MISSIONSseries2008 |
Sunday, December 7th & 14th we had a two week missions focus at Antioch and the official launch of the World Relief: NEXT project! During these two weeks we focused on missions at home, within Antioch; locally, in parachurch organizations; and globally, through World Relief NEXT. The series and lectureship was led by guest speaker Emmanuel Ndikumana.
Emmanuel Ndikumana
For these two weeks, Antioch was blessed to have Emmanuel Ndikumana come over from Burundi, Africa as a guest speaker. Having grown up in the heart of Africa and experiencing the devastation of daily life there, Emmanuel brought an amazing testimony and perspective to the series. He taught us the history of his people in Burundi, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (the Great Lakes Region of Africa) and he told us his personal story.
If you missed out on his messages,
check them out in our sermon archive.
Local Missions Fair
Since one of the goals of Antioch Missions is to serve locally here in Bend, we had the desire to highlight the local ministries which were being represented by volunteers within our ouwn congregation. So, after the service on Sunday December 14th, the commons of Summit High School was transformed into a local missions fair. At the fair we had an amazing turnout of 19 local ministries being represented by Antioch attendees! These representatives then had the opportunity to showcase their organizations and recruit new volunteers.
Launch of World Relief NEXT
The event in which the series revolved was the official public launch of World Relief NEXT. The NEXT project is an initiative for the future; a way of giving differently—to engage the next generation of believers to give wisely and to “seek justice, encourage the oppressed; defend the cause of the fatherless, and to plead the case of the widow.”
Cry Out for the Congo
In our collaboration with World Relief, our focus for the NEXT project is the Great Lakes Region of Africa, namely the Democratic Republic of Congo. Dubbed, “Cry Out for the Congo,” the primary initiatives in this project are to raise awareness of the situations in the Congo, to educate on the history of the people and politics of the Congo, to learn to actually love the people of the Congo, and to engage in that love through extraordinary giving to relieve human suffering, poverty and hunger for those in need.