I know we are all called to be on mission with Him, and it is my privilege to spotlight that for us. God is moving and we are invited to join Him! There is much to be hopeful about.
Yes, hope is rising and you can see it through the updates we get from our trusted Global Compassion partners in Uganda, Rwanda and Haiti. You can catch the passion from our various missionaries as they share at our Lunch & Learn events or send us updates of what is happening in their part of the globe. You can sense God is moving as you hear from our Global Outreach partners. God is on the move and our partners shine light on that truth and help keep our vision clear!
Listen to a few words of encouragement and cool updates from some of our Global Outreach partners:
“You (CrossRoads) have made a massive impact in the lives of countless souls internationally, both by enabling church planters to lead thousands to Christ and also by empowering pastors to strengthen their rapidly multiplying congregations. In the eyes of Empower, CrossRoads is a cherished partner in ministry as well as being one of the leading mission-focused churches in Canada today.” – Ron Pearce (Empower Ministries)
“We have seen God’s faithfulness in guarding our lives and in continuing to provide fruitful ministry. We have seen the Lord continue to call forth and equip workers for the harvest. By God’s grace and your generous support of our ministry, the Gospel continues to be shared with least-reached people in the remotest parts of Africa. We are thankful for the success of the partnership we have built with CrossRoads Church and are inspired by both your sacrificial giving and passionate desire to see Jesus’ Great Commission fulfilled.” – Andre Lesur (Global Disciples)
“Thank you, CrossRoads, for your partnership with us in Pakistan, sharing the good news of Jesus with the Pashtun people. Despite the many difficulties, the team you supported these past couple of years have shared the Good News of Jesus with close to 4000 people and handed out close to 5000 copies of the New Testament and we praise God that we have been privileged to baptize 410 people, mostly from Muslim and Hindu backgrounds. God is at work! Please continue to pray with us as it is always dangerous to be a follower of Jesus in this part of the world, and even more so to tell others about Him". – Darren DeGraaf (Partners International)
These updates energize, humble and inspire me and I hope they do the same for you!
There has been so much going on and too much to share it all, but let me highlight a few things to show what we have been up to this past year in Missions:
Five new members joined the Global Compassion Committee (GCC) so please welcome Kelvin Singh, Chad Verity, Heather Carson, Teresa Wright and Charles Nowochin. After many years of serving and leading well, we are seeing three long-time members step down: Charlene Young, Dan Wilson and Kurtis Kooiker. Their presence and history will be missed but we are confident our new team will bring new growth. It was also another successful Christmas Compassion Campaign and we are thankful for your generosity and continued support of our local and global compassion partners.
We continue to prioritize Persecuted Believers, National Pastors and Leaders, and Muslims Near and Far through Global Outreach. In doing so, we have continued working with these 5 strategic organizations: Partner’s International, Empower Ministries, Global Disciples, Hellenic Ministries and Bridges of Love. Each have a different strength and focus geographically but all are working to offer the love and hope of Christ to impact those that rarely have access to the gospel.
With the amazing support of our Missions Advisory Team (Tim Burns, Benno Fath, Karen Marriott and Nicole Nowochin) we are actively supporting and caring for our 22 local and global workers (missionaries), investing in them by providing much more than financial support. We also send thoughtful and personal care packages a few times a year. In addition, this year we offered the support of a trained professional from our body that is working through a stress/transition tool that identifies ways to gain resilience in challenging contexts. To hear more of how we care for our missionaries check out this podcast I did earlier this year: globalmissionspodcast.com/167/
You may have noticed that our short-term outreaches have started again! It came up quickly as is the case with relief work, but our first team out after the pandemic was a team of Young Adults serving Ukrainian refugees in neighbouring Moldova in May. This August another team will be heading out to the same place and we are currently building that team so please connect with us if you would like to hear more! This is our first two teams with Partners International.
