ONWARD Page 2 May 2006

More Mission Societies

In last month’s issue, we shared some news from several Moravian Mission Societies (Northeast Pennsylvania, Canadian, Penn-Mar and Southern Wisconsin). Here are two more Societies and a little bit about the work they are doing:

The Alaska Moravian Mission Society is made up of one representative from each district of the Alaskan Moravian Church. The chair of the Society is Pastor Tom Conrad (former pastor of the Dillingham Moravian Church and now serving at the Seminary in Bethel).

Some of the outreach goals of the Society are as follows:

1) to reach into the Chukotka region of Russia and plant new churches where other Yup’ik speaking people live. Brother Conrad was able to fly over to visit two cities in that region – Provedenyia and Anadyr. Plans are being made for church planting efforts in those cities in partnership with Samaritan’s Purse.

2) A second area of ministry is assistance to the Labrador Moravian Church. Plans are being made for visits to the Labrador Province in order to meet with Moravian brothers and sisters there to discuss ways of working together to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

3) A third area of vision is church planting within Alaska. Each district of the Province will be challenged to identify a village where a new church can be planted.

4) The Society will continue to work to help local churches within the Alaskan Province to identify individuals and couples who are called to mission service. The Mission Society will assist in preparing them and helping them to find support for their work.

Moving across the continent and then “across the pond” we find the British Mission Board. Since Great Britain is a relatively small Moravian Province, the members of the Provincial Board, when elected, automatically become members of the Mission Board. This helps to keep administration costs down, but implies much work for the elected leaders.

The three main areas of mission outreach are in Tanzania, South Asia and South Africa.

Tanzania: The BMB gives bloc grants to the Moravian Church in Western Tanzania and to the hospital at Sikonge as well as a scholarship budget for training. In addition, the British Province continues to send 300 HIV/AIDS blood testing kits to the hospital each month.

South Asia: The British Province offers support to the work in South Asia which is designated as a Unity Undertaking. This work was started in the mid 19^th century and has developed largely through its schools which have earned a good reputation with Christians and non-Christians alike. The Institute at Rajpur has itself been instrumental in reaching out to Assam where there is now a congregation and a school. In recent years, a congregation has been formed in Katmandu, Nepal. The Mission Representative, Brother Robert Hopcroft, tries to visit the area each year and encourages the work in this most difficult of areas.

South Africa: A relationship with the Elim Home (a home for severely disabled children and young people) has developed through the connections established by Sister Maureen Vincent. British Moravians support the work by donating funds to purchase needed items on a “wish list,” and by sponsoring children and donating monies for the upkeep of the home.

The British Province also continues to respond to specific needs and disasters and to support developing work in Albania (through the efforts of the Danish Mission Board). Let us continue to lift up our 1,600 British brothers and sisters as they seek to remain faithful to the task to which they have been called.

Mission Board Members Receive First Class Treatment at First Moravian in Georgia

The First Moravian Church of Stone Mountain, Georgia, hosted the Board of World Mission for its Spring meeting. Pastors Joe and Kelly Moore (and Zachary!) invited the Board to use the church’s facilities and get to know some of the members of their wonderful congregation. Many people offered their gifts: Leibia Willis, Mary Ellis, Helenita Ellis and Andrea Nelson all provided transportation; Susan Diane Hinshaw and Ken Kinard provided the delicious meals during the meetings; Mike and Pam Giles hosted the Board in their home for an evening of fellowship and more delicious food; more than 50 people came out on Saturday evening (and brought more delicious food!) for a time to get to know more about the mission work of the Moravian Church throughout the world.

As Moravians, we often confess (in one of our liturgies) that our congregations do not reflect the rich diversity of God’s creation. First Moravian may have some things to confess on a Sunday morning, but lack of cultural diversity is not one of them! Currently the church has members from Antigua, Jamaica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Canada, North Carolina, Florida, New York and, oh yes, Georgia. This richness can be heard in the times of worship and singing, and tasted at the Potluck suppers! What a blessing it was to be blessed by these brothers and sisters in Christ.