Stories of Mission

Grants Received for Thailand Anabaptist Gathering

Anabaptist believers from Thailand and Laos gathered together in Chonburi, Thailand, for a rich time of lively worship, fellowship and interactive teaching at the 4th Thailand Anabaptist Gathering (TAG), October 8-12, 2018.

New Ways of Being Church

Instead of asking, “Why aren’t people coming to our church? Where is the younger generation? What is the future of the church?” we need to be asking, “Where is God at work? How can we participate in what God is doing in this context? What are we inviting people to be part of?”

A Culture of Multiplication

If you were asked, “What are the irreducible minimums of the church?” what would you say? An assembly of some number? What number? A pattern of assembling? What’s the pattern and what mission and values would it reflect?

From Anywhere to Anyone

At first glance, the idea of all of us “going” sounds like a perfect recipe for chaos! But, somehow, this is what the Holy Spirit does when he gets a hold of us. Our hearts enlarge. Our vision expands. We go beyond our culturally comfortable borders.

Called to Go: Norma’s Story

With the opening of the Joshua Center in 2007, I began working with the Roma people. We began with 25 students, preparing children for enrollment in school. What began as a pre-school now includes an after-school program, a weekly girls’ Bible club, and a monthly mothers’ meeting.

Preserved for a Purpose

Francisco and Juanita came to the U.S. as asylum seekers from Honduras. Now God is using them as church planters in Madrid, Spain. “God has preserved us for his sovereign purposes. We did not understand God’s purpose for us, but now we do.”

A Tailor-Made Niche

With his type of design work, James (name changed) gets to continue in this “cultural mandate” of developing this language and while doing it, share with his Muslim colleagues this beautiful heritage of how Christianity uniquely uplifts languages.

Work as Witness

Too often we as Christians have adopted our culture’s divide between the spiritual and the secular. Except for paid ministry, we rarely think of work as spiritual. The Bible, however, makes no such distinction between spiritual and secular.

A Shared Heartbeat for Mission

If the church is made up of disciples, then everything we are part of should replicate. Peter Eberly, pastor of Eastside Church, has missional dreams that from the congregation would come churches in many locations. That replication must begin with individual disciples.

Local Mission on the Map

Skip Tobin, Ministry Coach for USA workers, is excited about all that is happening locally: interactions with workers, requests for tranSend interns from local pastors, hearing from district leaders about their missional hopes, and working at discipleship through huddles.

The Best is Yet to Come

It’s easy to look at the present landscape of the church in North America and get discouraged. Nearly all denominations are in decline. Where are the streams that God is causing to spring up in what feels like a spiritual wasteland? I see at least three streams of renewal.

Call to Prayer: Teaching Children to Pray

As believers, we are tasked with the job of bringing the little children to Jesus. We can spend all the time in the world teaching children about God, but if we don’t teach them how to relate to God, we’re not doing any better than the disciples who tried to shoo the children away.

A Knock on the Door, Seeking and Finding

“I believe that Jesus is God, and I want to be a Jesus follower.” I couldn’t believe my ears as Yousif prayed a beautiful prayer of repentance, expressing a humble need of Christ. How could this be happening? A Muslim young man, coming to faith so quickly?

Sharing the Good News in Switzerland

I wasn’t sure if my writing and work on spirituality in the United States would connect with the people of Europe, but the loneliness, brokenness and hunger for a deeper relationship with God is as evident here as at home.

Lifestyle Evangelism

Do we have the courage to live such radical lives of obedience to Jesus that we stand out from our culture, and perhaps even suffer for it? Do we have the humble confidence to bear witness to the gospel among our family members, neighbors, and coworkers?

Sowing Seeds of Good News

A number of workers and staff share holy moments of gospel seeds being sown in the everyday, right here and now. How will God use these interactions to draw people from his diverse creation back to himself?

In Word and With Power

In a slum community in a large Asian city, Anita and Yosiah have gained their community’s trust through deeds of love. Now they ask, “How do we proclaim the gospel holistically? People know we live here and do what we do because we are followers of Jesus.”

Loving Our Neighbors in Jail

Jason has seen firsthand the deep hunger for connection to God and loving fellowship that inmates have in the Rockingham Regional Jail. Since being appointed as a VMMissions worker to serve as jail chaplain, he has been introduced to the lives of many men who are serving sentences there.

