When we first arrived to Vasto, the church had been established almost twenty years but was almost dead. There was no young group, no actual ministries, and little biblical foundation. After some months we gathered some young people, believers’ children in the church and discipled them. Most of them were not born again; that’s why it was quite difficult to start a youth group in the beginning. However, God is faithful and 25 young people are now in the Vasto church. They are very active—in the worship group, in mission fields, and attending a branch of Master Seminary in Italy.

We have organized Gospel Communities, home Bible study groups, where believers and unbelievers meet to share the Gospel. We have different groups: two in Vasto, one in San Salvo, Termoli, San Martino. We are encouraged to see many people come with openness, because they don’t feel threatened in a friendly house. Our aim, through them, is planting new churches and spreading the Gospel.

We live in a tourist area; most Italian people go to the beaches during the summer. We have many possibilities to reach out with the Gospel, on the sea-side in the mornings and on the streets at night. Many people gather around us to listen to the Gospel in concerts, mimes and open-air meetings.

We are renovating an old house someone gave to our church and will use it to reach teenagers. My Space will be the name of the house. This house is in a different area in our town and we are praying that God will lead us to work there too. Renovating work costs quite a lot, but we know that God will provide everything we need. Pray for us as we strive to fulfill this vision.

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The Vasto church shares the Good News with open-air evangelism in the evenings.

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Giovanni Greco (center) with the discipleship group. Photos courtesy of author

By modeling a consistent and loving approach to the community, we are beginning to break through barriers and reach the students. Last year served as a foundation for building relationships and trust along with a foundational understanding that faith in God is reasonable and critical to living a fulfilled life.

This year, God is moving and providing us more opportunities to talk directly about our faith through our classes, informal interactions, and Bible Club. Many students are approaching us with questions and they are eager to develop their spiritual understanding. We have begun to pray with students, teach them about the characteristics of God, and mentor them toward a personal encounter with Jesus.

Several students and parents have begun to attend our small Mennonite Church that will soon outgrow the space that has existed here for over 15 years.

LAC has been increasing its connections with the local evangelical community by hosting church events and by creating networks of cooperation to support our common mission of bringing the Gospel to the community of Lezhë.

I see the growing school and church as a beacon of light shining in the darkness. I often walk through the streets looking at all the people going about their business who do not have a relationship with Christ and I pray that God will empower His believers to share the Gospel so that His love will break through into the community and spread throughout Albania.

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Caleb Benner teaches Economics at LAC. Courtesy of author

Part of what we do is spend time getting to know young people in their 20s and 30s, who grew up Mennonite, but have moved away from their home community to study or work in other parts of the country, especially in larger cities. We are interested in learning about what church means to them and how they go about living out their faith. We have discovered that they are often active in churches, new church plants, or providing leadership to new initiatives. We have been very impressed.

Worship service at the church in Bammental, Germany, where David & Rebekka Stutzman serve.

We have also been learning about what Mennonite means to them. For some, Mennonite is something that they have left behind or fail to see its relevance beyond the traditional communities they grew up in. Others regard their Mennonite church experience as positive, appreciating the values as something that they have taken with them. We feel like our work is an exercise in understanding how the Mennonite label translates for today’s context, which has drastically changed over the past few decades. Indeed, among these young people, Mennonite is something people associate with small rural churches, strong familial ties, and aging membership, not necessarily young, urban, and into church planting.

We find ourselves in a challenging and yet exciting niche, one that means we get to explore what it means to do mission in Western culture and what meaning Mennonite and Anabaptism have for today. We have learned that it is essential that the purpose and identity of the church finds inspiration in the Kingdom of God and invites folks to participate in something that goes beyond the preservation of a denomination. Translating ‘Mennonite’ for today means balancing the things associated with Mennonite, like the values and heritage, while not making it be about being Mennonite, like focusing on a vision for church that seeks to disciple faithful followers of Jesus Christ in the places we are located.

