithful answers to that prayer.
Part 2 - Noticing God's Movement in our Midst ⇩
Dan Chapple shares how God has continued to equip and guide his involvement in a developing Spanish-speaking congregation, meeting at Listowel EMC.
Part 3 - An Increasing Legacy ⇩
Ken & Carolyn Benson share about moving from place to place as God called them on to new things over the years. The pain of loss was met with God’s provision for the ministries they left behind, and the joy of new work laid before them.
Part 4 - Coming up ⇩
Part 5 - Coming up ⇩
Part 1 - Planting, Watering, and God’s Increase
Hello friend,
Welcome to Global Workers and Partners Week 2025! We're excited to share inspiring stories of multiplication from our supervised global workers.
Our focus this year within the EMCC has been on multiplication. As labourers in God's Kingdom, we long to see growth in various avenues – in Gospel witness extended, new followers of Jesus born and discipled, leaders developed and new expressions of the church forming.
Jesus described the Kingdom as a field ready for harvest, and the Apostle Paul expanded that picture: each of us has a role in tending the field, but the results belong to God alone.
"I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase." (1 Cor. 3:6-7)
As you read these stories this week, may you celebrate with us how God is bringing multiplication through our global workers' ministries. Be encouraged by how God is working through you as well and listen for where and how else He may be seeking to use you.
- Pam Hicks, for the EMCC World Partners Team
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders
with Dorothy Reid
"God, what is your dream for my life that is so big, only You can do it?"
Many years ago, I began praying,
After months of seeking, He replied, "That hundreds and thousands of boys and girls would hear the Good News."
I remember being astonished and thinking at the time: "That's a huge dream! But Aylmer, Ontario, is not that big!" It never entered my wildest imagination that He would send me to Romania!
When He invited me to join Him there, I still questioned the how. "It will take me years to learn the language before I can teach that many children," I told Him. He said, "Not you. You will teach others, who will in turn teach the children and train other workers."
God gave me a simple diagram with stick figures and workers reaching groups of children in their villages and towns, and in turn training them to share with other kids.
In 2006, a single gal, Rita, and I moved into a house in the hills of Transylvania. She admitted that she had never worked with children. Together we prepared the lessons, with me contributing in English and her in Romanian. It is a huge joy to get messages and photos of how God is using her now to reach people who live off the garbage dump. She has a thriving ministry among the children, youth and women there.
From there God led me to the southernmost part of Romania where a young lady-- an orphan-- living with the pastor and his wife, would accompany me to the children's clubs. At that time, she didn’t know English, so it forced me to really learn the language. Gradually she attempted a verse here, a song there. At the beginning her confidence was low and she would call me afterwards full of concern as to how she had done.
It was exciting when the day came where our roles switched. She was leading the Sunday School, and I came to assist her! She was going from place to place holding kids’ clubs around town and turned out to be fantastic at visitation, spending time with the families, and eventually discipling youth who came to Christ through her.
It all points back to the influence she had on their lives. She and her husband are now living in a university city where she continues to minister to children in creative ways
Another encouragement for me is to see how one of the young children, Mariana, who attended the very first club in this region, went on to give her life to Christ, started a Bible club to disciple children and adolescents in her village, and is now married to a godly man.
God is at work even though it takes a while to see the results. He is so faithful.
- Dorothy Reid
Part 2 - Noticing God’s Movement In Our Midst
Hi friend,
In 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, the Apostle Paul reminds us of the roles we play but that God is the one working in the seen and unseen places. Today, we will reflect with one of our workers on joining new expressions of the church forming – noticing and participating with what God was already doing.
For those who regularly receive our biweekly prayer bulletin, welcome to Global Workers and Partners Week 2025.
Today, we have the opportunity to hear from Dan Chapple about supporting a developing ministry among the Latin diaspora in Listowel, ON. Additionally, there are some prayer requests to take with you into your Sunday service, prayer meetings, or private prayer practice related to the ministry of EMCC-connected global workers.
May you be inspired by how God is a God of Mission, and we have the opportunity to join the Triune God in this work.
- Nicole Jones-Qandah, for the EMCC World Partners Team
Watering God's Seeds Already Sown
with Dan Chapple
In this short interview, Dan shares how God has continued to equip and guide their involvement in a developing Spanish-speaking congregation, meeting at Listowel EMC.