Call to Prayer: Praying Together

Sarah Showalter’s “team” for the last several years has been a small prayer group of young adults from her congregation, Ridgeway Mennonite Church. After joining another couple for an evening of prayer, “we weren’t intending to start a prayer group, but then we were hooked.”

Becoming One: God’s Purpose for Community

“Teamwork was never one of my strengths as a child,” Crystal Lehman writes. In fact, I often avoided working in teams if I could. If I was alone, I could make sure every detail was just right. Depending on others felt too risky. But God challenged me by putting me in situations where I needed others.”

Better Together

Mission’s dual foundation of absolute rest in the love of God and commitment to God’s is best maintained in community. We need others to hold us accountable, worship with us, encourage us, and make the logistics of ministry possible.

The Wisdom of Teams

Have you ever tried playing baseball by yourself? Or singing four-part harmony alone? There are some things you simply can’t do without the help of others. We believe mission is one of them. I want to share five ways why team is our preferred mode of engaging in mission.

God’s Worldwide Team

Discipleship has been our focus for our ministry here in Montenegro. Our desire is to introduce Christ and the concepts for his kingdom, and help the church sort out what that looks like in this culture. We talk a great deal about building a bridge instead of a wall.

Loving Our Refugee Neighbors

The couple of hundred refugees that Harrisonburg receives each year, coming from places such as Syria, Eritrea, Iraq, Cuba, and Congo, are not helpless people that we should feel bad for. In fact, it’s quite the opposite—they are fighters that we should respect.

Coworkers for the Kingdom

The church often longs for heroes, just like our broader culture. We want spiritual giants whose gifts and charisma loom larger than life. Even so, I’d like to suggest that heroes are not the primary way God brings about transformation in the world.

Elsa Miller with colleagues at Nazareth Village

Nazareth Village: A Living Witness to Christ Made Possible by Partnership

Located in the city of Nazareth, Israel, Nazareth Village is a working historical village that gives visitors a chance to experience what life would have been like for Jesus growing up in his hometown. What brings the village to life is the team of historical actors.

Local Church, Global Body

The more effective the collaboration, the more we have hope for lives affected and changed. After people come to the full knowledge of revealed truth, which is salvation in Jesus, we want to disciple them to be able to share the same grace they have received with others.

Partners in Planting

VMMissions is trying new approaches for church planters. One such approach is the Covenant Partners for New Church Initiatives, which outlines the gifts and responsibilities of everyone involved: church planter, mission agency, and the group of existing congregations who will sponsor the work.

What is Church?

Vince lives in a town in Kosovo where there is no church currently meeting. He has been called to become church on the fly and in common or routine actions. More often than not, he has no pre-set schedule for what church typically looks like.

Setting Sail With Jesus

We live in an age when it’s popular to be spiritual but not religious. Many view the church with indifference or even suspicion, though they may still admire Jesus. So we at VMMissions know we are going against the grain when we say church is the primary instrument for God’s mission.

Mission and the Church in a Post-Christian Context

When David Stutzman talks about mission in the Western context, he is often surprised about how the post-Christian reality doesn’t catalyze much change within the church. It is as if there is an awareness of the tremendous change going on, but it doesn’t lead to much action.

Thai Anabaptists Gather for Encouragement on the Journey

Most of the 150 people who attended the Thai Anabaptist Gathering from September 27 to October 1, 2016, were Thai, Isaan, and Lao first-generation Buddhist background believers who are growing in Anabaptist identity.

EMM Christian/Muslim Relations Team to Present at Public Forum

Members of the EMM Christian/Muslim Relations Team, will present on Thursday, October 27, 2016 in Martin Chapel. The goal of the forum is learning how to be better equipped to know, love, and share Jesus with Muslim members of our community.

Kingdom Vision as a Way of Life with Dr. Scot McKnight

Dr. Scot McKnight, author of The Kingdom Conspiracy, will speak in a series of events in Harrisonburg, September 28-29, 2016. Hosted by a partnership of agencies including VMMissions, Dr. McKnight will speak on the theme “Kingdom Vision as a Way of Life.”

