This has led to a whole new pattern. Joanna works with Pioneers USA. We’ve limited information about her for security purposes.

(Photo courtesy of Pioneers via Facebook.)

She says, “One of the things we’re seeing, like so many other mission agencies, is just the incredible growth of the Global South Church in the current membership of Pioneers. We’ve seen just a massive influx from non-traditional sending countries, so places where they were obviously traditionally receiving places now becoming sending nations, and it’s just so exciting to see that.”

Did you get that? Countries where the West has been sending missionaries for centuries are now raising up their own mission field.

Joanna works in leadership development with Pioneers. Here she works on how to better resource leaders in cross-cultural situations. She views this as an area that has room for growth in the mission field. But also in her work, she gets to experience a unique perspective of what God is doing around the world.

“One of the things I find so compelling about working globally with Pioneers is […] it’s such a privilege to be a part of God’s greater story of what He’s doing around the world and what He desires to do — the ways He’s using people from every background.”

This brings up another thought that more and more people have started to realize, but something that has been true about God’s people since the beginning. There is no traditional missionary.

“It doesn’t have to be a particular gift set that equals ‘missionary’ — it’s been wonderful to see God using people according to the ways He’s gifted them in a variety of settings. That’s something we really celebrate.”

God has gifted each of us with different skills– we may be talented in the arts, communication, technology, relationship building, leadership, and more.

She cites 1 Corinthians 12, a passage that talks about the Body of Christ being made up of individuals with a variety of talents, gifts, and purposes. We all have our place in that Body, but as Joanna says, it takes being responsive and obedient to God’s call to be effective.

When Joanna joined Pioneers, she felt called to work with a particular group of people Pioneers wasn’t working with at the time. They asked her to pray with them for a team to be assembled.

In a little over a year, God brought that team together.

No matter where we are stationed, there are people around us who don’t know Jesus. In that sense, we’re all missionaries. But sometimes God calls people to specific locations and to work with a specific ministry. If you feel like God is pricking your heart, start with prayer. Learn about the opportunities to serve with Pioneers here.

A Year in New York

New York City (Photo courtesy of Kaysha via Flickr)

In the NYC Immerse program, participants spend a year working and learning alongside experienced church planters in New York City.

The program’s goal is to provide participants with practical tools to not only share their faith, but to also disciple others and plant churches here in America and overseas.

It’s this very combination of hands-on ministry and mentorship that makes this program unique.

Yet, in today’s day and age, training like this is invaluable. Because of the current refugee crisis, cultures are mixing across the globe. It’s important to know how to engage with them.

Kevin King with International Project says, “What we’re seeing is God sovereignly moving people around the globe in ways we’ve never seen before actually. In the United States, we have hundreds and hundreds of unreached people groups living amongst us…. God uses migration and moves people around to bring the Gospel to the nations.”

What It’s All About

The NYC Immerse program is all about this idea of loving the foreigner among us. You can check out International Project’s video on the topic HERE. It’s why New York is an ideal location for training because of how many people groups live there today and have never heard the Gospel.

“As people come to the city, we put them on teams to reach a specific ethnic people group. And as a team, they learn skills such as oral storying, they learn disciple-making movement principles, they learn church planting principles. They learn how to do cross-cultural ministry, such as contextualization of the Gospel; how do we contextualize it so it’s understood to people of a different worldview,” King explains.

“They learn a lot of these skills, but the primary focus is on developing these skills through actual ministry. It’s not a classroom or academic environment. We’re actually teaching skills and people are going out and implementing them. They’re sharing the Gospel with people from all different nations on a daily basis.”

Do you know what the most ethnically diverse city in the world is? Check out this infographic from Missiographics http://bit.ly/1Tg1rCZ

This training prepares individuals to start churches in their simplest form — house churches.

Why?

Because in some countries and cultures, Christianity is blasphemy. People can’t start a traditional church. There may not be funds or the freedom to do so. There are also cultural barriers which would make the West’s traditional churches obsolete. But they can start house churches.

Impactful

This training is impacting not only the trainees of the program, but the people who are receiving the Gospel in New York.

