Inside:
The Wests —
Dreaming
God’s Dream
Winter 2010
EDUCATION: Opening the Mind, Empowering the Heart
Lulu Fleming,
born into slavery,
became the first
African-American
commissioned
woman
missionary
(1887).
Based on research by IM Staff and Dr. Deborah Van Broekhoven
Executive Director, American Baptist Historical Society
L
ouise (“Lulu”) Cecilia Fleming was twenty-five years old when she
arrived in Palabala, Congo as an American Baptist missionary in 1887.
When she entered the Congo, it felt in some ways like the completion of a
family circle. Lulu had been born into slavery in Florida. Her father had escaped
slavery by joining the Union Army when she was an infant. He died at the end
of the Civil War without Lulu ever seeing him. Neither had she ever seen her
grandfather. But Lulu knew that her mother’s father had lived near the mouth of
the Congo River where he had been captured by a slave trader.
When Lulu was accepted for appointment as a missionary in the Congo, she
referred to her African grandfather, saying, “I believe this is the day for which I was
born. Can you not see God’s hand in allowing [that sinful deed of my grandfather’s capture, similar to Genesis 37:28], and raising up from that Joseph a daughter who would
return to this people with a message of peace?”
Lulu’s ministry, however, did not immediately take her to the Congo. After
graduating from Shaw University, she returned to Florida to teach. But all was not
well as she began that work. The happiness she previously enjoyed in her work at
home was increasingly overshadowed by her realization of the needs that existed
in the land of her ancestors. She concluded, “The Lord had need of me in Africa.”
Soon, the Woman’s American Baptist Foreign Mission Society of the West
recruited her as its first missionary. Although gifted and highly motivated, Lulu
Fleming nevertheless found slower response to her educational ministry in the
Congo than she had experienced in Florida. In 1889 she reported that the mission
school had 49 pupils. Of these seven had been baptized, two more had asked for
baptism, and four were showing an interest in turning to Jesus. Lulu wrote, “This
seems a poor report…and perhaps many may think the work almost discouragcontinued on page 5
God’s Provision for a Gifted Educator
How could the infant daughter of
slaves in 1862 become qualified
to be a missionary specializing in
education? God provided all that
Lulu Fleming needed to answer the
call. She had received her own early
training from her mother and by 1883
was teaching in St. Augustine, Florida
public schools. On weekends she
taught the adult Sunday school class
at her church. Such was Lulu’s skill
that the class included her pastor
as well as other licensed preachers.
When a visiting Baptist pastor from
Brooklyn observed her effectiveness, he enlisted the young women’s
society of his church to provide funds
for Lulu to attend Shaw University in
Raleigh, North Carolina. Shaw was
one of twenty-six American Baptist
schools established after the Civil
War to provide higher education for
African Americans. Lulu graduated in
1885 as the valedictorian of her class,
fully prepared to serve Christ as a missionary.
Executive Director’s
Message
by the Rev. Dr. Reid S. Trulson
Mission and Education
“I
t is of no use to talk to us; our husbands can understand these things, but we
can’t learn to read; we have no souls!” This was the belief ingrained into lowcaste women in nineteenth century Assam (in northeast India near present-day
Bangladesh). They expressed this often to Eliza Brown (1807-1871) as she sought
to teach them. Eliza and her husband, Nathan, were convinced that to effectively
make disciples for Jesus Christ, they needed to share the Good News about Jesus,
translate the Scriptures into the local language and provide people with a basic
education — especially the crucial skill of literacy.
Adoniram Judson, serving nearby in Burma, encouraged the use of education as
an integral part of the Browns’ pioneer mission work in Assam. “I am glad to hear also
that you are getting up schools,” he wrote. “In your situation, schools and elementary
works, ought, I think, to engross almost your whole attention. I hope that you will
soon see schools flourishing around you in every direction.” (Judson letter, 1837)
Missionaries like the Judsons and
Browns believed education could yield
three specific outcomes:
1) Help pupils come to faith in Christ.
