Stories of Mission

Moving Towards Multiplication

“Moving towards multiplication takes time, energy and patient trust in the One who makes the harvest,” Mike Metzler writes. “J.R. Briggs, a church planter who is ministering near my hometown in Lansdale, Pa., wrote: ‘All of us are missionaries disguised as good neighbors.’ His words resonate with me.”

Oksana, Vicki, and Natallie, serving with ENC

Engage. Establish. Equip. Empower.

As a discipler with Every Nation Campus and partner in mentoring a number of VMMissions tranSend interns, Carlin Kreider uses four principles: Every person is valuable to God; every church, campus ministry, and small group can grow; every minister should prepare others to minister; and every disciple should make disciples.

God’s Arithmetic

Life Enrichment Church (LEC), a network of house churches in a rural corner of Thailand, was planted in the late 1990s with the vision of multiplication. Those first pioneer missionaries mounted their motorcycles, braving heat and dust – or monsoons and mud – to spread seed broadly, looking for the few who would respond.

A Call to Shkodër

“We must make disciples for the kingdom of God,” Rafael Tartari writes. “We are not setting goals for our own convenience, according to our own agenda. This is not something we choose to do. It is something for which God has chosen us!”

Patient Ferment

I celebrate the move in Christian missions toward indigenous leadership and simple approaches to discipleship that can easily multiply among new believers. It is a welcome change from models that foster unhealthy dependency on foreign workers.

Elio Milazzo: A Man Whose Voice Mattered

Within the Italian Mennonite world, there are few who would not recognize the powerful voice of Elio Milazzo, who for years was producer and voice of Parole di Vita, a radio broadcast sponsored by Italian Mennonites in partnership with Mennonites in North America, including VMMissions.

My Coins Count Raises Over $17,000

In 2021, contributors donated a preliminary total of $17,073.74 to My Coins Count, of which $8,536.87 will benefit the family discipleship ministries of VMMissions workers Hannah Shultz and Seth & Theresa Crissman.

Riders Raise Over $25,000 at 25th Annual Bike Shenandoah

On September 18, 2021, nearly 100 bicyclists participated in Bike Shenandoah, raising over $25,000 to be shared evenly among its six partnering entities, including VMMissions and the Stephen R. Leaman Memorial Endowment for Missions.

Declaring the Healing Power of Jesus

I want to share two recent stories of the healing only Jesus can bring. Dramatic physical healing is not always our experience today, yet Scripture promises that the cross is God’s ultimate answer to the sickness of sin. Your generosity makes these stories possible.

VMMissions to Host Fall Cohort on Cultivating a Life of Prayer

Prayer continues to emerge as a priority as VMMissions looks ahead at the next decade. One concrete opportunity is available this fall: Michael and Ruth Hershey will be leading a three-month exploration and discovery called “Cultivating a Life of Prayer.”

Kauffman Reappointed to Third Term as VMMissions President

The Board of Directors of Virginia Mennonite Missions announces the reappointment of Aaron M. Kauffman as President for a third four-year term, beginning January 1, 2022.

Worker profile: Norma Teles

Norma is the director of the Joshua Center, which provides a safe place for Roma children and encourages the participation of the family, helping them to be involved in positive ways with their children’s development. She also connects regularly through a girls club with girls aged 9-19 and with a group of mothers.

Prayer for workers at the 2017 Worker Retreat

Call to Prayer: The Honor of Co-Laboring

“God really does want to teach us to pray,” Ruth writes. “Prayer has become much more than something that we ‘should’ do. It is something we desire and enjoy, something that feels like a great honor.”

Our Family Rediscovers Sabbath

“In December 2019, [my wife] Theresa suggested that we begin a few faith rhythms as a family, mostly concerning Sabbath. We’ve job-shared and worked bi-vocationally these last several years and at times it has been difficult to stop and disengage and receive God’s rest,” Seth writes. Learn what difference these changes made in their family.

Tyler and Kendra Yoder in Richmond, Virginia

Together for a Purpose

In both marriage and the church, God brings together people who have different gifts and ways of perceiving the world in order to build communities that provide a foretaste of the kingdom of heaven. Tyler and Kendra draw on varied gifts to strengthen their ministry together.

Journeys Into Marriage and Mission

Married couples have the opportunity to experience the sometimes seamless, sometimes arduous path toward being of one heart. Laura Campbell and Laura Green share ways God has used marriage and mission to reshape their priorities.

