Twelve people were gathered closely in a circle as Yvonne Garber uttered a simple Swahili phrase: “Mungu Anajua.” Yvonne then shared the translation of this short expression — “God knows” — as she and her husband, Joe, elaborated about how they first discerned a calling to serve Kanisa la Mennonite Tanzania.

Gathered in a simple one-story building, surrounded by a grassy courtyard, and shaded by an enormous fig tree, pastors and leaders of the Shirati Diocese of the Tanzania Mennonite Church explored Anabaptist essentials.

Pastor. Board member. Executive director. Missionary. Head of school. Theology teacher. Executive vice president and chief operating officer. Gerry Keener has been all these things ... and all while serving with EMM. It is exactly this wealth of 40 years of experience that makes him so uniquely qualified to serve as the eighth president of Eastern Mennonite Missions.

Justice. Did you know it was voted the 2018 word of the year? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, justice was looked up online 74% more often than it was in 2017. Like the year before, 2018 certainly had its time of hardships and sorrows. Justice seemed elusive. Wars and rumors of wars. Floods, earthquakes, famines. Political, racial, and economic divides.

A coffee house outreach is providing English-language practice for youth and young adults, with opportunities for leadership training, and of course, free coffee. EMM workers Jayden and Anika*, serving in Central Asia, hope that this outreach will provide opportunities to share God’s word with nonbelievers, and as a way to disciple those who already are believers.

Living overseas during Christmas can be a challenging time. But this past Christmas, EMM workers serving in Sierra Leone, Jon and Heleen Yoder, decided to embrace Christmas in a different place.

Short-term EMM workers serving in Nairobi, Kenya, learn that their valuable experience of once owning a hardware store has impacted their ministry in a very unique way.

Have you ever thought about how overwhelming moving to a new place can be? Perhaps, you’ve experienced it a few times in your life. Experience the first couple of days of a mission intern serving in Wales, U.K. Victoria Derosier.

During the last week of December, more than 200 joyous attendees filled the Catel Mennonite Church in Guinea-Bissau. The meetinghouse resonated with jubilant singing, inspiring messages, and a special celebration. What was this special celebration? Mennonite Church West Africa, or MCWA, credentialed its first pastors and was gathering for an annual conference.

On November 30, 2018, Tyndale Theological Seminary in Badhoevedorp, Netherlands hosted the event: “A dialogue comparing the divine and the human in Islam and Christianity.” Exploring a unique aspect of Christian theology, EMM worker Jonathan Bornman highlighted the concept of “Imago Dei” — the belief that humanity is created in the image of God.