.jpg)
God uses ordinary people to perform extraordinary things when living on mission. They may employ different ministries to accomplish their tasks, but God’s command is never- changing; never-ceasing: to proclaim the Gospel and make disciples of every nation. In the same sentiment, Northland has been called to build the Church through its relationships with global churches and missionaries throughout our fifty- year history. Spread out a world map, and you will find Northland-supported workers engaging people to be fully alive in Jesus. We are grateful for our thirty-two global workers and families that serve the Lord as well as our eight global partners, most of them churches.
Our Missions team recently had the opportunity to hear stories and powerful testimonies firsthand when several of our friends visited Northland. It’s been years since COVID thwarted our in person visits, and it was good to see the Jesus-filled disciples in our presence. We want to offer you a glimpse into the extraordinary work being done for God’s kingdom. These are just a sample of the in person connections made over the last few months.
Two partners from World Relief visited Northland several months ago and shared updates of our mutual partnership in Sudan. World Relief is a global humanitarian organization that brings sustainable solutions to the world’s greatest problems - disasters, extreme poverty, violence, and mass displacement. In doing so, they empower the local church to serve the most vulnerable. Their teams witnessed more suffering than ever due to COVID, conflict, and climate combined, but the work continues. The church is growing and being strengthened through adversity. Please pray for their work to continue to be Spirit-led and inspired.
Another meeting included the Faus family. Since 1990, Northland has supported the work of Mark Faus, who has faithfully served in various roles with Mission Aviation Fellowship. Serving first as a missionary pilot in Indonesia and in various countries in Southern Africa, he then assumed leadership and management roles in that aviation ministry and later in mission hospital ministries. Now with the SIM mission, Mark and his wife, Jana, use medicine as their platform for spreading the Gospel and offering critical health care to villagers without direct access to care. They visited Northland in June and shared reports of Muslims who had entered their mission hospitals in Bangladesh for the first time and then proceeded to embrace the Gospel message and become believers. During the pandemic, they were tasked to sustain the global workforce of SIM’s medical missionaries who stayed in overseas roles. They were blessed to see God’s hand of safety and health upon every one of their 320 missionaries, seeing that not a single medical missionary contracted COVID. Mark recently assumed a new role as SIM’s Global Governance Consultant. He is tasked to train and advise the boards of directors in each of SIM’s seventy ministry countries and the boards of the church denominations associated with the SIM. Mark highlighted one story from the Chikwakwa Rural Health Center in Zimbabwe. The Health Center is located in a very isolated region and serves as the only source of healthcare for over 15,000 people. Realizing that the Center had no PPE and medical supplies during the COVID crisis, the SIM COVID Project that Mark managed provided funds for purchasing vital medical supplies to protect the health workers and treat the most ill with COVID. Undoubtedly, considering the economic distress of Zimbabwe, this financial assistance had an incredible impact on healthcare in that remote region. The provision of supplies opened doors for the National Church to minister spiritually to the Health Center staff, patients, and the local community, enabling purchasing and distribution of Bibles and spiritual lesson materials. Such a response not only demonstrated the love of Christ to many in need but also provided spiritual healing to those in a medical crisis.
That same week, we were blessed by the presence of a global worker in the Middle East who has faithfully gone where few go. This worker found a way to use her medical training to serve a restricted Muslim nation. Her journey led her into the home of a Muslim family with whom she speaks the Gospel while sharing meals and tending to the sick. She remains steadfast in her calling to take the Gospel to the unreached. We were even able to connect her with Mark and Jana to explore how their work can complement each other.
We are grateful for our missionaries and partners that serve the Lord in many remote parts of the world. From medical missions to student outreach to Bible translations and beyond, Northland has offered financial gifts and prayerful relationships with some of the finest. Through them, we have witnessed incredible fruit in the Kingdom.