August 2022

250th Anniversary

July Focus – World Mission

Mission Is the Life of the Church

Here at Home Church, there are many people and groups who do mission locally and in the wider world. All of it is good and all of it is necessary. This month we will highlight world mission activities happening through the World Mission Team and individuals. We have much to be thankful for, and we have many challenges as we seek to respond to the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you.” Matthew 28: 19 – 20

Our Renewed Moravian Church had its beginning in Herrnhut, Germany in 1727. In 1732 – 290 years ago - World Mission efforts began with sending missionaries to the enslaved in St. Thomas, West Indies. According to Brother Richard Starbuck in the document, The Moravian Church: A Heritage for Tomorrow, 200 missionaries were sent to several locations in a thirty-year period. This year the Home Church congregation is observing with education and celebration the 250 years of ministry in the Salem and Winston-Salem area. In our beginning we were known as Salem Congregation. Through the years, as other area congregations developed with our assistance, we were referred to as “the Home Church.” Since these early days we have accepted the call to share the love and good news of Jesus Christ.

This month of August, the World Mission Ministry Team of our congregation will celebrate our past and our present call as leaders in service to Jesus Christ in locations and places around the Moravian Unity. We do our work through the assistance of the Interprovincial Board of World Mission. This board has offices and staff in both the Northern and Southern provinces and is financially supported by each local congregation in their annual budget. We are blessed to also have the Corinna Nading Fund and the Elizabeth Marx Fund, which support specific mission areas.

The World Mission Ministry Team seeks to provide educational opportunities for our congregation to make everyone aware of activities and needs of areas around the world. We create events for fundraising to support needs of people and staff of world locations. We rely on information from the Board of World Mission. We share with you how funds are spent. We are indeed thankful for the support of our congregation.

Please plan to attend the Summer Sounds: Music for World Mission, in Salem Square on Saturday, August 13. The music of the Moravian Buns and the Moravian Band and Friends will begin around 7PM. We invite you to bring your chairs and a family picnic and enjoy fellowship in the square. If it rains, we will be in the Fellowship Hall of the church.

The World Mission Ministry Team: Beth Baldwin, Tommy Cole, Mallie Graham, Teresa Haynes, Fran Huetter, Donna Hurt, Sarah Jennings, Chris Kearns, Mary Elen Kollman, Philip McKinley, Paul Morse, Matt Myers, Laura Piner, Tamra Thomas, and Ginny Tobiassen.

SERVE

● Read and study the June/July issue of the Moravian, which has the yearly Board of World Mission Report.

● Learn of refugee needs in our European Moravian Church as a result of the war in Ukraine.

● Volunteer and participate in activities of the Unity Women’s Desk. ● Consider developing a mission trip for our church.

● Participate in and support opportunities to grow funds for financial assistance to those in need. There will be an “Antique/Newtique” Sale on October 15. Volunteer to help. Donate items.

● Next January, attend the Epiphany Sunday School Classes to learn of world mission activity and ministry. ● Shredding Event in May 2023. Please support and volunteer.

● Attend Summer Sounds: Music for World Mission in the Square on August 13. Music will be made by the Moravian Buns and the Moravian Band of Home Church and their friends.

● Watch for bulletin inserts this month giving information about areas of the world we are blessed to support. Read and study. Share!

GENEROSITY

We are grateful for the support of our congregation for world mission needs. Here are a few recent examples of how Home Church’s support facilitated ministry:

The Board of World Mission has received $1000 to help Ukrainian refugees in European Moravian churches. Sarah Mandiba, working toward a teaching recertification to support her work at Ray of Hope, Kenya, receives $400 each term. Estamos Unidos Moravian Ministry (Winston-Salem) has received $1000 to support attendance at their women’s retreat at Laurel Ridge. And many mission trips have been supported, including trips to Nepal, Cuba, and Kenya.

Here are some other opportunities for generosity:

● Consider financially supporting Food for Bathore, Albania. This is done through Home Church.

● Consider buying coffee from the Board of World Mission.

● Buy one of the 11 remaining Home Church 250th Anniversary shirts.

● The opportunities for financial support for World Mission are endless. We thank you for your support.