Stronger Together

Partnership is one of our deeply held values at VMMissions. This year alone, we joined hands with 92 churches as they added their people, prayers and funds to the task of making Christ known among the nations. We can do more together than we ever can on our own.

VMMissions Blesses 130 Families through Relief Effort

In March 2020, VMMissions launched the Coronavirus Immigrant Care Fund as a domestic response to immigrants in need due to job loss and other hardships related to the coronavirus pandemic. VMMissions distributed $38,940 to 130 families in VA and NC.

Worker Profile: Anna Renfro

Anna’s assignment in Mannheim, Germany, is to support the ministries of Dave and Rebekka Stutzman as well as to serve at a local refugee center called Friedenshaus. Most of her time is spent in the afterschool youth program Kinderreich in nearby Heidelberg.

Call to Prayer: Life Lessons

“With our two-month-old fourth daughter in arms, we went through our training. It was all a blur, with the exception of one so very important word that God spoke to me while I was fetching something from our parked car. It stopped me in my tracks. ‘You think you are doing this for me. No, I am doing this for you,'” Carol writes.

God Says, “You Are Adequate”

John David Thacker, VMMissions’ most recently appointed church planter, has heard God’s call to plant an Anabaptist peace church in Charleston, W.Va. A particular word of affirmation from the Lord has been a significant encouragement to him during this challenging season of relocation.

Celebrating God’s Faithfulness

When civil war broke out in El Salvador, it brought years of suffering and fear for Alfonso and his family. They endured brutal violence and saw loved ones, friends and neighbors die or go missing. On three occasions, Alfonso felt bullets passing near him. “I knew that God was preserving my life for a purpose,” he writes.

Called Out of the Fire

A testimony of God’s call to live and serve in a slum community became a turning point for Yosiah. Then a large fire broke out in the slum community. Helping with the fire response for a week, the experience showed him the path that the Lord wanted for his life.

An Invitation That Leads to Life

“Upon meeting an older worker in our early days in North Africa, I was proud to hear him say, ‘God called a lot of talented, intelligent people to do this work.’ I was then stunned as he finished, ‘…but they said no. So here we are,'” Opal writes.

Worker profile: Jay and Em

Em is teaching English Language Learning for elementary students and is mentoring a student teacher. Jay is a business developer for transformational educational businesses, mentors leadership teams to develop sustainable witness, and is helping to start a new preschool. (Names changed)

Call to Prayer: The Posture of Persistent Hope

In the face of the louder voices and the evening news, our job is to vigorously hold on to the hope that God will fulfill his purposes, not by might, not by strength, but by his Spirit!

God At Work in Winston-Salem

We met Selenny and her son Cristian through Gladys. As his teacher assistant, Gladys sensed that Cristian needed extra support and reached out to us as a church for help. We began to build a relationship with them both. Soon, both Selenny and Cristian gave their lives to Jesus.

The Costly Call of Christ

When we heed the Lord’s call, we never know where we’ll end up. There will be sacrifice and hardship. But there will also be unspeakable joy. Like countless generations of sojourners before us, may we have the courage to say yes to God’s call.

God At Work in Bari, Italy

“We have had opportunities to meet people who are beginning to be attentive to the truth of the word of God. We can see a change. Serving our God allows us to experience an eternal purpose to our days. We are neither bored nor fruitless!” writes former tranSender Fabrizio Perfetti.

The Hope to Create Community

Vicki Barnes has seen a deep yearning among students for friendship, especially after months of social distancing, periods of isolation, and not meeting new people. Her hope is that God will use her to help students on campus grow in their relationship with God.

The Tragedy of Addiction

D.J. Mitchell has been in recovery for over 35 years. “I owe a debt of gratitude for the grace and mercy I’ve been given. As Paul tells us in Ephesians 2, we were saved by grace to do good works. Part of my recovery is committing to doing for others what was done for me,” he writes.

A Glimpse of Hope in Germany

“If we gain hope from God’s nearness, then being near to others is a way we can incarnationally share that hope with others. Particularly in troubling times, when the world seems upside down, we have a chance to practice presence with people,” David Stutzman writes.

Todd Van Patter Hired as Director of Operations

VMMissions is pleased to announce the hiring of Todd Van Patter as Director of Operations. Todd will lead the Support Services Team and serve on the Leadership Council. His background is in organizational design and practices that lead to vibrant and effective organizations.