Rebekka Stutzman meets over coffee with friends. Photos courtesy of author

Chatting together around the cafeteria tables were mothers, students, church members, the pastor’s wife, and LAC principal and teachers, support staff, cook and custodian. Supplementing the LAC cook’s trademark banana cake were goodies brought by guests. One senior’s contribution of a specially ordered tres leches cake was lovingly shared with her teachers and classmates. Another senior proudly showed the letter she had recently received from EMU’s Admission office.

This ladies’ afternoon was the first time women from Guri i Themelit (Cornerstone Church of Lezhë) met with the mothers, students and staff of Lezha Academic Center. After several hours of informal sharing together, the meeting was brought to a close by Klementina as she explained that at LAC we like to pray for each other when we have special needs.

Women from the Cornerstone Church of Lezhe meet with mothers, students and staff of LAC.

In our group were three seniors who would soon be taking their TOEFL test, a part of the procedure for acceptance in a university abroad. The entire group joined hands and surrounded these girls as Solange Tartari, wife of pastor Rafael, prayed for the girls and their futures. Tears filled the eyes of one student as the prayer ended and she was embraced by her friends. The following day her attendance in church and her sincere questions are reasons for celebration. It was truly a very special evening. God is building His Kingdom in Albania!

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A senior showed her teacher, Jessica Hedrick, VMM worker at LAC, (left) her letter of acceptance from Eastern Mennonite University.
Photos courtesy of author

A little more than two years ago, we began helping at Micah’s (and now Adam’s) middle school with conversational English. One of the most important things this work has accomplished is to build trust between our family and the community and also between the community and our church family.

There are a number of activities that we do as a church that benefit from our English contacts. Our “Happy Week” activities expanded to two weeks this past summer due in part to these relationships built at school. Our youth group, “Tribe’s Impact,” has almost as many kids from the community as from our church! We host an English Club at our church facilities and it is a direct result of requests from parents in our community for English lessons for their children. We have also been able to host a religion class from the middle school in order to talk about the differences between Catholic and Protestant/Evangelical beliefs.

Tribe’s Impact at Centro Koinonia. Courtesy of author

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In all of these activities, we have had more than one opportunity to share our faith in Jesus Christ with others. People ask us quite often, “Why are you here?” and “Why do you do this?” These questions allow us to share Christ. We are able to show that it is a relationship, not a religious practice that truly makes a difference in this life.

English: it is not the Gospel but for us here in Bari, God is using our first language to share his grace, hope and love in Italian.

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An English class that Chris Riddle (left) teaches at his son Adam’s middle school in Bari, Italy.Courtesy of author

I answer the question with a resounding, “Yes…both!” Jesus illustrated a seamless concern for peoples’ hearts, bodies and relationships and the early church understood Jesus’ intentions to embrace all of human need and humanity in its entirety. No longer could any credible argument be made for separating either Jew from Greek, or separating word from deed. We are a seamless whole and God cares for all of humanity. That is God’s mission. We participate in many ways.

Why then does the debate continue? I suspect two reasons. First, there are examples of mission and evangelism that have been patronizing and condescending. The mission thrust of the church has not always been carried out with sensitivity, and has sometimes been linked to cultural pride and power. This is true, although it is not immediately apparent why this is often cited as an argument against verbal witness but not against compassionate deeds. Well-meaning deeds can be as patronizing as ill-spoken words. Still the fact of the Crusades looms as a horrible example of “Christian” motives gone awry. We continue to live in their wake.

I think there is a second reason too. I suspect that Christians not only question the method of Christian mission, but sometimes even wonder whether it is necessary at all. The message, not simply the method, is thought to be condescending, a carryover from an imperialistic and colonizing past.

I often hear a supposed quote of Saint Francis. “Preach the Gospel, and when necessary, use words.” Apart from the question of whether Saint Francis actually said it, I really do like that statement. And too, I like Saint Francis’ example. On the heels of the Crusades and the debris of human conflict Saint Francis articulated and practiced simplicity, joy and love as the motives that would form his life and the character that would define his witness, even to the Muslim world. His compassion led him into the very presence of the Sultan of Egypt in the year 1219 where he attempted to share the gospel, using words. His mission held together deed and word.

