Through generous gifts from many donors, hundreds of families in Kenya recently received food and supplies. Lauren Scharstein, global worker and Deputy Director of Mission for the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, sent this note:
Hi!
We have received the wire transfer for hunger relief. Thank you! With the funds that you sent, we were able to deliver:
Read MoreIn March 2020, schools across Kenya were closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This closure included Mother Esther School and Rescue Center where we usually have a population of 156 girls. During the 8 months of lockdown, we were left with only 42 students.
2021 was intended to be a new year, a fresh start after the uncertainty and restrictions of 2020. In November 2020, most of our students were able to return to Mother Esther School after eight months of lockdown in their home areas. In January 2021, we fully reopened with great joy and celebration. However, we have slowly learned that we are not quite finished with the impacts of 2020. The months in risky, remote areas of Kenya left our girls vulnerable to both child marriage and pregnancy. The stories of trauma that have emerged are many, so I will share one with you today.
Read MoreDear friends,
The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. John 3:8
It all began with a question about the HIV/AIDS course. We wondered, “Can this course be inserted elsewhere as part of another course?” “Maybe it could be grafted into our counseling course?” Alluding to the counseling course, we were then off to the races, finding ourselves in another discussion altogether, which lasted for a good portion of our five-hour meeting. Such was the work of the Spirit on a Saturday morning in early October at Nile Theological College.
Read MoreDear friends,
It is interesting in life how one experience prepares one for a future experience without even knowing it. When I was 30, I was called as pastor of the Black Mountain Presbyterian Church in North Carolina. When I arrived, that church had about 35 retired pastors and their spouses. When I left that church to come to Taiwan, there were 50 pastors and their spouses. I learned during my time there how to be a pastor to pastors.
During my time in Taiwan, in addition to teaching seminary students how to serve as pastors, I also spend a great deal of my time each week accompanying pastors. In weekly pastor spiritual formation groups, retreats, and one-on-one conversations over meals, I listen to pastors here sharing both the challenges and joys of their lives and ministries.
Read MoreDear brothers and sisters, servants of Christ Jesus and collaborators with him in the expansion of the Kingdom,
Grace and peace be with you all.
We've all experienced the difficulties of these past couple of years. But despite the struggles we have faced, battles were won, thus fulfilling the promise that in Christ Jesus we are more than conquerors.
Through your partnership, the gospel has been preached in many places here in Brazil. It has brought salvation to dozens of families in eight different cities, from the southern part of Brazil to the northeast. Here are reports from some of the new churches:
Read MoreDear friends,
Many members of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan (PCoSS), a partner of The Outreach Foundation, remain displaced as a result of the civil conflict which erupted in their homeland in 2013. Some are in camps for displaced people within the country, but many are in refugee camps in Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda. You can imagine the despair and feelings of hopelessness many have experienced. On the premise that we “boast in the hope of the glory of God through faith in Jesus Christ” (Romans 5), The Outreach Foundation has tried to help rebuild hope among our brothers and sisters in Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Sudan. They asked us to provide assistance in four priority areas: preschool education, trauma healing training, providing Bibles in the Nuer language, and scholarships for training leaders. The Presbyterian church has inspirationally and exponentially grown in the camps – in numbers and in faith, hope, and love for their neighbors. Congregations have become critical safety nets and “front-line responders” to hunger and ill health for many refugees. Providing scripture-based trauma healing training has been effective in relieving memories of the past and rebuilding hope for the future.
Read MoreDear friends,
It is September, and I have been back from my trip to Kenya/Ethiopia/South Sudan since the middle of July! In that time, we have welcomed two new grandchildren and navigated through six family members getting the Coronavirus. Nancy was with them, to help out, and experienced a breakthrough COVID infection herself. She stayed in Illinois under quarantine. All are now out of quarantine, recovering and we are so thankful for God’s mercy. NOW, I am able to tell you about the trip, which you made possible through your prayers and support!
