When we think about harmony, we think about music. We think about four parts: sporano, alto, tenor and bass. We think about the way that notes – sung high, almost in the stratosphere, and low, shaking the very floor beneath our feet – come together to produce beautiful sound. At least when we’re all in tune. We’re less likely to consider how a medical clinic in Guatemala, a preacher training school in Kenya, a house church in Cuba and a school supply program in New Zealand work in harmony. But they do.
Although these ministries exist in locations separated by vast oceans and thousands of miles, although they operate in vastly different cultures, although they literally do not speak the same language, they proclaim with a unified voice the same message that Jesus first proclaimed more than 2,000 years ago: “the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
For this year’s Missions Sunday, we invite you to consider the harmony of the Gospels, how God as used all of the people, places and experiences of our lives – even brief encounters we may have considered insignificant at the time – to bring us to this place in 2024. And may our humble offerings be raised with our voices as we join a might chorus of Christ followers around the world.
Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3
Memorial Road supports 19 individuals working with Churches of Christ in Mombasa — from full-time evangelists to teachers to security guards. The amount represented touches all aspects of the ongoing outreach efforts within the church of Mombasa.
NGCS is a ministry training school for all of East Africa. Many of the students reside on the campus during the school year. It is also the umbrella organization for Extension Centers (such as in Mombasa) that provides distance learning and vocational education to accompany the spiritual training. Among the most important programs has become agricultural training for church leaders to provide food on the grounds of the church buildings.
This scholarship assist students with tuition for attending NGCS.
This project was initiated by the congregations in Mombasa, working together, to create a strategy for expanding evangelical outreach through Kenya by the congregations in Mombasa. The plan has moved into a phase of the adoption of oversight of an existing health clinic in an area several hours outside Mombasa.
Neema Village Tanzania, Inc, is a non-profit in the USA and a NGO in Tanzania and is affiliated with Churches of Christ with many connections to Memorial Road. Neema in Swahili means Grace and any good done has been done by the Abundant Grace of God! Neema Village began as “Neema House” in 2012 as a rescue center for abandoned, orphaned, and at-risk babies in Arusha, Tanzania, East Africa. During that time, more than two hundred thirty babies have been rescued, many abandoned babies have now been adopted and others who had lost their mothers during the birth were saved and have now been able to return home to an extended family member. We love the idea of “Families not Orphanages.”
A longtime fixture of MRCC’s Journey Land and location of significant mission outreach efforts, this support will provide a consistent source of funds for needed projects to enhance the operation of VOH’s missions.
HCC seeks to become an educational force in Christian education in Africa. Connected with the Village of Hope by students who have been at VOH and with an emerging nursing program with which OC nursing students can partner, this is a unique opportunity to initiate a connection to a College making an impact within a nation in which we have provided ministry assistance for years.
SABC is an outstanding, growing and increasingly stable Christian College with students from more than a dozen nations in Africa. Much like Baxter Institute, students at SABC go out from the school for internships/training for extended periods of time. Moreover, SABC works to assure graduating students are matched to potential long-term positions at those churches. Annually, SABC hosts an international Lectureship program which utilizes programming (such as Mary Nelson’s Missions Bible Class) and seeks a closer professional connection to MRCC and OC for training and situating graduates throughout the continent to preach and teach.
Memorial Road became the overseeing congregation for the Cherry family in 2019. They have been working as missionaries in an Auckland church plant for nearly 10 years. This congregation is at a literal world crossroad as immigrants from throughout the Pacific Rim are working in the country and then going back to their homeland.
Memorial Road supports the South Pacific Bible College and its mission to transform lives through the inspiration of Scripture, to multiply followers of Christ in the world. Located in Tauranga, New Zealand, SPBC has become a hub for spreading the good news of Christ throughout the entire Pacific Rim. SPBC offers courses, certificate programs, and degrees in Chaplaincy, Christian Leadership, Christian Studies, and Biblical Studies. Graduates go out to use what they have learned to grow and serve God’s Kingdom in churches and mission fields around the world!
