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.
Whose Voice Are We Listening To?
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. And it can feel impossible to measure.”
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Success Requires Transformation
“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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Success Can Rise Out of Failure
Anne (name changed) shares an experience that 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 much fruit is resulting from my ministry, things fall apart. I could easily name ten other situations like this.”
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Success Is Doing What Pleases the Lord
“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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Success Is the Outflow of Abiding
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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Call to Prayer: Praying Together Is Success
“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. ‘Was it worth it?’ we asked. But it wasn’t a question we were prepared to answer.”
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Worker Profile: Ken Wettig
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.”
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Faithfulness + Patience = Fruitfulness
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 is faithful witness combined with patient trust in the Lord of the harvest.
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Carol Tobin, VMMissions Mission Advocate, Retires
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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Worker Profile: Hannah Shultz
Hannah’s assignment is to disciple children in local Spanish-speaking churches in the way of Jesus through word and song. She partners with congregations, teaches piano and violin, and shares biblical truths to build and nurture faith in kids.
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Mission Training Center
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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Business for Transformation
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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