As you know, we were all concerned about the risks of travel this summer, but the Lord confirmed the “rightness” of the trip and the timing, over and over again. Yes, it was tricky and stressful, trying to time COVID tests (and their results) to meet various border crossing requirements. But, even so, I was able to navigate through (sometimes at the 11th hour, or through the grace of an airport manager) and keep to the closely timed schedule. Truly amazing!
Read MoreDear friends,
The 2021 cistern building season is over. We thank God for working through our American and Mexican partners to bring year-round rainwater access to hundreds of families in our neck of the subtropical jungle. Thank you for your prayers, time, and support of all kinds. In 2022, we will build cisterns with as many new families as the generosity of our American partners will allow. $2,200 for one family-owned rainwater catchment tank which can collect, store, and distribute up to 15,000 gallons a year for decades is a solid, long-term investment. As a testament to that, I share with you the following:
36 Cisterns Built in 2021 – 609 Cisterns Built Since 2002
Thirty-six family-owned cisterns were built this year: 8 in Carmen Dos, 8 in Unidad y Trabajo, 8 in Caña Brava, and 12 in Quiché Las Pailas. That brings our grand total to 609. Our Mexican cistern-building partners continue to lead the way.
Read MoreDera brothers and sisters,
Greetings to all of you in the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus. Once again, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to you for participating in our ministry here in Brazil. We really appreciate your financial support and your prayers. Just like the apostle Paul's experience with the Philippians, Odete and I have also felt the bonding experience with you as our partners in the Kingdom of God: " And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19.
Despite living in a time of pandemic, our ministry must go on. In order to continue, we have been following the required sanitary protocols. Most of our meetings have been done through online services but whenever we find the opportunity to be among others, we gladly do it. In the city where we currently live, we have been going to a Presbyterian church and fellowshipping in person.
Read MoreDear friends,
Greetings from Orlando! We are still in the U.S. awaiting the time when we can return to Madagascar. Madagascar has a travel ban in place to keep the Delta variant out. Fortunately, new daily COVID-19 cases are currently very low, following a spike in cases this past April. We hope to be able to return to Madagascar in late September or early October.
While we are ready to return to Madagascar, we are grateful for the time with family. We have been able to celebrate Frances’ college graduation, Elizabeth’s parents' 60th wedding anniversary, and Dan’s mother’s 90th birthday as well as visiting Robert.
Read MoreInspirations from the Zambian Church
Dear friends,
Sometimes Sherri and I are asked what we find inspiring about Christians in Zambia. We’d enjoy sharing three traits that have particularly stood out to us.
Singing their faith
One of the things that has always struck us, both in Zambia and at Justo Mwale University, is that the Christian faith is something sung. Many supermarkets play worship music almost all the time. While walking around campus or working in my office, I (Dustin) hear students singing their hearts out numerous times a day. It may be a choir practicing (our resident student body of about 65 has several choirs), or it may be a class starting with a hymn, or it may just be a student walking across campus singing her/his love for God. Perhaps many Zambians take it for granted that life is meant to be spent singing to God. Singing is a main way people learn the faith, deepen it, and express it. Having near-constant songs of God in the air has a way of nourishing our faith. I also suspect it prepares us for the life to come. Additionally, African Christianity creates lots of music, and I’m thankful our students receive an education that helps people to think through the witness which they are singing and producing.
Read MoreDear friends,
Martha and I are now fully vaccinated and starting to move around more. Martha has been in Wichita Falls and Dallas to help with the grandchildren and will be bringing Guillen and Sahia down here with Valerie. The other two will follow when their school year gets out.
