Global Workers and Partners Week 2022
At EMCC World Partners, our Global Workers and Partners continually commit and serve out a whole-life posture, offering all they are as invested members of a variety of communities.
Our 2022 Campaign is centered around stories of how global workers and partneres demonstrate generosity in their care and concern for others. We hope these stories will encourage you, both in your participation as part of the wider church, and as you consider extending hospitality and care to those God places in your path. May their stories give you confidence as we all seek to adaptively participate in Jesus' mission in the world.
Inspiring Stories
Our 2022 Campaign, November 14-18th, 2022.
Part 1 - Walking Together ⇩
A story of how Rob and Sharlene Dilts are committed to storytelling together as a way to build community with their near-neighbors.
Part 2 - Caring in Complex Places ⇩
A call to collective reconciliation work from Stan and Sally Bragg, giving examples from their context.
Part 3 - Conduit of Care ⇩
An opportunity to hear the heart of collaboration behind Ken and Carolyn Benson's ministry.
Part 4 - Yielding to Jesus ⇩
Dorothy Reid's story of how God continues to strengthen her as she cares for her community in Romania.
Part 5 - Caring with the Global Church ⇩
Concluding this week's campaign with stories and prayer requests for global partners and links for continued connection.
Part 1: Walking Together
As the EMCC continues to discover how to participate in Jesus' mission with the global church, we can draw encouragement from those who share their learning journeys, including Global Workers (a.k.a. Missionaries) from Canada, serving cross-culturally and internationally, and our Global Partners.
As these friends serve in their local contexts around the world, each have unique opportunities and challenges to showcase a generous spirit. The Triune God continues to meet them (and us) with timely and important encouragement.
Today's reflection from Rob and Sharlene Dilts includes reference to 2 Corinthians 5:11-20, a call to participate as Christ's ambassadors for reconciliation.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:17-20).
We hope that you will receive these stories and prayer requests this week as part of how Jesus may be speaking to you.
Sharing the Feast
In a few weeks, we will once again gather for feast and ceremony at what has become known as Share the Feast. We have been gathering to celebrate the birth of the Chosen One (the Messiah, Jesus) and culture for a few years now as Pinaaz-i Zibi Maamawi – Traveling the River Together.
Share the Feast has been a place for sharing a meal while sharing stories. The pandemic highlighted the importance of ceremony and gathering as our community struggled with isolation. So it has become important to provide a welcome and safe place to gather. In addition, there are practical needs as food, fuel and heating costs have continued to rise in the aftermath of the pandemic – needs we strive to meet through partnerships with the local Food Bank and Family Well Being services in the community.
The Gathering itself is a partnership with various people of peace we've developed relationships with over the years who are open to the messengers of Creator Sets Free (Jesus), as found in Luke 10 and Matthew 10. As we have shared our lives, have accepted their hospitality and engaged culturally; as we “share food and drink with them” and “eat whatever they set before (us),” we seek to be ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:11-21) and be Creator Sets Free (Jesus) as we sit at the drum, Powwow and ceremonies, the healing circles, and serve the community.
Traveling the River Together, through Share the Feast and other gatherings, and community engagement has grown to become a place of healing and community, serving those present and, together, caring for others in our community through the food drive. We have been honoured and blessed to be able to serve many who would never set foot in a church, but have been drawn by the Spirit’s light of the fire or the sound of the drum. As we gather around the table, the invitation is given to share stories. It is something to witness as once the stories start, they seem to effortlessly flow around the circle. Stories of family Christmases, of winter and Christmas traditions and of hurts and questions. As a visiting grandmother shared, she does not celebrate Christmas due to her experiences as a child, but she believes the love of the Creator is something that needs to be shared all year round. We were at once honoured and humbled as we listened to her story. Share the Feast is but one opportunity to share and serve our community that inspires those present to share Creator's love, to honour the Great Spirit (Creator), Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and serve our community in our day-to-day lives.
Please pray with us:
To many people and to others who follow Creator Sets Free (Jesus), Christianity, culture and tradition are obstacles that seek to separate and prevent community. Help us and others who are traveling with us to see past the labels and see only Jesus and the hearts of others who share in the image of the Creator. Help us to be ambassadors for Christ, to be Jesus in our communities and sit at the well (John 4), the table (Mark 2:15-16), and the drum.