King recalls how there have been people who’ve accepted Christ after interactions with those who are part of NYC Immerse. On their trips home, both local and overseas, some of these same new Christians have chosen to take the Gospel with them and share it with their friends and families, too.

One of the best parts about this program is anyone can join. Anyone can experience a year of transformation, watching the Gospel go out, and seeing lives changed in the most precious and important of ways. Pray and ask God if this is what could be next in your life.

But, if taking a year for the NYC Immerse program isn’t a possibility, will you pray? Pray for people to answer the call to share God’s Word, grace, and love, and for people to willingly engage with the numerous immigrants making various countries their homes.

To apply to the NYC Immerse program and learn more, CLICK HERE!

Trainees come away from the program enriched in:

1. A greater theological understanding of God’s redemptive love and the Church’s mission.
2. Practical skills for church planting.
3.  A personal transformation from reflecting on the Gospel for both life and ministry.

Facts and Answers:

1. The program begins and ends each August.
2. Participants are required to raise funds for the year, about $2,200-2,500 a month.
3. Costs included expenses for living in New York, ministry costs, etc. It does not include personal spending, transportation to/from NYC or to the orientation/debriefs held in Florida.
4. Not applicable for college credits at accredited schools.
5. Minimum age limit is 21-years-old for this program.

Media and the Gospel

(Photo courtesy of Jason Howie via Flickr)

Pioneers, in collaboration with Arab World Media, launched a new media campaign earlier this year called, While It Is Day. The campaign uses smartphones and the likes to reach out to Muslims across the Arab world with the life changing news of the Gospel.

Jeff explains, “In the Arab world specifically, it’s almost like two sides of the same coin. Our media ministry [is] reaching out and… identifying people that are spiritually seeking. And we are giving those names to our field teams the live across the region, and they do the follow up of these Muslim seekers.”

But instead of telling these people what to think about Christ, the While It Is Day campaign seeks to engage Muslims in conversation about who Jesus Christ is, His love for them, and how He died so that they would be made right with God.

Yet, why engage in conversation rather than a blunt address? Simple. Muslims, in general, are taught not to ask questions. Thankfully, it’s not stopping these people from meeting Christ.

“Just in our first three months of this year, our media team…we’ve had over ten-thousand conversations with Muslim seekers. Just within the first three months of this year, which is phenomenal. About twelve years ago, when I started off in this kind of thing, we never saw this level of openness, of spiritual awareness that we’re seeing actually as we’re talking about it today,” Jeff exclaims.

There’s a few explanations for the increased spiritual awareness and openness of the Arab world. One of them is how God is using the media. Media and social media has grown significantly in today’s age. And, as Jeff says, it has democratized the Arab world in the sense those who were once voiceless now are not. Numerous people in the Arab world now have access to information that was previously barred.

For example, Jeff says, “It’s very easy to see a guy on a donkey cart with an iPhone. iPhones and donkey carts go together…but they love their smartphones. You see refugees fleeing across the border and they all have smartphones. This is the way that the UN is communicating whether there’s food available or not. It is a lifeline for people.”

Jeff and many others have seen more and more people searching for information on facebook, twitter, and other forums. There’s also and increase to questions. Where’s this cultural shift coming from? The fact that there is now endless amounts of information at the peoples’ fingertips, expanding their world views. It’s a journey to explore the world.

“In our media ministry, we never actually tell people what to think. We always tell them what to think about. And then, as the Holy Spirit takes them on a journey, they kind of follow that discovery for themselves,” Jeff explains.

But media isn’t the only reason why Muslims are beginning to look outside their faith. It’s also the youth. Many youths are filled with aspirations and have been the very people fueling some of the revolutions in the Arab world.

Take for example, the Arab Spring. Jeff says, “It started very much as young people wanting something different. And it ended up being, sometimes being hijacked by Islamic fundamentalist groups.”

(Photo Courtesy Pioneers)

Finally, a third reason for this spiritual phenomenon among Muslims are the wars and violence.This horrific chaos has caused a disillusionment for Muslims, causing many to turn away from Islam.

