Meeting in Budapest, Hungary
Global mission leaders from Norway, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Canada and the USA
In April I was invited to join meetings in Budapest with IFFEC mission leaders (International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches.) This was my first time to meet this group and it was exciting to learn about their work and the meaningful partnerships that have been forged over the years. We were able to share and learn from our ministry contexts as well as plan and dream about broadening global collaboration in mission and service. I also enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with Grace Shim, Executive Minister of Serve Globally.
“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.”
A highlight of this trip was to join an online seminar hosted by this committee on collaboration between global south and global north in mission. There were forty global leaders from around 30 nations across the world. During this time we heard updates from a pastor in Eastern Ukraine and prayed for him. It was moving to hear about the struggles church and society are facing and how they continue to gather, reach out and serve their communities under such brutal circumstances.
Federations like IFFEC give space and opportunity for learning and sharing gifts across cultures and living out unity in Christ. I was reminded again that we are called to bring a humble and curious mindset as we seek to build partnerships across cultures, whether in our local context or as we forge global missional partnerships. There is so much to learn, so much to celebrate in how God is at work around the world!