2) Train individuals who could teach
others from a Christian worldview.
3) Prepare some students for theological
studies and church leadership.
Jesus’ instructions to “make disciples
of all nations” included the directive:
“teaching them to observe all I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) This has
been the driving force of International
Ministries (IM) — from those early days of
the nineteenth century through today.
Because all truth is God’s truth, leading people into a fuller understanding of
God’s world can help to open the mind. BeBy 1853, Nathan Brown reported
that 75% of new believers in Assam were
cause Jesus is the way, the truth and the
from schools he and his wife instituted.
life (John 14:6), education can be a means
through which the Spirit empowers the heart. This dual purpose is the focus of the
stories told in this issue of International Ministries On Location.
These fruitful activities are made possible through your dedicated and sacrificial
support. Hear our grateful word of thanks as you read more about our deep, historical roots and our broad, contemporary endeavors in education.
2
Vol. 2 No. 1 Spring 2010
A birthday party
hosted by Deliris
gave this boy
a life-tranforming
lesson in God’s love.
Knowledge, Faith and a Party!
M
issionary Deliris Carrion Rosa
has served at Baptist Schools
in El Salvador since 1998 and is now
preparing for ministry in Peru. Deliris
believes there is an intimate connection between knowledge and faith.
“On the one hand,” she says, “faith
without knowledge is blind. We need
knowledge in order to understand
and embrace the depths and values
of the Christian faith. On the other
hand, knowledge without faith is
impossible because we have to begin
our thinking on the basis of something that cannot be totally proven.”
The combination of knowledge
and faith describes IM’s approach
in “opening the mind, empowering
the heart.” This connection is illustrated when the seed planted through
education often bears spiritual fruit as
teachers personify the truth that God
loves and values each student. One
such Salvadoran student in Deliris’
life has been Manuel (not his real
name). Some years ago, Manuel tearfully shared with Deliris his dream
of someday having his friends gather
to celebrate his birthday. When he
became ten, Deliris enabled him to
have a party and a piñata — the first
in his lifetime.
Recently Manuel, now 13 years
of age, brought Deliris the news that
he had accepted Jesus as his Savior
and now wishes to become a pastor.
Deliris praises God, saying, “It was so
beautiful to know that the seed sown
in that child’s heart three years ago
was bearing fruit. Manuel now looks
at life with hope!”
Learn more about Deliris’ ministry at:
www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/Carrion_Rosa
The Legacy of Literacy
by Miriam Noyes, IM missionary in the Congo
Ed & Miriam Noyes
have worked with the
Baptist Convention of
Congo since 1984.
F
or nearly 200 years International Ministries missionaries
have shared the Good News holistically, which includes literacy education. People around the world can only become “people
of the Word” if they are able to read the Scriptures for themselves.
Since 1995, Miriam Noyes, IM missionary, has been a leader in
literacy education in the Congo. Here is part of her story.
My husband, Ed, and I have served as International Ministries missionaries for more than a quarter of a century in
the west of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Based at the
Lusekele agricultural resource center, Ed focuses on training Congolese technicians and promoting more productive,
profitable and sustainable farming techniques, while my
work has been in the field of education. In 1995, I was asked
by the Baptist women to develop a literacy program since
many Congolese women
and youth are marginalized
or impoverished because
they cannot read and write
effectively or use French (the
offical language in educated
circles and their window to
the rest of the world).
This was a monumental
challenge. I spent more than
two years finding materials
Rose Mayala, a pastor’s wife from Kinshasa, and learning how to teach
recently visited a Twa village as coordinator
in four languages: Lingala
of the literacy outreach there.
(spoken in the capital city of
Kinshasa and parts of Bandundu province), Kituba (spoken
primarily in Bandundu province), Kikongo (the language of
Bas-Congo, east of Kinshasa), and French.