Before, the average Muslim was an ordinary person working hard to put their children through school and raise them well in Islam. But, when others began pushing an extreme Islamic ideology, one desiring to reestablish an Islamic golden age using violence, it’s left many confused about their faith.

It’s caused Muslims to struggle with a question, “Is this what Islam is all about?”

Jeff explains, “As a team, we were praying … and the Lord spoke to us from this verse in John 9 to say, While It Is Day, I want you to do this work…so it talks about this opportunity time that we have to share the Gospel of Christ with people.”

As mass amounts of people from the Arab world relocate and flee their homelands, there is a period of time where they are willing to ask more questions than ever and receive answers. Their lives have been ripped apart and they want to know why. They want to know why their faith has failed them.

“We really believe that now is God’s time for that Arab world. And God has shaken the Arab world in so many different ways, and it has given the Church across the world an amazing opportunity to share the love of Christ with Muslims in ways that we have not seen before,” Jeff says.

So why not discover Muslims in our communities to engage in with relationships, pray for, and to express Christ’s love to. As Christians, we might be the only believers for these Muslims meet and are able to hear the Gospel from. Why wait? While It Is Day, as a church, let’s share the good news.

Three key things drawing Muslims to Christ

1. The availability of a Bible.
2. Meeting a Christian, a person who embodies who Christ is.
3. Witnessing Christians love for one another.

And, there is no better time than now to pray from Muslims everywhere, that they would receive the Gospel with open hearts and turn their lives towards Jesus.

So would you?

Will you pray for Muslims to experience God’s grace and love and forgiveness. Pray also that God would protect the While It Is Day media campaign as we enter the month of Ramadan and attacks web attacks on the campaign increase.

Want to get more involved?

Then consider signing up for prayer news or donating to the campaign.

(Photo Courtesy PIONEERS via Facebook) #GivingHope

But around the same time the story about ISIS’ app came to light, PIONEERS USA launched its own crowdfunding campaign called #GivingHope. The campaign, first of its kind for PIONEERS, aims at helping provide aid both physically and spiritually for Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

Nathan Burns with PIONEERS explains, “So this giving hope push, this campaign, specifically helps provide trauma counseling to women and children. So that, now that they’ve got aid, let’s help them recover emotionally from those scars they have.”

About 50 percent of the Syrian population has been displaced. And about 75 percent of these refugees are women and children. These people have watched their countries, their homes, and their families be ripped apart right before their eyes. Some families have had to worry for the safety of their own children, fearful extremists or others might come for them.

“Another woman shared with me an event that was already tragic. There was a funeral for a little boy and then someone blew up a car bomb in the middle of that. She witnessed that,” Burns shares.

That’s only one traumatic story out of the thousands. What’s worse, people like this woman have no one to talk to about their experiences. No one to listen or help them work through what they’ve seen. No one to help process the unspeakable horrors which brought great darkness into these peoples’ lives.

“Some of the things people have witnessed, you know, you wouldn’t be surprised if they never recovered from it,” Burns says.

But through Christ, they can recover. As PIONEERS workers build long-term relationships and provide aid and trauma counseling for these victims of war, they’re also knocking on doors to share the Gospel. And it’s through the hope of Christ where ultimate healing and love is found.

(Photo courtesy PIONEERS)

Also, because the Muslim culture is very hospitable, the culture itself works as a catalyst to jumpstarting relationships and opening doors for the Gospel to enter.

Ironically, combine this with the move from their homelands, where the Gospel has been barred from entering, it’s become a tragically perfect storm for God’s word to enter lives. But to keep doing this, PIONEERS needs the support of others.

Will you help?

If you’re willing, please considering donating to PIONEERS’ #GivingHope campaign. PIONEERS’ goal is to raise enough money to impact 200 refugee families by providing for their physical and spiritual needs. Through this, PIONEERS is being the hands and feet of Jesus and helping refugees begin to rebuild their lives and find a new normal.

