“God is Doing New Things..”

We have just concluded our spring Mission Board meeting, and the news is excellent!

I have never been more excited or grateful for what God is doing around the world, and how he is using Evangelical Friends.

Here are just a few highlights of new developments that we celebrated with Mission Board:

• Dr. Samson and Priscilla Retnaraj are beginning a new initiative in partnership with our 40+ churches in Nepal through Evangelical Friends Mission. Their ministry will be Community Health Evangelism, designed to both complement and to extend our church planting efforts. (Samson is an M.D. and Priscilla is a nursing instructor; they have a 4 year old son, Prateek.)
  
  
• Dr. Dan and Rhonda Mitchell are intensively studying French, meeting several days a week with a French tutor right here in the World Outreach Center. We are planning for their return to medical ministry in Kibagora, Rwanda, early this next fall. (Dan is an M.D. specializing in surgery and Rhonda has a doctorate in nursing; she is also home schooling their 3 children.)
  
  
• Dr. Ed and Linda Zinn continue to serve in mainland China, where Ed assists in a variety of medically-related ministry and Linda teaches in the international school. (Ed is an M.D. family practitioner and Linda is a certified teacher; the Zinns have 4 children, the oldest of whom is ready for college this fall.)
  
  
• Later this year, Russell and Esther Zinn will be retiring from more than 40 years of missionary service in Taiwan. Our Taiwan Friends are expressing their love and appreciation through several farewell worship gatherings and fellowship feasts. We join with our 40+ churches and more than 5,000 Evangelical Friends in Taiwan in this celebration of God’s grace through the Zinn’s lives and ministry.
  
  
• Within the next few weeks, we are expecting to welcome three new Evangelical Friends Churches in the country of Albania. Connected to us through our Hungarian leader Katona Pali, these churches share the Gospel in largely Muslim regions.
  
  
• William and Mary Bertrand have been approved as full-time missionaries to Haiti. They have been working with EFC-ER in Haiti for several years, but will now become full-time, while continuing to serve as liaisons with our Haitian churches here in the States. We are grateful for 8 EFC churches in Haiti and 3 new churches in the Dominican Republic.
  
  
• We are praying and exploring the possibility of new church plants among Indians living in Hong Kong. Tens of thousands of Indians live and work in Hong Kong, with very little Christian witness among them.
  
  
• We thank God for growing churches in the Caribbean (more than 3,000 people weekly attend our 20+ EFC churches in Jamaica, with another 2,000+ in Haiti and the D.R.); in South India (about 1,000 in our Friends Bible Churches); in Hungary and Romania (more than 2,000 people in our 30+ churches and worship groups) . . .
  
  . . and more !
  

Thank you for faithfully praying and giving through our “Great Commission Budget” that others may come to know Christ. God is moving and we are privileged to join Him!

Dr. John P. Williams, Jr.
General Superintendent, EFC-ER