Additional information
Appointment | Advance Global |
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Home congregation(s) | Wilkens Avenue Mennonite Church |
Scripture Verse | "From Him shall come the cornerstone.” (Zechariah 10:4a) |
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The Mennonite Theological College of Eastern Africa (MTCEA) in Nyabange, Tanzania is a ministry of the Tanzania Mennonite Church (KMT). Started as a Bible school in 1936, for the past few decades it has operated as a theological college and the primary training institution for KMT leaders. The certificate and diploma programs it offers are critical to KMT’s mission of developing leaders for a growing church.
Contributions are needed to help the college achieve various benchmarks for accreditation, including necessary infrastructure, textbooks, and travel costs of visiting professors. A gift toward the work of MTCEA is an investment in the future of the Tanzania church.
American Murids is a major new ethnography of an African Sufi Muslim immigrant community in the United States. It is particularly timely given the current contentious discourse concerning Muslims and immigration. By listening to what Murids say about themselves, author Jonathan Bornman gives us the first-ever look at how the spiritual and ethical values of Murids in the diaspora influence the ways they interact with other communities in New York City. Making this book available in French opens new avenues for peacebuilding in the way of Jesus with people in Europe and Africa. To learn more visit the publisher’s website. To learn more about the team, visit the Christian-Muslim Relations Team website.
Use this form to make online payments for cross-cultural mission training registration.
Battle for the Heart (Proces Celym srdcem) offers Czech Christ-followers longing for a deeper relationship with God a pathway leading toward deep, sustainable spiritual transformation. Through this process designed around community, we build skills to connect with ourselves and with God with our whole hearts, recognizing who God has created us to be, which enables us to engage wholeheartedly with the world around us.
The spiritual formation process consists of two weekend retreats with individual and team follow-through material between events. The funds raised here will provide scholarships for participants to attend the retreats who may not be able to pay the full cost, as well as offset costs for the many volunteers needed to organize these events. Upcoming weekend events will take place in September 2024 and spring 2025.
The Czech Republic has the fifth-highest incarceration rate in the European Union (out of 27 EU member states) and the ninth-highest of all the 46 European countries. It is often argued that the Czech Republic is among the most secular countries in the world. Yet, a rich spiritual heritage is part of Czech history, including Jan Hus, a reformer who inspired Martin Luther, and the Moravian Brethren, who accomplished amazing missionary work in North America and all over the world. Despite this rich heritage, the Czech nation is now profoundly secular. Prisoners have a unique opportunity to step away from the snares and demands of life and think about what really matters. Many inmates carry a lot of guilt and experience intense loneliness.
After COVID-19 restrictions were lifted and Czech prisons opened again to NGO workers, a door opened for an evangelism program called The Prisoner’s Journey® (TPJ) to be presented to inmates in a group setting of 8-12. God’s favor was shown through the new director of the entire Czech prison system, who is a believer in Jesus, which is quite special in a population with less than 0.5% of evangelical believers. This 8-week program presents Jesus and the Good News in a concise and appealing way. It follows the storyline of Mark’s gospel, along with video testimonies from different places around the globe of people who met Jesus in prison. This material was translated and published in the Czech language about 10 years ago and, after a slow start, is currently used in about 20 out of 36 prisons by chaplains and volunteers.
The team that created TPJ also developed a follow-up material called Discipleship Explored Prison Edition. This program follows a similar format and uses the book of Philippians to help people discover what following Jesus is about. Each of the eight sessions focuses on a specific topic, such as righteousness, joy, and contentment. It’s easy to make a list of the things Christians do — go to church, read the Bible, pray, share the gospel — but that doesn’t tell us much about what following Jesus is actually like. That’s where Discipleship Explored comes in.
Besides all the good work that prison chaplains do in programs and one-on-one meetings, there is a growing number of graduates of TPJ, along with others who would benefit from further exploring the path of following Jesus through a follow-up program. With your help, we will be able to publish the Czech translation of the Discipleship Explored Prison Edition. The plan is to train leaders of TPJ (chaplains and other volunteers) in leading the Discipleship Explored Prison Edition so that they will have a follow-up program to offer that unpacks the topic of discipleship to the groups that have graduated from TPJ. For this to become a reality, the materials need to be officially published along with the accompanying videos that are yet to be translated and dubbed.
On September 8, a nearly 7-point earthquake ravaged Morocco. The epicenter of the earthquake was in a rural mountain area, an area with many small towns, where most of the buildings are simple, even made of mud and stones. Many of these houses have collapsed, and others have structural damage that makes them uninhabitable, so people are camping in makeshift tents. A partner in the country is responding with primary aid (food, shelter, medicine, etc.) and is also trying to obtain tents or materials with which to build them. They will also be working on sanitation to prevent diseases from spreading.
Since 1963, David and Grace Shenk worked together to bear witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ through word and deed. A signature focus of their ministry was the work of Christian-Muslim relations. You’re invited to join in the continuation of this legacy by becoming a founding partner in this endowment. Funds generated by the David and Grace Shenk legacy endowment will help us connect with our global partners, mentor a new generation of young leaders, and to create resources for equipping the church and Christ followers for a healthy relationship with Muslims. Learn more here.
Outreach to Somalis continues to be a great need and a significant challenge in East Africa. This fund helps to support the work of EMM partners as they share the good news of Jesus with Somalis refugees within their borders as well as in Somalia.
Thank you for your interest in the Unexpected Peace documentary. As you may know, stories of peacebuilding rarely make it to the big screen, but these stories need to be told. We invite you to join us in responding to Jesus’ invitation to be peacemakers and ministers of reconciliation.
Please would you consider a generous gift to Unexpected Peace today? Your generosity will help to share stories to touch people’s hearts and open their minds to new ideas about forgiveness, peacemaking, and reconciliation.
To learn more about the Unexpected Peace documentary visit unexpectedpeace.com.
To learn more about EMM’s Christian-Muslim Relations Team visit emmpeacemakers.org.
Alexander and Maria* work in a transformational business and an international school. Alexander also serves as the regional representative for Central and South Asia. They serve in Central Asia with their children.
*Names changed for sensitivity reasons.
Ana is participating in Advance Global, a 9-month, international discipleship and service opportunity.