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NAB Central Europe Leadership/Invovlement
NAB Gateway has been involved in Short-Term Mission and Sister Church Partnership development in Central Europe since 2002, but as was mentioned in the past (see November 2019 newsletter), in addition to my NAB Gateway role I’ve been asked to provide more leadership among our national partners in this region, and in Hungary and Serbia in particular. Specifically, I’m serving and shadowing alongside of NAB missionaries Ron and Jean Seck in their roles with CHE Central Europe with our partners, as well as serving as a new board member with CHE Hungary (MEK) and CHE Serbia (ZZ). In this season of pandemic, this looks like Zoom board meetings, as well as a weekly prayer meeting with these CHE partners from 4–5 different countries. In the future, I hope to spend much more time in this region in person and familiarize myself more and more in oversight, as well as being a liaison for these national missionaries with the NAB.
Training and Presenting
I had the opportunity to present (online) at the Evangelical Missiological Society (EMS) annual conference on October 9 on a “Philosophical and Practical Pursuit of Global, Local Church Partnerships,” which was a great chance to share about our NAB Gateway approach to these partnerships with a broader audience. In addition, Faith Baptist Church in Regina, Saskatchewan, asked if I would present on October 17 on the broad scope of where the NAB is serving around the globe, as well as how Gateway is involved in these varied settings. Also, this coming January I’ll be facilitating a Sister Church Partnership workshop over two days for a number of our CHE Central Europe partners (see paragraph above) through Zoom and am making plans to also facilitate an online version of our Short Term Mission Leader Workshop in late winter/early spring.
2021 Plans (?)
As everyone understands in these days of the COVID pandemic, all plans are tentative. But we are making plans for some upcoming mission trips here at NAB Gateway that we are hoping and trusting will go forward. One of them is in the Balkan/Central Europe country of North Macedonia in May, where a construction team will serve with local workers on a new church building and clean water project in a Roma community. Another mission team that we are hoping to send next November (postponed from November 2020) will be made up of NAB Regional Ministers (and their spouses) and will be serving in various capacities in northwestern Romania at Camp Falcon Rock and among Hungarian Baptist Churches in this region.
There may be some open opportunities to serve on the team going to North Macedonia in May, so please send me an email at rschmor@nabconf.org if you know of someone who may be interested. Additionally, please know that I’m always available to advise, consult, and chat with you about your church’s involvement in a Sister Church Partnership or your involvement (or someone you know) on a Short-Term Mission Trip.
As always, thanks for your prayers, your support, and your participation in the ministry of NAB Gateway.
For the Kingdom, Randy Schmor