Ministry Update Videos are still consistently giving me a platform to share with you some interviews and current updates from our many amazing partners. Feel free to go back and watch those you have missed! crossroadschurch.ca/updates
In September, we were blessed and challenged as Nik and Ruth Ripken (pictured at right, with Pastor Dan & Pastor Tracy) came and spent a few days teaching and encouraging us. Their experiences working with persecuted believers taught us so much. If you missed any of their sessions you can still see them: crossroadschurch.ca/blog/3286/Nik-Ripken-Conference-Recordings
We followed up by running their Insanity of Sacrifice study which was so powerful! A few months later Nik had the first of a few upcoming back surgeries, so please pray for his recovery and future procedures. His heart is to be able to be more active without the pain.
I love seeing how our department can encourage all generations to live missionally. This past year we saw this happen in multiple ways:
• taking the Young Adult team to Moldova;
• teaching CrossRoads Kids K-4 about missions and sharing Jesus;
• Jr. High and Sr. High hosted a panel of missionaries to do a Q&A session.
Through our connections with Sarah, one of our sponsored local workers, we hosted 19 youth from Maskwacis for two nights in our youth wing along with seven leaders from Youth Unlimited (pictured at right). It was amazing and so well received: “Our group was so loved and cared for”, Sarah shared. One of the kids said this: “This weekend was really special to me because it showed me what God’s Church is supposed to look like. There was so much peace, encouragement and revival. But most importantly I felt so much of Jesus’ love, from Him personally and from everyone there.” – Dorothy
I always seek to keep God’s heart for the Nations in your thinking, and my desire would be that it would become so imbedded in your heart that it would become your very nature. A few things we did to encourage that:
• In January we had Ron Pearce of Empower Ministries share our Sunday message which was inspiring!
• The Kairos Course was offered again with a great response. simplymobilizing.outreach.ca/courses/kairos
• Hosted numerous Lunch & Learns on Sundays as missionaries and partners were in town. Coming up we have Heath Meikle June 26th and Crystal Dueck July 3rd.
• June 12th we welcome Food for the Hungry as they run a workshop ‘Ending Poverty Together’ which will challenge us to reduce poverty in both local and global contexts.
After many years of waiting we finally received the government approval to bring in our next sponsored family from Syria. Ibish and his family (two girls, wife and mom) will arrive June 17th! They will be needing their new home furnished and then the ask of you is to welcome them into our church family. Some ways you can do that: Go visit them, take them on a local outing, invite them into your home, pray for them by name and greet them when you see them and perhaps learn a couple of Arabic words.
There is so much more to be shared but this gives you some of the highlights!
Pictured above:
- Kairos Course - praying over the extensive list of the world’s least reached peoples
- Partners International - Pakistan
- One of the “Lunch & Learn” sessions
- One of our missionaries, Dan Chapple, hosts a Bible study in a kitchen in Chiapas, Mexico
On Deck!
Coming up it looks as if we are keeping on a steadily growing pace. With the Syrian family coming in June and with travel being more acceptable more missionaries and guests will be coming through.
We are looking forward to having more Short-term outreaches, for sure Moldova Team #2 in August with Partner’s International in partnership with Beginning of Life Moldova. We are working on details to get another team to Europe in the fall with the Greater European Mission so watch this space. We are also talking with each of our Global Compassion Partners and it looks like Uganda will likely be our first team next year.
In August I am taking a small team of four to Rwanda as we have been invited to go and participate in their staff retreat. We will also go visit and encourage the people of Nyamasheke where we have our partnership with World Relief Rwanda.
We also hope to run another Missionary Retreat next year so again, watch this space!
I invite you to take a minute to read the inspirational story of the conversion of young Adnan, a boy from Northern Pakistan, in the Missions Blog. The blog also has the Moldova Team's updates from their recent trip -- well worth the read!
Thank you for your generous support of Missions through your giving, your prayers and your time. Together, we are able to move closer to what God desires in terms of being on mission with Him.
Pastor Tracy
tracym@crossroadschurch.ca
