Lauren Scharstein- March 2021 Update

The Rev. Lauren Scharstein is Deputy Director for Mission with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA). Lauren began this call in Kenya in 2017 when the PCEA leadership invited her to serve as a lecturer in theology and biblical studies at the Presbyterian University of East Africa. During the same period, she was invited to come alongside the PCEA Mission Department in ministries of compassion, empowerment, and evangelism.

In early 2019, the PCEA leadership asked Lauren to accept a new position as the Deputy Director of Mission for the denomination, and she officially began this role in June 2019. The PCEA Mission Department has responsibility for PCEA mission schools and rescue centers, sustainable water projects, evangelism, church-planting, and global partnerships. Lauren has been particularly involved in ministry with vulnerable women and girls, providing training, administrative leadership, and program development for schools and rescue centers. She recently shared this update:

Naretoi Women’s Co-op Update
“Naretoi” means “a place of help” in the Maasai language, and the Naretoi Women’s Co-op is a group of Maasai women who came together to help and support one another. These women live in a semi-arid area of Kenya where the main economic activity is livestock herding.

Todd Luke - February 2021 Update

Mexico

Dear friends,

Our partners in Mexico are very busy even though we do not plan to send American mission groups to build cisterns this year. Victor, Raul, and Isaias are leading a team that will work with at least twenty-two families to build twenty-two family-owned cisterns during the next couple of months. Generous financial support from our American church and family partners makes this possible. We hope to build up to forty cisterns in 2021, but that number depends on the response we receive from our American partners.

We are also doing something new and exciting. In addition to the many support tasks he already performs to support the cistern process, our associate in Xpujil, Felipe Torres now leads a small crew that visits each of our cistern partners who have repaid at least $2,000 pesos of their cistern materials loan. The purpose of the house call is to:

Jeff and Christi Boyd - February 2021 Update

Dear siblings in Christ,

As the world went into a pandemic-induced hibernation earlier this year, one might assume that ministries, too, have slowed down or come to a halt. For the Presbyterian Ministry for Vulnerable Children in East Kasaï, Congo, nothing could be farther from the truth! Four years ago, I shared through the story of Serge, how in the current Congolese context losing a parent can put a child at risk of abandonment, and highlighted different models of ministry for vulnerable children applied in the Presbyterian Church in Congo (CPC).

At the time, the most prominent of these ministries retrieved unaccompanied minors from the markets and streets by taking care of them in halfway homes while tracing back their biological parents or extended families to mediate reunification. The transitional character of these ministries provided an appropriate alternative to the more permanent nature of traditional orphanages, but the center-based model still proved costly for an economically deprived context like Congo.

Bob and Kristi Rice - January 2021 Update

Dear friends,

Rev. Santino Odong, principal at Nile Theological College (NTC), is getting creative in finding ways for students to continue studying as they prepare for ministry in the church. Schools have been prohibited from meeting since March 23, 2020, in South Sudan, and they did not have the equipment or connectivity to switch to online classes. They were able to use some large church buildings to allow students to social distance while completing interrupted courses from last semester. Most of the students came to Juba from remote regions of South Sudan, leaving their families while they study at NTC in preparation for serving as pastors.

As everyone realized that COVID-19 will continue to hinder the normal way schools have functioned, Rev. Santino and the other faculty at NTC wrestled with how to start the new semester so that students could continue their studies. Now they are experimenting with teaching remotely over WhatsApp, a smartphone application for messaging and calling over the internet. They asked Bob to teach two classes remotely from the U.S. while we wait to be able to return to Juba. With only two weeks’ notice, Bob jumped into the research, planning, and preparation for teaching classes on the Exegesis of Acts and African Church History.

José Carlos Pezini - January 2021 Update

Dear brothers and sisters,

Grace and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope that this year, we will find more peace and freedom to carry out the work for which we were called to do. We mourn with those who lost their loved ones to COVID-19. We pray that with the arrival of the vaccine, life will get better.