The pages of Connections share stories of many who are involved in God’s mission, motivated by the variety of human need and engaged in a range of places and peoples. Their vocation is God’s mission, employing both word and deed. I invite others to join this company of “word and deed Christians,” to be included in another issue at a later date.

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The Trial by Fire, St. Francis before the Sultan of Egypt. Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1485

I came to Belize seven and a half years ago to plant a Deaf church and train leadership. I asked God to identify who in the group should I be mentoring to lead? I always thought that by the fifth year the church would be well on its way to self-sufficiency and we could start to think about taking some people from the church to the town an hour north and planting a Deaf church there.

But here we are in the seventh year and the leader I mentored for five years is struggling with temptations. He’s lost his first love (Rev 2:4). At the same time, the women are blossoming. Our Bible study is growing so much we had to move to another location to meet. The women read their daily verses and report about them on Sundays.

On Wednesday some will fast and pray with me for the church asking God to fill us with His wisdom and shine His light on our paths.

In my prayers I reach up to God asking, “Are we there yet?” And God replies with Psalm 32:8, “I will instruct you and teach you the ways you should go.”

It’s a journey, maybe the best kind of journey where the unexpected turns remind us God is in control and always walking with us.

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Morine Ayuso (5), a Deaf student, is signing numbers as she counts for Nancy. Nancy tutors two deaf preschool children in addition to her pastoral work. Courtesy of author

God is at work even when we can’t see Him. Teachers have the difficult job of imparting knowledge while simultaneously striving to shape students’ attitudes. I’ve often wondered how I can incorporate God’s love into my lessons even on the most difficult days. Many times I’ve questioned God’s presence in my classroom, and have felt discouraged when I see conflict among students. What I am failing to look for though, is God at work. Lately, a few students have been attending Guri i Themelit, the Mennonite church in Lezhë. This addition has helped our church to increase in life and hope. Fifteen of fifty students attend our Friday Bible Club. Students, who once expressed no belief in God, now openly declare His existence.

God’s plans go beyond our wildest imagination. We lost a student to the U.S. this year, but gained one example of God’s perfect timing and design. Our beloved senior, Engerta is now at Christopher Dock High School, and has unwittingly helped to transform attitudes and renew hope in us by her willingness to follow God’s leading in her life. She has paved a road for her Albanian classmates by being the first to pursue education outside the country, and offering perspective into her life in a loving, Christ-centered community. Her story serves as a testimony to how God’s plans far surpass our own expectations.

Two disciples on the road to Emmaus were discussing their discouragement of the empty tomb when Jesus appeared to them. Although Christ revealed great things about himself, they couldn’t recognize their risen Lord until they had reached the end of their seven-mile journey. Sometimes, it’s not until I reach the end of an experience that I recognize God’s presence and activity the entire way.

As we reflect on God’s sacrifice for us this Easter, let us move away from the empty tomb to see the miracles that surround us. (Luke 24:13-35)

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Students and Dini Shahini (center) at Lezha Academic Center celebrate Albania’s Independence Day in traditional dress. Courtesy of author

The nearest hospital, which may or may not offer comprehensive care, is 45 minutes away and as for emergency care on the weekends, one needs to drive to the hospital! The police don’t always come when you call and often want bribes. I have realized that back in the US, I put my trust in a good, clean hospital with comprehensive care that is close by, ambulances that will arrive shortly after being called, police that will show up after being called and needing no bribes to do their job. (Please note that this is not all police in Jamaica.)

I find myself needing to trust God so much more to protect my family. Bugs and insects are our living companions in the house. I have to trust that God will protect us from those that are harmful; it’s actually part of our nightly prayer, to protect from things that are not from God and harmful insects and bugs. I have found that it’s when we’re in a place that things are not familiar and comfortable that we have to put our trust in God. What else can we do? There is nothing else we can rely on!

Our theme verse before we came to Jamaica was Proverbs 3:5-6 and it continues to challenge me today. “Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths.”

May we continue on this journey of complete trust in God.

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Rodney and Eve Knepp (with family) take communion at Jamaica Mennonite Conference.
Courtesy of Gloria Lehman