His invitation and challenge to those watching is to see the missional opportunity in our neighbourhoods, and consider who God has brought in your midst.
We hope that you will follow-up on Dan and Anne-Marie's story in our EMCC Together Magazine to be published in January.
Prayer Requests for Global Workers Serving Across The Globe
World Partners, as the mission mobilization arm of the EMCC, appreciates your continued participation together in prayer for global workers and global partners who serve God faithfully in a variety of contexts worldwide.
Here are some prayer requests to that end, for these cross-cultural servants.
Pray for our supervised and recognized global workers that they would uplift and support well the emerging works of God in the contexts they serve in. May they know friendship and partnership and trust Him with the increase.
Pray for those serving in creative access countries, that they would know our prayers for them. May they not feel alone or isolated – that the Lord would sustain through life-giving friendships, perseverance, and creativity in demonstrating Jesus.
Pray for sending EMCC churches of both supervised and recognized workers. May our denomination be a community of churches who extend friendship, hospitality, and partnership with those called to extend the gospel beyond their language, geographical, or cultural group.
Part 3 - An Increasing Legacy
Hi friend,
Today, we’ll hear from Ken & Carolyn Benson, who have served within EMCC in a variety of roles over the years. They went from place to place as God called them on to new things. As they moved around, they had to leave behind beloved people and thriving ministries. But as they went, God kept bringing along the next person who would step into that vacancy. Our theme verse this week, written above, reminds us to keep focused on where God wants us and leave the ultimate results with Him.
Happily, looking back over so many years, we have the greater perspective to see how God brought multiplication, His increase, in those various places. And the multiplication has come in various forms.
Hindsight usually gives us greater clarity as to what God was doing before. As you read this story, reflect back on your own life to where you were 5, 10, 25 years ago.
Paul planted. Apollos watered. You planted. Another watered. Or vice versa.
Do you see the multiplication effect through God's hand upon you? If not yet, carry on in your service for Him. He is faithful.
- Pam, for the EMCC World Partners Team
The Master of Multiplication
with Ken & Carolyn Benson
We have had the privilege to serve with the EMCC since 1988, in Sarnia, Vancouver, Portugal, and the Greater Toronto Area. Throughout these years we have seen God’s faithfulness in helping things multiply.
After serving the Youth at Sarnia EMC, we were invited to join the Missionary Church Planting team in Coquitlam, in 1991. Dave and Irene Barker led a multigenerational team who began meeting in homes, followed by renting a church, and later we moved to a business mall and eventually merged with a small congregation who welcomed us into their building.
By God’s grace, when we sensed Him leading us to join a church planting team in Portugal with World Partners in 1998, our church had grown to a congregation of more than 50 people. Now, 27 years later, that same congregation, Hillside Community Church exceeds 300 – pastored by Durwin and Angel Gray, who joined the team near the beginning.
During our 13 years in Portugal, the Holy Spirit led us as we learned to walk by faith and perseverance. It took three years of relationship building, prayer, and diligent study as we learned Portuguese and developed a relationship with a local church willing to partner with us in a church-planting project in the north.
In a Gideon-like twist, just weeks before our relocation to the north, our partnering couple took on an assignment in another city, forcing us to pray through new plans. God provided local Portuguese partners in our target area and we were reminded that His plan is best. He opened the doors for us to assist and encourage two small church plants and lead a Youth Adventure Camp that gathered youth from around the area. One of the youth we trained as a camp leader is now part of a church plant in a nearby city, and several who attended our Youth programs have returned to their home country of Angola to live out their faith.
On our return to Canada thirteen years later in 2011, we were invited to use our cross-cultural experience and our teaching background to help equip Global Workers for cross-cultural ministry and debrief them upon return.
We’re grateful for the way our Good Shepherd has faithfully guided us through the joys and challenges of each season and for the opportunity to lead our MissionPREP team to help equip people for the four corners of the world who have said “Yes” to God’s call - pastors, teachers, healthcare workers, engineers, youth leaders, translators, business as mission workers, etc.
We have seen in our journey that God is truly the master of multiplication.
“… neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”
1 Corinthians 3:7
- Ken and Carolyn Benson
Pray With Us
We offer you a set of prayer points which can be used on Sunday morning or during another gathering, as part of Global Workers and Partners Week 2025.
The slide below can be downloaded as a pdf, by clicking it.
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