Many pastors in Brazil were infected with the virus. Some recovered and others succumbed to COVID-19. Many churches are suffering financially and cannot pay their pastors. But, we must continue doing our ministry. That is why we need you, faithful ministry partners, to continue to pray for us.

Even during the pandemic, our ministry continues, training leaders and pastors for revitalizing and planting new churches. We had to adapt and readjust our courses, which are now offered virtually, but we obtained good results. Here is testimony from Rev. Marcio Tenponi about a church that I helped to revitalize:

PCEA Church Construction in Kenya - January 2021 Update

Dedication of PCEA Kiburuti Church in honor of Rev. Dr. Rob Weingartner

Dear friends,

Today, January 10th, we dedicated PCEA Kiburuti Church. The first picture shows the former church building and the second picture is their new church. EVERYONE was very excited about “their new modern church.” It was completed in about three months with the congregation doing all the masonry work and then donors through The Outreach Foundation finishing the upper part of the church.

When the construction started at the end of October, the church had 40 members. By the time the church was completed the congregation had increased their numbers to 60. I predict the church will grow to 100 by year’s end.

The church is located in Central Province about a five-hour drive from our home base. It is at the foothills of the Aberdare Mountains, beautiful countryside. Despite the beauty, the people living here are subsistence farmers and have very little.

This is a very special church for all of us in Kenya and our Outreach colleagues in the U.S. since it honors The Outreach Foundation’s recently retired Executive Director Rob Weingartner

Stu Ross - December 2020 Update

Stu Ross links U.S. congregations with East African partners to strengthen the church for God’s mission. Through these efforts, over 300 churches and over 150 schools have been built, hundreds of girls have been cared for and over 500 evangelists have been trained. The following report from Stu includes information about partnerships between the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) and The Outreach Foundation:

PCEA Church Construction
PCEA Mabati School Construction
Girls’ Education and Rescue Centers
Clean Drinking Water in Kenya

Despite COVID and curfews and masks, the work of The Outreach Foundation continues – cautiously – here in East Africa. Travel and work during this time have been difficult. We currently have about 125 workers and no positive COVID tests.

This year we will complete twenty churches and three schools. Many of the churches were great distances from our home in Kikuyu. Many were in very isolated areas.

Todd Luke - December 2020 Update

Dear friends,

Maria and I traveled to Xpujil in October. I returned to the Chicago area a week later. Maria will continue to work there until December 10. She has plenty to do. I will be back in Xpujil to meet with all our cistern owner partners after Thanksgiving. A snapshot of the week follows below. But first, I will share a portion of a thought that kept coming to mind during my first visit to Xpujil since the pandemic began.

Work

All over the Calakmul region, entire families work so hard, trying to survive. By God’s grace, humans can work and bring in the harvest. He cares for his creation, in part, through human labor. After God created the heavens, our planet, and humans in his own image; he gave us the task to fill the earth, subdue it, wisely govern its creatures, cultivate the soil, and care for it. Work is not a necessary evil. It’s a valuable part of God’s health plan for us and all of creation. As we consider how to help the poor, the weak, the widow, the orphan, the alien, the hungry, the thirsty, the prisoner, the old, and the sick—we do well to be mindful of work’s sacred origin. Whether we go to Xpujil in person or contribute a portion of the fruit of our labor so that others can work together for God’s sake to build cisterns, God uses work to bring health to individuals, families, and communities. As we labor, it is altogether reasonable to constantly thank and praise God for the opportunity to do so. For as great as work can be, God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Holistic Evangelism in Tete Province - December 2020 Update

Dear friends of Tete Province,

Our Holistic Evangelism Project in Tete Province, Mozambique was challenged and stretched in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic. We completed about one-third of our lay leadership training and dug 5 new wells before the border was closed in late March and activities in Tete Province were strictly limited. As the coronavirus started to spread in Africa, our project director Sebber Banda and project assistant Carlos Faquione turned their focus to educating the church congregations on mitigation practices like social distancing, hand washing, masks, and limited-size gatherings. Carlos, who is a pastor and lives in Tete Province, was able to work with our Mozambican Presbyterian church pastors to reinforce these safe practices from March through October when the borders were reopened.

