Different? How?!
A year ago, if someone told you that things during the year would be different…you would have asked, “Different, how?…in what way?” Now people are telling us that things will be different in 2021…but, “different? How? …it’s already become different!” Our churches embraced “different”! So many fellowships, and IWs, have faced the challenges of promoting Alliance missions, and engaged well. Here are the testimonies of 4 NCD churches. Three story tellers are missions mobilizers, one is the lead pastor. These narratives tell it well!
Hawley Alliance Church
“We knew we needed to continue to find ways to bring attention to IWs and the work being done.”
2020 has provided many new challenges, including how do you interact with International Workers, how do you have church let alone hold a Missions Conference? We were fortunate that our Missions Conference was last March. March 8th we had just had Maddi and Grant visit to share about their Internship coming up with Envision. On March 15th we had An sharing about the work occurring in Vietnam. However, having completed the Missions Engagement Assessment tool, we knew we needed to continue to find ways to bring attention to International Workers and the work being done. We needed to be creative and use technology to our advantage to continue to connect our body with the IW’s. One Sunday, Pastor Steve interviewed the Yoder’s (after their arrival in Berlin) live during our services. We were able to connect with them in a very unique way and even see a little of their neighborhood. Although it took coordination, technology, and effort; it was worth it to have many in our body meet the Yoder’s for the first time and learn about their excitement and reason for being in Berlin. Next, we used Zoom to have K (CAC) join one of our Alliance Women meetings one month. Then shortly after that K&A (CAC) created a unique video (with stick figure puppets) that we could show during our service even though we were streaming live, too. This gave us the opportunity to again introduce a couple to our church body in a unique way but keeping everyone safe. With a little innovation, technology, and effort there are still great opportunities for each church body to connect personally with our IW’s whether at home or in the field. Jen Hoft - missions leader
Grand Rapids Alliance Church
“We were able to have discussions with the IWs where we wouldn’t have done before this.”
This year at Grand Rapids Alliance Church our focus has been on how to help the whole church better connect with the IWs. As the mission team looked at how to help people become better connected and engaged, we started looking at the Alliance’s Engagement Tool, Alongside Journey, and the monthly NCD IW Prayer Updates. Through our discussions and these tools, it became very clear that rather than talking to the church about everything God is doing around the world, it would help them become connected if we partnered with a few IW families while still being aware of the other work being done. So, this year we have gone down the path of developing our first partnerships with IW families. With the new partnerships, the church will be able to focus on connecting with these few IWs through the 5 key elements of consistently praying for their needs, being aware of what they are doing, going there to pray/support them or on a short term missions trip, caring for them during their home visit or their kids, and financial support through GCF or special projects they have. By developing this relationship, the church will be getting consistent updates and know what the IW is doing. This will help everyone become invested in the IWs at a personal level.
One other exciting change this year — we are doing to is to help connect our youth group with some of the IW youth kids. This will be an opportunity for our youth group to be able to connect with some of the kids serving overseas and learn more about what life is like for them. Through the interactions they will be able to support each other and be excited to connect when the IW family comes back for their home assignment.
The challenges of giving updates on the IWs during our church service this year lead to some good opportunities. With services being recorded we were forced to limit the use of names and countries for the CAC IWs. But we are able to use some unique videos the CMA had from various IWs that we hadn’t seen or used in the past. We also took advantage of the use of Zoom and were able to have discussions with the IWs where we wouldn’t have done before this.
Over the next year, the whole church will have some better opportunities to have a deeper connection with what God is doing through the IWs. Wade Thorson - missions leader
Verndale Alliance Church
“Not being able to see them has not diminished our heart toward them, it has amplified it!”
In 2018, our church family entered into a strategic mission partnership with our IW team in west Africa. The formal agreement was the end result of a multi-year journey of prayer, discussions, more prayer, and research to discover where and with whom God wanted us to direct our mission efforts. I can still remember the air of excitement when we were able to meet with members of the IW team here in Verndale for our Missions emphasis week. That excitement only grew as we sent our first team to the field. We were no sooner back and already preparing for our next short-term team to go. In March of 2020 we had the chance to have another IW team member family with us for our spring Missionfest. As our week together began, we still saw Covid-19 as something of a short-lived interruption. Little did we know that by the time we drove our IW partners to the airport the whole world would be changing. Within a few days of our visit everything seemed to come to a sudden stop.
From a missions standpoint what hit the hardest was our summer 2020 team was scrapped. When partnership talks first began, we came to the conclusion that the foundation of a successful pairing would be the relationships we would build between the field and our church family. We operated under the conviction that to build those relationships we would need to be committed to “boots on the ground” work, both in West Africa and here. Now this strongly held belief was in jeopardy. How could we build the needed connections when they couldn’t come here and we couldn’t go there?
As the last 9 months have passed, God is still surprising me! Although we have not yet been in the same geographical spot as our partners, we have been able to deepen our relationship with each other. The need to rethink how we build relationships brought on by Covid-19, has had a positive impact on our prayer ministry for each other. As our world slowed down more people within our congregation had time to focus on, and seek out, prayer needs for our partners. Our increased use of virtual and digital media for domestic ministry fit seamlessly with our partners increased use of these same resources. While we still value and look forward to resuming our face-to-face partnership we have come to appreciate that even when much of life stops, the work God calls us to doesn’t. The old saying, “absence makes the heart grow fonder” certainly applies to our feelings toward our mission partners. Not being able to see them has not diminished our heart toward them, it has amplified it! Tony Stanley, pastor
Hillside Community Church
“Missions helped us focus our pain into something good!”
Hillside faced many challenges this year. In addition to all the chaos COVID 19 generated, we also lost our lead pastor in March. Our grief was suspended when we were unable to meet and heal together due to the pandemic. Once we were finally able to come together again, missions helped us focus our pain into something good. As a congregation, we were able to find common goals that united us, even when political and social positions sought to divide us. As the body of Christ we were able to come together under the same banner, missions outreach.
Hillside tackled the COVID challenge in a, seemingly, unique way. We decided to keep on with most of our annual events including City Sweep (helping the local community with yard work and general upkeep) and our Global Outreach (GO) Conference. The challenge was to creatively include those with different comfort levels in group settings. Some events were held outside; some were live-streamed. We increased the amount of small-group events for our GO Conference. However, we still held large events as well. Our largest event this fall was the Great Pumpkin Shootout and Chili Contest, with 60-70 people attending. Hillside drew an important boundary during all of this. As a church, we have a responsibility to provide mission’s outreach opportunities for the congregation. However, we had to be careful that we didn’t start assuming responsibilities that lie with the congregation as individuals. Ultimately, each person needed to decide what events were right for them to attend. As leadership, we increased the variety of events, but we couldn’t stop having them. It was so important for our congregation to be able to channel our grief into something with eternal value. Missions outreach filled that gap for us this year. Stacia Buchholtz - missions leader
Fellow leaders and partners in Alliance missions, the next 12 months will bring challenges for us personally and corporately. We step forward in faith, as we trust our Celestial Father who holds the universe in his hand! We act in faith, as we use the creativity which God has instilled in the human race, and leverage technology to enhance relationships with our IWs, and the global Church!
Dave Manske
Missions Mobilizer
North Central District of The C&MA