Since 1998, I have worked with a core of dedicated Christians who teach classes, write materials and train and supervise other literacy teachers and classes. The result has been
that three-quarters of the Baptist churches in Kinshasa now
have neighborhood literacy classes. Approximately 5,000
graduates have come from this program with most of today’s
women’s leadership in Kinshasa churches being among the
graduates. As seen in the article “20 Celebrations,” benefits
abound from this educational ministry that opens the heart
and empowers the mind.
Beyond the City
Although the strength of the literacy work has been in Kinshasa, approximately 150 classes are scattered in rural areas.
The latest class starts have been with an aboriginal pygmy
people, the Twa, located in northern Bandundu Province.
The Twa have been abused by neighboring Bantu peoples,
that see the Twa as half animal because they come from the
forest, and lack “civilization.” Literacy classes will help the
Twa adapt wisely to improve their lives and advocate for
themselves and their people where needed.
They are eager to learn more about the Good News:
how everyone, including the Twa, have been created equal
and are treasured by God and how life in Jesus Christ and
the Holy Spirit can transform their lives, empower and lead
them on the right paths. As they change, we hope their
Bantu neighbors will have their vision transformed and accept the Twa as equal children of God.
Learn more about the Noyes’ ministry at:
www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/Noyes
20 Celebrations
Earlier generations played “20 Questions.” Here are “20 Celebrations” provided by
Miriam Noyes — reasons to give thanks to God for IM missionaries who are bringing literacy to families and whole communities.
Literacy class students have:
1. Learned to study the Bible on their own.
2. Become elected leaders in their churches.
3. Passed the state exam for a high school diploma.
4. Risen above being orphaned and unschooled to finish high school.
5. Learned to make and sell various products or received vocational training.
6. Become employed — one former illiterate woman is now a receptionist at the
main university; a once uneducated man is now a bread distribution supervisor.
7. Improved their standing in their families and their marriages.
8. Shed inferiority complexes and gained new confidence.
9. Supervised their children’s schooling.
10. Improved their management of their households and family’s health.
11. Developed higher standards for having clean homes and fewer dangers in their
environments.
12. Provided for their children to eat better and perform better in school.
13. Guided their children and grandchildren to more wholesome life patterns.
14. Participated in their absent husband’s or children’s lives when they are in Europe
by reading and writing letters and even visiting them comfortably in Europe.
15. Entered in more elite, intellectual circles.
16. In conducting their own correspondence, become invulnerable to “friends” breaking up their marriages with false letters.
17. Learned to do their own business confidently, avoiding robbery or scamming by
intermediaries.
18. Conducted business confidently without fear of being cheated.
19. Adroitly sidestepped attempts by local police or government agents to collect
taxes inappropriately or fine them illegally.
20. Become able to vote for themselves.
These first beneficiaries of literacy
classes with the Twa show the
historic importance of this work
by their solemn demeanor ­— a
reminder of the serious, lifechanging benefits that accompany
the ability to read and write.
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3
“Our understanding of
racial inequality helps us
in our ministry in Africa.”
– Sarah West, IM missionary to Zambia
by the Rev. James G. Layton, Senior Writer/Editor
Dreaming God’s Dream
I
magine a school constructed of
plastic bags and 2 wooden sticks on
three sides with the wall of a house
providing the fourth. Then picture
more than 60 pupils trying to learn in
that environment with just one teacher.
That is what Charles and Sarah West
saw in the city of Lusaka soon after
they began their work in Zambia with
International Ministries in 2006. While
Charles devotes his time to training
future church leaders, Sarah ministers
Although these children presently huddle in a
crammed two-room school, they receive an
education from loving Christian teachers.
primarily to vulnerable women and
children. When she learned that the
community school described above
was recently abandoned by a struggling congregation, Samaritan Baptist
Church, she and her husband began
dreaming God’s dream. They wanted
to help meet a critical need. “It’s very
easy to come alongside our Zambian
brothers and sisters,” Sarah says, “because they do ask for help.”
