There is a community that makes up over 5% of the global population but is often overlooked in outreach efforts. They live among us — people with partial or complete hearing loss whom we may pass on the street or stand behind in the supermarket.

Rob Myers from DOOR International comments, “We never realize that, out of 70 million Deaf people worldwide, so few actually have access to the Gospel.”

Without access to the Gospel, many Deaf people remain unaware of the value they hold in God’s eyes and the purpose for their lives. They are audibly isolated from the voice of a street preacher, the wail of an air siren urging people to seek shelter, the chirping of the birds, and, most importantly, the knowledge of their Creator.

Photo courtesy of Mark Paton via Unsplash

“God sees them as having infinite worth,” Myers adds. “They’re worth Him dying for. Therefore, they’re worth us engaging with, drawing in, and giving opportunities to be part of His kingdom.”

Change starts with the church’s understanding of the Deaf community. Chapter 4 of Exodus offers a glimpse of God’s attitude toward Deaf people. In this passage, the Lord encourages Moses, emphasizing that deafness, blindness, or numbness are not excuses to avoid pursuing one’s destiny.

“From a Deaf perspective,” Myers explains, “that’s a very powerful passage. It confirms that Deaf people are called — just like everyone else — to be part of God’s kingdom and to be used by Him for His glory.”

Bridging the gap between churches and the Deaf community begins with awareness. The first step is recognizing that Deaf people have been excluded from the Gospel for years. The second is to come alongside, support, and encourage Deaf leaders in their communities. Third, share this message with others — whether in your circles or on social media. Considering that one in every 200 people is Deaf, someone in your network may already have a connection to this community.

Myers reminds of Christ’s ministry as a standard for our outreach, “God has such a heart for the marginalized, the broken, and those whom society often calls ‘the least of these.’ In Jesus’ life, we see a pattern: He sought out those people.”

Finally, visit DOOR International to learn more about their work and discover ways to pray and help.

Header photo courtesy of Thirdman via Pexels.

Every Child Ministries (ECM) uses a program called Farming God’s Way to teach effective farming techniques to people in northeast Uganda — and most importantly, connect them to our Creator.

(Photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries)

Mark Luckey, ECM’s Executive Director says, “It really helps people understand why. Why did God create it that way? How did he make it that way? How does it benefit us to remember that and learn from that? And what does it mean for the future as we farm about how we give back to the Provider?”

One Ugandan couple, Moses and Mary, joined the Farming God’s Way program with ECM two years ago.

Luckey says, “Toward the end of that first year, they had a pretty good harvest – five bags of corn, a few bags of sorghum, some peanuts, and one bag of beans.

“Just a year later, after continuing to put into practice Farming God’s Way, they harvested 25 bags of corn (which is a five times increase), 21 bags of beans,…they had a three times increase in sorghum, and a six times increase in peanuts.”

Moses and Mary used the profit from selling some of their produce to open a small grocery stand and generate more income. They were also able to store food for their family and pay for their children’s schooling.

In breaking out of the hand-to-mouth cycle of poverty, Ugandan believers are able to take their consistent income to save for their family’s future, give back to their community, and support their local Church.

“They learned to bring a tithe back to God,” says Luckey. “In a community like this, they literally would take 10% of their harvest…and give it to the church.”

Pray for a bountiful harvest in Uganda – both on farms and in people’s hearts through Christ!

Click here to learn more about ECM.

Header photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries.

(Photo courtesy MOSES)

Mexico (MNN) — Sometimes a small team can do an amazing amount of work. For example, MOSES, Inc. just brought a short-term missions team of 20 down to Ensenada, Mexico.

They built two homes for impoverished families in only a week.

“Our little 16 x 20 three-room home is like a castle for them, in many cases,” says Judy VanderArk with the MOSES team. “One was extremely challenging because it had to be built up high on stilts. It’s important for us to keep our kids safe.”

The trip to Mexico is one of three annual short-term missions trips MOSES gathers teams for. They also travel on Weekend Trips throughout the year.

While part of the MOSES team worked on construction projects, another group split off to help with Vacation Bible Schools at seven different churches.

“We help with the games and the crafts, and they do the puppet shows; they lead the songs with the motions,” VanderArk explains. “We figure it’s best that they [the national ministry leaders] do the primary share of the presentation because they can do the follow-up after we’re gone.”

While completing construction projects and helping under-resourced churches were the main assignments for this team, demonstrating Christ’s love to those who might not believe was their primary purpose.

