EFCA - The International Mission

EFCA ReachGlobal News

Updates for mission pastors and church leaders

In this issue

New Associate Executive Director of Church Health for ReachGlobal

As of August 1, 2007, ReachGlobal has a new leader focusing on church health in international church planting. He will be partnering with ReachGlobal staff and teams. The following is a brief biography for Mark Wold. Mark Wold will be part of the ReachGlobal Directional and Lead Teams.

Mark and Marilyn Wold have been married for 37 years and have three adult sons. Mark has degrees from Wheaton College and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has served as Senior Pastor in four EFCA churches during 35 years of ministry. He has a passion for seeing unhealthy churches turn into healthy, dynamic, growing churches, led by godly, servant leaders. His long held passion for global missions has been greatly fueled during this past decade as he has had opportunities to train international leaders overseas in Romania, Philippines, Vietnam, China, and India. Mark also served on the EFCA Board of Directors for 12 years and has chaired EFCA WEST's Regional Council.

 

New ReachGlobal field in Rome

ReachGlobal is opening a new field in Rome! We are targeting all of the major cities in Europe for church planting teams with Rome being the newest field.

With four million people, Rome is one of the most multicultural cities in Southern Italy. In spite of its rich Christian history, most of the existing churches in the Rome metro area are small, isolated from one another and are reaching less than one percent of the population. ReachGlobal is trying to change that. The new team leaders for this area are beginning to form a team for arrival in Rome in August 2008. Please pray that God would allow them to make a huge impact with the gospel.

For more information on this new field, please contact us at ReachGlobal@efca.org and write "Rome" in the subject line.

 

CHANGE 4 EUROPE

Is your church, Sunday school class, small group, or family looking for a great project for the 2007-2008 school year? We have one! It is called CHANGE 4 EUROPE. You can help finance the January 2008 ReachGlobal Europe Family Conference in Budapest, Hungary. This is a very important event for our missionary families. This will be the first time that ReachGlobal workers from Western, Central and Eastern Europe will meet together in one place.

The total on-site cost of the conference will be about $150,000. A $100 donation will mean approximately $1 for each missionary family in Europe. $1,000 will translate into a $10 savings for each family. You and your church can help this valuable conference happen by collecting pocket change! For more information, please contact Mike Davis at Mike.Davis@efca.org or Jill Hall at Jill.Hall@efca.org. You can also visit the project's blog at change4europe.blogspot.com.



Global Outreach Summits

EFCA CONNECT offers a training and resource ministry for our churches called the Global Outreach Summit (formerly Global Ministry Summit). It is a weekend conference designed to provide training for your missions leadership team in global outreach. It is designed to stimulate thinking, offer practical ideas that can be implemented immediately, and assist in networking with others. There are three Global Outreach Summits planned for the near future:

  • September 15, 2007, Kearney, NE, Kearney Evangelical Free Church
  • October 13, 2007, Lakeville, MN, Trinity Evangelical Free Church
  • October 27, 2007, Arlington Heights, IL, Arlington Heights Evangelical Free Church

For more information on Global Outreach Summits or to register, please visit EFCA CONNECT's website at www.efca.org/connect.

 

September 2007 Readiness Event

EFCA ReachGlobal will be hosting a Readiness Event (REV) at the national office from September 23-28, 2007. The purpose of the event is to assess the health and fit of missionary candidates for overseas missions. This is done through various activities and interviews conducted by leadership and outside professionals.

It is a value of ReachGlobal to send workers who are emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually healthy in order to glorify God by multiplying healthy churches among all people! The week of evaluation determines whether or not a missionary candidate is accepted as a ReachGlobal worker. Please pray for the missionary candidates, as well as the ReachGlobal staff assessing candidates during the important week of REV!

For more information on the REV or becoming a missionary with ReachGlobal, please contact us at ReachGlobal@efca.org.