The little church I am pastoring in Sitpatch is doing well. We have both in-person and online services although there is the possibility that in-person church will be closed again as the number of COVID cases is going up in Merid
Read MoreDear friends and supporters,
One of the great things about reading Scripture is that you may have read a passage many times before, but in reading it again, there is a word or a phrase or a thought that takes on new meaning. Just this week, I was reading Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”
For some reason, these words jumped off the page at me. The knowledge that He is present with us, He is “mighty to save,” that he delights and quiets and rejoices over us, is really overwhelming. Unconditional love. No strings attached. How can our response be anything but obedience and love for Him by loving others? These thoughts made me so appreciative of The Outreach Foundation, a vehicle for that obedience and love for others, and for you, our friends and supporters. Thank you for letting me be a part of this good and godly work with you.
Our partners in Africa continue to be faithful in their efforts to feed, clothe and disciple their congregants, and others in their spheres of influence, even with the challenges of pandemic restrictions.
Read MoreDear friends,
As I am writing this, it is already Maundy Thursday afternoon here in Taiwan. I had the privilege of designing a Holy Week worship service with the Worship Committee of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. We began the service at the headquarters in downtown Taipei on the roof of the GA building at ten this morning. The theme was "Following Jesus' Road of Love," so we slowly descended the stairs and stopped on each floor where we experienced something of Jesus' road during this week.
The church here reflects the diversity of the larger culture, so we had women and men, older folks and younger folks, indigenous, Hakka, and folks from the larger population. At each station, we read scripture in a variety of different languages and sang in different tongues.
Read MoreThe FJKM Church’s Response in a time of COVID: Urgent Appeal for Southern Madagascar
Dear friends,
It is hard to believe that we are in Lent and Easter is around the corner! As we head into the second year of uncertainty in this time of COVID-19, we remember God’s presence and our blessings which gives us hope. We have been blessed to be close to family as we wait for the time when we can return to Madagascar. Our daughter Frances graduated from college in December and has now started teaching first-grade in person in Orlando. Our son Robert is in his 2nd year in a master’s program in art therapy and counseling in Chicago. It is a blessing to work in partnership with the FJKM (Fianangonan’i Jesoa Kristy eto Madagasikara), The Outreach Foundation’s partner church in Madagascar. We give thanks for the technology that enables us to be in frequent contact with our FJKM colleagues.
The contracted economy and lack of tourist revenue because of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to bring daily hardships for the vast majority of Malagasy people. The cases of COVID are now increasing. In the midst of these struggles, there is some encouraging news coming from our Malagasy colleagues. Things to be thankful for in Madagascar include:
Read MoreMike 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:
Greetings, friends!
Steph and I are grateful for your concern and prayers for us. Here are a few items that occupy our prayers over the next months. Thanks for sharing with us in your prayers.
As we feel the COVID cloud beginning to lift, opportunities for travel and ministry are becoming frequent. I spoke recently in Memphis, TN, and Ephrata WA. We hope that international travel will return soon.
Read MoreDear friends,
We usually speak of Justo Mwale University as a place for preparing pastors. Indeed, JMU has trained many pastors for seven countries throughout Southern Africa. But additionally, JMU plays a key role in equipping scholars who themselves go on to train pastors in other African theological schools.
For instance, Rev. Bannet Muwowo, whom I (Dustin) advised during his master's program, now trains pastors himself as the principal at Chasefu Theological College in eastern Zambia. Rev. Agnes Nyirenda Nyondo, who graduated a few years ago, is a new lecturer at the University of Livingstonia’s School of Theology in Malawi. We also have former students teaching in seminaries in Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Read MoreDear brothers and sisters,
The Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil, like any Christian denomination of historical tradition, has faced difficulties in its healthy growth in the fulfillment of the Great Commission. There are hundreds of stagnant local churches whose pastors and leaders are calling for a path of awakening and new life for these churches.
The coronavirus pandemic that has persisted for more than a year has only made the struggles and difficulties of the survival of these local churches even more evident.
Since 2013 the SARA Institute has supported pastors and churches of various denominations both in church planting and church revitalization. SARA has now partnered with IPI do Brazil's theological seminary and they are offering a master's degree in Church Revitalization. The program aims to be a promoter of ideas and also offer strategies and tools to students to cooperate with their local churches in strategic actions of revitalization.
Read More