But, prayers are greatly coveted for this project. Pray God would use this ministry to glorify His name, bring these people to himself, show them His incredible love, and heal their brokenness. Pray also for the workers who are on the frontlines working to care for refugees.

To donate, click here!

Yet, while the world looks on at the violence, war against ISIS, and Trump’s calls to ban all Muslims from the United States, God has a different plan for the people who are being thrown into the media’s spotlight just for their religion.

The truth is: the term Muslim is not a synonym for terrorist or terrorism. Pioneers USA knows this, and through its Arab World Media ministry, God is reaching Muslims through social media as part of its 2016 campaign, While It Is Day. Here’s how it works,

(Photo courtesy of Jason Howie via Flickr)

1.  Arab World Media is bringing the Gospel to Muslims.
2. It is helping strengthen, discipline, and encourage believers, new and old alike, from Muslim backgrounds.
3. It’s helping the global Church effectively minister to Muslims.

And so far, many of them have been responding.

In their recent report, Pioneers stated how they share Jesus’ love and hope with the Arab people, and how they’re asking questions like, ‘How can I make a fresh start?’ For some, this media ministry has become a place of encouragement as they receive Christ and engage in their new faith.

Sometimes, especially in closed countries where hostile acts against Christians and Christianity is acceptable, sharing the Gospel through social media is one of the only ways to do so. But, it’s a way which reaches hundreds at a time.

And as Pioneers continues with its campaign, it needs both prayers and financial support. Pray for God to continue to use Pioneers to reach Muslims everywhere through social media.

Or, if you’re willing, please consider donating to the campaign and helping fund the spread of the Gospel in a unique way.

To donate to Pioneers’ Arab World Media, click here.

To donate to Pioneers’ 2016 campaign, While It Is Day, click here.

To learn more about Pioneers’ campaign, While It Is Day, click here.

As a teenager, Andrew Teeuwen with PIONEERS got his first taste of the Albanian culture when his dad, who worked for Open Doors USA at the time, traveled to the communist nation during the Easter Holiday.

(Photo Courtesy Kosovo Future Maker via Flicker)
Albanian Flag

The trip was an opportunity to pray for the small country, find Christians to could connect with, and discover if there were any unregistered churches needing help.

The catch?

Albania had recently declared itself an atheist nation. All religions were outlawed.

But man’s laws don’t trump God’s.

Yet, while his dad was in Albania that Easter Sunday, the ground quaked just as it did when Christ first rose from the dead — conquering death and securing everlasting life for His people. And in the quake, an atheist museum was destroyed.

Ironically, it was the same museum Teeuwen’s father’s tourist group was set to visit the same morning. “[My dad thought] God is just showing us that He is the same today, in this country that denies the existence of God, as He was when Jesus rose from the dead on the first resurrection day,” explains Teeuwen.

“When my father came back and told us about his trip to Albania, I felt a need to pray for this country. I didn’t like it that this small country of three million people could deny God’s existence. So I began to pray for God to work and open up this country for the Gospel, never expecting that I would end up there myself,” Teeuwen says.

Then, when Albania’s communism began to fall in 1989, it opened a door for the Gospel.

“My wife and I, after we got married, joined PIONEERS…. We ended up going to work with a team in the northeast of the country in the mountainous area,” Teeuwen explains.

There, in the mountains, the Teeuwens helped to share Christ and plant churches. The goal for planting churches wasn’t to simply put up a building and invite people to church. No. It was to share God’s igniting Word and help disciple believers to share their own faith with their fellow countrymen, creating an exponential effect.

(Photo Courtesy Peter Fenda via Flickr)
Albanian Mountains

However, communism’s fall also opened a different door for Albanians–who had been kept from knowing the outside world. Before long, many Albanians began fleeing their homeland to their neighboring country, Greece.

After serving in Albania, Andrew and his wife relocated to Europe’s gateway in efforts to better serve Greece’s growing Albanian population. After all, the couple had the advantage of knowing the Albanian culture and its language.

Today, they’re still serving in Greece and planting churches for the Albanian believers there. And they’re reminding Albanians how loved and cherished they are by God. Learn more about the Teeuwens’ Greek story here.

