Greetings from Matadi, the second port city I’m visiting this week with a Responsible Living Skills team.  We’ve shown films in four churches (two Baptist and two Assemblies of God), and are presenting the True Love Waits seminar in all four, including one today and one tomorrow.  Two of us spoke in Boma at meetings of a “60 minutes for Jesus” club, that meets in a bar/restaurant near the port from 12-1 PM, during the lunch hour!  There were about 50 people present each day!  I was on local Matadi TV last night, forty minutes with a pastor and two lay people, encouraging viewers to come watch the films and follow the TLW program.  Two women pastors that I was meeting with this morning told me  that they saw me on TV, and they want to invite us back to Matadi to do the program in their churches (related to the British Baptist mission).
 
Our team this week, besides me, includes an Assemblies of God pastor who arranged the meetings in his churches; Baptist pastor Celestine Kiaku, lay communications specialist Michel Kuzy Mwinda (“Light”) (Celestine and Michel from Kinshasa), and our driver, Kivudi Désiré, who just finished his first year at the Bible Institute in Kimpese.  I’m thankful to have him along, because the roads in Matadi and Boma, once off the main highway, are treacherous!  In Boma, our ancient boom-box sound system let us down, so we bought a new and more complete system.  Part of that is already broken down, but fortunately some churches have their own sound systems that we can use.  Michel Mwinda and I will be preaching in the two Matadi churches on Sunday, and then we’ll drive the two hours back to Kimpese. 
 
Thanks for your love and prayers and support!

Shalom,
Wendy

Missionary Partnership Network with Wendy Bernhard, Missionary to the Democratic Republic of Congo

“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”   2 Timothy 2:2

• 1 box of Crayons (24 count only)
• 2 Pink Erasers
• 1 bottle Elmer’s Glue (4 fluid oz)
• 20 Pencils #2
• 1 regular size box Kleenex
• 1 Scissors (Fiskar)
• 1 box Colored Pencils
• 1 Plastic Pencil box
• 1 box Washable Markers
• 2 Pocket folders
• 1Watercolors (Prang, only)
• 1 Wooden Ruler
• 1Wide Line Spiral notebook
• Box of 1 Gallon size Ziploc Bags

Volunteers are welcome to sort and place donated items in backpacks the first week of August.  Contact Pastor to volunteer.

The Board of Missions

It’s time to gear up for another great event.  Please come to the planning meeting and take part in making the Adams County CROP Hunger Walk grow in order to help even more people in need. Church World Service and Central Baptist Church in Quincy are inviting pastors, mission committee members, youth leaders, families, and individuals interested in mission projects and local and international hunger issues to the planning meeting.

If you want to check out the website, visit www.cropwalkonline.org/AdamsCoIL.  Sign up now and bring ideas for what we can add.

Any questions? Please contact:

Julia Jones, Assistant Director, Illinois Office
Church World Service
Phone: (630) 990-7441
Email: jjones@churchworldservice.org

CROP Hunger Walk Planning Meeting
WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2010
5:30 P.M.

CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH
321 N. 7th St
QUINCY, IL  62301 
 
PHONE: (217) 222-1310
www.cbcquincy.org

We’re continuing to face tough economic times. Parts of our economic system seem to be headed in a more positive direction, yet much remains unclear. Pensions are slowly making up lost ground, some homeowners continue to fend off foreclosure, and the national unemployment rate hovers at 10%. It’s understandable to focus on what has been lost and be apprehensive about the future. But in the midst of these challenging times, it is important to acknowledge all that God has and continues to provide—and how we use those resources.

So just how do we feed God’s sheep in these days? When you give of your resources—especially in these uncertain times—you demonstrate God’s love to a world that is also facing huge challenges. This year as you consider your congregation’s contribution to One Great Hour of Sharing offering, do so knowing that our love of God is manifest in our feeding of his “sheep”—whether in response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, through livelihood development in Cambodia, or in assisting newly arrived immigrants with legal services—your gifts are feeding God’s sheep throughout the year.

The One Great Hour of Sharing is the annual disaster relief and development offering Central Baptist Church receives during the month of June.  The Board of Missions set our goal: $2,500.00 on Sunday, June 27, 2010.  Please give generously – and sacrificially – to this important offering!  Offering envelopes are available in the pews, newsletter, bulletins or GIVE NOW!