 

Hurricane Katrina second anniversary

It has been two years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf coast. Among many people outside the region there is an assumption that life has returned to normal. This is far from the truth. The destructive effects of Katrina continue to be felt by tens of thousands of people. However, progress has been made. God has used Christians from all over the country to share the love of Christ with the people of New Orleans. Over 10,000 volunteers have served through EFCA TouchGlobal Crisis Response, ministering to over 3,000 families in the last two years. But we need you in order to continue this important work among the people affected by Katrina. Here is how you can help:

Pray:

  • For continued openness to the gospel.
  • For the Body of Christ to continue to respond by sending more volunteer teams to the mission field in New Orleans and southern Louisiana.
  • For tradesmen to serve in Louisiana as part of the long-term staff for TouchGlobal Crisis Response.

Send Teams

  • Send a missions team from your church to Louisiana to invest in the lives of people.
  • Go to www.efca.org/katrina/team for more information on how you can serve.

Give resources

  • Monetary and gift-in-kind resources (such as tools, building materials, and vehicles) are needed. Go to www.efca.org/katrina/finaid to give. Checks can be sent to:
    EFCA
    Attn: Hurricane Katrina Relief Teams 21709 - 3971
    901 East 78th Street
    Minneapolis, MN 55420-1300
  • For a list of needed supplies, go to www.efca.org/katrina/supplies/index.html

Thank you for your partnership in touching one life...eternally. For more information, contact Mark Lewis at Mark.Lewis@efca.org or call (985) 893-0218.


 

EFCA TouchGlobal work in New Orleans

The following are the most up-to-date statistics in relation to the disaster relief work that EFCA TouchGlobal has been doing in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. These teams are making a real difference in the lives of the people so greatly affected by this disaster. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Teams to date: 821
Volunteers to date: 9,811
Volunteer hours to date: 379,001

For more information on TouchGlobal, please visit their site at www.touchglobal.org.

 

Oasis Conference

Christians reaching out to Muslims in North America

Crescent Project's 4th annual Oasis Conference will be held in Indianapolis October 25-27. The conference is bringing light to the darkness, educating and encouraging the Body of Christ to share hope with Muslims.

We are at a critical point in the history of Christian witness among Muslims. Nearly seven million Muslims call North America home. Still, many of them have never read a page of the New Testament. But all that is changing ... Barriers are falling as Christians build bridges of friendship with Muslim neighbors. Oasis 2007 will give you an opportunity to meet with over 400 college students, missionaries, pastors, and lay people from across the U.S. who are responding to God's call to be His hands and feet among Muslims.

What will you gain from going to Oasis 2007?

  • Practical training
  • Resources for equipping your church
  • A mosque for Friday Prayers
  • A chance to network with other leaders

Learn more about this highly recommended conference online at www.oasisamerica.org.

 

Parenting in two cultures

Raising kids in a cross-cultural context is a challenge that our ReachGlobal families constantly face. One ReachGlobal parent, Becky Fernandez, has recently shared her experiences and lessons learned in a radio broadcast aired on KTIS, a Minnesota Christian radio station. To listen to her insights on parenting in two cultures, visit the KTIS website here and scroll down to the bottom of the page. Becky and her husband, Enrique Fernandez, work with ReachGlobal as part of the Latin America Training Network.


 

New ReachGlobal DVD

ReachGlobal has a new DVD available explaining its focus on multiplication, healthy national partnerships and healthy ministry. Also on this DVD are two-minute videos focusing on the individual ministries of EFCA TouchGlobal, EFCA EQUIP, EFCA CONNECT, and LIVE0. This DVD is helpful for churches interested in better understanding ReachGlobal. If you would like a copy of this DVD, please contact ReachGlobal@efca.org and write "ReachGlobal DVD" in the subject line of your message. Thank you.


 

The global church

Taken from the July issue of ChristianityToday:

Forgive the cliché, but Bob Roberts is a revolutionary. Really. Roberts's simple but powerful idea may get the church to revolve, turn around, and carry out its ministry in a fundamentally different way.