Please pray for the Teeuwens and their ministry. Pray that God will move and guide them to best serve the Albanian people. And pray for Albanians everywhere to continue to come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

There’s a lot more happening in Greece besides incoming refugees and a financial crisis.

Greek Flag

In 1967, Albania became the first country to declare itself an atheist nation. On top of this, Albania was a communist country and all religions were banned.

But when the country’s communism began to fall in 1989, a door opened for the Gospel.

During this time, Andrew Teeuwen and his wife, Alecia, moved their lives to Albania with PIONEERS. There, they shared God’s Word, love, and helped plant churches in the northeast mountainous area of the country.

However, with newfound freedom, tons of Albanians fled to their neighboring country–Greece. As time went on, Greece’s Albanian population began to grow, and eventually, the Teeuwens transferred to Europe’s gateway to serve the Albanian population there.

“It’s been a great advantage to know the language because it’s easy to meet Albanians and for us to start speaking to them. It immediately creates a connection with them, and of course people ask why we’re there, which gives us a reason to share our work and our faith,” Teeuwen explains.

WHAT PIONEERS IS DOING

The Teeuwens partnered with some Albanians who became Christians years ago, in order to better serve the Albanian people in Greece. Their team consists of five couples, who last year started an Albanian language church on Easter Sunday.

“For years we had been talking about and praying about an Albanian language church. Through the initiative of several of the Albanian leaders that we work with, we got together and prayed about it and fasted, and sensed that this was the time to launch this church,” recounts Teeuwen.

Previously, Albanian Christians in Greece would have only been able to attend either Greek or International churches. It’s partly why, though the Teeuwens were working with Albanians to start the church, the main initiative to start the church was by the Albanians. They want to know God in their own heart language, and they want their people to have a chance to know Him, too.

(Photo courtesy Kosovo Future Maker via Flicker)
Albanian Flag

PIONEERS is also working with Albanians in Greece through a cultural education center, Porta. Porta in Greek means “door,” while in Albanian it means “gate.” But either way, it is entry. And in this case, it’s an entry to love and acceptance.

“It’s a cultural center that gives Albanians value and allows them to come together for friendship and learning and developing themselves. And it reminds them that they’re not forgotten,” Teeuwen explains.

At the center, children can learn to read and write in Albanian. Albanian artists can display their artwork, whether it’s a sculpture, painting, or photographs, and celebrate their culture. It’s also a place where different Albanian organizations, such as student organizations or choirs, can meet.

“In this culture, Albanians are very much second class citizens…. They’re sometimes not trusted. So this is one of the ways that we try to reach out to them, by helping them to see that God has not forgotten about them.”

In the end, however, this ministry is all about the church truly being the hands and feet of Jesus and sharing Christ saving and redemptive love with others through the Gospel.

“There’s a lot of need in this country because of the refugee crisis, the economic crisis, the political crisis. And so, it really is our desire to be a light and to be a practical help to people as much as possible,” says Teeuwen.

You can join the ministry to Albania.

How to Help

Pray: Pray for the Albanian population in Greece to experience unity and come to know the Christ as their Savior. Also pray for the ministry the Teeuwens are involved in. Pray for Porta and for the church, for both to continue to flourish and for God to meet any and all needs.

Give: Please consider giving to the Albanian cultural center, Porta. The center is still needing donors to carry it through for the five years. Just mail donations with the account number 30112910 for the “Porta Tomorrow Fund” to:

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF)
160 Clairemont Ave Suite 500
Decatur, GA 30030

Or, you can give directly to the Teeuwens HERE.

To learn more about the Teeuwens, click here,

Interns serving in Chad.
(Image courtesy PIONEERS)

International (MNN) – Feeling called to make a radical commitment and sacrifice for Christ? Thinking about long-term missions but don’t know where to start? PIONEERS USA can help.

Through its Venture program, people can take a mission trip, anywhere from one month to a year. There are multiple opportunities to choose from, with groups currently in West and East Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East, among other countries. The goal is to help mission-minded people discover their God-given purpose and gain a better understanding of what long-term ministry entails.