Pray that the Spirit continues to call others to partner with us in prayer and in person as we learn and seek to travel the river together with the Creator and each other in peace, friendship, and goodwill.
Part 2: Caring in Complex Places
This week we celebrate our Global Workers and Partners in our yearly campaign, wanting to highlight God's work in and through them. Each day this week, we are sending out a story from selected workers. If you haven't received yesterday's email reflection, you may follow along with us at this webpage.
We continue our theme of caring for others. Today's reflection provides a glimpse into the ministry Stan and Sally Bragg are involved in. The Braggs have spent more than 15 years in the Saugeen community – a long-term commitment which is necessary to building relationships. Faithfulness is key in indigenous ministry. They've been available and walked with people through difficult circumstances. And in those deep valleys there has been opportunity to speak of hope and life in Jesus.
Having experienced the forgiveness and hope through Jesus themselves,
they long to see these friends transformed by Him. And it begins with a love and heart for these people.
"The commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not covet,' and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law" (Rom. 13:9-10).
May you be challenged in your definition of love today
Our country is becoming aware of what happened in residential schools, facts that our First Nation people have known all along, but without their voices being heard. God is shining light on these things and exposing them.
We cannot have reconciliation without the truth being told, and understood. Isaiah 58:2 says that God’s people delight to know His ways and ask of Him the ordinance of justice. What does it look like to actively participate in this work?
On September 30th, Orange Shirt Day, we joined on the bridge just outside our home in support of Every Child Matters. We joined with selling t-shirts where all proceeds were donated to the women’s shelter on the Saugeen Reserve. We joined in handing out free coffee, water and donuts to the native community on the other side of the bridge. It was a great day of blessing people and demonstrating love and support for our First Nation people.
Last spring we launched a pilot project called, Eagles’ Wings Freedom Session. This is a healing discipleship opportunity that invites people on a journey towards the freedom and healing God desires for each one of us. We all have deeper heart issues that often fuel unhealthy attitudes, behaviours, and destructive choices in our lives. We believe that full emotional and relational healing is possible through Jesus Christ. So many around us are struggling with broken relationships, addictions, trauma from the past, frozen emotions, etc. As we have embarked on this journey we have experienced freedom and healing in our own lives.
Meeting weekly we watch a teaching video together, then split into small groups according to gender. We also have homework to complete during the week. Freedom Session is a Christ-centered 12-step journey that can transform lives and offer a more hopeful future.
Our hearts have been broken by the loss of young lives to overdoses, children losing their parents, grandparents raising their grandchildren, alcoholism destroying lives, broken relationships, etc. We desire for these dear ones to experience freedom and healing in their lives. Only Christ can bring them to wholeness. Freedom Session is just a tool. True freedom and healing comes when we invite Jesus into our lives and into the middle of our brokenness and pain. Christ died so we could have life – abundant life. So let's find it together!
Please pray with us:
For Eagles Wings Freedom Session. We ask for God’s wisdom in how we can take this much needed ministry further into the community. It is difficult to do this in a group here, because everyone is related in some way and the level of confidentiality is not there. We may have to do this one on one, which will take a lot of time and energy. But whatever it takes to see Christ’s healing in people’s lives is worth it!
For the community of Saugeen and Cape Croker. There is so much hurt and pain in people’s lives, due to residential schools and intergenerational trauma. Pray that the Holy Spirit will awaken the hearts and minds of people here to the true Jesus, not the religious one that has been introduced and done so much damage.
For the Holy Spirit to speak and lead us, giving us courage to follow His direction.
Part 3: Conduit of Care
Thanks for continuing to journey with us in our theme of caring for others. Our feature story today comes from Ken and Carolyn Benson, who have served with World Partners almost 25 years. Having served 13 years as missionaries in Portugal, and with their training as teachers, they are well equipped in mentoring and encouraging the families of mission workers preparing for or returning from cross-cultural ministry.
Care often comes in the form of walking alongside another. For those in that unsettled place of transition and heading off to a new unknown culture, it's helpful to hear from those who have gone through such a transition and thrived. Providing counsel and offering encouragement as one who has walked this path before is a welcomed form of caring.
"But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love" (Eph. 4:15-16).
How are we building each other up?
May God bring you a unique opportunity to demonstrate care today.
“…so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well” (1 Thes. 2:8).
