This season we’re reminded of Jesus' birth. An EMM worker named Elizabeth (whose last name we can’t mention due to sensitivity concerns), wrote a beautiful poem about how Jesus' birth calls us to proclaim his life, death, and resurrection to all people around the world.

EMM worker Tim Groff had the opportunity to sit beside Pastor Victor Gonzales on a long van drive from Managua to the village of Orinoco on the Caribbean coast and listen to his stories. As they traveled with other Garifuna pastors from Honduras, they heard amazing stories of faith; the tales of how God had sustained the church among the people living there.

Now, the Advance participants get to take many of these cross-cultural learnings that they gained in Lancaster with the Neighbors Community Center and grow in their learning internationally. One team will go to Cambodia in Southeast Asia and the other team will be going to the Gambia in West Africa.

Today’s Focus is pulled from our Archives — a beautiful poem called “To Give Thanks” written by Daisy Yoder, who with her husband, served with EMM in Ethiopia for more than 20 years. They wrote in 1974 about how they would spend sleepless hours under their shelter in the desert wondering and praying about the mission in the Danakil region of Ethiopia.

If you would like to support EMM’s work of training, we invite you to join us by partnering financially. We encourage you to make a gift to EMM’s Impact Fund by December 31. You can give online. We are so thankful for your continued generosity!

North American Vietnamese Mennonites and EMM began to reengage with the church in Vietnam in the 1990s, spurring on a new season of growth. The church was legally registered and recognized by the government in 2007. Since then, the church continues to see lives transformed and ministry multiplied. In fact, the church has grown more than 400% since 2020.

Ana Borntrager is participating in Advance Global, a 9-month, international discipleship and service opportunity. Ana is halfway through the discipleship portion of Advance. She appreciates all of the prayers during this time. The team has been enjoying the wonderful fall Pennsylvania weather. From fall festivals to corn mazes to the tri-weekly bike rides that Ana takes to the office.

Nelson Kisare, the leader of the Tanzanian Mennonite Church was asked, “What is the most pressing need of your church?” He answered, “First, theological training; second, theological training; third, theological training.” In response to this, William Higgins finds it a privilege to work with our global partner churches in Vietnam, Kenya, Tanzania, Guinea-Bissau, and other places.

In early 2022, Leon and Naomi showed the course to a dozen couples in south-central Kenya. One of those couples was Stanley and Anne, who pastor a church in the area. They felt that the course strengthened their marriage and gave them the ability to have conversations about areas of their marriage that they stayed away from before.

The Vietnam Mennonite Church consists of over 100 places of worship. The needs for training pastors and workers are great. They have organized a 4-year Bachelor of Theology program (with 20 students in the current cohort), as well as a ministry training certificate program (with 40 students in the current group).  Their request for training from EMM workers is for courses in theology, biblical interpretation, and ministry from an Anabaptist perspective.