August Prayer Calendar for People Around the World

• August 1 – Prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving for the Moravian Board of World Missions and their work around the world.
• August 2 – Prayers of hope for the people of Ukraine that the war will end and that they will be able to return to their homes.
• August 3 – Prayers of thanksgiving and uplifting for the countries and people providing refuge to people from Ukraine.
• August 4 – Prayers of support for the Moravian Secondary School in Sierra Leone (grades 7-12) that more qualified teachers can be added to the staff and that there will be enough money to pay their salaries.
• August 5 – Prayers of sustenance for families in Bathore, Albania, who are still in need of food.
• August 6 – Prayers for the Moravian congregations in Happy Valley, Nain, Hopedale, Makkovic, Labrador. In August, Bishop Chris Giesler and Bishop Paul Graf will travel to Labrador to meet with congregational leaders in these four villages. In Happy Valley and Hopedale, they will be commissioning three new Lay Pastors. In addition, three people are now on track to be ordained in the near future.
• August 7 – Prayers for the students and families at Ray of Hope in Kenya and for Ceci and Michael Tesh.
• August 8 – Prayers of recovery and healing for the victims of human trafficking around the world.
• August 9 – Prayers of thankfulness for the ministry of Dena Grillo Fortuzi from Albania. Dena graduated from Moravian Theological Seminary and will be ordained on September 18. Prayers for Bishop Sam Gray as he travels to Albania for her ordination.
• August 10 – Prayers for our brothers and sisters in Nova Paka, Czech Republic, as they continue to renovate their hotel to provide more living space for families from the New Generation Christian School in Kyiv, Ukraine. Currently there are fifteen families.
• August 11 – Prayers for Dominga Henríquez Fedrick, who was born in one of the Moravian clinics in La Mosquitia, Honduras, twenty-seven years ago. She is in her final year of medical school in Bilwi, Nicaragua, and has received support from the Board of World Mission in partnership with the Unity Women’s Desk during her seven years of medical school. She plans to become a doctor at the Ahuas Clinic in Honduras.
• August 12 – Prayers for the Moravian congregations in La Habana, Matanzas, Villa Clara, Camagüey, and Guantánamo, Cuba.
• August 13 – Prayers for the students and teachers at Bishop Kisanji’s Girls School and the Lusangi Moravian Junior Seminary in Western Tanzania.
• August 14 – Prayers for the people of the La Mosquitia region of Honduras, who have suffered devastating flooding. These floods have come at a time when bean and rice crops are to be planted, and as a result, they will not have access to these staples of their diet. The Board of World Mission plans to send money to help purchase supplies of food and to assist in planting more crops.
• August 15 – Prayers for Safiatu Braima as she continues offering leadership to the mission in Sierra Leone since the death of her husband, Mohamed Braima.
• August 16 – Prayers for our brothers and sisters in Herrnhut, Germany, as they are providing shelter to about 100 refugees from Ukraine. This is occurring 300 years after a group of refugees from Moravia arrived in Herrnhut.
• August 17 – Prayers for the Unity Women’s Desk as they work to develop a technology fund. This would help scholarship students pay for data for their phones, which is what these women use as computers to do their school assignments.
• August 18 – Prayers for our brothers and sisters in Peru.
• August 19 – Prayers for comfort and peace for the family of Nagendra Pradhan following his death, and prayers for wisdom for the Upasana, Nepal, Moravian congregation as they transition to new leadership.
• August 20 – Prayers for the Preventative Health Program and all programs, staff, and patients of the Ahuas Clinic.
• August 21 – Prayers for discernment for the Moravian High School in Hejnice, Czech Republic. They have been asked to provide space for Ukrainian youth who have been resettled. They are looking for partnerships that would help allow them to do this.
• August 22 – Prayers for hope and strength for people from many countries who are in refugee camps in other countries as they await the granting of refugee status by the United Nations Refugee Agency, and prayers for the people working with all refugees.
• August 23 – Prayers for Sarah Mandiba in Kenya, who is studying to complete her qualifications to become a teacher. She has three more terms to complete.
• August 24 – From September 26-30, the Board of World Mission will be convening leaders from the Spanishspeaking Unity Provinces of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica; the Mission Provinces of Cuba and Honduras; and the Mission Area of Peru. The Medical Clinic in Ahuas, Honduras, will also be sending a delegation. In addition, there will be representatives from Brazil, Bolivia, and Panama with whom Board of World Mission is currently discussing establishing Moravian congregations. These meetings are being held in Panama City and will encourage collaboration among these Spanish-speaking Moravian leaders. Pray for safe travel for all delegates and their time together.
• August 25 – Prayers of gratitude for donations of over $300,000 received since March that have allowed the Board of World Mission to assist congregations in the Czech Republic and Germany as they extended hospitality to refugees fleeing violence in Ukraine.
• August 26 – Prayers that the work of Michael and Naomi Woo will be a blessing to many.
• August 27 – Prayers for wisdom and dedication for the five pastors and congregations in various villages of Sierra Leone, all of whom work together to spread the love of Jesus.
• August 28 – Prayers for the Moravian school in Nepal, that it will be a place to develop good leaders and that the school will be able to expand.
• August 29 – Prayers for safety for all missionaries supported by the Mission Society.
• August 30 – Prayers for wisdom for the Unity Board of the Worldwide Moravian Church.
• August 31 – Prayers for faithful obedience as we all respond to God’s call to service in our own lives