tell Magazine

tellm a g a z i n e

Fall 2009

Africa

Transition:A New Kind of Stability

Team Expansion’s Log of Love www.teamexpansion.org

Missionary Kids Aftershock

Discover what blessings and challenges Tanzania and Uganda have to offer

A Cultural Combination Post-earthquake Asia

2 fall 2009 • tell

Team Expansion exists to partner with the local church to send and sustain teams of interdependent mis-sionaries to plant indig-enous churches among the least-reached people groups worldwide.

Team Expansion4112 Old Routt RoadLouisville, KY 40299

www.teamexpansion.org

1.800.447.0800 (toll-free)502.719.0007502.719.0008 (fax)

What is the tell?

Revelation 7:9-12 paints a beautiful picture of ev-ery nation coming before the throne of God to wor-ship Him. The tell, Team Expansion’s Log of Love, has functioned as a bridge between ministries around the world and the local church since 1992.

It has been our hope to radiate the goodness of God and the progress that we are making together through this publication. Until that moment before the throne, may we all con-tinue to play our part in fulfilling the Great Com-mission!

tell is produced by Team Expansion, all rights re-served and implied.

EditorJOHN PALMER [email protected]

DesignerSHAUNA [email protected]

Writer & CollaboratorCARLA [email protected]

tellm a g a z i n e

Welcome to our Fall 2009 Edition of tell! As I write you this morning, I’m holding in my hands a copy of a tell magazine from June, 1992. (Actually, it isn’t just a random edition. It is, in fact, the first edition ever to wear the name, tell.) I remember what a painful decision it was to splurge with a splash of blue on the cover of the otherwise-totally-black-and-white issue. Those newsprint pages are now somewhat brittle. But the core vision, the mission statement and the Seven Key Principles are the same, and so is the toll-free number!

But other things have changed. Inside the cover, I wrote a letter much like this one, except the tag line was, “10 Years, 84 Missionaries, 11 Countries, 13 People Groups, 13 Churches!” (See the 2009 version above.) We openly profiled

the work in Uruguay, Venezuela, and several other nations where we were working, printing the names and pictures of those laboring there. These days, nearly half our loca-tions are sensitive, and we dare not publish the names of those working there. Besides, thanks be to God, if we did try to publish stories and pictures of 315 full-time workers, we’d need a few more pages.

That 1992 issue carries a picture of the Lucas family sitting on the steps of our home in what was then the Soviet Union. Our older son was four, our younger son was one, and both Penny and I looked a bit younger. Today, God has raised up a church movement in that region, with the largest church plant running very close to 1,000 people in atten-dance. Meanwhile, as I write this letter to you today, our older son is in Asia, while our younger son is in the Middle East. Penny is in a meeting on the other side of Emerald Hills. And as for me, I’m thankful to tell you that I still have the privilege of working the same job, with many of the same great people.

In fact, one of the most enjoyable parts of thumbing through the yellowed pages of that magazine is to see the number of faces and families that have stayed with us all those years. Others, though no longer formally a part of our organization, continue to work with us as partners.

The title of that 1992 issue was, “Setting Her Sails for a Second Decade of Service.” This year, as we enter our fourth decade, the prayers, the energies, and the dreams are surging more than ever. Thanks to the Lord of the universe and thanks to regular sacrificial gifts from people just like you, the Team Expansion story continues on from 1978 directly into tomorrow. Truly, as we said in that 1992 issue, you can “Join Team Expansion and change a life... maybe your own.”

Here to Serve,

State of the MissionPresident, Team ExpansionDoug Lucas

Setting our Sails for a Fourth Decade of Service31 Years, 315 Missionaries, 47 Countries, 80 People groups, Hundreds of New Churches

3 contents

on the cover

Two women walk down a dirt road near Masasi, Tanzania in April, 2009. (photo by John Palmer Gregg)

Features10 Adopt a Least-Reached People Group A chance for your church to take initiative by TIM STAPLETON

12 Fair Verona “Taking Christ to Italy” begins new phase by CARLA CASSEL

27 Uganda Partnerships create opportunities in East Africa

by JOHN PALMER GREGG

4 TransitionOne family’s life of obedience

8 Emerald HillsFunding and future plans

18 SpainA summer experience with Pathways

20 TanzaniaDifficulties in training leaders

25 Missionary Kids A cultural combination

32 News and Notes What’s happening around the world

34 Aftershock One missionary reflects on post-earthquake Asia

35 Full-time Opportunities A sampling of our most-needed positions worldwide

Contents

Names in this story have been changed for the protection of the mis-sionaries, their teammates, and the Christians living in difficult situ-ations around the world. Epiphany is the Team Expansion name assigned to a country in North Africa for the safety of the believers there.

A truly stable system expects the unexpected, is pre-pared to be disrupted and waits to be transformed. – Tim Robbins

ost people seek out stability. They long for the ex-pected. While they appreciate an occasional sur-prise or variation in their everyday lives, for the most part, they want to know how things are go-

ing to go. And it is a natural desire, because there is security in predictability.

Missionaries are not most people.

The life of a missionary is full of transitions, abrupt disrup-tions, unexpected delays or expeditions, unscheduled varia-tions and general chaos. From the moment a missionary an-swers the question, “Whom shall I send?” with a resounding (or tentative) “Here am I,” their life takes on the essence of instability. They leave the comfort of a regular job, reliable source of income and daily routine for an existence full of ques-tions, on-the-spot adaptations and never-ending flexibility.

This is a reality the Perez family knows all too well.

Less than five years ago, Jorge and Louisa Perez and their son, Juan, were living a regular life in Venezuela. Jorge ran a suc-cessful real estate business, and the family actively participated in their local church, where Jorge was a pastor. Their roots in the community were deep, and the family enjoyed the com-

Transition: A New Kind of Stability

pany of many close friends and family.

That security was secondary, however, to their desire to be obedi-ent to God’s plan.

“I remember that one day I just felt a strong call. God was calling me to be a missionary,” Jorge reflects. “And I felt like, in a way, it was a great loss leaving that work and heading to someplace totally different.”

EPIPHANYDespite his initial questions, Jorge and his family soon felt privi-leged and excited to respond to that pull God put on their lives. To their great surprise, however, they realized God was calling them to work in a Muslim nation.

“When I realized that that call was leading me toward a Muslim country, I said, ‘No!’” Jorge laughs as he tells the story. “The re-ligion is different. The food is different. In a certain form, just the way they think and look at life is very different.”

Despite the many changes they would have to make by transition-ing from a South American culture to Epiphany, a country in North Africa, the Perez family willingly stepped forward.

They were prepared for some of the cultural adaptations they’d have to make. They knew, for instance, that any public displays of affection between Jorge and Louisa would strongly offend the people in Epiphany, so they decided long before arriving that they would follow the cultural expectations.

Other new traditions were a little more surprising.

M

by CARLA CASSEL


5

“One custom that was very difficult to deal with was that the men greet each other with a kiss,” Jorge recalls with a smile. “But I had to do it!”

Not all of the cultural traditions could be handled with a powerful sense of humor.

Louisa shudders as she remembers her first encounter with an unpleasant aspect of the so-ciety. “It was very hard for me to understand that, in that culture, a man can hit a woman and it’s not a problem. It’s not unacceptable. I experienced that in one of the first houses that I went to, and felt bad, but there was nothing I could do.”

In addition to the cultural changes, arrival in Epiphany brought countless other adap-tations. Jorge and Louisa only spoke Span-ish, but they were joining an American team, so they knew they’d need to learn English in addition to the traditional Arabic and also the local dialect nec-essary for communicating with the nationals. Because Jorge would be interacting in the professional sphere, he also had to learn French, which is the business language in Epiphany.

Despite the many changes and challenges, the Perez family adapted and thrived in their new home. They

connected to the community there, built friendships, shared the Gospel and lived life fully. They were planting new roots and growing in powerful ways.

transition

Missionaries leave the comfort of a regular job, reliable source of income and daily routine for an existence full of questions, adaptations and flexibility.

But the changes in their lives were just beginning.

Last year, a national spy reported Jorge to the local police for sharing the Gospel and distributing Bibles. He spent many hours in the police station answering countless questions about his activities. In order to leave, he had to make a declaration and sign a document, which permitted the government to re-strict the family’s visa process.

