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Irene knew she wanted to go to university to pursue a teaching degree after graduating from high school. What she didn’t know was where she would get the funds. A year after finishing high school, she met and married her husband, and over the next 10 years, they had three children. Still, Irene’s desire to go to university remained.
Marlín, a 51-year-old woman, thought her life was perfect! Her family was just as she had dreamed, and she had a wonderful job doing what she was passionate about – teaching. As a teacher, she thought she was prepared to face any difficult situation, until one day, when everything changed.
What happens when more than 40 Latin American church leaders meet for a week to learn, network, strategize and renew life together in community? Fruitful relationships!
Many attending the leadership summit in Jardín, Colombia (January 2022), had worked together for months and even years over Zoom but had never met in person. Immediately, warm connections and happy conversations flowed freely, even while maintaining appropriate social distancing and Covid protocols.
The culture in Uruguay is different from other places in Latin America. In other countries, you see communities taking care of each other, celebrating birthdays together, and working together for the good of the community. This sense of community was also true of Uruguay in the past, but today many people in the cities are more reserved. Due to increased crime and drugs, people have begun to live separated from their neighborhood, putting bars on windows and staying inside. This change creates a tense environment.
“Why are you all singing?” the neighbors asked Ms. Holly (not her real name). Ms. Holly is a cross-cultural worker living in Country-VN. It is...
Japan is often described as a missionary graveyard. The hard work and effort put into sharing the gospel often seems to bear little spiritual fruit and is discouraging. With Christians making up less than 1% of the population, churches are small, and many pastors and members are aging. Yet, as we spend time visiting the Free Methodist churches here in the Osaka area, we are hopeful. We are meeting many faithful and faith-filled brothers and sisters in Christ.
Here are a few of their stories giving evidence of God’s Spirit at work in Japan:
FMWM Asia’s vision is to reach 1 million people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul instructed Timothy to invest in others through teaching and equipping, “… and what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well” (2 Timothy 2:2, NRSV). Accomplishing our vision will require training and equipping 10,000 new leaders. For that reason, FMWM Asia has developed Gethsemane Leadership Training (GLT).
There is a “go” in the gospel; there is a call to the church to go and take what we have received and pass it on to all people of every age and every nation. “Be my witnesses” — declare what you have seen, heard and experienced. Tell everyone everywhere what the Lord has done. Go and invite all people to come, taste and see that the Lord is good. He can indeed make a real and eternal difference in every person’s life.
“Go” has been our story. Twenty years ago, we left the shores of Gran Canaria, Spain, and arrived in the U.K., not knowing the Lord’s plans for us. We quickly fell in love with the Free Methodist Church and its work in the U.K. and Ireland. We became part of a beautiful global family that has taught us so much. Outstanding leaders have shaped our lives in many ways and given us a deeper love for the church of Jesus and global missions.
The Free Methodist Church now has work in Sweden! In 2021, the Rev. Valentin Sikitoka launched the church and became the country leader of the Free Methodist Church in Sweden. Rev. Sikitoka is from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Amazing, isn’t it— a church in Sweden planted by Congolese!
In August 2021, Area Director Josue Fajardo and I responded to an invitation from Rev. Sikitoka to come to Sweden to see how God is using the Free Methodist Church. We spent the first evening connecting with him and his family. We heard of his work in the Congo and throughout the region of East Africa. Rev. Sikitoka also shared about his time in Nyarugusu in Tanzania. Nyarugusu is one of the world’s largest refugee camps, with a population of about 132,000 (according to UNHCR). His talk of Nyarugusu caught me off guard. About six years ago, I visited Nyarugusu and found many Free Methodist churches meeting in the camp. Everyone had a heartbreaking story. But their stories demonstrated a faith rarely seen — one the Western church desperately needs.
After years of faithfulness in Hungary, we now see the Lord’s blessing. For many years, the Free Methodist Church (FMC) in Hungary has faithfully served congregations in both Budapest and Győr. The church has also been instrumental in bringing awareness of the dangers of human trafficking to the Hungarian public. Now we see the Lord blessing the work of missionaries (past and present) and our national leaders. Two new church plants, one in the city of Veszprém (near Lake Balaton) and the potential for a new group in Szigetvár (in the south of Hungary), are part of this blessing from God.