Memorial Road began overseeing the work with the Kuslanova congregation in Croatia in 2012. Mislav and Snjezana Ilić have been our primary contacts, evangelists and missionaries at this congregation. Mislav and Snjezana have worked for 17 years leading this congregation as well as being a crucial part of growing the church throughout Croatia.
Memorial Road has helped support this work in Niteroi, Brazil, a metropolitan city near Rio de Janeiro for many years. From sending team members, to supporting through work funds and now, as North American missionaries are returning and leaving a functioning congregation, this support assists during this time of transition.
Salary support for the two family mission team overseen by Memorial Road. These families are having a significant impact in their community in Cuba and continue to be a source of good news through their work.
Funds from Missions Sunday help support a full-time Guatemalan dentist who works with Health Talents International, a medical mission associated with Churches of Christ, in the mountain villages of this Central American nation. Funds also assist with the costs of medical clinics while Memorial Road members are in the country providing care. Additionally, funds help defray trip expenses for Christians working on campaigns with Health Talents.
Memorial Road serves as the sponsoring congregation for the Baxter Institute, a ministry training school in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, that prepares men and women for ministry across the Spanish-speaking world. Among the school’s students are ministers and wives from the island nation of Cuba. Memorial Road supports these students, and those of other Spanish-speaking nations, as they study and prepare to return to plant churches and spread the Gospel.
Memorial Road has been involved in missions within Honduras for more than 2 decades. Over the years numerous groups including families, youth, college, medical missions and more have traveled and worked within the country. Memorial Rd has long provided physical, spiritual and emotional resources to the people of Honduras. Our church family is an active partner seeking to create more opportunities to bless the Baxter Institute as well the church and community there in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Assisting with support for members who join the spring campaign to serve in Honduras.
Funds help the Lighthouse Medical Clinic — an outreach of the Capitol Hill Church of Christ in downtown Oklahoma City — to provide life-saving medicines for people in need.
Several years ago, this Oklahoma City congregation began asking how to better minister to a community that was dramatically changing around it. The answer has been a significant shift of outreach through 2nd and 3rd generation Hispanic Christians. Our role has been to assist with support as these evangelists begin working with the congregation and will continue for a set period of time.
Memorial Road sponsors a two-year mission apprenticeship for young Christians. In past years, participants have traveled around the globe to serve alongside veteran missionaries, learning how to serve. Several have become missionaries or church leaders. Funds support current, in-the-field workers who serve Churches of Christ throughout the world. Funds also support Kent Hartman and Mel Latorre Jr in administrative roles in this ministry.
Mary Nelson, a missionary in New Zealand, has developed a website, missionbibleclass.org, that offers free, easy-to-use and easy-to-reproduce Bible lessons for missionaries and church members in nations around the world. The lessons are designed to be used anywhere — including developing nations where traditional Bible class material can be scarce.
Global Christian Studies (GCS) makes an advanced biblical studies degree from an accredited educational institution affiliated with Churches of Christ in the United States feasible for church leaders around the world. GCS networks with congregations, organizations and individuals willing to sponsor students and coordinates with institutions offering distance education. GCS partners with workers throughout the world to better educate and prepare them to equip their congregations and communities.
Funds provide limited assistance for mission projects outside the scope or timing of the regular Missions Sunday contribution. Those with a special request provide information to a committee that determines the request’s connectivity to Memorial Road, member involvement, personal investment, and other factors.
Missionary care is a core value of our mission efforts and the TCK program, created by MRCC families, is one of the most notable among churches of Christ. Focusing on young people who were raised primarily outside of the parents’ culture and who are coming back into the US for school, jobs, or to live (1st culture- that of the parent or home of origin, 2nd culture- that in which they have lived a large portion of their lives, 3rd culture- the US, where they are usually seen as “Americans returning home” but who have lived their lives outside of that culture). For many participants, TCK programs are, literally, lifesaving.
Creates ready fund for emergency travel/relocation.
Supporting students on mission trips.
Operational support for Next Gen, which seeks to provide mission points, congregations and individuals with multi-disciplined outreach programming. They note “that there are now alive today six generations in the church and society, and each has had vastly different experiences growing up of God, faith, church, communications, and more.