“On the last day, we gather up all of our team, even those that were at the VBS sites, and…we’ll circle and join hands, and we pray and sing,” VanderArk says.

“One of the people that worked on the project, usually a teen, will present the key to the new owner and a Bible that’s signed by all the members of the team. It’s a very emotional time, usually.”

MOSES is a peer-led ministry, which means teens are responsible for the physical and spiritual impact on trips, while adults come along as chaperones. Most of MOSES “regulars” have grown past the age where they can lead trips. But this Mexico trip was perhaps the first for a new generation of student leaders.

“I’m optimistic about next year because I think four or five of these young people would make really excellent peer leaders next year,” shares VanderArk.

Contact VanderArk to see how you, or a student leader you know, can join the next MOSES trip.

Each year, more than 1.5 million U.S. Christians
embark on a short-term mission trip.

USA (MNN) — According to a 2009 report from Liberty University, over 1.5 million U.S. Christians go on a short-term mission trip (STM) annually.  These trips can range in location from within the U.S. (domestic) to overseas, and in length from one to 90 days.

The STM boom started gaining momentum in the 1950s and 1960s, with Operation Mobilization (OM) among the first groups to offer STM opportunities. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship followed suit in 1970, and MOSES, Inc. came along in 1988 with STMs that took place over a weekend.

Robert Bergman with MOSES says they work in tandem with local churches in the Midwest, helping these ministries shine the light of Christ in needy communities.

“The church in Detroit: we do a lot of community building, community engagement, community improvement-type things,” explains Bergman. “The church in Chicago has a women’s and children’s shelter that we work in; they have a homeless drop-in center.”

Because of the funding required to organize and conduct STMs, they are mostly a Western Church phenomenon. College and high school students usually have the most flexible schedules and minimum responsibilities, so they are frequently the targeted demographic for STM opportunities.

Liberty’s report highlights several STM advantages: providing needed goods and services to communities, sharing the Gospel, raising participants’ awareness of needs around the world, creating faithful long-term supporters of missions, and STMs role as stepping-stones for young people considering long-term mission careers.

In his decade of service as MOSES’ Weekend Trip Director, Bergman has seen STMs open the eyes of Michigan teams.

“People (from Grand Rapids, Michigan) just don’t understand that within the same state and just a couple of hours away…there are people that live in the street and break into houses to live in them overnight,” he states.

“Many people come away [from weekend trips] with a greater understanding of the blessings that we have.”

One of thousands of abandoned houses in Detroit, Michigan.
(Photo cred: SJ Carey via Flickr)

Last year, Detroit, Michigan became the largest city in U.S. history to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. Many factors contributed to the filing decision, but the city’s $18.5 billion debt was a chief concern.

Detroit’s population has also dwindled from a robust 1.8 million in 1950 to a mere 700,000 in 2012. Of the remaining residents, 38% are living below the national poverty line.

“The church is the only building on the current road that’s not abandoned and broken into,” Bergman explains.

Conditions aren’t much better some 280 miles away in Chicago, Illinois, the other location of MOSES Weekend Trips. About 22% of the city’s 2.7 million people live below the poverty line. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Chicago holds the third-highest rate of extreme poverty, out of the nation’s ten largest cities.

The desperate conditions in these cities create a perfect mission field.

As they work side-by-side with unbelievers on church-imitated projects, MOSES teams sometimes get a chance to share the Gospel. Whenever this happens, they tell their church partner so local believers can do follow-up ministry.

The goal of MOSES Weekend Trips varies depending on the needs of the local church, but MOSES strives to fill the role of “helper” during each visit. Right now, MOSES and their church partners in Detroit are working together on a big transformation project. MOSES is in the process of purchasing four or five of the abandoned houses, Bergman says.

Working with their Detroit church partners and congregations from Grand Rapids, they hope to transform neighborhood eyesores into community assets: additional parking, community gardens, etc.

“My goal would be to try and get enough weekend trips set up to complete that task,” says Bergman.

If you’d like to help, get in touch with Bergman by clicking here.

MOSES provides transportation, leadership, work sites, accommodations, and meals. Bergman says that by taking care of logistics, MOSES helps youth pastors focus entirely on ministry.

Pray that more youth groups will take advantage of these weekend opportunities. Pray for God’s will to be done in the Detroit transformation project.

(Map courtesy City-Data.com)

USA (MNN) — Do short-term mission trips really make an eternal difference? MOSES Inc. is a peer ministry that equips young people for missions. Jerome Richards with MOSES says they occasionally get short-term mission (STM) naysayers.