This offering began more than sixty years ago in response to the devastation of World War II. In March 1949, a national broadcast on a Saturday evening asked Americans to give generously the next morning in their churches. A remarkable assembly of national leaders and celebrities gave their efforts to the broadcast, and more than 75,000 churches responded the next day.  Today, One Great Hour of Sharing serves people in over 80 countries around the world. Sponsored by nine Christian U.S. denominations and Church World Service, One Great Hour of Sharing makes sure that we can respond to needs as soon as they happen and that tens of thousands of people receive support for ongoing relief, rehabilitation, and development.  The World Relief Committee of the American Baptist General Board reviews each development request for funding from the One Great Hour of Sharing offering received from American Baptists. Gifts reach the ministries and people in need through a network of regional and international partnerships with the following: 

• American Baptist International Ministries
• American Baptist National Ministries
• Baptist World Aid – the compassionate arm of the Baptist World Alliance, supporting three areas of ministry: relief, development, and support of national partners.
• Church World Service – Founded in 1946, Church World Service is a relief, development, and refugee assistance ministry supported by 36 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations in the United States. Working in partnership with indigenous organizations in more than 80 countries, CWS works to eradicate hunger and poverty and to promote peace

Board of Missions

When the class began to sing praises to God in Quechua, I knew this would be an unforgettable experience. I looked into the faces of this group that I would be teaching all week, many of whom had traveled 6-8 hours from remote jungle towns to attend this Christian Education class, and prayed that God would use me to provide them with needed skills and understanding for their churches.  I was in Huancayo, Perú, a 7 hour bus ride from Lima, straight up the Andes Mountains, at the San Pablo Seminary, affiliated with the Universidad Bíblica Latinamericana. 

The seminary is under the leadership of a committed and visionary couple, César and Karina, Methodist pastors who studied at the UBL in San José. They have created a beacon of light for the entire region, serving churches in distant jungle villages, offering theological studies for both women and men in a culture that marginalizes women, and creatively interacting with indigenous culture to “incarnate” Christian faith.

My students, as in Guatemala, were diverse: Methodists, Pentecostals, one Baptist, one Catholic, and many from the national Peruvian Evangelical Church, some just beginning their ministry and others near retirement, some from the city and others from small towns.  They were reserved at first, but gradually opened up and shared their stories.

Andrés, who felt God’s calling to form an evangelistic musical group with his family, confessed that he had not understood the readings, had not done the required preliminary work, and was not planning to come to the class. But his wife attended my workshop the Saturday before and was impressed enough that she convinced her husband to try at least the first day. He was hooked, and learned twice as much as his colleagues because he had to repeat everything he’d learned to his wife each night. 

Pastor Daniel was fascinated by my presentation of a new book that I had just read regarding older adults, The Creative Age, Realizing Human Potential in the Second Half of Life (Gene Cohen)  that validates post-retirement as a tremendously productive and creative time. Daniel said that it would change his entire ministry as he worked with the older adults in his congregation. He told me about a vulnerable older woman in his church whose children are impatient for her to die so they can divide her land among them. He says he will try to empower the “seniors” in his church to be more independent and to use their creativity.

I was in the heart of Incan culture, surrounded by women in colorful dresses and bolero hats with babies comfortably tied onto their backs with woven cloths. The first Sunday my hosts took me to the Artisan Fair: blocks and blocks of weavers, potters, carpenters, jewelers. . . displaying their intricate and beautiful shawls, sweaters, wall hangings, bowls, boxes, musical instruments, wood carvings, filigree silver earrings and necklaces. . . I was awed, especially as many of the artists were working on their craft as they talked with us. These ancient skills have been passed from father to son, mother to daughter for hundreds of years.

Peruvian Christians have a number of special challenges, as they seek to “incarnate” the message of God’s redeeming love into ancient Incan culture, blended with modern capitalistic values, in the context of a struggle to meet basic needs and form a more just and equal society. I was humbled by the vision and commitment of the seminary and my students. 

Together in ministry,

Ruth

International Ministries
P.O. Box 851 • Valley Forge, PA 19482