The result of that help is the WellSpring of Faith and Hope Center,
which is both a small community
school and orphanage. The name of the
center is based on two verses in Proverbs — Understanding is a wellspring of
4 On Location Spring 2010
life to the one who has it. (16:22) and The
wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook.
(18:4) “A wellspring is an abundant
source,” Sarah explains, “a fountain of
life. Our prayer is that the center will
be the source of an abundant life in
Christ that might not otherwise exist
for these children.”
Education in Zambia is not compulsory, resulting in 40% of females
and approximately 20% of males being
illiterate. This lack of educational opportunities hampers progress for Zambia, which attained independence in
October 1964. The imprint of colonialism remains evident with adult women
who serve as maids still being called
“house girls” and grown men who
are truck drivers and gardeners still
referred to as “lorry boys” and “garden
boys.” Sarah observes: “As African
Americans, raised in the United States
with its history of racial inequality
for blacks and other minorities, we as
missionaries in Africa understand the
struggle of indigenous Black Zambians
in overcoming unfair treatment and
being given limited opportunities.”
One of the center’s goals is to provide expanded opportunities for a new
generation, opening the eyes of the
children to possibilities other than a
life of abject poverty. These children
need the love of Christ shown in other
ways as well. Many are orphaned as
a result of AIDS — of the 67 children
who attend the center nearly 40% have
lost one or both parents.
A Newer Dream
In April 2008, Charles was invited
to preach for the Nyankuba Baptist
Church, located in a rural area where
there were large expanses of land lying
uncultivated. Sarah tells of the result,
“We asked if we could possibly build
near their church building, thinking
that both they and the Samaritan Baptist Church could come together and
care for the children in a new facility.
Having lost both parents to AIDS, some orphans
have had to become young heads of households as
they try to care for their siblings.
We were granted several acres of land
on which to build.”
The Wests then began to take other
steps in dreaming God’s dream. Those
included planning to construct a more
adequate community school and orphanage and using solar panels since
electricity is not to be available in rural
areas for several years. Challenges have
abounded as this dream edges toward
TANZANIA
D EM O C R A T IC R E P U B L IC
O F T HE C O N G O
A N GO L A
Kalulushi
ZAMBIA
MALAWI
Lusaka
MOZAMBIQUE
NA M I B I A
BO TS W A N A
ZIM B A B W E
Sarah West’s ministry centers in
the capital city of Lusaka, and Charles
teaches at the Zambia International
Theological College in Kalulushi.
reality. For instance, there was the
need for clean water. Sarah successfully found a drilling company to fill that
need at no cost, while the finishing
steps for the well have been funded
by the Canaan Baptist Church of New
Castle, Delaware. Building materials
have also been critical, but instead of
the expense of having bricks or cinder
blocks transported, the local clay soil
has been transformed into bricks
made by church and community
members.
Becoming attuned to God’s dreams
also means imagining future possibilities. Sarah says, “With these several
acres what we would like to see is several blocks of school buildings, residential buildings for the children with
house mothers and a large library that
will service everyone in the rural area,
as well as a clinic with basic services.”
Sarah has been considering another aspect of the dream that will
sustain this ministry through incomegenerating projects. She envisions not
only having livestock and vegetables
for food and sale but also…“projects
such as candle making and bag making that will hopefully bring in needed
income to create independence. We
will also be introducing a training
component such as basket weaving,
welding, masonry and other marketable skills.”
As Charles and Sarah West minister in Zambia by dreaming God’s
dream, they have witnessed the truth
of the scriptures, “For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)
Learn more about the Wests’ ministry at:
www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/West
From The Baptist Missionary Magazine, November 1884
Lulu Fleming, an American Baptist,
is shown here with British missionaries
who served with her in the Congo.