The idea is outlined in two of his books, both published by Zondervan: Transformation: How Glocal Churches Transform Lives and the World and Glocalization: How Followers of Christ Engage the New Flat Earth.

Roberts's idea (that a local church must be a global church-thus "glocal") may indeed transform American church life, because it is timely: We live in the age of the flat earth, when we can not only communicate around the world, but more Americans than ever have enough disposable income to travel the world. His idea is also simple: It assumes that the main players in overseas kingdom work are not trained cross-cultural missionaries or NGO professionals, but laypeople who take their current expertise (whether it be teaching, plumbing, electronics, or so forth) and use it to serve people in other nations.

This revolutionary idea is something Roberts's church, and a number of others, have started to live out.

To continue reading the rest of this article, please visit the website of ChristianityToday.


 

Home Assignment housing needs

A number of ReachGlobal personnel come to the U.S. on home assignment each year who have a need for temporary housing during their time here. Often there are local churches or lay people within the local churches who assist in providing housing for our personnel. If your church, or someone in your church, has space for our personnel to stay while on home assignment, please contact us at ReachGlobal@efca.org.

If you have a housing opportunity for our missionaries to utilize, can we get the following information from you?

  • The contact person for the house/space available
  • Specific dates the house is available if availability is temporary or seasonal
  • The city and state in which the house/space is located
  • The church associated with this house/space

Also, please know that making housing available to our personnel does not set the expectation that our personnel can/should be supported by your church. This ministry is for housing opportunities only.



Urgent need in Congo

There is an urgent need in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Congo Evangelical Free Church has begun to develop missions outreach in Congo Brazzaville among an unreached group of pygmies who live deep in the forests. In the past year they have been able to send Congolese missionaries into this area for several weeks at a time and have seen many pygmies come to faith in Jesus. Three churches have been established during this time. This month, the Congo EFC is sending two families into the area as long-term missionaries. Congo EFC is committed to providing ongoing monthly support for these Congolese missionaries, but they need help with startup costs.  Start up costs include: funds to transport these families to the pygmies, the purchase of four bicycles, two solar panels, lights, and batteries. The total amount needed is $2,600. Please pray for these start-up costs to be raised and for this need to be met fully.  This is a great opportunity for the EFCA to encourage our Congolese brothers and sisters in their commitment to missions and reaching the unreached in Africa.

If you or your church would like to help with this need you can make a check out to "EFCA ReachGlobal" and designate it to the "National Missionary Initiative Project #22059-0113." Any gifts can be sent to:

EFCA ReachGlobal
Donor Services
901 East 78th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55420-1300

For more information on this ministry and its needs, please contact Kevin Kompelien at Kevin.Kompelien@efca.org.


 

Ministry highlight: EFCA CONNECT

The ministry of EFCA CONNECT focuses on partnering with local churches to develop ministry partnerships both nationally and internationally. CONNECT does this by providing a network and infrastructure of relationships, resources and technology to serve the local church through:
  • Helping the local church identify its individual DNA to leverage its strengths and maximize global impact.
  • Identifying opportunities and mobilizing teams for short-term missions.
  • Screening and training short-term mission applicants.
  • Networking with other churches with similar ministry interests.
  • Providing resources and materials, including curriculum for teaching children about missions.
  • Assisting with logistical execution.
  • Developing and offering training.
  • Assisting in the creation of system management and utilization.

For more information on EFCA CONNECT, go to www.efca.org/connect.


 

EFCA
901 East 78th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55420-1300
(800) 745-2202 toll-free - (952) 854-1300 main - (952) 853-8488 fax - http://www.efca.org

To UNSUBSCRIBE from this broadcast, please send an to reachglobalnews-unsubscribe@moodle.efca.org.
To SUBSCRIBE to this broadcast, please send an email to reachglobalnews-subscribe@moodle.efca.org.