Focus

Ana Borntrager is participating in Advance Global, a 9-month, international discipleship and service opportunity. Ana is halfway through the discipleship portion of Advance. She appreciates all of the prayers during this time. The team has been enjoying the wonderful fall Pennsylvania weather. From fall festivals to corn mazes to the tri-weekly bike rides that Ana takes to the office.

Nelson Kisare, the leader of the Tanzanian Mennonite Church was asked, “What is the most pressing need of your church?” He answered, “First, theological training; second, theological training; third, theological training.” In response to this, William Higgins finds it a privilege to work with our global partner churches in Vietnam, Kenya, Tanzania, Guinea-Bissau, and other places.

In early 2022, Leon and Naomi showed the course to a dozen couples in south-central Kenya. One of those couples was Stanley and Anne, who pastor a church in the area. They felt that the course strengthened their marriage and gave them the ability to have conversations about areas of their marriage that they stayed away from before.

The Vietnam Mennonite Church consists of over 100 places of worship. The needs for training pastors and workers are great. They have organized a 4-year Bachelor of Theology program (with 20 students in the current cohort), as well as a ministry training certificate program (with 40 students in the current group).  Their request for training from EMM workers is for courses in theology, biblical int...

The Kairos course is an exciting nine lesson interactive study of the purpose and plan of God from Genesis to the end of the age. Focusing on the biblical, historical, strategic, and cultural dimensions of missions, this course seeks to align every believer's worldview with God's heart for the nations and mobilize the whole Church for His global mission. The next course starts on Saturday, October...

Unexpected Peace is a new documentary film that follows social anthropologist and EMM worker Jonathan Bornman as he explores three stories: the Amish school shooting in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania; the murders of Murid migrants from Senegal in Harlem, New York; and Muslim-Christian conflict in Solo, Indonesia. You are invited to the premiere of Unexpected Peace, which will be during the Red Rose Fi...

Kingdom Teams (K-Teams) are short, summer experiences that provide opportunities for youth to engage with discipleship training and cross-cultural service, in the U.S. or (new this year) in the Czech Republic. Check out these few stories of how God was at work through K-Teams this summer.

The Thornes have been experiencing a shift in mindset about money. Frequently, they receive financial requests. From an American perspective, financial requests oftentimes are viewed with some level of suspicion and at times perceived as one not able to be financially “independent.” As they have experienced these requests, the Lord spoke to Nate and said, “Instead of becoming annoyed by the consta...

EMM’s strategic focus is to identify, equip, and send missional leaders to serve on multi-generational and multi-ethnic teams who invite people to follow Jesus as maturing, multiplying disciples and nurture transforming communities of worship. We primarily focus on least-reached people groups of Central Asia, Central Europe, Southeast Asia, and West Africa, and refugees in Lancaster, Pa.

EMM is passionate about equipping Christians around the world with discipleship, leadership, and cross-cultural training from an Anabaptist perspective. We’re inviting you to a special EMM vision and fundraising banquet to learn more about how God is at work through the ministries of training. We hope you can join us for this year's banquet. The theme is, "A Crown That Lasts Forever.&quot...

There’s a reason EMM worker Christy Harrison does not work in mission recruitment. If she worked as a recruiter, she would tell potential candidates way too much. If you were interested in working internationally, Christy would tell you that this work is hard and slow. That learning to speak coherently in a new language takes way longer than you ever thought it would.

One of the most encouraging components of Carissa Sherer’s time in Guatemala has been the recurring affirmation she has felt from the Lord in being there now, particularly in this season in the ministry.

For Michael Clancy, Nick* was more than a person to work with: he was a friend who was growing in his relationship with Jesus, even while using drugs, which Michael hated and Nick knew very clearly that Michael did. It was here that Michael was able to walk with Nick in-between the cracks. In an area where a program wouldn’t be able to work, Michael saw an opportunity.

We’re excited to be launching a new course on Radix called The Foundations of Christian Leadership. It will be a hybrid-format course beginning on September 19 — with weekly self-study modules and biweekly video calls. This course will offer a biblical look at Christian leadership focused on three key components: Character, Knowledge, and Skill. Register now at radixtraining.org/foundations .

“We believe the same!” Lea’s friend energetically interjected with a smile and a tap on her desk to reinforce the point. The almost weekly refrain sometimes felt like an indictment that Lea had failed miserably in communicating the basics of her faith.

The image of the overflowing cup comes from the days of David and was a symbol of invitation, welcome, or dismissal. If a host kept the cup full, the guests knew they were welcome. If the cup was empty, not refilled, the host was indicating it was time for the guests to leave. However, if the host really enjoyed the company, he would fill the cup until overflowing and let it spill over the rim, sa...

EMM’s discipleship coach, Dave Houser, has a photo hanging in his office. It’s one of his favorite pictures of himself. He’s riding a yak in front of a mountain. Traveling to that remote area was a dream in Dave’s heart. He had heard it was one of the most unreached places in the world, and he began to pray for the people there to know Jesus. When Dave got the opportunity to go, he started telling...

Finding the lost sheep, coins, or children is so critical to God that he will go out of his way to find them. We are invited into this mission to join God in his work of reconciling all of creation to himself. This is why sharing the good news of Jesus with the least-reached people of the world is so critical to EMM’s work.

When Skip and Carol Tobin and André and Karen Provost and their families first moved to Det Udom in the spring of 1995, there were no known Isaan believers in the region. From the beginning, the team was committed to a contextualized house church planting approach among the rural villages of this primarily rice farming community.

In October of 1990, a group of townspeople and religious leaders voiced their opposition to the first baptism of believers in Lucre, Peru, by resorting to stone-throwing and threats. Surprisingly, two of the initial stone throwers later joined the first Mennonite church in Peru.

After 1979, EMM connected to a Mennonite church in Metapan, northern El Salvador, which was home to displaced individuals who had become Mennonites while residing in Honduras. In the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans migrated to Honduras as their homeland's arable land was taken over for sugar plantations.

By sending James Sauder to lead mobile Bible schools in Haiti several times a year, EMM aimed to promote unity within the body of Christ by empowering Haitians to serve their community. Over time, James spearheaded this initiative, teaching Bible classes and working with a Haitian partner to develop educational materials in Creole. The teaching ministry expanded to the Dominican Republic as per th...

In 1971, missionaries from EMM were called to the Philippines by Francesco A. Arreola, a former Catholic on a quest for a church aligned with Biblical teachings. Arreola embarked on his journey by baptizing himself and six others in Manila, dissatisfied with existing Protestant sects and striving for a foundation based on Biblical principles. The group dispersed, with many settling in Ilocos Sur,...

A few weeks ago, we talked about the Honduras Mennonite Church, but we’re looking at another movement that EMM helped to start in Honduras. Tegucigalpa served as a vibrant hub for a youth ministry initiative. Ed and Gloria King, former literacy advocates, initiated an informal drop-in center that drew in twenty to thirty young individuals four evenings a week. Additionally, a bilingual coffeehouse...

Jacob E. Brubaker's vision of establishing a Mennonite mission in Guatemala came to fruition in 1967, with efforts concentrated in the Alta Verapaz Province and Guatemala City. The mission, a collaborative effort between the EMM and the Washington-Franklin County Conference, aimed to address the spiritual needs of the Kekchi Mayans, who lacked gospel access. Initial investigation highlighted t...