“Some people think that short-term missions are not a good idea because [volunteers] come in, they work for 10 or 12 days, and then boom: they’re gone; they’re never seen again,” Richards explains. “We try not to do that: we’ve tried to build relationships.”

Through those relationships, an entire community in Mississippi is changing.

In rural Mississippi, the tiny town of McLain used to be full of racial segregation and hopelessness. When MOSES vans first rolled into McLain shortly after Hurricane Katrina, there was plenty for the small town to talk about.

First of all, the ministry’s 15-person van was full of “Northerners.” States belonging to the Union during the U.S. Civil War are still referred to as “The North,” compared to Confederate-associated states known as “The South.”

Richards, an African American, eventually became friends with a Caucasian McLain shop owner. When the shop owner gave Richards and the MOSES group access to her Wi-Fi connection, heads turned.

“That’s not normal, for northerners and southerners to work into that kind of relationship,” explains Richards.

Secondly, the vans carried a bi-racial group. In McLain, strict community lines are drawn between African Americans and Caucasians.

“There’s pretty much a white community section, and then there’s another section of African American community,” recalls Richards.

In addition, friendships between the races were virtually non-existent. Racial intermingling was even forbidden in the Church.

“That was in the beginning; today, things have really changed,” says Richards.

New partnerships are being formed as a result of MOSES’ annual trips to McLain, leading to more practical help for families. In addition, the community’s apprehension of MOSES teams is lessening. Therefore, during MOSES’ annual Spring Break visits, they have more opportunities to plant Gospel seeds.

“The work is really done by the Holy Spirit,” notes Richards. “We share what we can, we do what we can, and we leave the work and change to the Holy Spirit.”

MOSES is taking a team to serve McLain families with light repair work and outreach April 3-12. The trip in its entirety costs $375 USD, and the early registration deadline is March 3.

“That covers their transportation, their food, and everything they need. All they need to do is show up and be willing to work,” says Richards.

After March 3, the trip cost increase to $400, but scholarships are available. Learn how you can be a part of the transformation in McLain here.

According to a study from Payscale.com, this generation is stereotyped as being lazy and needy, along with having a short attention span. AchieveGlobal says Gen Y is “self-centered and narcissistic” in “Age-Based Stereotypes: Silent Killer of Collaboration and Productivity.”

MOSES, Inc. sees beyond these generalizations to the potential God has placed in each young person.

For the past 25 years, MOSES Inc. has been working to teach youth to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. With the exception of the trip directors and a few adult mentors, trips are run by student leaders, who serve as either Team Shepherds or Team Directors.

“We make it very clear to the adults that these kids have this leadership role, and we’re entrusting them with it,” says MOSES, Inc.’s Judy VanderArk. “The result of that has been that 20-25 years later, many of these young people [are] now involved in full-time ministry.”

According to VanderArk, Team Directors essentially take the reins of their MOSES trip, managing schedules and group activities. Team Shepherds serve at their side as “team chaplain,” ministering to their peers and leading the team’s spiritual activities. They lead team devotionals each morning and worship services in the evening.

“I’ve had kids come back to me and say, ‘I lead a Bible study in my neighborhood of 10 women that never went to church before…because I was a Team Shepherd on a MOSES trip, and I learned how to lead devotions and how to minister to other people,'” VanderArk shares.

The experience also improves students’ self-image and confidence.

“They’re excited about it, they’re proud of themselves; they feel like they’ve accomplished something,” VanderArk notes.

If you or a young person you know would like more information on MOSES, Inc. or how to join a student-led trip, click here to contact the ministry.

For seven years, MOSES Inc. has been ministering to a small
town in Mississippi. Judy VanderArk of the organization says, “McLain is a
little speck of a town; it doesn’t even have a traffic light, and we discovered
it through a mutual friend. We found out that there are some wonderful people
living there that are very under-employed and under-resourced.”

According to USA.com, the population as of 2010 was a mere
441. The average individual income is just under $29,000 per year. Over 70% of
the population is Caucasian, 26% African American.

The relationships that the team is building year after year
are meant to combat the general mentality of the community. “We’re trying to
give these people hope. We see a lot of hopelessness down there. There’s still
a lot of racism.”

The division between the two races is one that most of the
country left behind decades ago. “People that live up in the north part of the
states don’t realize how prevalent that still is in some of the southern states.
[In some areas] you don’t go to church together, you don’t go to school together; there’s
a separation even in the stores,” VanderArk says.

