Celebrating 9 Years
Reconciled World Semi-Annual Update
Reconciled World has officially been in existence for nine years! Time has absolutely flown by and we’re so grateful to God for getting us this far. Here are 9 things we are celebrating.
1. New Staff
God has been leading us into a season of growth. In the past year we have welcomed several staff in various roles and locations around the world.
Azevedo Bango Gueve
Regional Coordinator for Portuguese Speaking Africa; Angola
Lizzie Fugit
Supporter Care Specialist; USA
Paul Cornelius
Director of Ministry Support; United Kingdom
Taison Mumpande
National Coordinator for Zimbabwe; Zimbabwe
2. New Leadership Team
Part of preparing for growth has been restructuring our leadership team to ensure we have the right mix of representation. This year we welcomed three new faces to the leadership team, and a couple of members transitioned to new roles.
- Edo joined RW in 2018 as the TCT Regional Coordinator for Southern Africa. In January 2022 we felt God telling us to give him more responsibility. He now oversees all of our Equipping Churches programs in Africa. It’s a big job and we are very grateful that Edo is a man of God, who gives him wisdom to lead in this role.
- Judith is one of the longest serving TCT team members. She first joined RW in 2016 as the TCT Regional Coordinator for East Africa. Her deep knowledge of the TCT program has made her a great fit as the new Director for Asia. She will oversee all of the Equipping Churches programming in that region. Judith is rapidly learning about Asian culture and how to work in that context, and we’re excited to see what God plans for RW’s future work in Asia.
- Paul joined RW in April 2022 as the Director of Ministry Support. His many years of experience are proving to be a great asset to the leadership team. He challenges us to think in new ways and is already helping us to grow in leadership and management skills.
- Glynka has been a part of the RW leadership team since our founding in 2013. She has worn many hats, from Grants Manager to Expert Writer. This year she has transitioned to a new role, Director of Curriculum. She is now the head of a VERY busy team, coordinating and writing curriculum for Churches Stronger, TCT, Bible Schools, new staff, and much more.
- John has also been with RW since the very beginning and as a founding member was a part of the leadership team. He transitioned off the leadership team for a time, and then rejoined in 2020. This year John has begun overseeing Care and Community for RW. This encompasses everything from HR to coordinating special events, as well as continuing to be the staff pastor for us all.
3. Traveling Again
As Covid restrictions around the world have been steadily decreasing, our travel schedule has been rapidly increasing. Starting in July, Anna went on a marathon nine week trip to visit staff and programs through Africa, Europe, and Asia. She left home again in October to check on the work in DR Congo as well as visit several foundations and staff in the USA.
The Equipping Churches team members have also been on the move. Many of them are back to their pre-Covid pace of traveling and training two weeks of each month.
4. Great Stories
Myanmar
In the village of Kanyin Chaung, most people work in agriculture. There is a small church in the village, but the Buddhists looked down on the Christians. Every year during the rainy season, streams in Kanyin Chaung flood. It is especially difficult for children to get to school during this time of year because of the stream that separates the school from the village. A pastor, a TCT trainer, and one of the church elders began digging a drainage ditch in this stream to make the water flow better. The next day, many people in the village joined in the digging. As a result, people in the village are very happy that they are safe from flooding. The pastor was given a community service advisor position. Wonderfully, the local authorities also built a concrete bridge, so it has become much easier to transport crops and for children to go to school.
India
While working through the TCT materials, a church in India prayed about an Act of Love they could fulfill. They decided to ask believers to set aside one fistful of rice every day and bring it to the church weekly. During the harvest season, many people contributed 5-10 kgs of rice or wheat from their fields. This food was collected and distributed to the poor in the community. Seeing how this impacted so many lives, the congregation is eager to complete more Acts of Love—and they have the full support of their village behind them.
5. Programs Multiplying
In late July, Anna and our West Africa Regional Coordinator, Bolo, had the opportunity to visit Burkina Faso and see some of the churches and communities involved in the TCT program. Due to Covid-19, we have had a couple years of limited involvement with the churches in Burkina Faso, and we didn’t expect to see much change, but we were wonderfully surprised to see that the program has been growing without our intervention.
Recently, a new group of 10 Master Trainers started. They have already completed Module 1 and have begun training their churches. This was completely done on their own initiative. The communities we visited shared how they have been impacted so far; churches have grown three to four times in size, there has been a decrease in persecution, and most people now have a motorbike.
We’re excited to see how God will continue to lead the Church in Burkina Faso.
6. Our Growing Intercessor Team
This past year we have seen substantial growth with our intercessor team; we’ve grown by almost 22% since October 2021. In June, we posted our intercessor webpage and shared it with our prayer partners. Our hope was to create a space where intercessors could see photos of our staff whom they pray for regularly, hear prayer needs firsthand through videos, and see dates for upcoming training events they can pray for. This year we also held a prayer event for our intercessors and their friends and families. We invited them to hear stories of God’s amazing work from Anna and Nam, and we loved spending time together reminiscing about RW’s growth over the years. We are eager to host more events like this in the future, to reach and connect with others throughout the world. A huge thank you to our 130 prayer intercessors for your time, prayers, and support!
7. Churches Stronger 2.0
During Covid, we saw a need to do virtual training for pastors on topics like counseling, grief, and money management. The Churches Stronger program was developed to meet this need. We assumed it would be temporary, but God has other plans.
In May 2021 we launched Churches Stronger 2.0. This program is breaking the TCT materials into small pieces which are shared weekly via WhatsApp. Our staff are currently managing 15 separate WhatsApp groups, which share the materials directly with more than 800 individuals in seven languages.
8. Launch of National Training Teams
In September we launched our first National Training Team in Nepal. This is a team of ministry leaders who are passionate about bringing holistic discipleship to their communities. They are also connected to the least reached churches in Nepal, helping us to serve churches that don’t otherwise have access to outside training and teaching. We onboarded this team in September. They will work part time for Reconciled World and continue their other ministry work with their remaining time. We’re excited for this pilot program in Nepal and we plan to start more National Training Teams in 2023.
9. New Financial Partners
Throughout the past 9 years, the majority of our funding has come from five faithful foundation partners. This year two new foundations began to support us financially, as well as several new individuals. These new partnerships are allowing us to continue to grow our work as God leads.
Thanks for joining us in celebrating nine years of existence. We are very grateful to God for His provision and guidance, and the constant reminders of His goodness that we get to experience around us every day.
