February 27, 2023
God’s mission is first and foremost about the pursuit of God’s glory. Yes, it includes us, but it is not primarily about our needs, ambitions or hopes. God’s burning desire is for all of creation to know God’s glory—his awesome and utterly unique presence—and to give him the praise he deserves so that we might enjoy him together forever.
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March 7, 2023
Jhustin serves in a college ministry assignment with Every Nation Campus (ENC) and VMMissions, and is sent by Divine Unity Community Church (DUCC), Harrisonburg, Va. “My work and goal is to show the love of God and be a light to campus. I want to see lives changed by the good news and do the work of God,” he writes.
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March 7, 2023
Prayer is a fundamental underpinning of how we partner with God to engage in our small part of the great gospel task. As followers of Jesus pray together, the Holy Spirit enables us to see the grand reality of God’s plan for the restoration for humanity, and to see the immediate needs of the people right in front of us.
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March 1, 2023
Receiving the call to go to another place implies many changes and a lot of learning in unfamiliar areas, such as language, culture, and food. All of this can become overwhelming,” David and Marta write. “But we can be filled with encouragement and hope knowing that the Lord will be with us.”
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March 1, 2023
“God’s mission is bigger than mine,” church planter Juan José Lagos writes. “That allows me to join his story and his mission rather than carrying the burden of accomplishing it all on my own strength. This is how we must see ourselves as we follow the call of God our Father who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ.”
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February 27, 2023
God leading this mission helps me acknowledge that he doesn’t need us to accomplish his plans, but rather, God invites us to partner with him. Personally, this demolishes any ounce of pride in my heart that tries to make disciples without Christ’s partnership. This also allows me to rest in the fact that I don’t have to be in control.
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February 27, 2023
Our church history is shaped by the legacy of Christendom: the church aligning with political power to protect and maintain our position in society. This is vastly different from understanding the church being shaped as a missionary church whose calling is to be embedded as “sent ones” in our own societies.
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February 27, 2023
David Gingerich has assumed a new leadership role as Director of Partner Development, focusing on fundraising, donor cultivation and church relations. “I am grateful for the opportunity to continue to nurture and grow relationships with our community of partners,” David writes.
moreJanuary 11, 2023
What if the God of the universe did not wait for us to bridge the gap between us, whether that gap is mythical or existential, but instead, “gave up his divine privileges … and was born as a human being” (Phil. 2:7)? If that’s true—and I’m staking my life on the belief that it is—then we have a message that everyone deserves to hear. And they deserve to hear it in the cultural idiom that will make sense to them.
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December 21, 2022
President Aaron Kauffman brings Christmas greetings and gives a few recent highlights from the ministries of VMMissions.
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November 21, 2022
With your support, we were able to appoint 18 new mission workers in 2022, bringing our total number of those serving to 61 – kingdom ambassadors representing 12 countries, yet all with the same goal of sharing the peace that Jesus makes possible. This Christmas, help us call, equip, send and support more ambassadors of reconciliation through a donation to our Mission Fund.
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November 11, 2022
Anita (name changed), serving in a slum in Indonesia, writes, “It is lovely when we have attainable rhythms and goals to keep us healthy and measure “success” clearly. But on the mission field, so often this seems impossible. Much of our energy is spent just surviving in a different culture, language, and religious context. For those of us in uncharted territory of ministry, it can feel impossible to measure.”
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November 11, 2022
“In my four years on the VMMissions Board of Directors, I have found that our vision statement serves as a beautiful and life-giving objective,” Paul Yoder, board chair, writes. “The verb “envisions” speaks to the “picture” that we are painting. Three scriptures have recently been helping me more fully “envision” success in God’s kingdom.
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November 8, 2022
One experience that Anne (name changed) had illustrates her struggle with success. “How could people in our own faith community act so vengefully and with so little consideration for their children’s faith?” she writes. “Just when I rejoice at how good things are going, at how much fruit is resulting from my ministry, things fall apart. I could easily name ten other situations where seeming success crashed down into failure.”
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November 8, 2022
“My own definition of success has to run deeper than just a sense of accomplishment, or I’m not going to make it very far,” Nathan Carr writes. “Early in my ministry I fell into that trap of thinking I was the one who had to make things happen. I put everything on my own shoulders, and it wore me out. I was forced to face the reality that I could only give them so much.”
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November 7, 2022
Joyel writes, “We can see there’s something so special about creation being with our creator. The outflow of abiding and being with God is the fruit that we bear that not only benefits us, but those around us. We’re constantly approached with opportunities to remain distracted, in bondage, and lost. But even then, God is faithful to redirect us back to him.”
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November 7, 2022
“My teammate and I stood soberly looking at each other—wives and mothers with parallel journeys across those seven years together,” Carol Tobin writes. “Both of us had struggled and endured, but because we struggled in vastly different ways, each was always a frustrating enigma to the other. The painful judgments and the bitter disappointment we had been to each other hung heavily between us. ‘Was it worth it?’ we asked. But it wasn’t a question either of us was prepared to answer.”
