Missionary Town Hall

What is it like to be part of a world-wide community? Have you ever seen a glimpse of the Kingdom of God?

Yesterday, the community of Global Missionaries, GBGM staff and Global Missions Fellows met on a Zoom call for a “Missionary Town Hall.” Roland Fernandes, the General Secretary of the General Board of Global Ministries, presented a review of the years’ gatherings, including gatherings of Missionaries serving in Africa in Maputo, Mozambique and those serving in Asia in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He gave a preview of the upcoming gathering of missionaries serving in South America, Europe and the Middle East in Bogota, Columbia in February 2024. He updated the group on the recent Board of Directors’ meeting, the approval of a drastically reduced budget and the realignments and adjustments to staffing and cooperation between the GBGM and the General Board of Higher Education in Ministry. The GBHEM has approved Roland to be the General Secretary in the upcoming year, and the GBGM has approved this move. He assured us that this would not be a merger of the two agencies, but would foster a new relationship between the two.

The call was attended by 135 individual screens from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South and Latin America and North America. The meeting was translated from English into French, Spanish and Portuguese. It was an amazing feat of technology, communication and inclusion. We - in the church - have a lot of work to do to make our ministries available and accessible to all. But it was a spark of the Kingdom to see how one meeting could do it.