MISSIONS at the CREEK

Mission to TOGO 

Dr. Shawna Koehle will be headed to Africa on May 27th for a 3-week medical mission at the Karolyn Kempton Hospital in Togo where they are short of medical staff at that time. The trip is coordinated  through Samaritan’s Purse out of Calgary, but is a self-funded short-term mission trip, so your financial support as well as your prayers would be greatly appreciated. Donations will be receipted for tax purpose and should be made out to Samaritan’s Purse with “STM re.Shawna Koehle” written on the Memo line. Please leave them in Shawna’s mailbox so she can add her STM account number before sending them off to Calgary."

  

The key objective of our Global Impact Team is essentially:

 

1.       To raise the awareness of the congregation that as a Christian and Missionary Alliance church, we are expected to pray for, support and send workers into the field, including Short-term Mission Teams. The purpose of STM teams is to:

a.       Support and encourage both our workers there and the national church.

b.      To provide life-changing experiences for team members.

 c.   To encourage the next generation of international workers.

 

    Our biblical mandate for missions is clear. The Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20 commands us to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.”

Also, Acts 1:8 states, “And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and   Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

 As a start we are diving the information into 2 sections below:

 

 

Our  International Workers with whom we have connections, both Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), and those with other affiliations.

 

Some of our international workers are in “creative access” areas, and cannot appear on websites. Below, are only those who, at this time, have given us permission and have sent photos and descriptions of their ministries to use on this website. 

 

International Workers:

1. Murray & Michelle Derksen – C&MA Regional Developers for Latin America, based in Costa Rica

2. Bruce & Jenny Hansen – Wycliffe, in New Guinea

3. Joseph and Helen Lee - C&MA in Guatemala

4. David & Patti Ens – C&MA, in Cambodia

5. Ralph & Ruth Shareski – C&MA in Germany

6. Tim & Brenda Tjosvold – C&MA in Niger

 

Murray and Michelle Derksen are International Workers with the C&MA.  They grew up in Kelowna and have been part of our church since they were young.  They met and married here and have been sent out from amoung us.

Their career has taken them to Winnipeg, Guadalajara, Mexico; Cairo, Egypt and presently they are living in San Jose Costa Rica.  They are giving leadership to what the C&MA Canada is doing throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

They have four children.  Their two boys are young adults living here in Kelowna and going to UBCO and their two girls are 11 and 10 and are with them in San Jose.

You can contact Derksens directly at derksens@swissmail.org.  If you would like to be on their monthly e-mail PrayerNet please write them and ask to be included.

 

 

 

Mission：The Christian & Missionary Alliance in Canada

Field：Guatemala, Central America

Field Address：Apartado 45-C, 01015 Guatemala City, GUATEMALA,  Central America.

Email Address：

Children：Jayne Chuen-Oi – UBC Graduate. Married to Bob Zhu. Working in Vancouver.

                  Caleb Chuen-Yi – UBC Graduate. Finished 1st year, M.Div. CTS, Ambrose University.

       Noelle Chuen-Lok – UBC Graduate. October 1, 2008 – August 1, 2009 – FUSION, Mexico.

Home Church：Vancouver Chinese Alliance Church.

 

Ministry Background: 1981-1995 – Lima, Peru, South America – Lima Chinese Alliance Church (Now Independent Church)

                                    1997- present – Guatemala City, Guatemala, Central America - Guatemala Chinese Alliance Church

Ministry Information in Guatemala Chinese Alliance Church:-

                            - Sunday Adult Bible Academy: 35-40 adults/youths

                            - Friday Night Prayer Meeting: 20-25 adults/youths

• PRAYER REQUESTS:
  • Continuing Evangelism, Discipleship and Leadership Training to build up a strong independent church.
  • 10 lay leaders just completed the Lay Pastoral Training (12 courses in 3 years).
  • Paulo Ho, our member, just graduated from Ambrose (CTS) with MDiv. He’s married to Phoebe Yeung of Edmonton. He’s processing his residency in Canada before he could return to Guatemala for Spanish ministry in our Chinese Church.
  • Lord willing, by 2012 when the missionaries retire, the Church will be totally self-governing, self-sufficient, self-propagating with its own pastoral leadership.
  • Our 3-member Board who’s overseeing the Church while we’re on 6-month Home Ministries.
  • Pastor David/Marian Ma, 2^nd Mile Chinese missionaries, are ministering in pastoral and teaching ministries while we’re on Home Ministries.

 
4. David and Patti Ens

 

VISITORS FROM GERMANY After packing in a few more visits here in Calgary, we are excited about welcoming Andalé and Jessica Weber, the new leadership couple in the church in Mannheim, as they join us for 9 days here in Canada (April 9-18). We have a full schedule, trying to introduce them to as many pastors and leaders as possible in our cluster churches in the Vancouver area, in the hope that the prayer support we’ve been so blessed with will also include them in their new role, and that they will sense the connectedness to churches here and be encouraged.