Lulu Fleming
continued from page 1
ing, but to us whom God has given the privilege to labor here it is very encouraging. [It] fills us with unspeakable joy.”
Lulu seemed unwilling to let herself get weary. She eagerly combined her
teaching with weekend evangelistic work in the towns. Within a year she had
learned Kikongo and no longer required a translator. When Lulu saw that women needed to be reached, she began making home visits while urging the mission
society to send more women. Help came to her in 1890 with the appointment of
Nora Gordon, a graduate of Spelman Seminary. Lulu’s young half-sister, Emma
Hawkins, also went to the Congo to
assist her as a volunteer.
Illness forced Lulu to return to the
United States in 1891. But up to the
time of her departure, she continued
her ministry in the towns, now numbering eight. In the mornings she
taught in the town schools, while in
the afternoons she made home visits,
preached in the villages and cared for
the sick and dying.
While recuperating in the U.S.,
she studied medicine at the Women’s
Medical College in Philadelphia, and
in 1895 she returned to the Congo as
a medical missionary. In this second term, Dr. Fleming was stationed at Irebu,
further up the Congo River where she needed to learn a different language. This
also proved to be a difficult assignment in other ways as well. She observed
rampant illness and anguished over school children being kidnapped in “native
wars.”
The power of Dr. Fleming’s ministry came from her identification with those
among whom she served. The Baptist Missionary Magazine described her as
“particularly successful in winning the hearts of the Congo people, putting
herself in close touch and sympathy with them.” Later, African sleeping sickness
again forced her back to the United States for medical care, but it was not effective. In 1899 Dr. Fleming died in a Philadelphia hospital. She was still planning to
return to her work, celebrating the fact that “the Lord had need of me in Africa.”
“This seems a poor report…
and perhaps many may think
the work almost discouraging,
but to us whom God has given
the privilege to labor here it is
very encouraging. [It] fills us
with unspeakable joy.”
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5
Christianity Dramatically Expands through Education
by the Rev. James G. Layton, Senior Writer/Editor
W
hat would your reaction be if you
learned there were a country that
had a Christian population of only 10%
but that in just a few years it grew to 50%?
That stupendous growth is what actually
is happening at the Okinawa Christian
School International (OCSI) administered
by International Ministries missionary
Leslie Turley.
Leslie explains the cause for this pheDavid & Leslie Turley have been serving in
nomenal
increase, “One reason is that all
Okinawa, Japan since 2007. David’s ministry
of our OCSI teachers serve as missionarfocuses on training future church leaders, while
Leslie’s is on education. Earlier, they served for
ies. It is also due to the small nature of the
eight years teaching students in Yokohama schools
school and the family atmosphere that
that are related to the Japan Baptist Union.
permeates everything. Our teachers go out
of their way to form close bonds with students and parents.”
This type of evangelism is done through relationships that are formed as a
result of common interests that make sharing faith a natural occurrence. This
relational evangelism is reinforced with an excellent education in four areas — intellectual, social, physical and spiritual. The spiritual side is integrated into all of
OCSI’s activities and classes with the Bible as the base for everything the students
study.
The school, which was founded in 1957, is built on the truth of Proverbs 22:6
— “Train children in the way they should go, and when old, they will not depart
from it.” Presently, of the 360 OCSI students many are “Third Culture Kids”
(TCKs). TCKs are children who have spent a significant period of time in one or
more cultures other than their own, thus integrating elements of those cultures
and their own birth culture, into a third culture. OSCI has become an ideal setting for TCKs who may come from Korea, the Philippines, Germany, Bulgaria,
and India. Often they have been raised in an English environment, and their
parents choose OCSI because classes are solely in that language.
One of the challenges OCSI faces is that some of these parents, along with
many of the parents of the Japanese students, want their children to be surrounded by Christian values, but they do not seek for them to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This situation is met by the OCSI staff as Leslie describes,
“When kids become Christians and their parents don’t support their decision, it is
important that the ‘OCSI family’ provides the support systems to help the students deal with this.”
