April 2018: Planting Trees and Growing Faith

January 23, 2018, 8:06 am

≫ Next: May 2018: Ministry of Hope and Healing

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Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

On Saturday, we planted trees.

We met at the Institute for Intercultural Study and Research (INESIN), one of Global Ministries’ partners in San Cristobal, at 7:30 a.m. We loaded around 200 trees and ourselves into the back of a pickup truck and drove 30 minutes on a highway and 30 minutes more on patchy dirt and gravel roads to arrive at the farm of a local pastor. Perched on the side of a mountain, we looked out over the plains to another mountain range as it was just starting to be covered by the ever-present daytime clouds.

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May 2018: Ministry of Hope and Healing

January 23, 2018, 10:04 am

≫ Next: June 2018: My Time in Dumaguete

≪ Previous: April 2018: Planting Trees and Growing Faith

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May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had. Romans 15:5

War claims many victims in many ways, and long after the peace agreements are signed. A civil war, fought by Sri Lanka’s Tamil people during the late 20th century and settled in the 21st, began in the hope of establishing an independent Tamil state on the island of Ceylon/Sri Lanka. When the fighting stopped, anger did not.

June 2018: My Time in Dumaguete

April 4, 2018, 12:54 pm

≫ Next: July 2018: Zanzan’s Secret

≪ Previous: May 2018: Ministry of Hope and Healing

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I can do all this through God who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:13

I reside in Dumaguete City, Philippines, a small yet bustling city well known for world-renowned Silliman University. My time in Dumaguete has been filled with many highs and lows, adjustments and new comforts, challenges and triumphs. Yet, what has buoyed me is the warm and sincere hospitality shown by Filipino people, as well as moments to witness God's grace.

July 2018: Zanzan’s Secret

June 26, 2018, 4:48 pm

≫ Next: August 2018: Welcoming the Refugee

≪ Previous: June 2018: My Time in Dumaguete

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Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Romans 12:13

My husband and I serve in Morocco with the Comité d’Entraide Internationale - CEI (International Aid Committee) of the Evangelical Protestant Church in Morocco, a Global Ministries partner. CEI’s work includes welcoming, assisting, and accompanying refugees and migrants coming mainly from Sub-Saharan Africa hoping to pass through to Europe.

August 2018: Welcoming the Refugee

July 5, 2018, 12:12 pm

≫ Next: September 2018: It’s not in Vain

≪ Previous: July 2018: Zanzan’s Secret

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“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 19:33-34

In Uganda, the attitude toward refugees is to incorporate them into community life, such as schools and health care. Global Ministries’ partner, the Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC), visited Kiryandongo, Uganda, and experienced both the wonderful hospitality of the community and also the great strain on the local resources. 

September 2018: It’s not in Vain

July 5, 2018, 12:16 pm

≫ Next: October 2018: What About the Sabbath?

≪ Previous: August 2018: Welcoming the Refugee

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Therefore my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of God,
because you know that in God your labor is not in vain.”  1 Corinthians 15:58

Clinic Immanuel in Loapalos, East Timor, hosted a team of dentists from The Gap Uniting Church in Brisbane, Australia. It was their second visit to the clinic. During four, ten-hour days, they occupied two rooms in the clinic pulling teeth and filling cavities on people who rarely have had oral healthcare of any kind. 

October 2018: What About the Sabbath?

October 1, 2018, 3:40 pm

≫ Next: November 2018: Losing My Voice

≪ Previous: September 2018: It’s not in Vain

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Then Jesus spoke to the people: “What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?” Mark 3: 4

Our faith teaches us love and joyful service. Just as Jesus responded with love and kindness through healing, so shall we respond in kindness and faith to needs as they present themselves. Christ’s commitment to us is everlasting and without rules, boundaries, or timelines. While rest and reflection on the Sabbath are important for our spiritual journey, so, too, is living our faith as we serve others in our daily lives.

November 2018: Losing My Voice

October 16, 2018, 12:17 pm

≫ Next: December 2018: New Hope

≪ Previous: October 2018: What About the Sabbath?

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Before moving to a Haiti, I studied a petit (little) bit of Kreyol before I arrived in country, enough to think I was ready to chat with the Nationals here. Umm… non. By the time it takes for me to put together a sentence, the moment has already passed.

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December 2018: New Hope

November 29, 2018, 9:42 am

≫ Next: January 2019: Migrant Journey

≪ Previous: November 2018: Losing My Voice

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He will judge between the nations
    and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
    nor will they train for war anymore.

Isaiah 2:4

Advent is a time to turn toward Bethlehem and behold the occupants for whose sake the savior was born, those who still live under occupation, denied their freedom, dignity and independence. Advent calls all who espouse justice and peace to allow the people of Bethlehem to rejoice at Christmas by working for the restoration of their dignity, freedom and independence.

January 2019: Migrant Journey

December 14, 2018, 1:19 pm

≫ Next: February 2019: Shared Encounters

≪ Previous: December 2018: New Hope

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Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. Matthew 25:40

Traveling as individuals, migrants are vulnerable and exposed to kidnappings, extortion, rape, murder, and disappearances. Now they embark on the road in groups to protect themselves and each other.

February 2019: Shared Encounters

February 12, 2019, 11:49 am

≫ Next: March 2019: To Embrace and Love

≪ Previous: January 2019: Migrant Journey

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And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:16

Displaced from their ancestral homes because of mining, militarization, and other forms of developmental aggression, the Lumads (indigenous people of the Philippines) have sought temporary sanctuary among hospitable communities. Global Ministries partner, Union Theological Seminary (UTS) has been privileged to host the Lumads. The Lumads stayed for a month at the UTS campus, which felt like home because of its beautiful natural surroundings. Through UTS’ hospitality, the Lumad children were able to continue their education through the traveling Bakwit (evacuees) School, which provides schooling to the many Lumads who evacuated.