VMMissions Joins Hurricane Relief Ministry in Honduras

In November 2020, Honduras and other Central American countries were devastated by two major back-to-back hurricanes, Eta and Iota. VMMissions started a Honduras Hurricane Relief Fund to participate with the Honduran effort by providing funds and supplies.

Board and Staff Participate in Racial and Cultural Sensitivity Training

On October 24 and November 6, 2020, VMMissions board and staff members participated in a two-part training on racial and cultural sensitivity facilitated by Alicia Manning, an educator, consultant, and member of Calvary Community Church (C3) in Hampton, Va.

Hope That Does Not Disappoint

Where does hope come from? From optimism about the future? From careful planning to manage the unknown? From confidence in human ingenuity, wealth or strength? These can be temptations for all of us. Yet Scripture tells us that God alone is the source of our hope.

Share the Light of Jesus

As 2020 came to a close, we invited you to help us reach our Mission Fund goal of raising $100,000 by December 31. Thank you for helping us reach our goal! VMMissions raised just over $101,000.

VMMissions Joins Honduras Hurricane Relief Initiatives

After two major hurricanes only two weeks apart bore down on Honduras, VMMissions was invited to join several relief initiatives led by Honduran churches and Manantial de Vida, a partner congregation within Virginia Mennonite Conference.

#GivingTuesday Raises $4,800 for Mission

VMMissions thanks the 36 donors who contributed a total of $4,800 to this year’s #GivingTuesday campaign. This includes a matching gift of $800 from Everence. VMMissions will use these contributions to multiply disciples among neighbors near and far.

Worker Profile: Tyler and Kendra Yoder

Tyler and Kendra are planting Garden City Church in Southside Richmond, Va., by focusing on reconciliation, maturity, and multiplication. Their primary focus is on house churches, while they still desire to meet as a corporate body.

Call to Prayer: Seeing Beyond the Barriers

Jesus says, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved” (John 10:9a). So when the enemy tries to tempt me to focus on the barriers, I pray for eyes to be opened to see the compelling beauty of Jesus shining into our world with arms wide open, causing all to run to him.

Walls Come Down in Lezhë

Too often we find that the beliefs and rationalizations that our hearts have built have actually come to imprison and isolate us from God and others. These are walls we are to “demolish,” as the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 10:4-5. Indeed, some long-standing walls are falling in Lezhë, Albania.

We Listen and Learn

It has been said that “the church is like the eye. It has a little black in it and a little white in it, and without both, we cannot see.” Because of our distinctive demographic, we are in place to help the church see the plight or privilege of their brothers and sisters more clearly. By doing so, we gain a more robust understanding of the gospel.

Shaken Beyond the Walls

We’re faced with opportunities for repentance, generosity and bold witness as ambassadors of God’s reconciliation through Christ. May we be shaken by that indwelling presence beyond our walls and to new places of repentance, healing and bold witness.

Eyes Open on a Ripening Harvest

During COVID-19, I have found myself at a loss for what to do or say. But sharing Bible stories with my coworkers through a Discovery Bible Study has changed my way of relating. With the light of Christ, can transform obstacles into opportunities for the glory of God.

Barriers and Breakthroughs

COVID-19 has been a time of very visible limitations. Many activities such as visiting local believers, getting to know our neighbors, and enjoying worship times with others all halted, just like most of the world. All these limitations have pushed us to wonder what God is up to.

My Coins Count Raises Over $11,000

VMMissions and Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) cooperated this year to channel My Coins Count funds to help some of the most vulnerable people during the global COVID-19 crisis. Gifts through My Coins Count are supporting VMMissions’ continuing response to needs arising in the communities where our workers and partners live and serve.

Karen Yoder Hired as Ministry Support Coach and Global Assistant

This summer, VMMissions hired Karen Yoder as the new Ministry Support Coach and Global Assistant. In these roles she resources Ministry Support Teams and lends administrative support to Jason Showalter and the Global Team.

A Bridge Between Former Inmates and the Church

VMMissions worker and jail chaplain, Jason Wagner, has begun a partnership to build bridges between former inmates and the church, acknowledging the difficulty of walking with people in hard situations and how churches are often ill equipped.

Love Tears Down Walls

Love led John Perkins to tear down the wall of a formerly segregated health clinic in Mendenhall, Mississippi. As he puts it, “God’s love and justice come together in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, and we can’t be about one and not the other. They’re inextricably connected.”

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