When the time for the family’s renewed residency visas to ar-rive, nothing came. Though their business partner’s visa ar-rived on time, the Perez family simply had to wait. They waited for months, realizing with each day that their time in Epiphany was running out.

After months of praying, inquiring, hoping and waiting for their visas, the Perez family reluctantly went back to Venezuela, still hoping that they would receive permis-sion to return.

They spent two months in a state of uncertainty in Venezuela. Their partner stayed in Epiph-any trying to work out the situation, but it was slowly becoming clear to everyone in-volved that the Perez’s door to Epiphany was closed.

This realization was painful, but not a complete surprise. Jorge had known the risk. “When someone goes to this part of the world, you know that the possibility is real of being kicked out, and you also know that you’re not the first ones that has happened to.”

TRANSITIONWhile in Venezuela, Jorge contemplated the op-tion of staying. It would have been easy to resume his normal life. “The thought did go through my mind,” Jorge confesses. “I thought, ‘What’s going on? What’s going to happen? Should I consider the possibility of maybe just starting up my busi-ness again?’ But through praying, I just knew that I didn’t see myself there.”

When the Perez family accepted the reality that they would not be returning to Epiphany, they trav-eled to the United States to meet with the Team Expansion leadership team and to get their son settled into his freshman year of college.

Their meetings with the leadership team resulted in another

unexpected change.

“We didn’t really just want to make a decision on our own. We were praying and we wanted to hear about what the lead-ership team thought about the situation. They began to talk about the possibilities for the future, and one of the first pos-sibilities was Spain. And that hit me really hard. I thought, “Wow! That could be a great possibility!” Jorge shook his head, as if still amazed by the turns his life had made.

In the midst of this latest transition, Jorge and Louisa process their mixed feelings.

“I feel sad, but at the same time, I feel full regarding the new vision and what could actually be developed there.

I’m sad because we’re leaving many believers and we’re going to miss the church. And, of course, we’re very

sad to be leaving that team we were a part of,” Jorge admits.

Louisa, who usually is content to let her hus-band speak, tentatively adds, “There’s just

that great big question mark. We’re ex-cited about this, but how is this all go-

ing to work out? But I do know that the Lord goes ahead of us, and for

some reason, He has permitted this change to occur.”

FAITHWhen the Perez family stepped up in response to God’s persistent prompting just five years ago, they never could have anticipated where that obedience would lead them. They learned and are still learning that trusting God is the greatest source of stability.

“I’m not the same now as I was when I first start-ed,” Jorge realizes. “I’ve seen how God has been faithful – faithful to His work, faithful with me.”

Louisa agrees with her husband. “When you ex-perience a real change in your own life, it just makes you depend on God. And you just learn to walk in faith. You live the experience, and that

makes a difference in who you are and how you respond.”

pathwayspathways

When the time for the family’s renewed residency visas to ar-rive, nothing came. Though their business partner’s visa ar-rived on time, the Perez family simply had to wait. They waited for months, realizing with each day that their time in Epiphany

After months of praying, inquiring, hoping and waiting for their visas, the Perez family reluctantly went back to Venezuela, still hoping that they would receive permis-

They spent two months in a state of uncertainty in Venezuela. Their partner stayed in Epiph-any trying to work out the situation, but it was slowly becoming clear to everyone in-volved that the Perez’s door to Epiphany was closed.

This realization was painful, but not a complete surprise. Jorge had known the risk. “When someone goes to this part of the world, you know that the possibility is real of being kicked out, and you also know that you’re not the first ones that has happened to.”

TRANSITIONWhile in Venezuela, Jorge contemplated the op-tion of staying. It would have been easy to resume his normal life. “The thought did go through my mind,” Jorge confesses. “I thought, ‘What’s going on? What’s going to happen? Should I consider the possibility of maybe just starting up my busi-ness again?’ But through praying, I just knew that I didn’t see myself there.”

When the Perez family accepted the reality that they would not be returning to Epiphany, they trav-eled to the United States to meet with the Team Expansion leadership team and to get their son settled into his freshman

Their meetings with the leadership team resulted in another

“We didn’t really just want to make a decision on our own. We were praying and we wanted to hear about what the lead-ership team thought about the situation. They began to talk about the possibilities for the future, and one of the first pos-sibilities was Spain. And that hit me really hard. I thought, “Wow! That could be a great possibility!” Jorge shook his head, as if still amazed by the turns his life had made.

In the midst of this latest transition, Jorge and Louisa process their mixed feelings.

“I feel sad, but at the same time, I feel full regarding the new vision and what could actually be developed there.

I’m sad because we’re leaving many believers and we’re going to miss the church. And, of course, we’re very

sad to be leaving that team we were a part of,” Jorge admits.

Louisa, who usually is content to let her hus-band speak, tentatively adds, “There’s just

that great big question mark. We’re ex-cited about this, but how is this all go-

ing to work out? But I do know that the Lord goes ahead of us, and for

some reason, He has permitted this change to occur.”

FAITHWhen the Perez family stepped up in response to God’s persistent prompting just five years ago, they never could have anticipated where that obedience would lead them. They learned and are still learning that trusting God is the greatest source of stability.

“I’m not the same now as I was when I first start-ed,” Jorge realizes. “I’ve seen how God has been faithful – faithful to His work, faithful with me.”

Louisa agrees with her husband. “When you ex-perience a real change in your own life, it just makes you depend on God. And you just learn to walk in faith. You live the experience, and that

makes a difference in who you are and how you respond.”

pathwayspathwaysFind out more about missionary life!

Contact [email protected]

pathwayspathwayspathways

what are you waiting for?

summer internships 10 weeks [email protected]

pathwayspathways


A Missions Nerve CenterEmerald Hills

ur International Sending Base, a new 61-acre campus on the outskirts of Louisville, Kentucky, is known as Emerald Hills. It is a place to pray, retreat and learn about God and His eternal plan for the world.

The first phase of work done at Emerald Hills has included ac-quiring the land, building a 6,000-square-foot barn and work-shop, excavating the land and creating the infrastructure as well as constructing the 10,000-square-foot Prayer Center and Atrium building. This entire phase is all but complete and we have moved to the new campus.

We have made good progress on covering the costs of con-struction so far. Our contractor gave preliminary estimates for erecting the building and God provided gift and pledges for that amount. Unfortunately, the excavation estimates were too low. The contractor also assumed much of the work and mate-rials would be donated by volunteers, laborers and vendors.

About that time, the economy slowed, the cost of copper and other materials sky-rocketed and several vendors and volun-teers had to withdraw their offers to assist. The bank, which held the note on our property, did not like the idea of financing a half-finished project, so we pushed on through construction.

by DOUG LUCAS

O By the time we paid all the bills and the dust settled, the final price tag had doubled.

To cover this difference, we are currently promoting four ma-jor initiatives.

HOPEWELL HOUSEThe first plan involves selling our previous building, which came to be known as The Hopewell House. The entire amount from this sale will be applied toward the principal owed for the construction of Phase I. Please pray for a buyer. If you know of a group that needs a meeting place, or a daycare looking for a home on the east side of Louisville, please contact our office and we’ll put you in touch with our realtor.

PROJECT 29The second plan is known as “Project 29.” It involves recruit-ing major partners to fund and construct 29 different prayer shelters at various locations throughout the campus. These prayer shelters are named in honor of the sponsoring church, company or individual. Only three more prayer shelters re-main to be claimed (See sidebar). To adopt a shelter, the donat-ing partner commits to give a total of $24,000 one-time gift or $25,000 if given over time. This offering not only covers

(This list will be featured on a decorative plaque near the entrance of the Prayer Center & Atrium.)

Fern Creek Christian Church, Louisville, Ky. -- Fern Creek pioneered the “29” initiative by build-ing the Prayer Pavilion -- then daring 29 other churches, groups and/or individuals to step up to the plate and match their leap of faith. (Note that because their structure is a pavilion and not a gazebo-like shelter, we do not actually count Fern Creek’s structure as one of the 29 prayer shelters.)