McLain still shows signs of mild damage from Hurricane
Katrina. VanderArk says that the destruction began even before hurricane
Katrina: the town has seen many tornadoes. Aside from natural disasters, the
conditions are also a result of the hopelessness due to a depressed lifestyle.
Upkeep of homes is often difficult, as is keeping everyone fed.

“One of the greatest needs that we see in the community is
the need for steps and ramps. A lot of people have infirmities or they’re
elderly.” Last year, the team built 24 sets of steps as well as some ramps.

The team ministers to those in need without discrimination.
Slowly, they are gaining the trust of the community. On their last trip, the
team was met with many acts of kindness from the community, often involving
food.

In the beginning, MOSES saw participation from the residents,
but only from younger children. More recently, however, adults have been
lending a hand to the projects as well.

MOSES is encouraged that their work is making a gradual
change against the attitudes of racism and hopelessness. They are hopeful that by
their deeds, the community will see Christ and learn that we are all equal in
his sight. While they have devotions and worship services open to everyone, the
majority of spiritual ministering occurs in discussion during the projects.
They are actively sharing the Gospel in this manner.

Now it’s time for you to consider being a part of this.
MOSES is taking a team again this Spring Break (April 3-12, 2014) and would love for
you to join. The trip is extremely low cost and focused on serving needy people.
They are asking for participants 14 years of age and older (unless accompanied by a
parent). For more information on the trip, visit the Web site here, or call the
MOSES office.

And as always, you can pray for these people. The community
needs a new mentality: pray that they will recognize that Christ is the Savior of people of all
races.

(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

“We found that going to the churches, it was very difficult to teach VBS in a language that you didn’t know, and the church leaders were fairly inexperienced in what we were doing,” says Judy VanderArk with MOSES, Inc.

Their solution came from a MOSES team member who suggested and later spearheaded the formation of an annual training conference for community church leaders. The session provides everything a VBS leader needs, from a theme to songs and crafts.

“That started out in 1995,” says VanderArk, “and I think the first one probably had a hundred, maybe fewer, people in attendance. But it has grown tremendously every year, to the point that this last year’s conference was attended by 380 people representing 130 churches.

“We’ve had to move to a new facility twice because we outgrew the other ones.”

Exact outreach statistics are hard to obtain, as communication with church leaders is extremely limited, VanderArk says. From what they do know, however, the VBS training is leading to lots of kids hearing the Gospel.

“Our best estimation is that in 2012, our materials impacted roughly 7,000 children,” states VanderArk. “[Leaders are] very good at putting big plastic signs up in front of their church for a week or two ahead of time announcing the ‘Escuela la Biblica’ which is coming up.”

VanderArk explains that as community members pass by and see the signs, word spreads quickly, leading to more participants.

The 2013 VBS programs drew to a close recently, but MOSES leaders are already looking ahead to next summer.

“I believe they have a theme already picked out for next year’s VBS,” says VanderArk. “They work through e-mail and telephone year-round to provide this material.”

Though the VBS training program isn’t the main focus of MOSES, the growth is praiseworthy. However, great growth also comes with great needs.

“Each year, there’s a lot of printing, a lot of copying, producing of CDs,” says VanderArk. “Puppet dramas [with] songs on a CD are given to [leaders] at the conference.”

Each creative aspect ties into a curriculum designed and provided by MOSES.

“The curriculum includes 4 stories, 4 Bible lessons. Each Bible lesson provides an opportunity [for kids] to ask Jesus into their lives. There’s a Bible verse for each day that they work on memorizing,” VanderArk explains.

But each resource turns into another added cost. Along with the cost of production, VanderArk says there are travel expenses, as well as facility and equipment rental costs.

“There are expenses for the workshop itself, because often they do provide them with some light refreshments,” she adds. “They used to do a meal, but with the numbers as they are, it’s gotten a little out of hand!”

Click here to help offset these costs by financially supporting the outreach of MOSES.

Pray that evangelical churches and youth outreach will keep growing in Mexico.

“It’s just wonderful to pray for the spread of the Gospel in all parts of Mexico; it is growing rapidly,” says VanderArk. “People think of Mexico as a largely Roman Catholic country, but that’s really no longer true. Christianity is spreading.”

Pray for continued unity among Ensenada church leaders.

“They love the opportunity to pray for each other and to be prayed for, and I just think it’s kind of become an ecumenical movement,” VanderArk states. “People that maybe wouldn’t cross denominational lines otherwise in their churches are coming together at this conference.”