Joseph told his brothers to return with their father as he wanted to care for them during the years of famine ahead. Care is a consistent theme in the Bible and is rooted in love (1 Thes. 2:8). It starts with God giving man responsibility to care for his creation (Gen 1:26) and later we are exhorted to love our neighbour as ourselves.
At MissionPREP (MP) our pre & post cross-cultural trainings are a way to care for people as they head out to or return from cross-cultural ministry. At MP, we are one part of a bigger team of organizations, churches, agencies and individuals who provide care. Just as the Good Samaritan needed others like the motel manager, to help care for the wounded traveller, and Jesus needed John to help care for his mom, we’re thankful for the collaboration we have with others who help provide care for the people we serve.
Jesse and Stephanie Poriz attended our online IMPACT pre-field training as they prepared for cross cultural ministry in Papua New Guinea where Stephanie was from. We discovered during the course that they had five children, three of whom were school age, but they had not considered the need for training for their children as they knew Stephanie’s family would be a good support for them.
Aware of the challenges missionary kids face as they cross cultures, we felt prompted to meet with Jesse and Stephanie to share with them about our children’s program and MissionPREP’s high value of training and debriefing whole families. We shared some of the key challenges for missionary kids including frequent transitions in their lives, the potential of accumulating grief from multiple losses through all the changes, the importance of helping children learn to identify and express their emotions in healthy ways and helping them anchor their identity in knowing they are loved by God who never changes even when everything around them is changing.
The parents were glad for the nudge to consider training for their children, and we arranged a special children’s online program. Henigrace (11), Mercy (9), and Xander (7) shared openly and engaged deeply with the lessons in a way that surprised us all. The family were grateful for the valuable lessons, with some similar topics for both the adults and children, to help them process their journey together as they prepared to transition to their new culture.
MP is a collaborative organization and we function as a caring community amongst over 20 facilitators, and 15 member organization besides the adults and children that attend our programs. In the last couple of years we have had ongoing prayer concerns for some of our leaders battling severe health challenges, retiring from ministry, leadership changes in their ministry and other challenges.
Several years ago, Chris came through our IMPACT program and later, upon return from her field of service, attended our RE-VIEW program. She expressed how helpful the MissionPREP training and debriefing had been for her and how she would be interested in caring for other missionaries in this way. We could see how her gifts could be helpful to other missionaries and invited her to be involved with us at MP. Her agency agreed to her part-time participation with us and we have been blessed by her gift of care and encouragement and her passion for ministering to Cross Cultural workers. In the last months, we have had a chance to care for her as she battles a major health concern and while she is no longer able to assist in our programs, she continues to stay connected with us at MissionPREP.
We thank the Lord for the ministry of MissionPREP that can be a conduit for His care.
Part 4: Yielding to Jesus
As we come toward the end of Global Workers and Partners Week, I am grateful for how Dorothy Reid has shared her story with us. As we seek to sacrificially and generously care for others, we cannot give what we have not experienced. Her sharing today points us back toward the Triune God as our source of care, comfort, and sustenance in evolving circumstances.
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)
With this assurance, how does that fuel our obedience to the ways God is asking us to serve? Dorothy shares with us her answer to that question which serves as a challenge to us as we consider our neighbourhoods, cities, nation, and participate with Him globally.
"Yielding to God in all that we do is the way into the humble, anxiety-free yolk of Jesus." -Your Best Life in Jesus' Easy Yoke by Bill Gaultiere
How are we being called to yield?
Grace and peace to you as you reflect on this
Enjoy this video where Dorothy shares how Jesus has been speaking to her lately amidst her recent move in Romania and collaborating alongside her Romanian team to serve children and widows in the area.
Part 5: Caring with the Global Church
Thank you for participating with us throughout this week, sharing in the stories and requests of global workers. Today, we lift up our global partners in prayer and share a few links for continued connection.
Our campaign has centred around stories of how global workers and partners demonstrate generosity in their care and concern for others. We hope these stories will encourage you, both in your participation as part of the wider church, and as you consider extending hospitality and care to those God places in your path. May their stories give you confidence as we all seek to adaptively participate in Jesus' mission in the world.
Thank you for your engagement,
Prayers for our Global Partners
Cuba
We send greetings to you and all members of World Partners Canada. It's real privilege to be part of the great family of Missionary Church.
Some prayer items include:
For our pastors, to keep focused on the mission of Jesus Christ to make disciples and to lead the churches.