1 Shively Christian Church, Louisville, Ky.

2 Center Pointe Christian Church,

Cincinnati, Ohio

3 Indian Creek Christian Church, Indianapolis, Ind.

4 Westerville Christian Church, Columbus, Ohio

5 College Heights Christian Church, Joplin, Mo.

6 Energy Automation Systems Incorporated,

Nashville, Tenn.

7 Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, Ky.

8 Crossroads Christian Church, Evansville, Ind.

9 Andover Christian Church Youth &

Sunday School, Andover, Ohio

10 First Church of Christ, Burlington, Ky.

11 Wilmington Church of Christ,

Wilmington, Ohio

12 “Widow’s mite”

13 First Christian Church, Sullivan, Ind.

14 River Valley Christiain Church, Goshen, Ky.

15 “Emmanuel” (Anonymous)

16 Okolona Christian Church, Louisville, Ky.

17 First Christian Church, Morristown, Tenn.

18 N. Madison Christian Church, Madison, Ind.

19 Fayetteville Church of Christ,

Fayetteville, Ohio

20 Beverly Cheatum Memorial Prayer Shelter

21 Cecil Byrd Memorial Prayer Shelter

22 Crossroads Christian Church, Evansville, Ind.

23 Davis Foundation

24 Brigada, www.brigada.org

25 Neighbors of Emerald Hills --

Routt Road neighborhood

26 Freetown Church of Christ, Freetown, Ind.

27 -

28 -

29 -

Find out more about Emerald Hills!Contact [email protected]

www.emeraldhills.infowww.multiplythemomentum.org

www.enlargetheharvest.org

the cost of the gazebo itself (which then functions as a prayer shelter on Emerald Hills’ prayer trails), but also provides a handheld computer for use on the trails as a guide for prayer -- and of course, it also helps cover a major share of Phase I costs.

ENLARGE the HARVESTThe third major plan is called “Enlarge the Harvest.” It involves recruiting Part-ners to give funds on a monthly, semi-annual, or annual basis (normally with a three-year commitment). The typical pledge made by individuals is $100, twice a year, for three years (so the full amount is usually a $600 pledge over three years). The typical pledge by churches has ranged from $300 - $400.

Dozens of partners have already committed to the plan, resulting in pledges that should help with Phase I costs in the months to come. However, many more part-ners are still needed. To sign up, point your browser to www.EnlargetheHarvest.org. It is the simplest and most affordable way to become involved.

These partnerships will also result in establishing a regular strategic fund that will grant major dollars to projects worldwide. Enlarge the Harvest will become an ongoing super-fund to assist various Team Expansion teams with ongoing dreams around the world. Where the other plans call for what amounts to one-time gifts, Enlarge the Harvest is destined to become a permanent fixture at Team Expansion.

MULTIPLY the MOMENTUMThe fourth plan, Multiply the Momentum, focuses on the principal owed for Phase I. The idea is to find Stewards who would be willing to save Team Expan-sion significantly in interest payments by “prepaying” the principal in advance for just one single month of the mortgage. Using this plan, Team Expansion would end up saving nearly two million dollars in interest alone.

Thanks to good stewardship and tight-fisted money management, our Financial Director was able to make a whopper of a first payment. In fact, she was able to apply $100,000 of organizational funds directly to principal, saving the organi-zation $333,157.74. By getting involved in Multiply the Momentum, you can help Team Expansion, and the church at large, save up to double or triple the amount you give. For more information, to get updates on the campaign or to sign up, point your browser to www.MultiplyTheMomentum.org. This leaves 264 months to adopt, with the corresponding principal payments ranging in size from $3,224 to $11,233.

Stewards can choose their payment based on dollar amount or year and month. (A complete list of Stewards will be posted on a tasteful plaque at the entrance of the Prayer Center & Atrium. If they prefer to do so, Stewards may sponsor their month as a tribute or memorial gift to honor a lost loved one, a hero of the faith, or a family member.) Our hope is that the principal for each sponsored month might be prepaid by Christmas 2010.

If God answers our prayer by raising up these Stewards, all Phase I costs will be cov-ered by the end of 2009. Emerald Hills will be totally debt-free. The Lord’s Stewards will have saved Team Expansion and local churches literally millions of dollars.

FUTURE PLANSFuture phases of construction will include housing for missionaries, a complete training/retreat center, and more. In financing those phases, we are committed to locking in construction contracts in advance. We will be cautious with verbal commitments, making sure we quantify and verify prospective gifts in advance. We will then raise funds for those locked-in contracts before construction. All our missionaries are already reaping huge benefits from Emerald Hills! Thank you for your help, your prayers and your partnership in this quest. We are grateful for your friendship!

very 31 days the Staff at International Services prays for every one of the 195 countries of the world by name. When you consider the objective of the Great Commission “Make disciples from every na-

tion” (Matt. 28:19), the task seems achievable. In fact, we might wonder why haven’t we accomplished the goal? Surely we can find some disciples in each of these 195 countries!

A closer look at the Great Commission verses (Matt. 28:19-20, Luke 24:47, Acts 1:8, Rev. 7:9) reveals that God’s mis-sion is not directed to “nations” but rather specific “people groups.” The word that appears as nation in our English Bibles is the Greek word ethnos, which refers to eth-nic or ethnicity. God’s Mission, which is fulfilled in Rev. 7:9, is to have disciples in every one of the 16,308 people groups in the world. That number seems a bit more daunt-ing, but God would not give us a task we cannot accomplish.

At a recent special event, Dave Linn, 2010 President of the Na-tion Missionary Convention and long-time Team Expansion missionary, challenged us to begin a “revolution” within the “Restoration Movement” to take the Gospel to those who re-main unreached. He rolled out a scroll containing the names of over 6,700 people groups who have had no significant contact with the saving message of Jesus Christ.

We might spend time debating why, after 2000 years, we have been unsuccessful reaching everyone with the Gospel. But, in-stead, why not set our hearts and minds to the task that remains? Let us recognize what God is doing in the world (mission) and determine how He is calling us to join Him (missions).

Why not adopt a least-reached people group and commit to planting a church where the Gospel has never been preached?

Team Expansion has developed a strategy for doing just that.

Adopt a Least - Reached People Groupby TIM STAPLETON

E

tell • fall 2009 10

We call the program PACE, which is an acronym for Pray, Activate, Commit and Enlist. The strategy is proven to be suc-cessful globally, in the making of disciples among the unreached and locally as Christians engage in prayer and evangelism as never before. One church leader commented that PACE is the most visionary thing happening at his church.

As the acronym implies, PACE begins with Prayer. Specifical-ly, prayer for renewal. A local PACE prayer coordinator tells that a small group in her church had met weekly for several years and specifically prayed that God would bring a renewed

A Muslim man walks through

a market in northern Africa.

(photo by Shauna Peterson)


focus to the church’s prayer life. Through PACE the church leadership united in prayer and were quickly led to adopt a spe-cific least-reached people group. Now the entire church, lead by their leaders, is engaged in prayer for that specific group. The church has already “Activated” to plant a church where Jesus has not been preached.

Will you commit now to pray for renewal? That your person-al relationship with Jesus would be renewed? That the pas-sion, vision and mission of your church would be the same as Christ?

PACE Coaches are strategically located throughout the USA. They are ready to help you tackle your part in the fulfillment of God’s great mission to win the world.

And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)

11 adopt a least-reached people group

Find out more about PACE!Contact [email protected]

www.teamexpansion.org/PACE

VeronaVerona

VeronaVerona

by CARLA CASSELphotos by SHAUNA PETERSON

Fair


walk down any street in Ve-rona will provide astound-ing beauty from all angles. Above you, there are elabo-

rate balconies with flowers of all col-ors and rows of picturesque laundry drying in the breeze. In front of you are delightful cafés, brightly colored produce stands, and people so beauti-ful they look like they came straight from the pages of a fashion magazine.

Even the streets of Verona are impres-sive. The cobblestone is so old that Shakespeare’s Juliet probably walked on it, and that’s just the side streets. The main streets are made of marble, and when it rains, everything glistens, as if aware and proud of how beautiful it is.

But just below the surface of those spar-kling streets, there are the ruins of anoth-er life. Old, crumbling bricks and stones, stacked precariously hundreds of years ago, lie in broken formation directly be-low fair Verona. All that immaculate glo-ry is hiding what is just below the surface.

