Gandia – In missions work, questions of ecology and justice must not be obscured.  This was the reminder from the secretary general of the missions agency EBM International, Christoph Haus (Elstal near Berlin), at this year’s Missions council in Gandia (near Valencia), Spain.  Daily 10,000 children worldwide die from malnutrition, and about 15,000 farmers commit suicide each year because of overwhelming debt owed to seed and fertilizer producers.  Given this development, what is the effect on Christian ears of the Bible verse, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you,” (Matthew 6:33, ESV), Haus asked the 120 delegates from 21 countries who attended the meeting, whose motto was “Missions – a global learning experience”.  Haus confessed that earlier in his faith, he had overlooked the phrase, „...and his righteousness”.  God does not want injustice to reign, but that each one have what he needs.

In her Bible study, theologian Linda Koroma (Freetown, Sierra Leone) addressed the role of women in missions.  As she put it, the gospel would have spread far less widely in New Testament times without women.  Today, the Holy Spirit is taking new ways, „which Paul would never have dreamed of“.  As she said, African societies are also changing their view of the role of women.  Cultural barriers are being broken down.  The churches should take the lead in this development.

On the Caribbean island of Cuba, a spiritual revival is currently underway, as missionary Daniel Gonzales (Havana) reported.  In the last 20 years, the proportion of Evangelicals in the total population has risen from one percent to twenty percent.  Over and over, people are becoming Christians, without it being clear how they had heard of the Christian faith.  Gonzales gave an example.  One day, neighbors came to him to find out what prayer they needed to repeat.  They knew that there is a God, and that they now wanted to live with Jesus.  Whereas the communist regime propagates witch cults as a contribution to art, more and more people are seeking spiritual fulfillment in Christian churches.

During the meeting, a German couple, Esther and Matthias Dichristin, were discharged after over five years of service as missionaries in the AIDS work of the South African Baptist Union.  At the same time, Matthias Dichristin was inducted into his new assignment as missions secretary for Africa-Promotion, as successor to Pastor Volker Bohle at the Missions Headquarters in Elstal, near Berlin.  Dichristin, too, reported a spiritual awakening in North Cameroon and Malawi.  Hundreds of churches have been planted there in recent years.  It is difficult to provide training for the leaders necessary for these young churches.

The situation for Christians in Turkey is developing in a different direction, reported Ertan Cevik, who is a Baptist pastor in Izmir.  Under pressure from their families, more and more converted Muslims are leaving church.  Nonetheless, the Izmir church has planted a daughter church in Torbale.  Cevik thanked the EBM for their help in paying the rent for the building.

The financial state of the mission is strained.  The last year closed with a deficit of over 320,000 Euros.  Minimal income from the churches of the German Union of Evangelical Free Churches for the region of Africa is responsible for this situation.  Reserves have now been completely depleted.  It was reported at the meeting that the Mission’s existence will be endangered if this decrease in giving continues.  The new budget in the amount of 3.9 million Euros was approved.  Should it become necessary, it can be reduced as the year goes on.

The Missions Council voted unanimously to call Anna and Johannes Meyer (Munich) to missions service at the vocational training center in Thusong, Soweto (South Africa).  They will support the Baptist Union in developing this center near Johannesburg, he as cook and master mechanic, she as controller.