A Mid-Year Update on the Ministry of The Outreach Foundation
Dear Outreach supporters,
We are deeply thankful for the trust that you place in The Outreach Foundation as you support our work with partners around the world. Thank you for your gifts and your prayers in 2018. Already, it has been a very busy year.
Outreach teams have traveled to meet with global partners in Haiti, England (to visit ministries with Iranians in the Diaspora), Lebanon and Syria, Egypt and Mexico. And members of our mission staff have been actively serving in Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and the U.K.
On April 29 Outreach joined with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa to dedicate the 300th church building that we have built together. It was a glorious celebration! This ministry, coordinated by Stu and Annie Ross, our East Africa mission consultants, has also involved the construction of schools, rescue centers and water projects. In all of these cases the local East African congregation invests deeply themselves in the project. Together, we do what neither of us could do alone.
I traveled to Egypt in May, focusing on the wonderful seminary in Cairo and churches in Upper Egypt around Minya and Asyut. The photo here depicts a church under construction in New Asyut. There we found a tremendous passion for revitalizing congregations that had been in decline and for planting new congregations. The Christians in Egypt, both Coptic Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant, are determined to respond to violence with forgiveness and grace, and we heard many stories of people who were not Christian coming to faith in Jesus through the witness of Christians who are reflecting in their lives the grace that God has shown them in Christ.
In May Rev. Dr. José Carlos Pezini from our mission staff, pictured here with a SARA group, brought to Orlando the SARA pastors’ retreat that has become so meaningful to pastors in Brazil. Those who gathered were pastors in the U.S. serving Portuguese-speaking congregations. The response was so positive and encouraging that the group agreed to meet again in November.
As I write, Frank Dimmock from our mission staff is in refugee camps for South Sudanese which have been set up in Ethiopia. Frank is a master trainer in a wonderful ministry of trauma healing that was developed by the American Bible Society. The Lord is using him in exciting ways as he equips pastors and teachers to help those whom they are serving.
Supporting missionaries is an important part of our work with many of you, and we were thrilled to be able to send funds in support of the work of Jeff and Christi Boyd (Congo), Choon and Yen Hee Lim (East Asia), Al and Ellen Smith (Russia), Gordon and Dorothy Gartrell (Brazil), Michael and Rachel Weller (Ethiopia) and David Cortés-Fuentes and Josey Sáez-Acevedo (Cuba) just to name a few.
Finally, I want to affirm how much the Outreach staff loves to spend time with congregations – preaching, teaching and consulting with sessions and mission committees. Recently, we have been with congregations in Allentown, PA, Columbus, GA, Washington D.C., Houston, TX, Gainesville, GA, Pascagoula, MS, Atlanta, GA, Liberty Corner, NJ, Newburyport, MA, and Nashville, TN. If there are ways that we can serve your congregation, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
At The Outreach Foundation we believe that the only thing to do with good news is to share it, and we are confident that the good news of Jesus Christ is the very best news of all. What a privilege it is to join with partners here in the United States, and partners around the globe, to share and show God’s love. Thank you for joining us in God’s mission!
Rob Weingartner
Executive Director