This is a powerful metaphor for the people themselves. Everything about the outside is decorated and perfected. Their clothes are expensive, their cars are fast, and their balconies are individ-ual works of art. Everything that some-one might see on the outside is given highest priority. In fact, the Italians have a phrase for this mindset: la bella figura, literally “beautiful face.” It simply means that you spend your time, money and energy making the outside beauti-ful, but what is being done for the inside?

CHRIST IN ITALY Historically, Italy has had a powerful background with the Catholic Christian church. Unfortunately, much of that heritage is remembered only in tradition that permeates everyday life, but fails to translate into active relationships with Christ. In the Field Handbook written for the Verona Team, Matt Crosser points out that only 6 percent of Italians consider themselves to be “devout, prac-ticing Roman Catholics.” The Protes-tant representation in Italy is even more

startling, with only 0.82 percent of the population claiming that faith, which is well below the 2-5 percent necessary for a people group to be considered least reached.

In addition to the statistics, there is also the general mindset of the Italians. “Everybody probably thinks Italians are very religious, because we have the Pope, but we’re not. I don’t know any-one who reads the Bible – and only a few people who even have one,” said a young Italian woman to a Team Expan-sion missionary. “People use the church as a good luck charm. When they want something, they stop at the church to go pray.”

Fortunately, in 1995, Team Expansion joined with Shively Christian Church in Louisville, Ky. in a joint effort for reaching the Italians with the love and glory of Christ. Shively took on Italy as a PACE project, a program that encour-ages churches to Pray, Activate, Com-mit and Enlist in reaching an unreached

A

Roman ruins lying underneath the city. (Sides) Italians go about their daily life in Verona.

people group for Christ.

Shively and Team Expansion created a 25-year plan for Italy, with churches eventually being planted in three re-gions of Italy. That plan came to be called “Taking Christ to Italy.”

PHASE ONE: GO ANCONA!By 2001, the first team was in position in Ancona, a city along the east coast of Italy. As pioneers in this ministry, they had to try several methods for reaching the Italians.

The team in Ancona found many obstacles in the hearts of the Italians, especially relating to the integrated misconceptions of Catholicism. “People are longing for life-changing encounters with God and not finding them in the church, so they are looking in any kind of spirituality as long as it doesn’t look like Christianity. It almost seems here that it is more acceptable for

someone to be a Buddhist, a Muslim or an Atheist than to be a different brand of Christian,” said Jason Casey, Ancona Team Leader.

Finding ways to overcome these ob-stacles and reach the Italians with the love of Christ has not been easy. Origi-nally, the team tried using a traditional church-planting approach – combining publicity and relationships. They invited people over with the hopes of studying the Bible. Eventually, this led to outreach focused on relationship-building around

conversational English, which helped them create a community of believers.

Originally, the church in Ancona was meeting formally for service, but they

15 fair verona

soon found individual cell churches to be more effective. As those core groups have grown and changed, the Italian believers have decided to come back together and meet as a united body.

The Ancona church is still young and growing, but as it slowly got its founda-tion and began to build, it became clear that the time had come to begin the sec-ond phase of “Taking Christ to Italy.”

PHASE TWO: GO VERONA!The second phase in “Taking Christ to

Italy” was to plant a church in northern Italy. Much prayer and research went into choosing a target city for the northern outreach. They felt the city needed to meet spe-cific criteria, such as no pre-existing work of the Christian

Churches or Churches of Christ, strong academia in the area and central location for public transportation.

After a prayer-and-survey trip to four

Everybody probably thinks Italians are very religious, because we have the Pope, but we’re not.

cities, Verona was unanimously chosen for the next site. In addition to meeting all of Team Expansion’s requirements for a location, the members of the sur-vey trip also received two special reasons to return to Verona. First, a small local church invited the group to a prayer meeting and told them, “We are praying that more people will come – that people will start a church here.”

Secondly, a non-Christian who learned what they were hoping to accomplish asked them to find her if they chose Ve-rona, so that they could teach her about the Bible. Those two direct invitations were very influential in the decision-making process.

Matt and Angie Crosser, who had been on the Ancona team from its beginning, and April Houk, a 10-year missionary in Haiti, were already on board to be part of the new team, with Matt using his ex-perience in Ancona to be the new Team Leader.

ARTS CENTEROne issue the team would face was how to approach ministry in Verona. At best, the Italians dismiss religion, and at worst - they despise it. To be effective, the team could not just move in and set up a church. They had to be intentional and relational, and they needed a way in.

When Houk was considering her desire to serve in Italy, she knew she wanted a specific approach. “When I think about my strongest relationships with non-Christians, it’s been my opera coach, painting teacher and people from ball-room dancing. It’s been through the arts,” Houk explained.

Fortunately, that was also what the team leader, Matt Crosser, had envi-sioned. Verona is especially proud of its artistic culture and history, and the arts are a powerful vehicle for reaching its 260,000 residents.

Their vision soon developed into a

dream for an Arts Center where the team could teach music, dancing, draw-ing, painting and more. Once they had established that plan, they began re-cruiting team members with a heart for Italy, a willingness to serve and obey and an artistic inclination.

John and Ann Blackburn, who had been on the survey trip, were invited to join, and the addition of Brandon and Savan-nah Eaton and Brandi Davis rounded out the initial team. Each member has a specific artistic gift to contribute, and a dream for an Arts Center in Verona.

IN THE MEANTIMEThe Crossers moved to Verona in June of 2009, with Houk following just a few weeks later. Less than two months into their new life, the Crossers had to return to the States for a family emergency.

The Blackburns, Eatons, and Davis are at various stages of the support-raising process, with every day bringing them


closer to Italy.

For the moment, Houk is the lone mem-ber of the team actually living in Verona. She is in her third month of language school, learning to live and think like an Italian, and being intentional in her relationships.

Houk recognized early that the Italians themselves are very routine, and she makes an effort to see the same people at the same time each week. “I go to one flower stand every week and talk to them. And I go to one fruit and veggie stand every week, and get to know them.”

She also actively participates in life with her neighbors, teachers, and fellow stu-dents. Even though the official ministry of the Art Center is still many months away, her personal ministry with the people she encounters is already thriving.

“Right now,” Houk admitted, “I’m pray-ing for real friendships. And I pray that

I will have eyes to see how I can meet needs – emotional or physical needs.”

There are plenty of emotional and physical needs among the people in Ve-rona, many of which they aren’t even aware they have. Houk observed that in the Italians she has encountered, they don’t even realize they need anything. They think they are mostly good people who struggle with normal things – lik-ing their in-laws, spending enough time with their kids, doing well at their jobs.

Houk’s goal is to break down the bella figura mentality, to get beyond what is beautiful on the outside and into what is broken on the inside. “If they see that we’re real and genuine and love them in spite of them not being perfect, that will be a draw to them,” Houk hopes. The most powerful way to show this is by building intimate and unguarded rela-tionships with the Italians.

Houk can see God answering her

17 fair verona

(From left) Nightlife in Verona. Street view in Brescia. April shows what life is really like in Verona.

prayers. “I think the Lord put the right Italians in my path already, for encour-aging me and taking care of me, and just for fun. I’m really looking forward to developing relationships. I did have an Italian say to me, ‘I can’t wait for you to learn Italian well, so I can really get to know you.’”

Houk cannot wait for that day either. These are the kind of relationships she is trying to build. While she eagerly waits for the rest of her team to arrive, she is taking the opportunity to look be-yond fair Verona’s “beautiful face” and into the crumbling ruins just below its surface.into the crumbling ruins just below its

Find out more about “Taking Christ to Italy!”


www.goancona.comwww.goverona.com

SpainThis past summer stretched me as a person, challenged my patience, and strengthened my faith.

While in Murcia, Spain I met a six-year-old girl named Denise. Denise knew about five words in English, and I knew only slightly more than that in Spanish.

For two weeks, I was around Denise each day, loving through actions. I often felt like I wasn’t really doing much besides taking up space, but on my last night in this city, as I crawled into bed at De-nise’s house, she fell asleep on my arm. I lay there with tears in my eyes in awe of how big God is.

Despite the fact that I was so inadequate that I could not even talk with this little girl, God shone through both of us to connect us in a way that still gives me goose bumps.

