In Your Eyes

How do you view the importance of missionary work? How do you view the impact of short term mission trips? In this day and age when perception outweighs reality, here is what stm's can really do....

It's easy to accuse Short Term Mission teams of being one-hit wonders! They 'hit' a location for 10 days and then return home, never to be seen again. This is not the case with NLI mission teams. Fledgling churches being strategically planted across Europe are partnered with churches able to support them with teams, trainers, and finance. Many of these partner churches send teams year after year. This faithfulness is very much appreciated and helps build strong relationships between the two churches. Each year the teams can build on what they did the previous year, thus ensuring ongoing growth and impact. One-hit wonders? No way!

In August 2007, Cheryl and Ed returned to Tarascha (Ukraine) the church plant Cheryl had visited as part of a Canadian mission team in 2006. "When our team of 10 went to Tarascha in May 2006 little did we know the bonds that God would begin to form not only in the hearts of the Canadians that responded to the call, but also what God had done in the hearts of the people of Tarascha.

Last year we were very much impacted by what God was doing between our worlds and by specific people that we met. However, we did not realize that God would continue to grow His love in our hearts for one another after our departure. He opened doors that were otherwise closed. Some of these have remained open and continue to open wider as the Spirit of God continues to move.

Our mission to Tarascha was just as significant for the church in Vegreville. Not only does a team go, the whole church goes! That is what God has called us to do. We each have a role to play in the Mission field and realize that when we walk through the doors of our local church, we have just entered the mission field. This is the challenge God has brought to our church in Vegreville. At this moment in time, Tarascha is our calling."