March 2019: To Embrace and Love

March 6, 2019, 10:42 am

≫ Next: April 2019: “U Sabi Dance O”

≪ Previous: February 2019: Shared Encounters

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Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. Matthew 4:11

As we prepare for Easter, we cannot celebrate life in Jesus without acknowledging the pain and suffering around us. We cannot be prostrate at the foot of the cross without looking up to see the nails that tore through our Savior’s flesh. How then can we worship God freely and truly when vicious human desire tears through humanity as a whole?

April 2019: “U Sabi Dance O”

April 5, 2019, 8:29 am

≫ Next: May 2019: Welcoming the Stranger and Loving the Neighbor

≪ Previous: March 2019: To Embrace and Love

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You have turned my mourning into dancing;you have taken off my sackclothand clothed me with joy,so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.Psalm 30:11-12

Sierra Leonean music makes up the majority of what I listen to. Most mornings, if I sleep through the Islamic Azan at 5:00 am, the unique layering of percussion and rhythms of Salone music awaken me shortly after. Regardless of the genre, hearing music in the streets causes everyone to dance. Wherever there is music in Sierra Leone, dance surely accompanies it. Music and dance together play a significant role in how people interact, celebrate, mourn, tell stories, and worship. 

May 2019: Welcoming the Stranger and Loving the Neighbor

May 10, 2019, 7:16 am

≫ Next: June 2019: Bondage

≪ Previous: April 2019: “U Sabi Dance O”

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I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
Matthew 25:35

June 2019: Bondage

May 10, 2019, 11:03 am

≫ Next: July 2019: Unless

≪ Previous: May 2019: Welcoming the Stranger and Loving the Neighbor

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Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:9

“They aren’t dying because they are sick. They are dying because they’re being mistreated.” Yohana spoke these words to a gathering of religious leaders, rights activists, and journalists at a memorial service and press conference at the office of the Evangelical Christian Church of Timor in Indonesia. Yohana didn’t say much - she speaks a Timorese language, not Indonesian - but her tears spoke volumes. A year earlier, Yohana’s 21-year-old daughter, Adelina, died in Malaysia. Adelina had been a domestic worker whose employers made her sleep on a veranda with their vicious dog. Neighbors eventually reported the case. Finding Adelina’s arms and legs covered by infected wounds, the police rushed her to a hospital where she died within a few days.

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July 2019: Unless

July 8, 2019, 8:45 am

≫ Next: August 2019: Ministry in Zambia

≪ Previous: June 2019: Bondage

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The earth is God’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. Psalm 24:1

The Institute of Intercultural Studies and Research, a long-time Global Ministries partner in Chiapas, Mexico, works with people in villages and communities, learning together how the death of the forests means more than the loss of trees. Every breath that we have ever breathed has depended on the oxygen processed by billions of leaves around the world. The food we eat comes from the soil enriched by those same leaves, naturally composted over hundreds of years. The forest habitat is home to creatures and to many humans who depend daily on the medicines, food, and fuel produced by trees.

August 2019: Ministry in Zambia

July 8, 2019, 12:31 pm

≫ Next: September 2019: Holistic Health Care

≪ Previous: July 2019: Unless

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One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches. Galatians 6:6

It is such a joy to be serving in Zambia and teaching for the United Church of Zambia (UCZ) University. I am challenged by some chronic problems - no reliable Wi-Fi for the classrooms, a needy library, one old copier that is not dependable, and a decaying water supply system - but we are succeeding. I arrived last winter to teach church history but have been drafted to teach African church history, research skills, theology, and missiology. My wife came a few months later to support the university library and has found other challenges in the computer lab and in the stacks.

September 2019: Holistic Health Care

July 8, 2019, 12:48 pm

≫ Next: October 2019: Steps Toward Peace

≪ Previous: August 2019: Ministry in Zambia

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Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Matthew 10:8

The road to the village of Motara in East Timor is a virtual mud-bog during the rainy season. When we pull up at 9:00 AM for a mobile clinic dozens of patients have already gathered. Moms and young children make up the majority but there are elderly men and women too. Two Clinic Immanuel staff and a government doctor unload several boxes of medical supplies and start consulting. By the time the clinic is over more than 60 patients will have had the opportunity for health care they otherwise wouldn’t have had. This clinic is a collaborative effort between Clinic Immanuel and the Timorese Ministry of Health.

October 2019: Steps Toward Peace

July 12, 2019, 1:15 pm

≫ Next: November 2019: Comfort in Our Troubles

≪ Previous: September 2019: Holistic Health Care

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They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Isaiah 2:4b

In early 2017, over 10,000 former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla fighters disarmed and demobilized as a result of the December 2016 peace accord. Thus began a long and challenging reentry process for many of them who had been part of the rebel army for most of their lives.

November 2019: Comfort in Our Troubles

July 12, 2019, 1:41 pm

≫ Next: December 2019: Thapelong, Cabbage, and the Divine

≪ Previous: October 2019: Steps Toward Peace

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Praise be to God, the God of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Last year, the Forum for Development, Culture, and Dialogue (FDCD) in Lebanon began implementing a winterization project in Syria in partnership with Global Ministries. FDCD received many urgent requests for assistance in the areas of Aleppo, Hama, and rural Damascus as Syrians were preparing for a harsh winter. While food supplies are always an enormous need, families were very concerned about the cold winter ahead and the health of the household, children specifically. This is due to the fact that there are few organizations focused on helping Syrians prepare for winter. We planned to distribute 500 sets of children’s clothes, 400 blankets, and 200 heaters, assisting over 1000 families as colder months approached. FDCD also provided assistance to volunteers helping in distributions, extending the impact of the project.