I realized at this early point in the summer that ministry – and essentially living as a believer – is a whole lot more about being who we need to be rather than doing what we think we need to do.

In the next two cities of Granada and Madrid, I got to see two places where the need for Jesus is so evident. These people “have it all,” but they don’t have the one thing that truly matters. It breaks my heart to think about all the lives that are so void of the love of God.

In these two cities, I was able to spend a large amount of time with non-believers. In Madrid, my host family were not believers, and living among them for two weeks challenged my faith.

I often had to question why a loving family can still feel so empty. And I realized how much God has transformed my life. I felt the vastness of God and how even when all I can do is live in a house for two weeks with a family, He can do the rest.

I came to understand that God can usually do things much better when I surrender my actions to Him and get out of the way, letting Him work through me.

This summer helped shape my heart for a new school year, and a vision for my fu-ture. More than that, it gave me a better vision for today – a vision of living out the life that Christ desires, and bringing Him the glory through it all.

by LAURA JONES, 2009 Pathways Intern, CCU student

A BETTER VISION


Find out more about Pathways!Contact [email protected]

www.teamexpansion.org/pathways

Pathways Summer Internship 2009

Pathways Interns 2009: Laura Jones, Chelsea Davis, Tiffanie Brickhouse, Michal Isenberg, Rebecca Chalfant, Jessica How-ery, Jared Landt and Anna Farley take a moment together in Granada, Spain (photo by Stephanie Saufley).

19 spain

(Left) Jared Landt finds that a little love and piggyback rides will go a long way to build bridges (Photo by Tiffanie Brick-house). (Right) Laura Jones teaches English to a student in Madrid, Spain (Photo by Stephanie Saufley).

Tanzaniautside a one-room adobe church in a village in the Masasi district of Tanzania, not too far from the Mozambique border, Mavuto Jambulosi leans back in a chair and puts his feet up.

He is tall, very tall. All those around him look up to him, but not merely for his height.

“So, tell me how things are?” He asks the church leadership gathered around him.

Jambulosi, along with Pascal Sinkala, both Team Expansion missionaries serving in Southern Tanzania, are here to check up on the village church – to see if the minister and the other leaders have any difficult problems and how they are progressing on their annual goals.

The missionaries are fairly unique amongst Team Expansion’s on-field workers. Both are native to Africa. Sinkala is originally from Zambia and Jambulosi is from Zimbabwe. They are producing fruit and plant-ing churches, but growing and nurturing mature leaders in Tanzania has proven to be as difficult as it is to raise crops in the semi-arid soil.

Their work consists primarily of developing leaders for the village churches and helping train those churches to reach out to their neighboring villages to plant new churches.

dIffIculTIES IN TRAININg lEAdERSby JOHN PALMER GREGG

O

John, an evangelist, sits on a pew inside the village church in Musakala, in the Masasi District of Tanzania.

fall 2009 • tell22

“The way we are operating right now is not like a traditional mis-sion,” Jambulosi said. “We work with the present congregations, and in those congregations we have leaders we have been developing to lead those churches.”

Young men who are willing to com-mit their lives to service are chosen from those congregations. Those men, along with their ministers, are trained together, and then those men are sent out to start new churches.

“So, we are focusing more on lead-ers and the leader in turn focus on the churches,” he said.

To accomplish this goal they ad-minister seminars throughout the year and have created a Leadership Training School where they train men to serve as pastors and evan-gelists.

The pastors are intended to lead

the congregations and are responsible for discipleship among their members, as well as dealing with other spiritual conflicts in the churches. The evange-lists are leaders in the churches and assist the pastor in carrying out his duties as well as going out into other villages to begin new churches.

Sinkala and Jambulosi try to distance themselves from the everyday running of the churches in an effort to both empower the church leadership and help them prepare for the day when the mission leaves and the churches have to stand on their own – without outside or foreign assistance.

“Basically we just advise the lead-ers,” Sinkala said. “They are the ones who come to us for advice if there is something they know they can’t handle on their own. There are also other issues that local lead-ers may feel are out of their ability to handle, that is when we intervene and try to correct the situation.”

“When we allow them to do that on their own it empowers them a little bit more, and it allows the people to see who is leading the church,” Jambulosi said.

In the Masasi District the vast majority of people live as subsis-tence farmers. Their lives both cen-ter and revolve around tending their crops and anything else they can do to find even a meager in-come to help support their families.

This drive to eke out a living moves beyond just trying to get the resisting ground to produce fruit. It has led to difficulties for the mission’s training programs.

Many who have come to the school to be trained have come for personal gain rather than having a calling to minis-ter to their people. To help solve this issue the local pastors have been asked to choose individuals who would do well in ministry, but sometimes the pastors are unduly pressured from

inside their congregations to choose men who are not spiritually mature.

“We have discovered that their selec-tion is not based on proper qualifica-tions,” Sinkala said. “When they come to our training programs, we start to see the true picture of these kind of people. From what we have learned, we thought it would be a good idea to do a second selection. We have looked at what Jesus did, he called then he chose. We use those who have been called, from there we try to pick the best that we can work with.”

“The lack of commitment by a num-ber of young men has given us a lot of setbacks in some congregations where we were hoping that certain people would take up ministry tasks,” Jam-bulosi said. “When they ended up not doing so, it has been a big blow to us and we’ve had to start fresh again.”

“Such kind of people misunderstood the whole idea of training, and some

(From left) Mavuto Jambulosi takes a rest while talking with local church leaders in Nanyidwa village. A woman breaks beans into a woven basket outside a church. Children play outside the Lilala church during a Sunday service.

23 tanzania

of them started thinking it was maybe like a teachers’ college,” Sinkala said.

These men believe that after they re-ceive some training they will be able to be posted to a position somewhere and begin drawing a salary. When they find out that the training does not provide that, they see no reason to continue studying and drop out of the program.

One large part of the difficulty is the spiritual mindset of the Masasi people as a whole.

“There is a sense in which one could say there is some kind of religiosity,” Jambulosi said. “But how deep that is is a different question.”

“There is much focus on affiliation with a certain religion that seems to be the focus of many people, rather than the actual way of living out the precepts of a particular religion. It’s more like ‘I am with this church,’

rather than ‘I am living in Christ and I have to do A-B-C-D, because Christ wants me to live like that.’”

“It creates a lot of confusion,” Sinka-la said. “Their Christian life is usu-ally very, very shallow. It doesn’t go deeper into that spiritual life whereby a person can even show a proper com-mitment that belongs to the Lord.”

Another difficulty they face in their ministry has been one of funding. Sinkala especially has had difficulty finding the money he needs to effec-tively carry out his ministry.

They try to visit the remote village churches on a regular basis and con-tinue discipling their leaders, but even finding the funds for the fuel has, at times, become a hindrance to their already difficult work. Raising fund-ing is difficult for anyone serving in missions, but has proven exception-ally hard for non-American servants ministering overseas. They have little

(Left) Pascal Sinkala, cen-ter, and Mavuto Jambu-losi, left, talk about church leadership during a meeting at a village church. (Above) A young mother worships during a Sunday morning service in Lilala, a village in the Masasi District of Tan-zania.


to no way to reach American or other Western churches and individuals to partner in their work.

These problems have made their work difficult, yet they continue to grow their current churches and they are plant-ing new congregations as well. They do, however, see a situation in the future when their work in Masasi will be successfully completed.

Sankala said they are are looking for several signs from churches to know when they can begin to pull out. “The church will be able to govern itself, independent, without any major help from the mission, and also the whole as-pect of local resource mobilization. Usually you will find that many churches are very dependent on foreign support. We want local churches to be independent in those areas. We also want the church to be able to propagate itself. When we see local churches taking the initiative to plant new churches, we will be very glad. We will know that the church is able to handle its own affairs.”

“We have three or four we could safely say, with a bit of time, they could possibly make it on their own.” Jambulosi said. “With these churches their ministers have basically taken their ministry as their burden and their call. They are excited about it and look at it as something the Lord has placed on them, and they are communicating that to their church members. You also look at the level of prayer and the level of initiative, and these congregations give us the indication that with a bit of time they will be able to do more and get there.”

