WMC -USA Quarterly News

Greetings!

In response to the international pandemic brought on by the coronavirus, our team has spent hundreds of hours on WhatsApp and Zoom communicating with hundreds of pastors and volunteers in the 97 countries we currently work in. The primary focus of this communication was to build relationship with the pastors and facilitators, encourage them, and pray with them during these uncertain times.

As our regional leaders reached out to the Live School facilitators in their various regions, we found that some of them had lost their jobs, many were still under strict lockdowns and curfews, and many were in parts of the world with severe food shortages. A number of the pastors we partner with have had to work through the grief of losing congregants to the virus. Due to restrictions, most churches in these countries are still not meeting and, unlike first world countries, the churches and church members do not have the technology to record and stream services online.

We are living in unprecedented times. Besides the pandemic, there are also a number of heightened geopolitical tensions and domestic social issues of race, equality, and freedom that fill our cultures and conversations. Each of our lives has been disrupted this year and, as humans living in a broken world, this can easily lead us to fear, discouragement, and apathy.

But in truth, even though most churches are barred from meeting at the moment, this is an exciting time in the kingdom and in World Mission Centre.

During the pandemic, many of the churches we partner with have met the visible, physical needs of the communities around them though food pantries and medical aid. A global crisis has mobilized the local church to action in surprising ways!

The Ark of God Church handing out food parcels in South Africa.Pastor Isaac Modise, our Southern Africa team leader, pastors this congregation.

Food parcels being handed out in Nicaragua run by a Live school country coordinator, Harry Hebbert.

Jonatan, our Central America coordinator with a grateful family. The young girls are also studying in the Live School Program, along with their mother

While most of our 2,500+ Live Schools around the world had to stop meeting due to the pandemic, many are now resuming as lockdowns restrictions lessen. Amazingly, even a number of schools were started (two of them in the north of India!) amid the strict lockdowns.

Live Schools that meet in prisons and refugee camps, and a few of our full-time, residential Live Schools, have continued to gather and study during the pandemic since they were already in quarantine together.

All over the world, so many of our volunteers and partners are waiting in anticipation for lockdowns to lift or lessen so that they can start Live Schools in their churches. Our partners in Cuba are standing ready to start 42 new schools within the next 6 months. Combined, these schools could train hundreds of church planters.

In Nimba, Liberia a graduate of Live School recently planted a church.

In some provinces in Cuba churches are allowed to meet again. Many Live Schools have started classes again. 94 students completed the curriculum recently and are waiting to graduate.

Our Regional Leaders continue to meet with their teams through Zoom and WhatsApp to encourage them and stay in contact. It has been humbling to hear how Live School has been the lifeline for so many churches that are unable to meet as an entire congregation but who can meet in smaller groups in people’s homes and watch the Live School curriculum. In West Africa, through our partner Sonrise International, the in-country teams still managed to hold 23 pastors meetings, 10 facilitators’ trainings, and start 8 new schools during the pandemic.

Live School students are still going on outreach in their communities and getting creative with their churches on how to do evangelism even in difficult situations. During this time churches have been planted and people have come to faith in Christ. One our schools reported 27 salvations when they went on an outreach this summer.

Through one of our partner programs, Farming God’s Way, a number of schools, especially in West Africa, are now planting gardens to feed those around them during the pandemic.

In our last report we mentioned the need for more people to assist William in the USA office. We are so thankful for Davis Dewar who started working in the office this fall, assisting William in various capacities.

During this time, our regional leaders and their teams have learned many lessons:

We all need encouragement, and especially pastors and ministry leaders. When we asked one of the regions if the newsletter they received every two weeks was too much communication, they quickly responded, no. Hearing the stories of what God was doing around the world was greatly encouraging to them and inspired them to press on in ministry.
When lockdown measures swept the glob, we learned not to take normal things – like air travel, restaurants, hugs, health - for granted.
We have learned even more in this difficult season to depend on God (Psalms 20:7).
We have also been learning the importance of faith and patience. We believe with all of our might that God will continue to grow his church and bring salvation, but we wait with patience for churches to have the freedom to open, for large evangelistic gatherings, and for God to lead us.

The most valuable outcome of this pandemic was that it forced our organization, like so many of you, to briefly pause, take stock, rethink, and reevaluate how we do ministry. This has led us back to the mandate we believe God gave us a few years ago. The mandate is to train and equip one million missionaries and church planters to join a missionary force that works towards the unfinished task of world evangelization. Pray for us as we strategize with our leaders and listen to the Lord about how to train 1,000,000 missionaries in the next five years.

Recently, our USA office had the opportunity to attend a Christian leaders meeting with Dr. John Maxwell. He shared about how to grow in ministry leadership even during challenging times. He proposed, what if in five years he came back and asked each of us, “What did you do with 2020?” That question struck me. It is a loaded question because it’s not just about the ministry, but about me as an individual.

What am I doing with 2020? Am I drawing closer to God? Am I working for His kingdom? Am I investing in my character, heart, mind, and physical body? How do I respond to the crisis the world is in? Am I paralyzed with fear, or do I live in apathy towards the world around me? Am I just following the ebb and flow of society or do I seek to do the will of God? Am I looking to the author of life, the creator of this world and saying, “Here I am…I have come to do your will, my God” (Hebrews 10:7)?

What will MY answer be when someone asks me what I did with 2020? What will YOUR answer be?

Blessings,

William Crew

Prayer Requests:

*Pray for our staff, volunteers and their families continued health.

*Pray that God will provide for our office financially

*Please continue to pray for our world, families, government leaders, healthcare workers, and economies in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.

*Pray also for the World Mission Centre leaders, Live School facilitators, and Live School students around the globe.

Join us in October for our Indabas!

It will be at 3 Locations this year, smaller gatherings to accommodate more people during the pandemic.

We hope you will join us at one of these locations!

If you cannot attend the Indaba this year but would like to be a sponsor or make a donation to underwrite our costs, then please click on the button below.

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