This month churches across Virginia will focus on mission in North America, as they collect offerings for the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board and for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's MissionConnect emphasis.
By Carla Wynn
Through hanging sheetrock, installing drains and driveway curbing and painting walls, more than 120 volunteers from several churches have helped build the ministry center of Persian World Outreach, a non-profit missions organization that trains Iranians and Afghans to minister among their own people.
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship global missions field personnel Mich and Pat Tosan founded PWO, which opened a multipurpose ministry center in southern New Jersey last year through the construction help of church volunteers.
In April 2004, the building became the ministry's international headquarters “for the supervising and mentoring of Afghan and Iranian Christian churches and leaders in various places in the U.S. and overseas,” Mich said. Translation and distribution of Christian literature will also originate from the ministry center.
Last spring, the ministry of PWO was highlighted as part of MissionConnect, the spring emphasis of the CBF's Offering for Global Missions. Churches and individuals were invited to partner withthe Tosans by providing financial support, tangible goods for the ministry and personal involvement.
Based on 1 Corinthians 3:9, this year's offering theme is “Together … Being the Presence of Christ.” The offering goal is $6.1 million with a challenge goal of $6.3 million.
MissionConnect encourages personal missions involvement with CBF field personnel who are part of the internationals cluster that focuses on the immense physical and spiritual needs of people who live far from their homelands.
Westwood Baptist Church in Springfield, Va., contributed to the center's development, taking nine volunteers in October and seven volunteers in December. The church, which recently adopted the Persian Speakers Worldwide people group, is located near Washington, D.C., home of the second largest concentration of Persian speakers in the United States.
“We can minister and reach out to them in our own community as well as globally,” said Nancy Hollomon-Peede, the church's minister for community involvement.
Because PWO spearheads Persian ministry in the church's locale, it was important for the church to support the ministry in the building of its center. “It's quite powerful in its ministry, sending literature and resources all over the world,” Hollomon-Peede said.
On the church's December volunteer trip, the Tosans talked with the team about PWO, which “really lit some fires in people” and motivated them to greater involvement, Hollomon-Peede said.
For the seven Northwest Baptist Church members who spent Oct. 7-10 painting, digging ditches, installing drywall and organizing the PWO library, senior pastor Randy McKinney said the experience broadened their missions perspective. “We hear a lot about mission work but going and being a part of their mission connects us and motivates us to further support those who are called to give their lives to sharing the gospel,” McKinney said.
The church, located in Winston-Salem, N.C., is connected to the Tosans through church member Ray Benfield. A former missionary in Denmark, Benfield built a relationship with Mich, then an Iranian refugee who had become a Christian.
After the Tosans came to speak at the church several times, “it was time to go where they were,” McKinney said.
In helping to build the ministry center, volunteers also forged a new partnership between American churches and PWO, Mich said. “This is the beginning of a partnership with American churches that could be an ongoing relationship that God could use,” he emphasized. Mich cited future involvement possibilities that include direct ministry with Afghans and Iranians both in the United States and internationally.
While the building is operational, there are still ideas yet to be implemented. A picnic area, sports areas and a worship center are among the Tosans' future plans.
The Tosans founded PWO in 1997. In addition to their leadership, PWO added new staff last year. Doug Shenton, partnership and theological education coordinator, and his wife, Becky, office manager, are CBF Global Service Corps field personnel. PWO's goal is equipping indigenous leaders to fulfill callings as pastors, church leaders and missionaries.
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
Carla Wynn writes for the CBF.