Find out more about Tanzania!Contact [email protected]

[email protected]

s you were growing up, do you remember going to pizza buffets and standing at a soda counter with tons of soda choices in

front of you? Did you ever decide that just choosing one kind of soda was not enough and instead mixed different types of sodas to get your own unique flavor? As I stood at soda counters as a child, my adventur-ous side would come out as I filled my glass with all sorts of soft drink combinations.

With only my adventurous sweet tooth in mind, I had no idea that I was actually performing part of a demonstration that I would use again and again as an adult to help others understand the cultural mix of missionary kids (MKs) who have grown up in various cultures.

Let’s imagine that each type of soft drink at the soda counter represents a differ-ent culture. If you mix equal amounts of Coke-a-Cola and Sprite, the result will still look like Coke, yet the taste will be a mix of the two soft drinks.

This represents the cultural mix of mis-sionary kids. While the majority of MKs appear on the outside like they should fit the mold of a particular culture, they are a mix of cultures on the inside. This is because it is during a person’s child-

hood and youth that they form their sense of identity, worldview, core values and roots. For missionary kids, who spend time growing up in cultures other than their parents’ home culture, they naturally ab-sorb aspects of both their parents’ home cultures and the culture they are living in. Elements of each culture mix togeth-er to form the fabric of the MK’s being.

Thankfully God is much more purposeful with each person’s life than I was as I mixed different types of soda. He purposely uses an MK’s experience of growing up in various cultures to create an individual that unique-ly fits the plans He has laid out for them.

God often uses MKs’ experiences of liv-ing in different cultures to enable them to possess an expanded worldview, in-creased linguistic ability, enhanced adapt-ability, great flexibility, strong cross cul-tural skills, excellent observation skills, etc. Being an MK also typically brings the blessings of having close relationships with your immediate family members and also the blessings of being involved in a Godly community of missionary team-mates. It also brings the opportunity to travel and experience more of the world.

MK CHALLENGESWhile growing up as an MK brings many

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by HEATHER HARRIS

blessings, there are also many challeng-es and sacrifices. Missionary kids are separated by long distances from their grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. They have to say painful goodbyes to their extended family and also friends over and over again. On the mission field, MKs also commonly face harsh life realities much earlier in their growing up years. On a deeper level, many MKs really struggle with the question of where they are from, since they are often seen as a foreigner on the mission field no matter how fluently they speak the language or have adapted to the culture. Yet, when they return to the culture that their par-ents call home, they often are misunder-stood and realize that while they might look like they should fit, they don’t know all the cultural cues, social norms and slang. Furthermore, as they get older they also realize that some of their core values and habits don’t fit either.

GET INVOLVEDWhy talk so candidly about mission-ary kids and the challenges they face? If we understand these things, then as we support missionaries we can also get intentional about supporting missionary kids. As one missionary told us recently,

The Real Side of Life

Uganda“When you invest in our kids you in-vest in us.”

What can churches and individuals do to extend Christ’s love to MKs and in-vest in missionaries in this vital way?

First, we need to examine and, if nec-essary, adjust our expectations of MKs. We must remember that even though MKs have parents who are missionar-ies, that MKs are still kids, teens, and young adults like the ones in your church. We should not expect MKs to be perfect, to be comfortable leaving their parents’ or siblings’ side as soon as they arrive, or to aspire to the same vocation as adults.

We should expect MKs to each have their own personality, to have customs and habits from the culture they have been liv-ing in and to make some mis-takes just like all children, youth, and young adults do. Even if they are very mature for their age, we need to remember that they still are the age they are and that there may be some slang, cultural cues and com-mon knowledge that you might need to explain. Ask the Lord to help you remember that they have been living in another cul-ture, and to help you extend friendship, patience and grace.

One of the most important things you can do is pray for MKs. If you’re willing to spend five minutes each week praying for MKs, please join Team Expansion’s MK Prayer Force, so you can recieve a list of about four MK prayer requests to pray on a weekly basis. To join, go to www.teamexpansion.org, wait for the “Join the MK Prayer Force,” graphic, click on it, and fill out the subscription form. It would also be great to find out more about the children of the mission-ary families that your church supports and pray specifically for these MKs.

Extending care and friendship is an-other important way to support MKs. MKs are just like other kids in that they desire to be accepted socially and have friends. We can extend friendship to MKs even while they are overseas by sending encouraging e-mails, cards, and care packages and by getting to know the kids and learning about the culture they are growing up in. If your

church supports a missionary family who has kids the same age as a group you lead, you could have that group stay in contact with the MK. If possible, your church or youth group could even go on a short term mission trip there to assist the missionary family in their ministry and also to learn what life in that place is like. If you teach a Sunday school class or lead a youth group, you could educate those in your group on how to make MKs feel welcome when they return. If you know of an MK who is returning from living overseas, you could help that MK meet a mature peer

from your church who is a good listener and eager to hear about their growing up experiences.

If you have a child who becomes friends with an MK while they are back, help your child keep that friendship up with the MK through the various great tech-nology tools available today and then encourage your child to make space in his/her social circle when the MK comes back in town. If an MK is going to college near you, you could adopt one as an additional family member, have him/her over for a home cooked meal every so often, invite them to join in fun family outings and holiday gatherings, offer assistance in helping them find a job, get their driver’s license, or doing their taxes, etc. This kind of hospitality and love is a HUGE blessing to MKs who are missing their families and try-

“When you invest in our kids you in-vest in us.”

What can churches and individuals do to extend Christ’s love to MKs and in-vest in missionaries in this vital way?

First, we need to examine and, if nec-essary, adjust our expectations of MKs. We must remember that even though MKs have parents who are missionar-ies, that MKs are still kids, teens, and young adults like the ones in your church. We should not expect MKs to be perfect, to be comfortable leaving their parents’ or siblings’ side as soon as they arrive, or to aspire to the same vocation as adults.

We should expect MKs to each have their own personality, to have customs and habits from the culture they have been liv-ing in and to make some mis-takes just like all children, youth, and young adults do. Even if they are very mature for their age, we need to remember that they still are the age they are and that there may be some slang, cultural cues and com-mon knowledge that you might need to explain. Ask the Lord to help you remember that they have been living in another cul-ture, and to help you extend friendship, patience and grace.

One of the most important things you can do is pray for MKs. If you’re willing to spend five minutes each week praying for MKs, please join Team Expansion’s MK Prayer Force, so you can recieve a list of about four MK prayer requests to pray on a weekly basis. To join, go to www.teamexpansion.org, wait for the “Join the MK Prayer Force,” graphic, click on it, and fill out the subscription form. It would also be great to find out more about the children of the mission-ary families that your church supports and pray specifically for these MKs.

Extending care and friendship is an-other important way to support MKs. MKs are just like other kids in that they desire to be accepted socially and have friends. We can extend friendship to MKs even while they are overseas by sending encouraging e-mails, cards, and care packages and by getting to know the kids and learning about the culture they are growing up in. If your

church supports a missionary family who has kids the same age as a group you lead, you could have that group stay in contact with the MK. If possible, your church or youth group could even go on a short term mission trip there to assist the missionary family in their ministry and also to learn what life in that place is like. If you teach a Sunday school class or lead a youth group, you could educate those in your group on how to make MKs feel welcome when they return. If you know of an MK who is returning from living overseas, you could help that MK meet a mature peer

from your church who is a good listener and eager to hear about their growing up experiences.

If you have a child who becomes friends with an MK while they are back, help your child keep that friendship up with the MK through the various great tech-nology tools available today and then encourage your child to make space in his/her social circle when the MK comes back in town. If an MK is going to college near you, you could adopt one as an additional family member, have him/her over for a home cooked meal every so often, invite them to join in fun family outings and holiday gatherings, offer assistance in helping them find a job, get their driver’s license, or doing their taxes, etc. This kind of hospitality and love is a HUGE blessing to MKs who are missing their families and try-

ing to figure out how to navigate col-lege life.

If you serve on a missions board or in church leadership, you could encourage missionary families to be sure they are intentionally seeking to have balance. If one of the missionary families has a child about to come back and begin college, your missions team could offer to give them funds for the MK to attend one of the quality re-entry seminars made spe-cifically for MKs. These re-entry semi-nars are typically offered in the summer and range from $250 to $375, which is

money the families often don’t feel they have as they are al-ready trying to figure out col-lege expenses. Yet, this is one of the best investments that can help MKs re-adjust and prepare to begin college.

