World Article

At Work in the World

Akot escaped South Sudan on foot. She walked for over two weeks, hiding from rebels before arriving at the Uganda border. She was tired, hungry and all alone. Akot is a 76-year-old grandmother who now lives in Rhino Refugee Camp. In the camp, ERDO runs a feeding program together with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank as well as a psychosocial program to care for refugees after and during trauma. Weeks after Akot arrived, I visited the camp as ERDO’s director of programs. Speaking with Akot, I ...

International Missions OUR VISION AND MISSION

Brian Stiller’s thoughtful reflections on his fruitful legacy caught my attention. Asked to leave some important advice for leaders today, he surprised me with what he called the “essence” or “central factor” that was the “primary learning principle which took hold and helped direct what I did.” He described this leadership principle as the responsibility to carefully build “sustainable ministries around vision and mission.” Now in my 14th ...

Mission Canada OPENING OUR HEARTS

In 2020 I pray that God will grant you One Connection So you can better understand our One Context As God unifies our One Church To offer the hope of Jesus to each One Canadian Who is wanting to receive it. ONE CONNECTION It was 11:30 p.m. and I was exhausted. I was juggling the high school math classroom with pastoring and was in the midst of planning two major outreach events. I was about to fall into bed when my phone rang. As an unknown number flashed across my screen, I wanted to shove ...

ERDO WORDS FOR WATER

What would happen if you could create a bridge between people who need water in Zimbabwe and children who need to know Scripture? We can all agree that it would be a transformative moment. That is the vision of Anne McCaffrey—the kind of vision that impacts lives. Providing water and Scripture are two of Anne McCaffrey’s passions, and she found a way to champion both. McCaffrey, a hospital chaplain, put out a challenge to the 29 children in her extended family. For each set of verses...

Mission Canada SERVING THE NATIONS

We have greatly enjoyed the smiling faces of international students in our home for over three decades of campus ministry. They are friendly, gracious and inquisitive. I fondly remember David, who stayed with us during Christmas. David was from Africa and was fascinated by our family tradition of building puzzles over the holidays. He stayed up until 3:30 a.m. to fit the last puzzle piece in! We also discovered that David’s dream after graduation was going back to Africa to help develop su...

International Missions DEEP AND WIDE

On the riverbanks of the dry and desert-like Sabi River of Southern Zimbabwe, you can find some incredible trees. When green, the Musasa tree can provide enough shade for an entire school assembly looking for relief from the blazing sun. At first, you wonder how the tree can be so fruitful in such a dry wasteland. Then you remember that its roots go deep into the soil and find the water that flows beneath the surface of the dry riverbed. The height and width of the tree’s lush green leaves...

Mission Canada REACHING OUT TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

“Churchy” was the name I was given in high school by my drama teacher, Mrs. Small. Later on she said to me, “Churchy, we need someone like you in our high school. We need someone who can sit and listen to students who are going through things. Someone who can be there for them. I’m going to talk to our principal, and we are going to set something up.” She started a conversation about having me in to speak to her high school, a public high school in Quebec, as a moti...

ERDO THE ULTIMATE GIFT AT CHRISTMAS

We sat down and spoke through a translator. I asked her what her name was. She said, “My name is Jessica, I am 20 years old, and I have two children. I have a six-year-old and a two-year-old.” I spent time with five young women that day and listened to their stories. I was heartbroken hearing so many stories similar to Jessica’s. Stories of women who dropped out of school so their other siblings could get an education. Stories of young women who were forced by their families t...

International Missions EQUIPPING FOR MISSION IN PAKISTAN

“We had a great weekend of ministry. People threw stones at us, but God protected us and we were able to complete the service. We really saw God move. Keep praying for us.” Each week since my recent visit to Pakistan, I receive exciting ministry updates from a very special group of young Pakistani believers. Queser, Mahmoud, Haroun, Naitan, Sadiq and others are Bible college students who represent the leading edge of a movement of evangelists and disciple makers. They are redefining ...

ERDO PRAYERS FOR REFUGEES LIVING IN UGANDA

When Ugandan Reverend Simon Peter Emiau came to The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada’s national office in November 2017, I had the opportunity to interview him about the South Sudanese refugee crisis in Uganda. After the interview, I chatted with him for a bit, and our conversation ended with the Reverend telling me that I need to visit Uganda. I remember thinking, I would love to go to Uganda, but let’s be honest: working for a non-profit organization, there’s not a lot of ex...