Dan and Elizabeth Turk - November 2020 Update

Dear friends,

As with all of us this year, COVID-19 has brought unexpected changes. In August, PC(USA) extended the travel ban for all staff through June 2021, so we will be in the U.S. until then. As Thanksgiving approaches, we give thanks for being close to family and having good health. We are thankful for productive and resourceful colleagues who have continued the work in Madagascar and for technology that allows us to communicate regularly with them. We are also thankful for a wonderful Madagascar Mission Network (MMN) conference this past November 12th-14th. It has brought new opportunities and avenues for mission in Madagascar.

Brief Update from the Field
After the travel ban was lifted, the FJKM AIDS committee was able to complete its AIDS training at FJKM’s five seminaries – of course with masks and social distancing! They distributed masks and food items to all seminaries as well. Colleagues with the Fruits, Vegetables, and Environmental Education Program have recently taken steps to start new fruit nurseries at the FJKM seminary at Mandritsara and the FJKM church at Ankaramena. A nursery and orchard at the FJKM's new agricultural high school at Fihaonana were inaugurated.

First Virtual Madagascar Mission Network Conference
The MMN paved a new path with its first virtual conference! The virtual format, while challenging, brought together a diverse group of people from 8 countries and at least 12 states.

Africa, Missionaries, Global Workers, PartnershipThe Outreach FoundationNovember 25, 2020Dan and Elizabeth Turk, Madagascar

Mike Kuhn - November 2020 Update

Mike Kuhn currently serves in the International Theological Education Network as a specialist and consultant. Mike’s ministry focus is discipleship and spiritual formation among both Arab Christians and those who have come to Christ from a non-Christian background. Read more about Mike’s work in the following update:

Having taught at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS) for six years, I developed friendships with students from all over the Arab world. Lebanon was and continues to be a unique place in the Arab world, where Christ-followers from many different backgrounds can come for theological and spiritual formation. Our ABTS students came from across North Africa and the Middle East. Those friendships are foundational in my current ministry with the International Theological Education Network (ITEN). A couple of those connections have borne fruit in this time of global pandemic.

Global WorkersThe Outreach FoundationNovember 17, 2020Mike Kuhn, Evangelical Presbyterian Church

Stu Ross - November 2020 Update

Based in Kikuyu, Kenya, Stu Ross is responsible for partnering through the Mission Projects Committee of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) in a ministry of building schools, churches, and girls’ rescue centers as well as managing water projects. Stu helps link U.S. congregations with East African partners to strengthen the church for God’s mission. We recently received the following update from Stu:

Everything in Kenya has been shut down since March 23. Kenya has a dusk to dawn curfew which is strictly enforced. There is no movement allowed between counties. This has affected our church construction work in Kenya since that would involve moving from one county to another. Consequently, construction has stopped on ten churches that were in the process of being built.

PCEA Church Construction - November Update

Dedication of PCEA Itangi Church

On November 1, we dedicated Itangi Church. This was the fourth baby of the mother Gateway Church in Embu, which was built in 2007. Itangi Church was started in 2014 in a rented 8 x 8-foot metal structure. They celebrated their first Holy Communion on April 15, 2014. Then in 2017 they struggled to buy a one-acre plot of land and constructed their old church. After a while, their 65 members couldn’t fit into that church so they visited me to see if we could partner in building a new modern church.

Their new church will seat about 500 members. It is a very different feeling going from a mud floor to a nice, clean tiled floor. At the dedication, the church was filled with worshipers, about 400 spaced somewhat for COVID. There were also four tents outside with another 300 people. There were many visitors and many more from other parish churches.

Lauren Scharstein- October 2020 Update

The Rev. Lauren Scharstein is Deputy Director for Mission with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa. The PCEA Mission Department has responsibility for PCEA mission schools and rescue centers, sustainable water projects, evangelism, church-planting, and global partnerships. Lauren recently shared this update on her work with Mother Esther School:

Laughter, Cookies, and Hair-braiding
It has been seven months since many of our students were sent home to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Communities across East Africa are reporting higher rates of child marriage and teenage pregnancy. Girls who were sent home from school are less likely to return than boys the same age.