These are just some of the ways the ways we can fulfill the important task of invest-ing in missionary families by investing in their kids.

Next time you are at a soda counter, take a step on the ad-venturous side and mix a few of the soft drinks to see what unique combination you come up with. When you do, re-member that missionary kids have elements of each of the cultures they have grown up in their lives and pray, asking God to bless MKs and asking the Lord what specific ways He can use you to be a bless-

ing to MKs. The way the Lord directs you to help may seem like a small thing to you, but could have an impact far be-yond what you realize.

Find out more about MK ministry!


Uganda TEAm IN ugANdA fOcuSES ON pARTNERShIpS TO REAch EAST AfRIcA

by JOHN PALMER GREGG

Rice farmers work in knee-deep water in a field in Uganda.

THE PEARL OF AFRICA

fter leaving the overcrowded streets of Kampala, the capital city, and heading north toward Mbale where the Mbale Mission Team is based, it is easy to understand why Uganda is called the “Pearl of Africa.”

There are a thousand shades of green. Light green stalks of corn push their way up through the hard-packed dirt lin-ing the roadside culverts. There are acres of dark green tea bushes flowing over rolling hills.

A portion of the road passes through a dense rain forest where you feel like you are driving through a living canyon before it opens back up and you are almost immediately surrounded by huge fields of papyrus and rice stretching toward the horizon.

Life seems to simply thrive here near the start of the Nile and just a few degrees north of the equator. Growth seems both unstoppable and unavoidable.

For the past couple decades the country's population has also been increasing at an astounding rate of around two million a year. In 1990 the estimated population was around 16 million, today’s estimates place it between 32 and 34 million. The rapid growth has changed the nature of this East-Afri-

can country's population. Today Uganda has the young-est population in the world: 75 percent of the population is aged 20 years or younger, and a full half of the popula-tion is under 15.

“No one is reaching them, not their parents, not the mis-sions and not their own country,” said an African leader at a LivingStone International University summit in Mbale.

A CRISIS IN EDUCATIONIn Uganda there is a serious need for more colleges and universities. Currently only 1.6 out of every 1,000 stu-dents are able to enter post-secondary education. One private university turns away 50 percent of its appli-cants.

In this same region Islam continues to grow in size and power while Christianity is losing its voice among the cultural and political leaders.

The Mbale Mission Team (MMT), a group of Restora-tion Movement missionaries made up of individuals from independent Churches of Christ and Team Expansion workers with Christian Church backgrounds, believes it has a single solution to meet these seemingly divergent realities.

The team is laying the groundwork to birth a Christian university, LivingStone International University. They believe that the school will be an intentional agent for spiritual and cultural change in Africa.

In April, an influential group of dedicated African Chris-tians, all respected leaders in their fields, gathered to de-velop fundraising, public relations and recruiting strat-egies, and to form a permanent University Advisory Council.

Their hope is that the university will be an important and strategic tool for training Christians to become the most influential people in society.

LivingStone will hopefully produce future leaders in busi-ness, academics, media, the arts and politics. These well-educated Christians would then be able to lead people toward Christ in a way that no foreign missionary ever could.

LivingStone graduates should be able to transform entire nations – not from the fringes of society, the villages, the street corners or even from the pulpits, but from the very center of the culture.

Creating an educational venue for Christians in Africa has become a central tool in MMT's missions strategy.

MMT'S CURRENT SOLUTIONMMT operates Messiah Theological Institute (MTI) just a few blocks from the center of Mbale. MTI is a training center for African Christians who want to increase their ability to serve. They currently offer programs in theol-ogy, Bible and Christian ministry.

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Today Uganda has the youngest population in the world: 75 percent of the population is aged 20 years or younger.

“We have had 500 students completing at least one course in the last two years,” said Shawn Tyler, an Mbale Mission Team leader and teacher at the institute.

The team has found that training leaders who then go out and engage their own communities is an effective strategy for reaching the Ugandan people. The ma-jority of Ugandans live in small villages spread across the countryside, making it difficult for a small number of missionaries to spread the Gospel among the wider population.

In addition to being a logistical issue, having national leaders provides the local congregations a greater stake in their churches and their faith communities.

“We have a church work where the Ugandans and Ke-nyans have more sense of ownership,” Tyler said. “We want to be a partner.”

MMT oversees more than 420 churches and has been growing their number by more than 40 churches a year in the last four years.

“We have trained people to teach and have stepped back into a wider role,” Tyler said.

Through Tyler's 28 years in Africa, he has seen many missiological methods and strategies make their way through the continent: cultural anthropology, indigeni-

(Clockwise from left) New Testament Chuches of Christ in Uganda gather to worship and pray together the evening before their quarterly business meet-ing in Kampala, Uganda. The group contains mem-bers with both Christian Church and Church of Christ backgrounds. A young girl, an AIDS orphan, takes a nap on the floor during AIDS Orphan Day in Mbale, Uganda at Mbale Church of Christ on Saturday, May 9, 2009. (Above) Vince Vigil talks about his ministry to visitors during the LivingStone International University Advisory Council Summit.

29 uganda

zation, a brief phase of holistic ministries and incarnational mis-sions to name just a few.

MMT believes that missions is not about a particular method, but is instead about relation-ships, which is one of the reasons national believers are a preferred alternative to foreign missionar-ies in spreading the Gospel.

PARTNERSHIPS AND RESTORATIONThe sun sat in the distance over the city of Kampala.

Inside a house on top of a hill overlooking the city and Lake Victoria, the sound of Christians joined in praise and prayer filled the evening air.

From across Uganda, missionar-ies from both Christian Churches and Churches of Christ gathered to spend the time in worship be-fore they met the following day for a quarterly meeting.

Together they lifted prayers and sang both traditional hymns and

(Top) A girl pauses while work-ing in a field. (Above) A woman sings a worship song while holding onto a small child dur-ing a women’s Bible study in a village near Mbale, Uganda.


contemporary praise songs. To-gether they sought God's will in their lives and their ministries.

The relationship between these two churches, with their roots and theology steeped in the non-denominational ideals of the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement, has been strained for nearly a century. There is a growing interest in America for many in these two traditions to begin restoring their relation-ship with each other, but it is a slow and difficult process.

“It is easier to practice on the [mission] field than it is in the United States,” Tyler said.

“I didn't know what I was get-ting into,” said Kimberly Haines, a Team Expansion missionary with a Christian Church back-ground, who is serving along-side MMT. “I didn't know a lot about the Christian Church/Church of Christ thing.”

Haines said that it has not cre-ated any difficulties for her, and

31 uganda

isn't an issue among the team's members.

“We make jokes about it,” she said. “It has never been a real issue.”

Team Expansion and the Mbale Mission Team use a variety of ministries and partnerships to make a positive impact on the physical and spiritual lives of the people in Mbale, Uganda and East Africa.

One office wall inside MTI is nearly filled with the faces of AIDS orphans. Running the AIDS Orphans program is one of Haines' duties.

She finds local families who are willing to bring the orphans into their homes and raise them as their own. The program, which partners with MMT and the Christian Relief Fund, provides some funding to help the fami-lies out, primarily with school supplies and medical issues, but is not enough to provide full fi-nancial support for the children. In Uganda alone there are an

estimated 1.7 million AIDS or-phans.

Vince Vigil, who partners with Team Expansion, MMT and Good News Productions Inter-national, setting up shop in a new building on the campus. Vigil will, in part, be helping to create evangelical movies in the local languages to tell the Ugandan and other East African peoples about God and the relationship He wishes to have with them.

Through these and other minis-tries, Team Expansion and the Mbale Mission Team are work-ing to bring hope and healing to the “Pearl of Africa.”

(Top) Shawn Tyler meets with a leader of a local village (photo by Shauna Peterson). (Above) Kim-berly Haines, A Team Expansion worker, holds an AIDS orphan during AIDs Orphan Day. Haines is responsible for the AIDS Orphan Program.

ing to bring hope and healing to

Find out more about Uganda!