“There are really two types of people that we work with,” says Jacob with PIONEERS. “Some have a specific skill that they want to use overseas. So that could be anything from being an English teacher, to being a nurse, or pretty much anything in between….

“The other type of people that we work with [are those] just trying to figure out what the next step is. They’re interested in what long-term missions is. They would love to find out more, but they don’t really have any experience to back that up, so they need some time to be able to go and experience what it’s like.”

The latter group consists primarily of the millennial generation. More and more North American young people are becoming interested in long-term missions, so PIONEERS has shifted its focus from Business as Mission (BAM) and second-career missionaries to meeting the needs of the younger generation.

“You often hear, ‘Would you consider long-term missions?’ And they kind of freeze [and say], ‘I’m not sure that I’m ready to make that commitment,’ Jacob says. “Most people are thinking, ‘That’s 25 years,’ in their minds. But really it can be a lot less than that.

(Photo courtesy of PIONEERS via Facebook.)

“So we’re hoping that they can get out there and experience it for a short period of time, and then realize through that process as they’re wrestling with the Lord, that this is really what He is asking them to do with their lives.”

According to Jacob, about 33% of people who took a Venture trip last year went back for long-term missions work. This year, he expects even more.

“We haven’t seen as many people going for smaller amounts of time this year. A lot of the people that we’re seeing are going six months and over,” Jacob says. “That is typically where we see the vast majority of people switching from Venture to long-term.”

Feeling called to the mission field yourself? PIONEERS has plenty of opportunities to get involved. Click here to search for a trip that suits your passions.

If visiting another country isn’t an option, you can always support those who do. Click here to donate to one of the many PIONEERS projects.

(Photo Courtesy Latitudestore.com)

The project sells products made by people in countries like India or Jordan who are struggling to escape poverty. At the same time, teams work to teach employees about the gospel and plant local churches.

Stitching Together an Idea

The non-profit project started over 10 years ago when a group of field workers started a small quilting business to help women with no other source of income. Thanks to tourists and other enthusiastic buyers, “The business grew from a couple of people working out of a house to 20, 30, then a couple hundred people employed doing different components of quilting and little sewing projects.”

The project was only planned to be temporary. “But when the field workers came back to the States, they felt the need to continue that business.”

A few more years of planning, and “in 2005, the business began in the U.S. really as a market channel for that type of product team.”

(Photo Courtesy Latitudestore.com)

The workers traveled to different conferences, spreading the word about their business, as well as the gospel angle to the project. More product teams were added, and the project grew.

The budding project struggled, however. None of the field team members had history in business, and they were working in countries where “visas are difficult to get [and] connections into people groups are difficult to get.”

Latham describes the countries they reach out to even now, saying they’re working “in very exclusionary and marginalized areas; isolated areas.”

Enter: the Lathams

Meanwhile, the Latham family discovered that they wouldn’t be able to participate in long-term missions like they had planned. After years of preparation, their stay in India only lasted 10 months before they discovered that their 5-year-old daughter couldn’t handle the local climate. Returning home, they searched for a new opportunity to further God’s kingdom.

(Photo Courtesy Latitudestore.com)

PIONEERS approached the couple with a job offer. They wanted Mark and his wife to take over the business-as-missions project. “I’ve had 15 years of business work and sales and project management background, and my wife is an interior decorator,” remarked Latham. This combination of statistics and creativity made them the perfect addition to the team in 2012.

Fast-Forward: 2015

Today, the project is growing steadily. Although the ministry had only 8 committed partners in 2012, Latham says they “probably have 15 to16 businesses in 13 different countries right now.”

Product teams are groups of missionaries sent by the company as well as the locals they employ. Each team has a different approach to their job. “Because of the different countries and the oversight that goes on from a governmental standpoint, every team kinda works a little bit differently.”

The project is spreading not only to new product types, but to new countries as well. “Over the last 3 years, we’ve been able to go to Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Jordan.”