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November 7, 2022
Ken serves as the initiator and director of a youth discipleship program called SLAQ (Servant Leader Quest), which seeks to raise up diverse cohorts among the next generation of serving leaders in the way of Jesus through outdoor adventures, community service, and “crucial conversations.”
moreNovember 1, 2022
I confess I feel some discomfort with measuring “success” in missions. Depth of transformation is not an easy thing to quantify, nor do we often see immediate results. Perhaps the key to long-term fruitfulness in Christian mission is faithful witness combined with patient trust in the Lord of the harvest.
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September 26, 2022
From the one year old riding in a bike seat with her dad to the 81 year old who rode the 50K route, all 84 participants of the 25th anniversary Bike Shenandoah enjoyed their time on the road and in community on September 17, raising money for six local organizations. The event was a resounding success, raising a total of approximately $28,000.
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September 1, 2022
On August 31, Carol Tobin retired from her staff role as Mission Advocate and Transforming Content Editor. Though her formal role has ended, she will continue in volunteer roles for VMMissions, including helping to coordinate the upcoming Perspectives course and local missions recruitment efforts.
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September 1, 2022
My assignment is to disciple children in our local Hispanic churches in the way of Jesus through word and song. I am currently partnering with Iglesia Menonita Monte Moriah. I teach piano, violin, and biblical truths about worship to Pastor Alfonso and Milagros’ daughters, who in turn help facilitate worship through leading music at their church.
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August 17, 2022
Excitement builds as an existing barn on the property is renovated into a space for training, meeting, and community events. Taking a storage barn and transforming it into a training center will give it a new purpose for a new generation of missional leaders.
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August 15, 2022
VMMissions is blessing communities through kingdom business through a subsidiary board of business experts who find and coach partners, vet plans, monitor progress, and makes loans to new and growing enterprises. Christian-led businesses can create just employment and sustainable economic growth even as they invite spiritual transformation through the gospel.
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August 15, 2022
VMMissions is mobilizing church planters from around the globe to the places where the gospel is needed most. The following profiles feature the first recipients of the Global Church Planting grant. What an opportunity to join God in launching this new generation of global church planters!
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August 5, 2022
Border Perspective, a VMMissions E3 Collective, is an immersive and educational service learning trip that will offer participants a first-hand connection with immigrant leaders serving families on the U.S.–Mexico border. Participants will gain an understanding of the complexity of immigration on the border and service opportunities to help support local immigrant ministries.
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August 5, 2022
Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course is offered next spring (held on Tuesday evenings, January 3 to May 2, 2023) in Harrisonburg. The 15-week course is heartily endorsed by a broad spectrum of evangelical denominations, ministries, and mission agencies.
moreJuly 28, 2022
Launching a campaign in the middle of a pandemic has been a venture of faith. Dreams were stirring in our hearts as we celebrated our centennial in 2019. We asked God, “Where are you leading us as we enter our second century of ministry?” The clear response was to continue sharing new life in Jesus Christ with all people, especially those who haven’t heard.
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July 20, 2022
Watch the Church of Many Cultures Celebration as VMMissions celebrated nearing the end of a campaign raising $3 million for new initiatives through a service of worship and commissioning new workers. The service was held as part of Virginia Mennonite Conference Assembly at Zion Mennonite Church, Broadway, Va.
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July 18, 2022
Thank you for helping us continue the chain of disciples who make disciples with your gifts to our Mission Fund. Funds are still coming in, but so far we have raised 89% of our Mission Fund fiscal year goal of $460,000. The fiscal year ended August 31, 2022. Your gifts will help more people have the opportunity to know and follow Jesus.
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July 18, 2022
Putt Fore Missions was a great way to connect with those who support the vision of VMMissions to strive toward a Spirit-led church of many cultures. It was a hot evening on the greens at Mulligan’s Golf Center in Harrisonburg as twenty teams of four enjoyed a friendly competition in pursuit of the “green jacket t-shirts” awarded to our top golfers in four age categories.
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July 18, 2022
An idea that started at Powhatan Mennonite Church ten years ago has now raised nearly $115,000 to support the mission of VMMissions to “equip the church to share new life in Christ with neighbors near and far.” And this year’s tenth anniversary ride broke records, including the amount raised for missions!
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May 31, 2022
As many persons gather June 18-19 in Albania to celebrate 30 years of Guri i Themelit Church, and 10 years of Lezha Academic Center in Lezhë, Albania, learn more about the long involvement of VMMissions in Albania.
moreMay 12, 2022
We launched A Church of Many Cultures in 2021 with the goal of raising $3 million for three new areas of ministry: Business for Transformation, Global Church Planting, and a Mission Training Center. I am happy to share that as of this month, we have raised nearly $2.7 million. If you haven’t already, please consider how God is calling you to support this campaign.