A Tidal Wave is Coming!

God has given us these instructions: “Devote yourself to prayer and the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:4). It’s not about lifting up our own feeble attempts and ideas to fix all the problems around us. It means entering into God’s presence to hear what his plans are.

Finding Life Inside

We live near a gated community, of sorts. The first time we walked past its medieval-type turrets, sun-baked stucco walls, and arched gateways we were intrigued. We wanted to explore but someone told us the crumbling fort was where the poor lived. Walking through would actually be trespassing in their homes.

Bike Shenandoah to Benefit VMMissions and Others on September 17

Bike Shenandoah is a family-friendly and healthy way see the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, connect with other riders, and support seven local agencies including VMMisions. It draws more than 100 riders each year for rides ranging from 5 to 100 miles.

Jesus Deaf Church in Orange Walk Town, Belize

Long Roads to Leadership

“Deep in my heart I knew the tendency for a deaf congregation to become a “club,” a place where people gather to fellowship, which is well and good but not enough,” Nancy Marshall writes. “I deeply wanted our church to grasp their missional role, to spread the gospel to the unreached.”

Seeds of Multiplication

Dukata met a young woman at the hospital who grew more receptive to the gospel as her health declined. When she was baptized at Christmas, she was too weak to climb into the cement water tank, but her joy was evident. She died in February with a vision of being dressed in white and welcomed by the Lord.

VMMissions Launches Regular Prayer Bulletin

In addition to the monthly Mission Prayer Calendar, VMMissions has launched a weekly email to engage partners more effectively, including through prayer for the people and ministries of VMMissions.

Kingdom Multiplication

Sometimes multiplication gets reduced to a business model. If we get more people gathered into more churches, we’ll have more money for what we hope to provide. I am certainly in favor of increasing our membership, but church growth is not the primary aim of God’s multiplying mission.

All of Life Under the Reign of Christ

Holistic witness is about letting the gospel declaration that Jesus is Lord permeate every corner of our lives. That’s why VMMissions works not only at evangelism and church planting, but also in many other areas. Christ’s kingdom impacts all of life, and so should our witness as his people.

VMMissions Welcomes Two Staff Members

Virginia Mennonite Missions is pleased to welcome Steve Leaman and Melanie Sherer as new staff members. Steve was hired as Director of Public Relations and Melanie Sherer was hired as Administrative Assistant.

Mission Begins With God

My father was crazy enough to believe that while it was his job to model and invite faith, it was God’s job to convert me to it. He chose patience over pressure. At VMMissions, we recognize that God is at work long before we ever arrive, and will continue to be at work long after we’re gone.

Seth Crissman leads an activity at Kids Club

A Snapshot of Kids Club with Seth and Theresa Crissman

Every Monday evening at Immanuel Mennonite Church, you can find volunteers in blue t-shirts with around 40 children, pre-K through 8th grade. Together, they sing, act and retell stories from the Bible, eat and play together as they learn to give and receive God’s love with each other.

New Creation Opens Shop to Combat Sex Trafficking

God led Caitlin to stay in her own community and to work with New Creation, a Harrisonburg, Virginia, ministry that combats human trafficking. Her heart was drawn to this business fulfilling a need and shining the light of Christ.

Living the Incarnation

If you joined our team, we would have you live with a local Muslim family for about a year. It is terribly hard: You must eat and sleep as the family eats and sleeps, and function without any English. All of our teammates can attest to days in which each moment was painful.

Being a Bridge

I need to be God’s humble servant (at least that feels more comfortable to me than being his raging prophet) sharing God’s love when trying to bring the good news into another culture. Only as I really know the culture and love the people will I be aware of how to address the culture’s issues.

Extending God’s Embrace

On the cross, Jesus extends his arms in an embrace that’s big enough to reach our entire broken world. Embrace is a compelling image for mission in a divided world. Like Jesus, we open our arms to others, inviting them to the kingdom. To make the offer understood, we learn their language and adopt their customs.

Twinkle’s journey: The education of a Kalinga missionary in the Philippines

Twinkle’s early missionary zeal persisted through her teenage years, as did a sense of inferiority regarding her Cordilleran identity. She was seventeen before, as she says, “I fully embraced my identity as a Kalinga without the shame.”

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