Stories of Mission
Explore mission themes in our quarterly magazine as workers tell stories of making disciples in the way of Christ.
Stay informed of all the latest VMMissions news.
Know Them by Their Fruit
What motivates you? What underlying beliefs and values inform the decisions you make? These are hard questions for many people to answer. Our convictions and motivations often lie below the surface, beyond our full awareness. Yet they are at work all the time.
Read More
Renewing our Connections
For the past 25 years, Virginia Mennonite Conference (VMC) and VMMissions have shared the publication, Connections. VMC Executive Conference Minister Clyde Kratz and Aaron Kauffman discuss challenges and dreams that have emerged about this communication tool.
Read More
More With Less?
Virginia Mennonite Missions has seen an exponential increase in adult mission workers in 1+ year assignments, but our level of staffing has remained nearly the same. More surprisingly, undesignated contributions have actually decreased. How can VMMissions do more with the same, or even a little less?
Read More
Giving Ourselves Away
In a season of uncertainty for our denomination, it’s easy to adopt a mentality of scarcity. The problem with this kind of thinking, according to Jesus, is that in keeping our lives to ourselves, we’ll actually end up losing them. Self-preservation may be a natural instinct, but it’s not a gospel mentality.
Read More
In Step With the Spirit
Are we attentive to the Holy Spirit? How do we tell what the Spirit of God is saying to us? Those are key questions, whether we’re discerning our personal vocation, making a major decision, or charting a course as a church. The early Anabaptists wrestled with this question, too.
Read More
Will Our Faith Have Children?
Numbers are only one measure of success, and maybe not the best one. Faithfulness—our primary aim—does not always yield impressive figures. The potency of God’s kingdom movement lies not in us, but in the message of Jesus we’ve been entrusted to share.
Read More
Partnership as Mission
When followers of Jesus engage in mutual, transparent and interdependent relationships across cultures, they become both an example of God’s upside-down kingdom and a means for its extension into the world. True partnership allows us all to see Jesus more clearly.
Read More
People-fishing, Jesus-style
Our mission is “to invite people to faithful living in Jesus Christ.” We seek to be and call forth apprentices of Jesus, not simply start one more program or project. Last summer the Board of Virginia Mennonite Missions approved seven strategic priorities to guide our work over the next 3-5 years.
Read More
Ending and Emerging
I come to the end of my presidency of VMMissions at the conclusion of 2013. I have spent my life in the church. As a young adult I ratified the choice my parents had previously made for me and I became a Mennonite. I have no regrets.
Read More
Start Here
Seven years ago VMMissions became intentional in providing a “doorway into missions.” People could start with VMMissions and go virtually anywhere that Mennonite missions has been involved, and beyond. The old mission “field” language is obsolete when referring only to some remote exotic far-off location.
Read More
Why Short-term Missions?
If you or your congregation are thinking of a short-term mission experience, get in touch with us at VMMissions. We can help you turn a good idea into an excellent experience and avoid the kind of mistakes that have sometimes given short-term missions a bad name.
Read More
Word and Deed
An interesting dichotomy has been argued in Christian mission. Should the Christian’s mission in the world focus on verbal witness, or should acts of care and compassion be our priority? Word or deed? I answer the question with a resounding, “Yes! Both!”
Read More