(Photo Courtesy Latitudestore.com)

Each project is completely unique. “We’ve got some Middle Eastern work where it’s olive wood that being converted into necklaces and bracelets and household items like dishes or bowls.”

Some of the groups reached by the project are looked down upon in their cultures. “We work with some HIV-positive widows in SE Asia, and they’re making things like scarves and stuffed animals out of recycled silk saris.”

One of the newest additions to the store is coffee. The unique challenge of selling produce instead of wooden or fabric items is a great way for the project to extend its ministry arm. “It allows rural work to go on which otherwise would be very difficult to actually have sustainable work or a presence in some of those rural areas.”

What’s the Point?

PIONEERS USA is a non-profit organization. “Ultimately, no one on our team in the U.S. or our workers in the field profits off of what we sell. The funds go into the business operations and employing the local people and paying for the products, the shipping, and the way we market it in the U.S.”

So if not money, what IS the goal? “Our pillars are that we want to provide access to a closed country, access to a closed people group, or the business has to be a direct vehicle for church planting.”

Photo Courtesy Latitudestore.com

One of the big targets is women, since they’re so degraded in many of the cultures in which PIONEERS USA is trying to make a difference. In “most of our areas, we’re working with marginalized women, and they can be of several different backgrounds. But the countries that we’re in, the women typically have very little rights, [and] most of them have very little education.”

Because of the lack of education, Latitudes teaches reading and writing along with the skill necessary to create the products. “Regardless of what happens with the work, the physical business, they are a better asset to their community as time goes by.”

Above all, the team spreads the gospel and encourages church planting. “[Christ] wasn’t just challenging people with their devotion and their lives, you know, the sin they were dealing with or were blind to. He met people’s needs. Several times you read that He had compassion. He had compassion on the crowd, He had compassion on the people. So, it seemed like half the time that His works were recorded, He was meeting physical needs. He was feeding people, He was healing people. He didn’t leave them in their distress.”

Latham finishes by summing up his approach to the business-as-missions project.

“If we’re to be like Christ, we have to meet the needs of those that we’re working with, those that we’re engaged with in relationship.”

This train station in Budapest, Hungary, became a temporary refugee camp for Syrians, Iraqis, and others trying to travel to Western Europe.
(Photo, caption courtesy PIONEERS)

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis, and other refugees arrived en masse at Hungarian borders, bus depots, and train stations.

The crowds of hungry, tired migrants set their eyes on the safety of Western Europe, and Hungary stands between them and their longed-for sanctuary.

Children roamed the sidewalks as their parents sat on cardboard and flattened mattress pads. Young men read graffiti from other travelers written on the walls. All awaited the next leg of their journey. Would it be by bus, train, or perhaps another tiring day on foot while being exposed to the rain and cold?

One day at the station, Victoria and her coworkers noticed a woman sleeping at the base of a stairwell in the overcrowded train station, now operating as a makeshift migrant camp. As they started a conversation, they learned the woman was sick, pregnant, and unsure of when she would be able to leave. Without blankets or a jacket, another bitterly cold Hungarian night seemed impossible to endure.

Victoria, having seen God work one miracle after another for these migrants, listened and offered to pray for her in Jesus’ name. The woman gladly accepted the prayer, grateful that someone would care enough to sit and listen to her story.

Five minutes later, Victoria got a call from a teammate. They had just received a cash donation from some friends and used it to buy sleeping bags for the refugees. They bought hundreds. Victoria was shocked. Her teammates could not have known she had prayed only minutes earlier for this exact need!

Refugees wait to board a bus in Hungary.
(Photo courtesy PIONEERS)

Victoria returned to the station and found the woman. Her eyes lit up as she saw the sleeping bag. Of all the people struggling through this crisis, God specifically heard her prayer and provided both healing and a sleeping bag. She shared her gratitude.

This is only one of countless stories of how God is revealing Himself and His goodness in spite of a truly terrible situation. Click here to view the photo essay of the refugees Victoria and her teammates met.

Would you like to get involved in our efforts to provide care and hope to refugees? Learn more by viewing the PIONEERS Victims of War Project.