Missions

At Work in the World

International Missions CONFRONTING HUMAN TRAFFICKING

“Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9, ESV) When we hear the words “human trafficking,” all kinds of images come to mind. The realties of this cancer evoke emotions ranging from disbelief to anger. Even for the dedicated Christian, a sense of hopelessness can grip our attitudes, paralyze our resolve to face the problem, and preclude meaningful ...

Mission Canada FOUR PEOPLE – LIFE-CHANGING CALLINGS

If you have been a longtime PAOC follower, do you recall the F.L.I.T.E. program of years gone by? Well, FIT4M, otherwise known as French Intensive Training for Ministry, is the PAOC’s ministry opportunity for English-speaking individuals who sense God’s call to reach francophones in Canada, but who may not be fully comfortable or fluent in the French language … yet. Tom and Val Harbour and Cal and Chrissy Krahn can relate. Each couple moved to Montreal and participated in the ...

ERDO BACK TO SCHOOL

It was the year the world shut down. We grew tired of hearing words like “unprecedented” and “pandemic,” both of which made the Oxford English Dictionary’s top words of 2020. We are now ready to hit “resume” on this prolonged pause, crumple up and throw away the “new normal,” and pick up where we left off. All done with the proverbial summer vacation, we are ready to jump back into our regular lives with all the anticipation of a student ret...

Mission Canada MAKING LIFELONG CHRIST FOLLOWERS

Considering all the spiritual lessons a child should be taught so they develop a healthy, lifelong relationship with Christ can be overwhelming. Where to begin? Genesis? The New Testament Gospels? The fruit of the Spirit? The Ten Commandments? Individuals who journeyed with God? For those who carry children’s ministry roles in the local church, a scope and sequence chart is a key tool and guideline for what a child should learn in their formative years as lesson plans are created and taugh...

ERDO 365 CAMPAIGN

Imagining a World Without Poverty All over the world, women support their families. They provide food and collect water. Women are heroes, consistently going without to make sure their families are cared for. Women are more likely than men to experience hunger in every region of the world. One step toward eradicating poverty is to empower women so they can keep changing their family’s world for the better—one day at a time. This summer ERDO launched 365, a campaign to support women ...

International Missions JOINING JESUS IN PRAYER

Our culture is not very interested in “the long game.” 1 If some activity does not appear to meet a perceived immediate need in life, our society is not deeply engaged in it. Daily focus has succumbed to an innate primacy of seeing personally perceived needs met first before others are considered. The nature of that orientation has infiltrated our faith experience, and we may be surprised at the degree to which those cultural attitudes shape our Christian practices of prayer. It tug...

ERDO SUPPORTING OUR GLOBAL FAMILY

The first time I encountered poverty, it was not a special day. I didn’t smell, taste, see, touch or hear anything out of the ordinary. Yet, for the first time, I realized how small my view of the world was. Throwing my backpack across the floor as I ran up the stairs, I was immediately stopped by my mom. I sighed in annoyance. Without a word, she handed me a photo of a girl. “This is your new sister,” she said. Recognizing my confusion, she told me that the girl in the photo...

Mission Canada A WORD FROM THE DIRECTOR OF MISSION CANADA

In a recent pandemic lament, a pastor shared his dismay and distress concerning those he was entrusted to lead. “I am flying blind,” he said. “About a third of our congregation are engaging online, following on social media, connecting with neighbours, participating in an online small group, and investing financially. A second group have less engagement, give sporadically, and are watching online at their convenience. But I am deeply troubled by those with no engagement (that w...

International Missions RACE, POWER AND VOICE

The year 2020 brought new vocabulary to our lexicon that we never imagined necessary. Adding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the name George Floyd became symbolic of many things, but primarily of race, power and voice. Tucked away in Asia when the protests were most intense, I was tempted to disengage, treating the crisis as an intractable North American problem. Thoughtful global worker feedback made that impossible to do. The summer is long past, but the issues haven’t changed. (In fact, by mo...

Mission Canada AN OASIS IN A CONCRETE JUNGLE

Decades ago, when one felt “called” to the mission field, the pull was most often to a distant land. As a young girl, I recall hearing stories of Mark and Huldah Buntain and their ministry to the poor in Calcutta, India. In my teenage years, church services included times where PAOC missionaries would visit and share what God was doing in Africa, India and Central America. I would return home after those mission services and go straight to my Encyclopaedia Britannica books to check o...

ERDO CHILD SPONSORSHIP

Each morning, Ayisha’s father would leave the house to find work. He was a day labourer and took sporadic jobs to provide for his wife and children. Eight-year-old Ayisha and her 16-year-old brother had a place to live and food to eat because their father found enough work. Village of Hope (VOH) Africa and ERDO help the family with school fees, and the children are receiving an education through child sponsorship. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Zimbabwe in early 2020, families were told to...

Mission Canada CLOSED DOORS, OPEN HEARTS

The PAOC is a Fellowship of churches as well as a sending agency to the world and to our own nation. Mission Canada, our national mission agency, has five priorities that guide our missional efforts in Canada. Two of these priorities include reaching those in our urban centres and in various cultural language groups. As a welcoming nation to those immigrating from other countries, our urban centres are growing and diversifying. Some of the amazing churches that make up our Fellowship are smaller...

ERDO ELEVATING AND ALLEVIATING

“God elevates and alleviates,” said PAOC global worker Matthew Price, speaking with ERDO early this summer through Facebook Live. Matthew and Amber Price have been living in Thailand for the past four years. Amber is the director of Impact School of Missions (ISM) and focuses on leadership development. Matthew works with ERDO as the national director for ChildCARE Plus (CCP) Thailand. He oversees 17 staff across three out of four regions in Thailand, where 461 sponsored children are ...

International Missions A COSTLY FAITH

As evangelical Christians, we often speak of our personal faith. We ourselves made the decision to follow Christ, so it is indeed personal. But what else might we have assumed it means or does not mean for us individually? Is this faith something we think we own? And does that mean we get to define its impact upon our own lives? Or is the precious gift of this Christian faith something given to us with a set of parameters defined by Jesus, wherein the promised transformation is tied to the embra...

International Missions MISSIONS AND THE CHURCH

Thinking of increasing your own missional impact, or not sure of what steps you can take? I recently interviewed Aaron Mix-Ross, executive pastor at Heartland, a Church Connected in Mississauga, Ont., so he could share his recent experience of taking a short-term mission team to Colombia. His perspective may help to answer some of your questions. Q: “We value growth through missions and evangelism” is listed as one of the “Core Values” on your church’s website. Ho...

Mission Canada NEWCOMERS IN OUR CITIES

“I want this assurance of salvation also …” These were the words that Ahmed, a Syrian newcomer, said to me during Eid al-Adha. It is during this holiday that he and his family visit friends, eat delicious foods, and wear new clothes. Eid is a time when an animal is slaughtered to commemorate Abraham’s sacrifice of a ram instead of his son. As I sat in a home with a group of Syrian men, I explained that Abraham’s sacrifice points to another Lamb that was slaughtere...

ERDO THE HUNGER PANDEMIC

Every year, ERDO assists thousands of people suffering from food insecurity who are unable to access proper nutrition due to drought, conflict or displacement. The COVID-19 pandemic struck an already vulnerable world, doubling the number of people facing acute hunger worldwide. Clearly, access to food has never been more important. ERDO is regularly in touch with our team on the ground: PAOC global workers, local churches, and other partners who are helping us respond to this growing food cris...

ERDO BIRTHING HOPE

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 ...