John McCall - September 2020 Update

Dear friends,

When churches or pastors invite me to come and speak at different events, I often am not exactly sure what the event is. Last year an aboriginal pastor from one of the Pastor Leadership Groups with whom I meet, asked me to come and speak at their church's weekend retreat. I agreed and didn’t ask many more questions. He told me that I would be speaking on Saturday afternoon and preaching at their service on Sunday morning.

The pastor told me to take the Mass Rapid Transit to the last station, and one of the church members would pick me up and take me to the retreat center. We left the station and began to wind up a mountain road. I had taken this road many years ago.

Asia, Missionaries, Global Workers, PartnershipThe Outreach FoundationSeptember 16, 2020John McCall, Taiwan

José Carlos Pezini - July 2020 Update

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Since March we have been receiving reports about the number of people infected by COVID-19 and the number of deaths keeps rising. Here in Brazil, more than fifty thousand people have died and the number of people who are infected is countless. As if this were not enough to take away our peace and cause fear, it has also brought uncertainty because it demands that we reinvent ourselves and seek new means to fulfill the mission that the Lord has entrusted to us. These challenges have helped make clear how our work makes a difference in the lives of pastors and churches. God has been faithful and tremendously blessed us and those we serve in this new way of accomplishing the ministry.

I am happy to inform you that even with social distancing and being forbidden by the government to travel from one place to another, I have continued to minister through the internet and social media. The SARA Ministries mentoring group, composed of 15 groups of pastors spread across the country, usually holds two retreats annually. Now, we meet remotely by Zoom once a month for two hours. We now realize that this new approach to mentoring is more effective. We have reached and cared for more than 500 pastors virtually, helping them overcome their problems and stress and finding new ways to carry out their pastoral ministry. Click HERE to view a recent video about my ministry.

Don and Martha Wehmeyer - Update

Dear friends,

No, it is not a Martian invader, this is me! The churches are technically closed, but by celebrating the Lord’s supper outdoors on Pentecost Sunday, we were not actually in the building. The members watched the sermon on the internet and then drove over to take the elements. No police arrived to put me in handcuffs, so I figure we can do this again if necessary! God is merciful.

Between COVID-19 and tropical storm Columbus, we are not in ordinary times. The seminary stopped classes at the end of March. Graduation has been postponed. The country has been on lockdown since the end of March. This has meant significant disruptions for workers. Many people get paid by the day, so for them to stay home week after week is a real hardship. The church and government have been making care packages, but it is never enough. Our little church of 20 families is helping 30 families. This means that the church savings are getting depleted pretty fast, but the session decided that this was the best thing to do, and I am proud of them. Several church families have stepped up to help, so I get to see first-hand how the Spirit of the Lord is working powerfully here.

Latin America, Global WorkersThe Outreach FoundationJuly 8, 2020Don and Martha Wehmeyer, Mexico

Daniel and Elizabeth Turk - Update

In late March, we left Madagascar due to the coronavirus pandemic and are currently in Orlando. PC(USA) called all mission co-workers back to the U.S. until the end of 2020. We are well and grateful to be near our children and parents, but it is hard to leave our friends and colleagues for so long in this time of crisis. We are continuing our work and communicate daily with our colleagues in the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM) via skype, phone, or email.

Fruits, Vegetables, and Environmental Education Program (FVEE)

The first months of the year are always busy because of the need to plant trees in the early part of the rainy season. From December 2019 through February 2020, thousands of fast-growing trees from the FVEE nursery were planted as part of FJKM’s reforestation efforts. Fruit trees and native trees were planted at three branches of the FJKM University, two FJKM seminaries, and the fruit center at Mahatsinjo. Many thanks to all who helped make this possible by donating to the Outreach Alternative Christmas project, “Trees for Madagascar.”

Partner Updates

Mexico

Dedication of PCEA Kiburuti Church in honor of Rev. Dr. Rob Weingartner

Dedication of PCEA Itangi Church