Where will you find the biggest churches in the world? Rome? London? Jerusalem? Dallas? Nashville?
How about Ethiopia? Ghana? Brazil? South Korea? These nations now are home to some of the largest congregations on the planet. The language of God’s Kingdom isn’t English — or Hebrew or Greek, for that matter. It’s Amharic. It’s Twi. It’s Portuguese. It’s Korean. It’s sign language.
In the past century, missionaries set out from Churches of Christ across North America to scatter Gospel seeds around the world. And just like in Jesus’ parable of the sower, that seed found fertile soil in South America, sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.
In the third decade of the 21st century, these pioneering missionaries have passed the baton to new generations of believers. In Honduras, the Baxter Institute in Honduras prepares Spanish-speaking teams to plant churches across Latin America. Venezuelans fleeing the turmoil in their homeland are revitalizing Churches of Christ and planting new ones in nations from Uruguay to Spain. Believers in Vienna, Austria, read Scripture in Farsi, the language of their native Iran. Christians in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa operate schools that provide not only ministry training, but also career skills that will make African churches strong and self-sustaining.
As we view the once-and-future church, our role shifts from supervision to partnership. The funds we provide on this Missions Sunday will fuel the work of multinational, multiethnic and multilingual torchbearers in the years to come. The financial support also will equip our own children to engage in life-giving partnerships with believers right here in the U.S.
We pray that the simple gifts we give will advance the baton to those who would receive it and run with it into the darkness, seeking out the helpless, confused and torn.
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!
Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3
This has been requested several times, but we have not reached the funding goal. HCC seeks to become an educational force in Christian education in Africa. Connected to 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. HCC is the natural” next step” for VOH and MRCC.
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 mission.
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.
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.
NGCS is a ministry training school for all 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. The Guest House will allow for on-site stays of teachers and others who are supporting the work of NGCS. MRCC has agreed to fund up to $50,000 for this project to match other congregations in this work.
This scholarship assist students with tuition for attending NGCS.
Another multi-time, but unfunded request, 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.
Neema Village Tanzania is a non-profit in the USA and an NGO in Tanzania and is affiliated with Churches of Christ with many connections to Memorial Road. This support will cover the cost of one month’s operations to help with the increase visits from nursing students and MRCC members who are assisting on-site. 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.”
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.
Support for scholarships. SPBC has been in the contribution for many years and overlaps with Mary Nelson’s work (her husband is an instructor) and Justin Cherry (who also assists with courses). Through the pandemic, they worked to keep students enrolled and recognized the need to entice students with consistent scholarship support and a stable, effective on-line presence.
Jake & Amanda Haskew have been long-term missionaries, successfully developing and launching a congregation in Vienna – Donau Gemeinde Christi – with members from across the Vienna districts. This will provide support for determining next steps in the missionary work in that critical city and initial costs for renting church space in bringing congregations into greater contact.
This is a one-time ask from New Hope congregation for “a new church-planting mission to Vigo, Spain, will begin in mid-2025, to be overseen by the New Hope Church of Christ, Edmond, Oklahoma. Thirty-year Venezuelan evangelists, Pedro & Luisa Andrade, have successfully completed their mission in northern Falcon State, Venezuela, having baptized hundreds and established eight self- sustaining churches under indigenous leadership.
Vigo, Spain, is a coastal port city of 300,000, a ‘welcoming city’ with 30,000 Latin American immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees. There is no Church of Christ in the city; the nearest is two hours away. ‘People of peace’ (Luke 10) are receiving the Andrades in Vigo and will serve as seeds of faith upon which to plant a church among Latin Americans in the city. The long-term vision is to birth additional congregations.
Request… Such a physical transition for the Andrade’s from Venezuela to Spain will involve significant one-time moving and settlement expenses, beyond the monthly support and working funds that will be fully provided by the New Hope Church of Christ. This request is for a grant of $10,000 from Memorial Road Church of Christ to cover one-time needs.
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 mission teams overseen by Memorial Road. These families are having a significant impact in their communities in Cuba and continue to be a source of good news through their work. These families have been trained at Baxter Institute, are closely connected to our other mission families in Cuba and jumped into their work rapidly.
Recently, the Cuban government has relaxed religious restrictions, allowing larger gatherings in house/churches. Since August 2023, our mission team in Trinidad, Cuba—supported by the Memorial Road and Edmond congregations—has baptized over 130 people. Due to this rapid growth, meeting in private homes is no longer feasible and has led to safety concerns. With government approval for a central meeting place, the team seeks Mission Sunday funds to purchase a suitable property for continued growth.
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.
This year, former MRCC member Katie Ritter will become the HTI nurse in Guatemala, replacing a long-time worker. This contribution will provide one-time funds to relocate.
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 nearly three decades. Over the years numerous groups including families, youth, college, medical missions and more have traveled and worked within the country. Our Campus Ministry and others continue to campaign there each year, providing physical, spiritual and emotional resources. These funds give more people the ability to travel to Honduras as we seek to create more opportunities to bless the Baxter Institute as well the church and community there in and around Tegucigalpa.
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 although at this reduced rate.
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 will support a new worker going to Belgium/Netherlands.
Additionally, we recently hired a new HIM director, Kendon Murrell – utilizing the funds for salary support.
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 the parent’s 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, TKC programs are, literally, lifesaving.
Additionally, we have hired a full-time TCK/HIM director, and these funds will be used to facilitate salary support.
Mary Nelson, a missionary in New Zealand, has developed a website 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. The web site is www.missionbibleclass.org.
Global Christian Studies primarily serves as a scholarship program for preachers and Bible college professors residing and ministering outside the United States. This educational experience culminates in an advanced online Bible degree through Harding Graduate School. The program is administered by the Eastside Church of Christ in Midwest City.
The program ranges to 20 international students at any given time. The marginal cost per student per year varies depending on the course load, ranging from approximately $1,000 to $5,000.
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.
Creates ready fund for emergency travel/relocation.
Supporting students on mission trips.
Operational support for Next Gen, another multi-year request, which has not been able to be funded, 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.
“How do we share the biblical story and gospel and lead people to faith in Jesus Christ today? How do we more effectively pass our faith down to our children and grandchildren, and reach out to an increasingly unchurched culture?
If you have a heart to reach out and reach the Next Generation for Christ, we are here to help! From seminars to equip to preaching to inspire and convict to practical tools to share the gospel, we want to help you and your church or organization better reach people for Christ today!” Importantly, they work with Mislav Ilic and the Kuslanova congregation in Croatia, with MRCC connected congregations in Kenya, in Poland and more.
Next Gen is even working MRCC TCK participants and MRCC members to develop the presentations and curriculum.”