The success of this approach is clearly indicated by the results of the type of
evangelism practiced by OCSI. Members of the student body not only receive a
quality education, but those who choose to follow Jesus also experience the fact
that they are part of a larger body, the body of Christ.
Learn more about the Turleys’ ministry at:
www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/Turley
Today “Kisho” serves in information technology
at OCSI and has several ministries with
marginalized people. He and his wife also
conduct a weekly home Bible study.
School Lessons that Last
Not every non-Christian student attending the Okinawa Christian School
International (OCSI) decides to become
a follower of Christ. “Kisho” (not his real
name) was one of those. As an OCSI
student, Kisho retained his faith system
based on witchcraft and astrology.
When he went on to college in the U.S.,
he took that system with him along
with memories of an abusive father.
But he also was accompanied by the
tender influence of OCSI teachers.
During Kisho’s college years, he
turned to drugs. His mother and sisters
rescued him. Upon returning to Japan,
he encountered a former OCSI teacher.
Kisho had always appreciated this
teacher because of the love and care
she demonstrated. She invited him to
have contact with a church. The result
was that he asked Jesus into his life. In
his subsequent work with a computer
programming company, Kisho was
used by God to reach out to colleagues
who had serious family problems.
Three of them became Christians.
Even when Kisho was lost in drugs
and leading an errant life, he remembered the Bible verses that he had
learned at OCSI. He says, “If it weren’t
for the school and my previous teachers, I would be dead!”
RUSSIA
O
kinawa, Japan is actually a group of 161 islands (44 inhabited and 117 uninhabited), which span approximately 620 miles from east to west and 250 miles
from north to south in the Pacific Ocean. Okinawa has a completely separate history
from the rest of Japan. In the fifteenth century, Okinawa was an independent kingdom called Ryuku. In 1609, after several invasions, it came under the power of China.
However, by 1879 the islands were integrated in Japan and the region’s name was
changed to Okinawa.
NORTH
KOREA
SOUTH
KOREA
CHINA
Okinawa
6 On Location Spring 2010
Taiwan
JAPAN
Yokohama
Defining “Volunteer”
Celebrating a Ministry in Education
Dictionary definition: someone who undertakes a task with
no anticipation of being paid
IM definition: one who is called to give of themselves to serve
others in the name of Christ as part of an adventure in faith
using their God-given skills and talents.
Cathy Holmes is completing more than 35 year of service at
Woodstock School in Mussoorie, north India. Woodstock is
a Christian international school that was founded in 1854.
Presently it has more than 460 students from 25 countries.
As Cathy reviews her years as an International Ministries
missionary, she sees that her opportunities — as teacher, administrator and admissions director — gave her chances to
demonstrate Christ’s love. “Through Woodstock,” she says,
“we can know that God’s goodness will reach many places
we cannot go because of the new Christian witness of many
of the graduates who return to
their own countries.”
Woodstock School recently
won recognition as the best
international school in India.
This school offers both compulsory and non-compulsory
activities designed to sow
the seeds of Christianity in
elementary and high school
students.
You can define “volunteer” in three ways through International Ministries.
Volunteers in Global Mission
God can use you as a short-term missionary (ten days to a few years) in
every endeavor — from teaching to
construction. Larry and Robin Sweeney, retired elementary school teachers, have been teaching English in Costa Rica since 2007
for many months each year. Results have included children
adding to their knowledge and adults being able to find better employment because of their use of English.
Discovery Team
Individuals and families can join others on
planned trips designed to accommodate persons of average abilities and strength. These
inter-generational trips range from work
trips to ministry encounters all around the
world. Ed Hobart has led teams to China beginning in 2001.
The teams have taught English to middle-school English
teachers in rural areas. The classes focus on speaking and
listening skills and methodology that will help attendees
train other teachers and improve student understanding.
