by Mike Kuhn
Can you name any of the earliest missionaries to China or India? Hudson Taylor? William Carey?
Aside from the Apostle Thomas, who is thought to have taken the gospel to India, the first missionaries to these areas went from Iraq. The monasteries of the ancient Church of the East spread along the silk road until they reached India and China.
Read Moreby Tony Lorenz
“Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” Exodus 3:5
Iraq is holy ground. I realize this more and more each hour, each day, each trip. My first trip to Iraq was a year ago, a whirlwind of visits and flights punctuated by prayers, tears and amazing meals.
This visit has been no less a whirlwind but with fewer flights. Sunday morning did, however, find us on a big yellow bus headed from Erbil to Kirkuk in order to visit and worship with our brothers and sisters in the Presbyterian church.
Read Moreby Chris Weichman
When we talk about institutions, the church or places like the United States or the Middle East often we paint pictures with broad strokes; as if every church or every area in a country is the same. One of the realizations of this trip is that the church in the Middle East is as diverse as one could imagine. The great blessing of our time together is hearing from the leaders in our partner churches.
Read Moreby Mark Mueller
What does the church in the Middle East have to teach Christians in the United States, in any land for that matter? It is a question that I have wrestled with as I have stepped into a complex land with many layers of joy, struggle, despair and hope. Even as this consultation begins today, the Turkish army bombs northeast Syria and moves its troops into some of the towns and villages of people attending the conference. I was wondering today how one attends a conference with war in your neighborhood and news texted from loved ones and friends of an occupying force driving its tanks down Main Street. But we are HERE. We are HERE to look at the many layers of life in the Middle East and learn from the faithful remnant of Christians who have not migrated to safer lands but have endured Saddam, ISIS, invasion and sanction all the while remaining the faithful church to spread the Gospel in these parts.
Read Moreby Jack Baca
A bit less than four years ago I came on my first Outreach Foundation trip into the Middle East. This makes trip number five. I could hardly be more excited. Why?
There are lots of things to love about this region of the world. The history here is, of course, amazing. For folks of faith like me that goes without saying. How could you not be eager to get back to the land of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Paul? But there’s also so much great art, and archaeology, and the story of the beginning of human civilization. The food is great, too, and there are hauntingly beautiful vistas often magnified by ethereal sunsets.
Read Moreby Juan Sarmiento
Berenice Brasil is an influential person in her home village of Amandio, a remote town of around 86 families in the margins of one of the seasonal tributaries of the majestic Amazon River. She is the leader of the congregation that Manaus Presbyterian Church (IPM by its initials in Portuguese) started.
Read Moreby Celia Stone
Barreira, a Brazilian village of approximately 16 families and the least populated of the four we visited along the Amazon River, was the second stop of our medical/dental boat. It appeared that most families had basic long, narrow fishing boats or canoes, some with standard outboard motors and others with motors made from what looked to have been weed eaters. The people we encountered throughout the week fished regularly and grew a few vegetables. Lush fruit trees seemed to grow naturally.
Read Moreby Rocky Stone
On our second day in Brazil we met with Pastor Francisco, the senior pastor of Manaus Pres. Church to discuss the church’s missional model and experience. I was a bit surprised that he would make time to meet with our little group of 5 people representing our churches and The Outreach Foundation, but I was more perplexed as to why we were meeting at 11:15 am. I knew that the church had several pastors and shared preaching duties, but why meet on Sunday morning at this time? Well, as it happens they have three Sunday services at their two main locations, but none at 11:00. The most attended service is at 6:15 pm. We later attended this very lively worship service in a large converted warehouse (former car dealership). The sanctuary seated 2,600 people and majored in functionality vs. aesthetics. That, like most things at this church, was very purposeful.
Read Moreby David, Arredondo- La Mirada Community Presbyterian Church. Ca
If someone would have told me I was going to be in Brazil for 10 days in a mission trip to the Amazon River, flying for almost 14 hours, sleeping in a boat for six days in an 8x9 room with bunk beds for 4 people, I would have told that person he was delusional.
I could not believe I was waiting at Los Angeles international airport for my flight to Brazil. When Pastor Juan Sarmiento from the Outreach Foundation invited our church, Community Presbyterian Church of La Mirada, to be part of Amazon river mission in December 2018, I was clueless of the magnitude of the mission trip and how our Lord could use someone like me on this trip.
Read Moreby Juan Sarmiento
Presbyterians have a long history of partnerships in the Brazilian Amazon. Considered to be in a remote area of the country with the most diversity of indigenous communities, it seems to be an unlikely location for what today may be the largest Presbyterian congregation of the Western Hemisphere, Manaus Presbyterian Church (IPM, by its initials in Portuguese).
Read Moreby Julie Burgess, for the team (West Hills Presbyterian Church, Omaha, Nebr.)
“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. (Mark 10:51-52)
I have arrived safely home in Omaha, but have the great privilege of wrapping up our series of blogs for the 2019 faithful women trip to Lebanon. Our last visit before coming home closed a circle that Susan Parker began when she led her devotion about starfish with the story of blind Bartimaeus, the end of which appears above.
Read Moreby Rev. Kate Kotfila, for the team (Cambridge United Presbyterian Church, Cambridge, N.Y.)
“You have turned my mourning into dancing” Psalm 30:11
I always thought that the Psalmist was describing a linear experience. First comes mourning at loss, calamity, or heartache and then through the gauntlet of grace, mourning is transformed into joy. First mourning, then joy. Today I learned that each can overlap; not first and second but both at the same time.
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