 

SUPPORT And now a word about MONEY….everyone’s talking about it, so we might as well too!! Actually, we have full confidence that God is not taken by surprise or worried about the financial situation in the world…but sometimes, as Paul did, we need to remind each other that, as we continue to give generously even in hard times, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Cor 9:8)  And for those of you who are not so familiar with Alliance Missions, all of us as international workers are supported through the Global Advance Fund, to which you can contribute through your local Alliance Church. At present, we are 20% behind in the giving compared to last year, which has wide-sweeping effects on our ministries all over the world. Budgets are being cut back (this puts pressure on ministry), allowances will likely be reduced…Also, CMA missionaries are only supported by CMA churches, so if you don’t support us, who will? Thanks to all of you who give regularly and cheerfully….we couldn’t be there without you!

 

So whether through a local CMA church or donating to the national ministry center [cheques payable to the C&MA in Canada (Global Advance Fund), 30 Carrier Drive, Suite 100, Toronto, ON M9W 5T7 ] we really need your help at this time. You can even make it more personal in designating your giving: “Support of Ralph & Ruth Shareski” .

 

RETURN TO GERMANY Lord willing we will be returning to our beloved Mannheim, Germany on August 13^th. In a phrase our next time of ministry could be called: “investing in a new generation of church planters in Germany”. Having handed over the lead couple role to Andalé and Jessie before returning to Canada for our home assignment, we will return with different roles. The new leadership team has asked us to help them plant other churches, to network them and trust God to see a multiplication of churches so that more people in Germany can know Jesus. We have also been asked to join a church planting mentoring network called “City Mentoring Program”. This would involve us accompanying church planters in internships in our area and helping them target and launch new churches in our region (southwest Germany).

 

 

6. Tim & Brenda Tjosvold

  

We had a great retreat in Ouagadougou Burkina Faso.  Thanks for praying for us and for our speakers.  We are in a battle and  the retreat was a time of  regrouping and a time of encouragement as we continue in this battle.  Thanks again for your prayers.

We also celebrated the fact that the Marineaus have finished their formal study of the Tamashek language.  We presented them with diplomas and head coverings which are very much a part of the Tamashek culture.  Tafelawist-in y-ak (Congratulations I hope)  to the Marineaus for all their hard work.  (See photo)  Pray with us for the salvation of the Tamashek people.

 
One of the ministries that we are excited about and that Tim is especially working hard on these days is wells for villages.  Some villages have no well and the ladies walk kms to get water and it isn’t always very clean. It is important that the wells are done before the heavy rains come and we have maybe 2 months left before that happens.  With funds from Rockpointe Alliance in Calgary we are helping to reinforce 17 hand dug wells in that villages around Teppé.  So, please pray for safety as they dig holes as deep as 10 meters and put in cement rings to keep the sides from caving in.  Water is such an important part of life and we are excited to be able to help make it more accessible to these villages. 

 
A fun activity for the Tjs in March was all of us including Jordanne going out to a couple villages for a Mosquito Net distribution.  Joseph’s school, Sahel Academy, has outreach weekends a few times a year and they asked if there was anything that they could help us with.  So, we all headed out to Pansé & Kodjeri, 2 villages in the area where we work,  to distribute over 700 nets.  The kids did a skit about Joshua and outright obedience and another skit showing how to use the nets while Dr. Ace explained it.  This is a way to show the love of Jesus and to help save many lives from malaria.  Pray with us for the salvation of these 2 villages and for the Fulani people. (See the photo of a family getting ready to go home after they have received their nets).

 
We asked you to pray concerning next year and where we will settle for the year.  Through the words of God’s people and much prayer we have decided to settle in Langley to be close to our kids.  We are excited about this and as I write we have around 10 weeks left before we leave for Canada .  We really need your prayers as we continue to do our ministry here, orient & prepare the new Field Director Couple for their new position and prepare to go home.  Packing up our house and sticking our belongings into a container isn’t going to be a fun time. This really is one of the things that I don’t look forward to every 5 years.  Thanks for thinking of us and praying for us these next 3 months.

 
As the world dizzily spins with the financial fickleness of the day, we want to let you know that the Global Advance Fund of the Christian & Missionary Alliance, our bread and butter fund, has not been spared. We thank the Lord that the cuts that have taken place thus far have not deeply hurt our ministry here but we want to ask that you pray that the Lord will bring giving back up to the faith budget level that was set for this year. We believe that, in times like these, God wants to show His super abundance. We believe that, as the world’s resources shrink, the Lord wants to show His glory through His Body and bring growth to His Church in every area, including finances. Will you pray with us that God’s people would have the faith that He wants them to have, that they will give and see the Lord provide. If you desire to contribute to this need, gifts may be given to the Global Advance Fund through any Alliance Church. You can also give through the Canadian C&MA website at http://cmalliance.ca or by sending a cheque to the Christian & Missionary Alliance in Canada, 30 Carrier Drive, Suite 100, Toronto ON M9W 5T7. Thank you for.

 
One last request.  Tuesday, Tim & I leave for a seminar in Dubai and will be gone for 2 weeks. One week of work followed by a few days of vacation.  Joseph is going into the dorm at his school for the 2 weeks.  Please pray with us that he will have a good time, be a kind, helpful and obedient young man and that we will all remain safe during that time.  Thanks!

 
So thanks for your prayers and love for us as we continue to follow the Lord’s call on us. 

Brenda for the African Tjs