Good News Productions, International - www.gnpi.org

LivingStone International University - livingstone.ac.ug

News and Notes


1 - Ghana - Village accepts christ

When one of the pastors that the village across the river from his was having a funeral and thought that it might be a good time to visit and express our love and concern and possibly open a door to share Christ at some point with them, we said “Sure!” We made arrangements to make the drive around the river. We weren’t sure how we would be received, but warm welcomes, handshakes, and chairs were brought for us as the whole

Updates and information about a few of Team Expansion’s other f ields around the world

village gathered for our visit.

Several stood to verbalize their greet-ings as leaders of different segments of the village - Ewe and Gonja tribes women, men, elders, young adults. Then the chief extended his greetings on be-half of the whole village. He expressed that no white man had ever made the arduous journey to visit them in the history of the village and they were

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pleased that we had come. He asked, as is customary when someone visits you in Africa, what our mission was in coming.

After our translator extended greetings from our group, Terry expressed a few words and then Isaac began to share his greetings and what our mission was about by sharing the Bible story parable of the wedding banquet from Matthew 22. He concluded his story by telling everyone that we are the servants and messengers of the King inviting them to the banquet of His Kingdom.

What happened in the next few minutes will be embedded into my memory forever.

First the Ewe leader stood and said the village wanted to accept our invitation to be followers of Christ. Then the Gon-ja leader stood and expressed the same thing and finally the chief did as well for the whole village. Each leader effectively allowed the members of their village to make the decision to accept Christ, which they wouldn’t do without the permission of their leader.

Their only condition was if we would be willing to continue to come, teach them and establish a church so they would know what to do.

by Amy Ruff

33 news and notes

2 - Taiwan - peter Bennett

On September 22, 2009 at approximately 9:00 a.m. Taiwan time, Team Expansion missionary, Peter Bennett, sustained a head injury when struck by a car as he was crossing the street in Yonghe, Taiwan. He suffered a skull fracture. After a few criti-cal days, Peter has shown steady improve-ment.

The prayer blog maintained by his team (prayingforpeter.blogspot.com), has been monitored by people all over the world. Friends, family, church members, sup-porters, other missionaries and complete strangers united together in prayer for a remarkable man.

In the first few days, Peter made slow, but giant improvements. Now, he is making

rapid, but small steps toward recovery. God is being glorified in the process, as the church community in Taiwan steps up, and the worldwide church community lifts their voices.

Continue to pray for Peter and his recov-ery. Pray for his family, who are healing with him. Pray for team members, whose lives are a blur as they gladly support their brother. Pray for the doctors and nurses at the hospital who are being exposed to the powerful love of Christ and His church. Pray for the man who was driving the car that hit Peter as he is being shown a pow-erful God who heals and forgives.

(Information gathered from the Praying for Peter website.)

3 - Venezuela

Mission possiBleDuring the month of August, “Mission Possible” was our theme. We are chal-lenging the national believers to as-sume their role in evangelizing the lost of Venezuela as well as the world.

After a brief training session, a differ-ent urbanization around the church was targeted each Saturday. One group headed out in the mornings while an-other in the afternoons. In the evenings, all new contacts were invited to a mu-tual site for a closure event, with music, testimonies, movies and a message.

Seventy people made decisions of faith during the month and we now begin the work of helping them grow in the Lord. by David Linn

A bus driver, three cooks, a guard, two fruit sellers, a grandma and a grandpa and their grandson...what do these people have in common? They all read about Jesus from the Gospels and the literature we produce and wanted to send us a note of thanks. Part of their note said this, “Praise God and Jesus for sending us these presents through our dear sister, books made in our language! We can accept them differently than books in the language spoken around us because they are

5 - Ukraine - children’s literature

This is a season of growth and excitement for the members of Nueva Vida, in Louisville. After a lot of prayer, the Nueva Vida congre-gation moved from their location at Grace Evangelical Free Church and partnered with New Life Church.

It’s more than coincidence that “Nueva Vida” means “new life” and the two congregations have joined together in a way that has en-couraged and blessed both.

4 - United States - nueVa Vida

close to our hearts.”

Praise God that He is working in the hearts of this Muslim people and He is using His Word in their language to open their eyes and show them who He is. Over the last year we have seen new books produced in this people’s language: a children’s Bible, a comic book, the books of Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy, and a testimony of one Muslim man who came to faith in Jesus.

We have also seen a parallel translation of the Mark’s Gospel and “More Than a Car-penter,” by Josh McDowell.May all of these new materials find their way into the hands of families all across our region so that they can have the same chance for God to speak to their hearts. Please pray with us for this peo-ple to be open to knowing more about Jesus and the true path to salvation through Him! by an annonymous worker

New Life and Nueva Vida meet at the same time, with the children from both integrat-ed together. Once a month, there is a joint service, where the pastors share the pulpit, the group sings songs in both English and Spanish, and the community joining togeth-er as one body to worship.

In addition to their location change, Nueva Vida has been challenging its members in other ways. For the first time, the leadership called on its members to raise the money for new sound equipment adequate for their new location, and the congregation came together generously to meet that need. In addition to internal growth, the church has also begun sending and supporting their own missionaries to Africa and Peru.

Nueva Vida is truly experiencing new life! by the Nueva Vida Team


Windows into the WorldRead stories about our missionaries!

www.teamexpansion.org/windows

s a kid, I loved Legos. My brother and I would play with them for hours, building everything from medieval castles to martian space ships. We were only limited by the capacity of our imaginations, which frankly seemed to know no boundary. These pecu-liar and colorful blocks were the only tool necessary to create that which we envisioned.

Pull out your DVR controller and fast-forward 10 years. While pulling an all-nighter last May during my last set of finals (praise God), I received an e-mail from one of our workers in Asia asking for help. Feeling what was either the Lord tugging on my heart or indigestion from voracious consumption of coffee, I assumed the former and reluctantly agreed.

As most of you probably remember, the western portion of the country was hammered by an earthquake last year. While most of the world no longer remembers nor cares about the trauma instigated by this quake, there are thousands of people still suffering from its ef-fects. It was these people that I would serve. Working with an incredible Taiwanese Christian, I went from refugee camp to refugee camp, teaching, helping and listening. Though their stories are many and their losses even greater, they frequently went out of their way to welcome and serve me.

On one such occasion, I was nearly moved to tears by a young child. In the second camp I visited, there was one young boy to whom I was extraordinarily drawn. On the last day of that camp, this boy (whose name I can’t even spell) brought me a small Lego man. Though initially moved by the obvious generosity, it wasn’t until that night that I teared up. Lying in my bed, I remembered my brother and I playing with legos and about the dreams that we would share. I thought all of those that died in the earthquake, most of whom never knew Christ. And I imagined how I would live differently if I thought something like that could happen anytime, anywhere. It was the difference between my imagination and reality that led me to tears.

Though phrases like “live like there’s no tomorrow” are terribly banal, what if we approached evangelism like there was no tomorrow? The implications of such an outlook far exceed the boundaries of contemporary missions. Would we act the same around our friends? Our coworkers? The clerk at the grocery store?

That young, selfless boy prompted a fundamental redaction of my approach to relationship and ministry. If the church recklessly aban-doned our hope for tomorrow, imagine the global effect. If we left our inhibition at the door and shared our faith as if today was our last, how much more effective would we be as missionaries?

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. – James 4:13-14

AftershockThOughTS fROm ThE RuBBlE Of AN EARThQuAKE IN ASIAby CHRIS LUCAS

A

Find out more about our work in Asia!Contact [email protected]

Chris Lucas plays with Asian children.

All holistic ministries lead to church planting

Th is list is just some of the many positions needed throughout the world

Contact [email protected] for more information on these opportunities.

Business Management/Advisor: Southeast Asia

Campus Minister: Spain, Ukraine

Church Planter: Ecuador, Hungary, Philippines,

Romania, Taiwan, United States (Oregon), Venezuela

Computer/Information Technology: Thailand

Discipler: East Europe, Mongolia

Evangelist/Preacher: Ireland

Marketing/Small Business: Central Asia

Teacher: East Asia

Youth Minister: Tanzania

TopFull-time

Opportunities

4112 Old Routt RoadLouisville, KY 40299

Team Expansion is a 501 (c) 3 organization. Any inquiries should be directed to: 1-800-447-0800.

Mission Services AssociationPO Box 13111Knoxville, TN 37920-0111

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Non Profit Org.U.S. Postage Paid

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Documents

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