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April 26, 2022
Andressa’s assignment consists of cultural and linguistic learning as well as support of the church planting ministry of Albanian leaders and VMMissions workers Rafael and Solange Tartari, currently serving in northern Albania in the city of Shkodra. She is involved in the prayer and multimedia ministries of the church, and connects specifically with the women and youth.
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April 26, 2022
“It is good that we remind ourselves of God’s future…So often, our prayers reflect our present sorrows, weariness and broken hopes. Our God wants to hear those things, for he cares deeply about us. But, God also wants to speak to us about what he wants to do,” Ruthy writes.
moreApril 26, 2022
“I want this next generation to embrace the challenge leveled at all of humanity in the life of Christ: the challenge that those who wish to be the greatest must be the servant of all,” Ken Wettig writes. “My hope is that SLAQ would be an invitation for young people to be apprenticed to the one person in human history whose Spirit is still present with us today: Jesus of Nazareth.”
moreApril 21, 2022
See visions of “Imagining God’s Future” from VMMissions worker children serving internationally, as featured in the Spring 2022 issue of Transforming. Read artist statements and view the artwork close up.
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April 19, 2022
People around us are longing for community, but they are not turning to the church for this community. This has been our challenge over the course of the past few years. It is hard to build community! But tucked away in a poor and immigrant-dense part of Mannheim is the Villa. This experiment of ours is unexpectedly bursting at the seams with life.
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April 19, 2022
“We sense that we are on the brink of a breakthrough that God wants to bring to this region,” Em says. “For me there is exhilaration edged with nervous anticipation. For Jay there is vigorous and contagious confidence, a beautiful sense of clarity as to what we are to be doing.”
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April 19, 2022
Our hope has been to plant Christ as the seed so that a Montenegrin church could grow. Thankfully, the success of our work is measured in Kingdom terms; we have worked for the Lord, not for people. This has been both rewarding and intensely draining. We are not responsible for growing the kingdom, but only for pointing people to God.
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April 19, 2022
The “marketplace worker” category supports and equips believers to “live out God’s kingdom in every sphere of life.” This category enables persons employed in trades or professions to receive coaching toward fruitful ministry in the workplace, and to network with other Christians who see their work as ministry.
moreApril 18, 2022
In leading a 103-year-old mission agency, I confess it can be hard to see where we’re headed sometimes. We do our best to craft careful plans, [but] if we’re not careful, we can end up discouraged and disillusioned. To see the present clearly and make sense of it, it helps me to put on the lenses of God’s future.
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March 31, 2022
Pastor Senior’s experience as a successful businessman made a great contribution to the development and significant ministry of the Maranatha School for the Deaf in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. Galen and Gloria Lehman, former VMMissions workers in Jamaica and later staff members, began their friendship with Pastor Senior in 1981. “We cherished his warm personality, commitment to integrity, his deep prayer life, dignified commanding presence, and strong Christian faith, making him an excellent church leader,” they write.
moreMarch 21, 2022
Patience is hard. We see a broken world in need of Christ and want change to happen right now. But seeds lie dormant for a long time before springing to life. Please join us in providing the support that will allow our ministries to bear lasting fruit for God’s kingdom.
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March 1, 2022
Nathan is serving in prison ministry, involved in reaching out to men like himself—helping to draw them out of addiction towards Christ. He can see the joy in the men he relates to when they surrender to Jesus, because he knows the new life that lies ahead for them.
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March 1, 2022
Ruthy and her teammates didn’t think much about missionaries who may have been in “Metal City” before them, until an Indian believer gave them a church history book describing work that had happened across northern India more than a century before. “We read about the first workers who came in the late 1800s and dedicated the majority of their lives to serving there. What a gift to read their prayer list!” she writes.
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March 1, 2022
“We’ve learned to pay attention when a God-given “holy restlessness” emerges within us,” Lee and Peg Martin write. “During these times, we pray for alertness to new doors God might be opening, while seeking to be steady and faithful in our present calling.”
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March 1, 2022
When people came to Christ through the ministry of “Building Healthy Families,” a program working with the most vulnerable and broken people in La Vega, Dominican Republic, Diomedes Franco used to refer them to the church closest to them to be nurtured. “But we realized that churches were not ready to disciple people with such brokenness. We felt that God was challenging us to refocus on pastoral work, discipling and equipping the people God had given us to care for. This is not a change of calling but of focus,” he writes.
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March 1, 2022
“As a young missionary, I was full of zeal to save the “unreached” Maasai of Kenya. I assumed they knew nothing of God,” VMMissions board member Clair Good writes. “With great conviction and enthusiasm, I offered answers to questions the people I was trying to reach were not even asking. I was met with resistance and had little success in convincing people to follow my religious views.”
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