Mission Canada WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE “URBAN”?

If we are to understand and appreciate city life, we need a good working definition for the word “urban.” Once we see the city for what it is, we can find our place in it and live out God’s mission. Isn’t it amazing how you can drive 120 kilometres per hour on a multi-lane highway until, at rush hour, you reach the city? Suddenly, you are parked and inching forward, wrestling with feelings of dismay at being delayed. While everyone talks about the fast pace of city life...

International Missions DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: A VISION MULTIPLIED

Adrian and Sharon were first invited to a fact-finding trip in the Dominican Republic (DR) in July 2000, along with missionaries in Haiti with whom they were partnered at the time. The trip changed their lives, and God has been multiplying His vision for its people since that time through their influence there. Q: Tell us about your first trip to the DR. On the Monday night debrief during that first trip, the host mentioned that an opportunity to speak to pastors was available that week. I raise...

International Missions A PICTURE PAINTS A THOUSAND WORDS

Over the years, three photographs, all of children, have haunted the public imagination. First, the picture of the African child known as “Struggling Girl,”1 clearly near death, starving and emaciated, with a vulture hovering nearby waiting for this victim (who was actually a boy) of famine and war. Second, the picture of a nine-year-old Vietnamese girl, “The Terror of War”2 (also known as “Napalm Girl”) running naked on a bridge, trying to escape the flames...

Mission Canada ONWARD WITH PASSION

As the PAOC celebrates its centennial as a movement, we need to be reminded that we did not always appreciate shared strategy, form or even structure. In early 1909, there was an initial attempt to create a simple organization, but Ellen and James Hebden were opposed to any formal structure as it meant the potential of quenching the Holy Spirit’s new work among them. Others were more pragmatic in their approach to ministry in Canada and understood that for the sake of long-term sustainabil...

ERDO THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK

“Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work.”—Dr. John Trainer You might be surprised to hear me use the word “bittersweet” to describe ERDO’s work with children. On one hand, there is profound joy in seeing a child on a path to their greatest potential involving spiritual formation, health, education, and better choices for their future. The sadness comes when I see injustice in the lives of children—...

ERDO EVERY CHILD DESERVES HOPE

Recently, there was an article in one of the national newspapers in Honduras, with this title: “Violence in Honduras has left more than 22,000 children orphaned.” As a global worker whose ministry focuses mainly on children, you can imagine why this caught my attention. Living and working in Honduras, I see the impact of violence on the lives of the children we work with, and on their families. Many children live with one parent or with grandparents because they have ...

Mission Canada CANADA REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT

In 2003, The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada became part of Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) program and signed on with the Canadian government as a Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH). Countless stories have emerged over the last 15 years since that decision—heartbreaking accounts recorded on government application documents. There’s a story behind every name. For those considered refugees, calling a new country “home” comes with challenges. It&...

International Missions MISSIONS IN RUSSIA

Ilya was born and raised in the underground Pentecostal church in the former Soviet Union until his family immigrated to Canada in 1988. On the way to Canada, we met in Vienna, Austria, where I was serving as a missionary in a refugee camp. We were married in 1991. In 1993, we felt God calling us to return to Novokuznetsk, Ilya’s home city in southern Siberia, Russia, to plant a church. At that time there were only four evangelical churches in the city of 600,000 people. We started t...

Mission Canada NEXT GENERATION MINISTRY

“Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear” (Matthew 13:8-9). A harvest. This is the goal of planting, investing, and being strategic in areas of our churches where the outcomes far outweigh the investment. In business, they call the outcome a “growth engine.” Growth engines are strategic outcomes (or a measurable number of up to 30 per cent or more) that exc...

International Missions A CALL TO PRAYER FOR CHINA

The pastor must have known, when he hung the cross on the church building, that he was taking a risk. In China, to have a church that is not registered with the police is illegal. And the police proved this when they stormed into the meeting one Sunday. “Remove the cross,” an officer demanded. No one moved. “If you don’t, I will,” the officer shouted, turning toward the door. Several members of the congregation followed him and his fellow officers outside to the fro...