Xtreme Team
During the Xtreme Team mission adventure, people ages 19 to 29 XPERIENCE a
variety of mission, XTEND a hand, XPAND
the mind, XAMINE priorities, XERCISE
faith and XPLORE God’s Word and world. Neil Basta was a
member of Xtreme Team Russia 2009. As a deaf person, he
“signed in Russian” to challenge other deaf people he met in
places like McDonald’s and a local market to attend worship
services for the deaf.
Cathy began her ministry with the
Woodstock School in 1972 as an
elementary school teacher.
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Were you able to identify the missionaries shown on page 8?
International Ministries respects the privacy of its constituents and is committed to confidentiality in all of its transactions. Personal and private information will not be made available to
outside vendors or to other organizations.
1 Louise (“Lulu”) Fleming — story told on pages 1 & 5
2 Estela Schweissing — ministers to Haitian immigrants in the
Bahamas (go to: www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/Schweissing)
3 William Thomas — holds evangelistic services & training seminars
throughout Europe (go to: www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/Thomas)
4 Lott Carey — went to Liberia in 1822 as the 1st African-American
missionary to Africa
5 Ketly & Vital Pierre — strengthen churches and encourage planting
new ones in Nicaragua (go to: www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/Pierre)
6 George Liele — in 1782 went to Jamaica, considered the 1st Baptist
foreign missionary from the U.S.
7 Sarah & Charles West — story told on pages 4 & 5
8 Kihomi Ngwemi & Nzunga Mabudiga — serve in Haiti where she
works with families and women and he teaches theology at the
Christian University of Northern Haiti (go to: www.internationalministries.org/
missionaries/kihomi_and_nzunga)
Contact International Ministries
Web address: www.internationalministries.org
Email a missionary: go to www.internationalministries.org, then click on
“People Who Serve” and choose the missionary’s name
Phone: 800-222-3872, ext. 2195 Home Office: P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482
Address Change? Contact Asanuo Yhome-Heneise, at 800-222-3872, ext. 2323 or
[email protected]
Request information
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o Weekend World Mission Conference o Speaker at your church
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o Make a tax-free contribution – go to www.internationalministries.org/give,
or mail your check with this form, or call 1-800-222-3872, ext. 2324
Mission: To glorify God in all the earth by crossing cultural boundaries to help
people come to Christ, grow in Christ and change their worlds with Christ.
1197.PUB.02/10
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7
EDUCATION: Opening the Mind, Empowering the Heart
American Baptist International Ministries, organized in 1814, is the first Baptist mission agency
formed in North America. We serve more than 2,500 short-term and long-term missionaries annually, bringing U.S. and Puerto Rico churches together with partners in over 70 countries in
cutting-edge ministries that tell the Good News of Jesus Christ while meeting human needs.
International Ministries invests missionaries and
$1.1 million for the education of children
and adults around the world.
“…teaching them to observe all I have commanded….“
—Matthew 28:20
W
8
hen Jesus gave the Great Commission, he emphasized the importance of teaching. Today, education is one of the critical ministry
focus areas for International Ministries (IM) missionaries as they work
in opening the mind and empowering the heart in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
More than one tenth of IM’s long-term missionaries around the
world are now providing literacy courses, teaching in schools, working
in Christian education and youth ministries and/or mentoring through
service as dorm parents. This is occurring so that:
`` people can read the Scriptures
`` parents can become more able to provide for their families
`` children and young people can learn of God’s love literally by
word … and deed.
Can you identify these missionaries? See list on page 7.
February’s Black History Month provides
an extra opportunity to celebrate the rich
heritage of American Baptist International
Ministries. Beginning with George Liele in
1782, African-Americans have been used by
God to reach beyond the shores of the United
States with a holistic gospel that has particularly focused on education. You can read how
this legacy grew in the 19th century through
the work of Dr. Louise “Lulu” Fleming (page
1) and continues today through people like
Sarah West (page 4).
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