As we being 2021, EPC World Outreach wanted to let you in on 3 opportunities to connect with us and pursue a call to missions – both abroad and in your own neighborhood.

The EPC WO Missions Cohort is a space dedicated to engaging young adults that are interested in missions; Through mentoring, fellowship, and study together, this cohort pursues God’s leading and discerns the call towards the field. Cierra H., a member of the current Missions Cohort, has found her experience to be invaluable…

 

 

As I’m writing this today, my birthday has just passed.  I was born on August 23, 1960.  I was born to a godly young couple, and from before I was born, I was in church.  My mother was singing in the church choir while she was pregnant with me.  I have been in church my entire life; I grew up surrounded by the gospel.  I went to Sunday School, sang in the youth choir, went to youth camp, recited parts in Christmas plays, and memorized John 3:16 at an early age.  I came to faith very early in my life and have been sustained and uplifted by that faith to this very day.  I’ve known the gospel my whole life.

Somewhere in the world today there is another man who just had a birthday.  This man was also born on August 23, 1960.  But unlike me, he’s lived nearly 60 years now and has never one time in his life heard the gospel.  He can’t quote John 3:16; he’s never heard it; never read it.  He’s never been to Sunday School; never attended a worship service.  He’s never had a Bible.  He’s never heard a Christian song.  He was born on the same day I was, but perhaps has never even heard the name, “Jesus.”  Whereas I have been surrounded by the gospel my whole life, he has never one time been exposed to the gospel in any form.

Oswald J. Smith is quoted as having asked, “Why should anyone hear the gospel twice until everyone has heard the gospel at least once?”

That is a convicting question for me.  I think about it often, especially when my birthday comes around and I reflect on my life.  Over the last number of years I’ve come to pray a particular prayer on my birthday.  I pray for the gospel to reach that man; the man born the same day as me, who has never heard the gospel.  I pray that in God’s sovereignty and by His grace the light of the gospel will somehow pierce the darkness in which this man lives; that he would have the good news of the gospel presented to him in a way that he could understand it, embrace it, and believe.

I don’t know if we will celebrate birthdays in heaven.  But I do wonder if one day I might meet this man in eternity and find that the gospel did reach him, and that he came to faith.  How glorious the thought of being able to celebrate with him his “new birth-day!”

When is your birthday?  Would you take a moment right now and pray for that person born the same day as you who has never heard the gospel?  Also, would you consider praying with the leaders in your church family about becoming involved in the EPC/WO Engage 2025 strategy to plant churches among Unreached Muslim People Groups?  Perhaps your church would even consider adopting an unreached people group.  For more information on unreached peoples, check out https://joshuaproject.net/.

 

Written by Wes Tuttle. Wes Tuttle leads worship and missions at River Oaks Community Church

We are in such a time of uncertainty and relational isolation; we must be looking at ways to stay connected.  This is especially important with our missionaries who are also very much isolated from their second family networks in their country of residence and their first family networks in their country of origin. As EPC pastors, elders, and missions leaders, our care and commitment to the missionaries we support is important to prioritize. As one of our missionaries said to me: “we are your staff in another place.”   We need to know them and their needs in order to be better informed as how to pray for them, how to support them, and how to tell them that we really appreciate their service to our Lord.

My wife, Doris, and I have visited many of the ministries/missionary units supported by Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church (CCPC, Englewood, Colorado). As retired Ruling Elders, we know that the Lord has called us to visit these missionaries, American and indigenous. Our purpose is to be with them, in their homes and their location of service. We do not go as tourists. Our time with them is spent discussing in detail the questions posed below, and praying frequently about each of their concerns, challenges, doubts, and personal issues.

Having had the opportunity and privilege to travel to visit CCPC’s international staff, the blessings we received far outweigh what we have done for them.  Seeing firsthand, the work they do and the conditions under which some of them live, helps us to better understand the sacrifice many of them are making serving Our Lord and being faithful to their special call.  They love the people with whom they work; some live in places where they have seen very little response to their sharing the gospel witness.  Still they remain and continue to present God’s love to the people they serve. 

The one issue that is common among most of the missionaries we have visited is loneliness. Prayer letters are sent to financial and prayer supporters; but often very little, if any, responses. Very few of their supporters respond in an e-mail, letter, telephone call, video call, or offer to visit them. Assuring appropriate national etiquette, a brief e-mail inquiring about a specific topic in a prayer letter will result in a more informative response that provides our local Mission Committee to know how to more effectively pray for that missionary.

We have discovered another method to support a few missionaries is to establish frequent contact with their college-age children. With the latter, they have become our “grandchildren.”

Neal Pirolo has written a book titled “Serving as Senders Today.” This challenges those of us who stay on the home front to actively support our missionaries.  This means we are serving those who have answered God’s call on their lives to be Christ’s witnesses to the unreached.  How can we be the people of God who serve – to support, not just monetarily, but with a real presence in the lives of those who are serving God outside the USA?  What is God’s call on our lives to be that support?  We are needed!

Written by World Outreach Committee Member, David VanValkenburg, from Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church

Some questions you and your congregation can ask, to get to know your missionaries and their ministries better.

Summer Mission Jam is an mission and equipping conference for High School students, serving among Afghan, Bangladeshi, Yemeni, Iraqi, and Pakistani peoples in America’s diverse neighborhoods of Hamtramck, MI and Sacramento, CA.

Experience WO is a short-term missions trip to the Muslim communities near San Diego, for EPC members that want to love their Muslim neighbors but aren’t sure how. You’ll spend this week interacting with, and investing in, families from the El Cajon community. This is a fantastic mission trip for families, individuals, and groups. Learn more on our website.

 

Have questions about Summer Mission Jam and Experience WO?
Check our website for more information: SMJ 2020 | Experience WO 2020.

Email our registrar, Cassie Shultz