Focus

In 2015, at an EMM workers’ conference at Black Rock Retreat in Quarryville, Pennsylvania, Carol Wert picked up a newspaper called Mennonite Weekly Review. In it, she saw an article about a new course starting in Bristol, England, that focused on theology and mission from an Anabaptist perspective. The course was led by a church planter, prolific author, and trainer, Stuart Murray Williams.

Stephen and Bethany Horst, who are jointly appointed workers with EMM and VMMissions, and their family are preparing to return to their home in Thailand. They have quarantine bookings, visas, documentation and airline tickets to return. After a lengthy quarantine, they should arrive back home in Nam Yuen at the end of April, just shy of a year since they left.

For years, EMM worker Michael Clancy dreamed of starting a Christian community house, much like the one he lived in when he purchased his current house fromJubilee Ministries. The house that his family is now living in was once a program house for Jubilee Ministries Christian Discipleship program.

Why are people traveling up to 40 miles to be part of this fellowship in rural South Asia? It's simple. They've experienced the healing and deliverance that only Jesus can bring through His Holy Spirit. And as one comes to faith, and family members or neighbors see the miracle that happened, it's not long until the others begin to follow too.

Do we really see who’s at our door? Or do we see who we expect to see? EMM worker Phil Gottschalk says that much of what we see when we look at the “other” — the immigrant, the refugee — depends on what we are prepared to see and what we expect to see. 

Multiplication is one of the kingdom principles we are all called to live out. We multiply ourselves by making disciples of Christ, and then equipping those disciples to step out in their areas of gifting. As a pastor, Darrel* is called to raise up leaders who will not only work alongside him but will one day step into his role.

In his 2015 book, “Animists to Anabaptists,” the late Beryl Forrester wrote, “I have offered my life … to Jesus for the sake of God’s kingdom. That is the model I desire to see replicated in the lives of those our mission reaches with the Gospel.” 

Every week, Andrew* takes time to talk with a Buddhist temple monk. At the onset of one of Andrew’s weekly discussions with the monk, the monk asked Andrew, “Do you want to see the spirit?” Andrew could not understand why the monk would be talking to him about a spirit in the temple.

Jonathan Bornman provides leadership to EMM’s Christian-Muslim Relations Teams. Jonathan recently told three vignettes of God at work. What did each of these stories have in common? God keeps connecting Jonathan with people and events that lead to meaningful interactions. 

Change: it’s inevitable. We’re told that change is the only thing that will remain constant in our lives. This past year seems like it was really living into this truth as there was almost nothing that remained unchanged in our lives. The words of the prophet Isaiah remind us that even God is always moving, doing something new. The winds of change are ever-blowing, and so perhaps, are the winds of the Spirit.