For our country. We are living now a very difficult time; the economic problems are so many and serious. All products have prices 20 or 30 times over the normal prices. So, it's very difficult for the population to get food and pay for it.
For the social situation in our country; thousands of people abandone the country every week, crossing borders in Central America to US, looking best condition of life. So, many churches are loosing members, and many pastors from different denominations decide to move too. It has not control.
For me, as leader at the front of our National Church. I need the guide of the Holy Spirit to provide a correct direction to our pastors and congregations.
Once againg, thank you for your prayers in favor of us.
India
Greetings to you all from Salvation ministries Kolkata. Praise God for our continual partnership in the Kingdom of God as we serve Him making disciples of all nations.
Salvation ministries is presently conducting discipleship vision casting workshops in different parts of India.
Pray for:
The 35 disciple leaders we met with last week in Ranchi Jharkhand
Over 40 leaders from Odhisa and Abdhra Pradesh, who we are presently meeting in Vizak
Travels this next week, where we will be visiting north eastern states to conduct vision casting discipleship workshops.
The 'Little Angels' project, a way to serve children of the slum area where Salvation Ministries is located
Our 7 house church fellowship in Kolkata area
The Women of Worship ministries conducted by my wife.
Blessings, Shane D'Souza
Mexico
From Dan Chapple, passing on prayer requests from our Mexican denominational partners.
Praise God our Semillas pastoral and lay leadership classes are going well in Mexico. Praise God for two new classes that I was able to start on my last trip to Mexico. Pray for two churches that wish to start studying in the Semillas program.
Pray for the upcoming trip to Mexico (Nov. 24 to Dec. 9) with John Cressman, Nicole Jones-Qandah, and Keith and Ruth Ann Elliott. Pray that we will have a great time connecting and building relationships with the leadership of the two Missionary Church denominations that we work with in Mexico.
Pray for provision toward the Pastoral Training Fund. Here is a small story of its impact:
"The real goal of this material is to provide us with a way to mentor and equip the pastor, and any lay leaders who are helping with the ministry. In Rayon, where Pastor Venael, his wife, and ten others are now studying, I received a text from Venael with a couple of ministry/theological questions, and a brief note that they are finding the classes to be very helpful and said that their weekly group meeting, which is supposed to be about 1.5 hours in length, usually takes them over 3 hours because they are learning so much, which results in lots of discussion and questions. Other pastors feel that the Semillas program is so beneficial that they wants to use the two introductory or basic books for the discipleship of everyone in the church."
South Africa
From Dan and Kerry Wiens, leaders of Inundo Development, a WP Global Partner.
We have been facing some spiritual attacks on leaders in our network. We would appreciate prayer for God to protect all the Farming God’s Way leaders. One of our interns was mugged in Pinetown yesterday at gunpoint. It was traumatizing for him. We are struggling to see progress in Malawi through our leader there. We are hearing of other discouragement and obstacles. A leader has still not located his cattle that were stolen. It is one attack after another. May God prevail.
Please pray for Clint one of our up-and-coming trainers. He works full-time and also volunteers as a trainer. Recently the situation at his company has created a lot of stress. There has been a lot of corruption and competitors have been stealing materials. Pray that God would bring justice in the situation and return the company to its full functioning capacity. Pray for protection over this theft.
We are well into our spring planting and continue to have lots of visitors. Pray for Dan and his longevity in ministry, for renewal of strength, and for opportunities for downtime and rest.
It’s now our fourth season for planting maize. This is a staple crop in Africa and teaching people to grow this properly is essential. With Farming God’s Way methods we can expect 10 to 20 times the yield. This field is a huge showcase for us and we’ve struggled with damage from a local troop of monkeys. Pray with us as we brainstorm creative solutions to address this discouragement. On planting day we had 10 learners which is so exciting. It is incredible to be able to cultivate and teach at the same time. Pray that the learnings will go deep and be transformational in each persons life. Pray that Inundo will continue to be a beacon of light.
Inundo has started another six week gardens of faithfulness training in the community of Embo in West Durban. Embo is another neighbouring community with lots of huge potential for growth and development. This training came about through networking with local churches and organizations and it is an exciting collaboration for the benefit of the surrounding communities. Pray with us that God would establish a significant move of his kingdom in this area and for continued collaboration with our partners for the benefit of God's good news to bear.
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