Growth and Interest

Randy Schmor Gateway Global

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Praises

NAB International Missions Global Summit in Rostrevor, Northern Ireland – This was such a great event(!) as we sat under the teaching/facilitation of Australian missiologist Evelyn Hibbert and met at the YWAM Centre in the charming village of Rostrevor. Our group consisted of NAB International Missions staff, missionaries, and global missionary partners (about 25 altogether) discussing the challenging topics Hibbert brought to us in small groups that also provided unique fellowship opportunities for our diverse attendees.
International ‘Wholistic’ Mission Conference (IWMC) in Durres, Albania – Praises for an amazing event that included 250 participants from over 40 countries! All were there to discuss experiences and learn more about Community Health Evangelism, which is of course the primary strategy our Hungary and Serbia partners use.
- Seven vision trips (all facilitated by NAB Gateway) followed IWMC Albania, taking place in six different Central European and Balkan nations. Reports are still coming in, but we’re hearing so far that these went really well.
Sister-church Partnership Orientation at Missio Church in Bismarck, North Dakota – There’s great opportunity and optimism at this fairly new church as they seek to intentionally move into partnership and as I work with them in doing so.
Alberta Trip – These were a very full six days for me! And there was a lot of great feedback and interest from a variety of churches for engaging in short-term mission teams and sister-church partnerships. Whether speaking at mission conferences (Greater Edmonton Mission conference and the Central Alberta Mission conference) or leading trainings for short-term mission leaders and potential sister-church partnerships (Temple Baptist in Medicine Hat and Greenfield Community in Edmonton), there were many opportunities to engage with a variety of people and their churches!
PRAISES from my Central Europe Field Director role in Hungary/Serbia:
- One of the post-IWMC Albania vision trips was in Hungary, and we were very encouraged by the six participants who joined us for this experience.

Prayer

FUSE Trips – Please continue to pray for applicants to join two upcoming Gateway FUSE Teams in Cameroon and the Philippines! (See nabonmission.org/fuse for more info or pass along this opportunity to a young person you know.) Pray for the finalization of dates for both trips.
For all Gateway’s ongoing sister-church partnerships in various stages of development and engagement in Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Mexico, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Hungary, Romania, and Cameroon.
For more North American churches to engage in sister-church partnerships. (Your prayers are being heard! See this month’s article.)
PRAYER REQUEST from my Central Europe Field Director role in Hungary/Serbia:
- Laci and Eszter Daróczi-Csuhai recently resigned their director and staff positions from MEK Hungary (NAB’s partner in Hungary). Please pray for Laci and Eszter and their family as they pursue God’s will for them in the future.
- Also please pray as the NAB and MEK Hungary continue to discover our way forward with ministry in Hungary (pray for me as well in this as I represent NAB Central Europe, Hungary/Serbia, as field director.)

Hungary vision trip

Feri and Juli Olah with Guido and Jenna Schmid (Hungary vision trip participants)

Each time I send out one of these newsletters, I list among the prayer requests an ask for more North American churches to engage in sister-church partnerships, as well as a request for all our ongoing sister-church partnerships in a variety of countries. And as I was speaking at a mission conference this past month, it’s occurred to me that in some very real ways these prayers have been heard and that I want to thank you all for being faithful in bringing these requests to God.

Prayers Heard

As I mentioned above, I was in the middle of speaking at a mission conference recently when it occurred to me that both my full calendar and my full inbox are indicating that there are a lot of churches and individuals responding to the challenge of sister-church partnerships (as well as short-term mission team involvement). My mind went back about five years or so when we were all in the midst of a global pandemic. I recall sitting at my desk during this time of lockdowns and grounded travel and contemplating whether there would be opportunities to travel again, and whether the opportunities and conditions would exist again to travel and connect with international sister-church partners.

Of course, I often share with churches that these partnerships should not only be thought of in terms of air travel and mission teams, but that it’s important to engage as sister-church partners in other ways (online, etc.) and stay connected in ways that don’t involve travel. But, there is no replacement for face-to-face conversation and connection, and during the COVID-19 crisis, I found it hard to imagine that the ability to travel again as we were able to pre-COVID would exist again. And it was hard to imagine that things like short-term mission trips and sister-church partnerships would exist at any level close to what they had been at before 2020.

Look at What’s Happening!

MEK Hungary staff

So here we are, five years after the pandemic, and look at the response! We have so much to be thankful for to those who are responding to the challenge of partnership and serving, as well as being thankful for what we hope we’ll see as a result of the formation of these partnerships – things like new missionaries being called and more people being involved and active in God’s work around the world, especially those from the Majority World, from places that are normally looked at as receivers of ministry becoming senders of ministry themselves into the rest of the world.

Truly, things are moving to a place of international missions being ‘from everywhere to everywhere!’

So, thank you for your continued prayers for continued growth and interest in God’s global work from His global church!

For the Kingdom