Focus

EMM’s Advance Global program offers an opportunity to connect and grow with other young adults through intensive discipleship, followed by overseas missions experience. Today, I’d like to share about one of EMM’s Advance participants: Lena Kauffman. Lena is currently on outreach ministry in Cambodia but had spent three months living in Lancaster County and participating in discipleship training.

Turning to the Scriptures, EMM worker Michael* received a renewed conviction for his Anabaptist perspective and its ideals. He realized deep in his heart that to be a witness of incarnational love and to be a light and blessing to those around us in this land is not one-sided.

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and...

Several months ago, on one of the first nice days after a very late spring, Eric and Janelle and their family took a day trip to a wild horse nature preserve half an hour south of their home. They went to the preserve with two goals in mind: see wild horses and see the wild orchids which are famous in that region.

“Good morning, Miss!” EMM mission intern Sarah Martin hears these words so often as she walks the hallways and enters the classrooms at the Promesa School in Cusco, Peru.

Christ’s transforming love compels us to cross cultures, engage the world, and multiply disciples of Jesus. We invite you to join us as we focus on least-reached people groups in several regions around the world. Your gift to the Impact Fund sustains these efforts and so much more.

Srey Da's discipleship teachers taught the students to pray with faith for healing. Srey Da took her teachers seriously. Srey Da and a companion went into a house, where a woman was preparing some fermented fish paste. Srey Da did not want to go in at first but did with her companion's encouragement. The woman's husband was there and he made apologies for his wife, saying she could not...

Recently, EMM worker Bethany Tobin, who serves with her family in Thailand, had a devotional that looked at Abraham’s relationship with God. God called Abraham to resume his father’s life of sojourn, traveling as a stranger in a foreign land. Then God called Abraham, who was childless, to look out at the stars and believe God’s promise of many, many children. Many years and mistakes later, as the...

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. So here’s...

Krystle Thorne was stirred by hearing about a vision for West Africa because it was a place that is still near and dear to her heart and people who she knew and loved. That was the start of she and her husvand, Nate's journey to begin a long-term assignment serving in The Gambia, West Africa.

EMM’s new vision statement is: We catalyze movements that multiply disciples of Jesus around the world, giving primary focus to people groups that are currently least-reached. Sometimes, we use a few “jargony” words when we talk about mission work. Words like catalyze, movement, and least-reached. We thought it might be helpful to explain why we use these words and what we mean when we talk about...

Holly Hollenbach is one of the Advance Global participants this year. Her discipleship training is in Costa Rica through Vida220 and she will be doing outreach in Peru. Holly’s first week of Advance was in Lancaster, and she described it as busy, stretching, and profound. She was blessed to be surrounded by people overflowing with God’s peace and encouragement.

Over the past year, Carol has been digging into the faith practices of her spiritual ancestors — the Anabaptists. Her research led her to conclude that the early Anabaptists of the sixteenth century, many of whom were former Catholic priests, nuns, and clerics brought more with them from their Catholic background to their "new" convictions than we realize. One practice evidenced in the e...

... .That’s the number of people who don’t have access to the gospel or proximity to a follower of Jesus who can tell them about this good news. Another 2 billion people may have access to the gospel but have not experienced its life-transforming power. Very simply, EMM’s work is to share the good news of Christ’s transforming love with people who don’t know him.

This program is being recorded on the last day of summer. If you’re listening to this program on the radio, it’s now the first day of autumn. We can now anticipate a whole new array of colors emerging from the trees. Every new season has new opportunities. For EMM worker Michael Clancy, now that the kids are in school, he took some time to reflect on what ministry looked like for him this summer i...

EMM worker Kandace Glenn is engaged in language study and relationship building in Cambodia. She is involved in a variety of dynamic friendships and discipling relationships in which she seeks to help university/post-grad students discover God‘s purpose for their lives as they grow in relationship with Jesus.

Bethany Tobin and her husband, Steve, and children serve with EMM in Thailand. Recently, Bethany reflected on a devotional about Jesus cleansing the temple. Jesus cleansed the temple of all the exclusive temple systems and atoning sacrifices, instead establishing himself as the atoning sacrifice — so that the new temple — us, the church — would indeed be a house of prayer for all nations.

Truett Cathy, the founder of Chic-fil-A, said: If you hire the “right people again and again, you will strengthen your culture over time.” Hiring with purpose makes all the difference. Being able to identify whether a potential employee is values-aligned to fit your organizational culture and has the essential characteristics needed to be successful in the role is critical to successful hiring.

Several months ago, the campus of the seminary where Peter* teaches was under water, accessible only by boat, and visited occasionally by hippos from the nearby river. The rainy season in central Africa was extraordinary this year, resulting in the highest water levels in sixty years in N’Djamena, Chad. Many thousands of people have temporarily or permanently lost their homes to the flooding, incl...

The Coatses had been on home leave and returned to Cambodia a few months ago. When they returned, John found the staff had been doing a fairly good job of keeping things running smoothly with the children’s program. There was some discouragement though. Over the past few years, they have lost most of their older teenagers, those in grades 10 through 12. Why?

Missionary Messenger has been enriching readers for almost 100 years, and in an effort to continue the relevance of this important publication, we’re making some changes. Later this month, for the September issue of Messenger , we’ll be introducing you to a new version of this publication. Here’s some information about what we’re planning to do.

Approaching the Temple of Luang Pu Suang, the glorified mummified monk, Emm worker Andre pulled the car over to the side of the road. He turned to one of his trainees, Lee, and asked, “Lee, could you read Acts 17:24-31 for us?”

Krystle* took a 5-day trip to The Gambia in May to explore housing options and to see how things have changed in the 13 years since she has lived there. Krystle served as a mission intern in The Gambia with EMM during that time. This recent trip was insightful and helpful to be there in person and begin to understand how life and ministry will look different as a family.

In the 16th century, the Radical Reformers — also known as the Anabaptists — looked to the “roots” of the church as their inspiration. The term “radical” comes from the Latin word “radix” which means “root.” The early Anabaptists wanted to see the kingdom of God restored to a kingdom that was not of this world — but a kingdom that transcended national, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds.

Perhaps you’ve heard us talk about the Kairos course before, and maybe you’re wondering, “What is Kairos?” Well, today, we’re going to take an in-depth look at this course. 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.