Missionaries & Projects
The Whole Gospel for the Whole Person
MIA BlogSpot | June, 2010
Click to donate to the Haitian relief effort.
June 28, 2010
Posted by Steve McGeeThe work that MIA Missionary Billy McKillop and his wife Sherry are doing in Jamaica is a great example of the kind of holistic ministry that Ministries in Action seeks to do throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. They are coming alongside church leaders to encourage church growth, provide theological education and support community transformation ministries.
The McKillops are based in Montego Bay but also work in Manchester and Hopewell. They support a number of pastors and local congregations, providing them with resources for develop growing disciples in their congregations. Through our IONA theological education ministries Billy teaches courses, and brings in other faculty from the US to teach, in both Hopewell and Manchester to approximately 50 students who are preparing for leadership roles in their churches. The McKillops are also involved in transforming these three communities by serving on the board of the a crisis pregnancy center, hosting teams from the US that work with young people at the Flanker Peace and Justice Center, and assisting with the construction of a jobs skills training center with Sharon Gospel Assembly.
It is MIA’s mission to help the church grow holistically through church growth, theological education and community transformation projects. The McKillops are accomplishing this mission in three communities in Jamaica and are making a significant difference. Please pray for their work and those that they serve.
The McKillops will be traveling in the US over the next several weeks visiting family, friends and supporters. Please pray for their travels.
Billy and his son Caleb will return July 19 – 31 to host two youth ministry teams and our Director of Theological Education, Barry Smith, will be there to teach a course on Introduction to Biblical Counseling.
June 14, 2010
Posted by Steve McGeeToday MIA has a construction team traveling to Haiti. The team is from a church in West Michigan and is being led by our Short Term Mission Team Coordinator, Al Gemmen. They will be building a new home for a pastor, who lost his home in the earthquake. MIA has secured building plans for CBS homes to be built according to California standards to withstand earthquakes and hurricanes. The cost of each home, which includes hiring Haitian construction workers, is $7,500.00. If anyone is interested in joining a team or making a "Haiti's Home for the Homeless" a church project, please contact me at 305-248-6193.
Please continue to pray for Jamaica as it faces unprecedented unrest and violence. Below is an email I received from one of our missionary families in Jamaica. God indeed is moving but the situation in Jamaica is still a dangerous one. We appreciate your prayers.
How to Pray for Jamaica at this time:
1. Thank God for the over 250 years of evangelical witness in Jamaica; the role played by missionaries in the struggle against slavery and afterwards in building the Jamaican nation. Thank God for the high regard in which the Church is held by government and civil society, and the good influence it continues to enjoy in the Jamaican society.2. Pray that the current crime situation and its attendant problems with dons, drugs and gangs would be used of God to awaken the churches to greater effort to influence the society, and that more Christians would venture into the inner city to witness by lip and by actions to the needy people therein.
3. Praise God for the many churches and denominations that have long had strong churches within the West Kingston area. Churches such as the Baptists in Denham Town and Jones Town, St. Alban's Anglican on West St., United Church in Hannah Town, Brethren and Associated Gospel Assemblies in Trench Town and Jones Town, and many other smaller independents all over the area are holding forth the gospel daily.
4. There are also a number of Church-based social-intervention projects there such as Operation Friendship, Father Ho-Lung’s Missionaries of the Poor, Food for the Poor, Joy Town and others active there. There is also a Christian businessman, Dr. Henley Morgan (son of a former Baptist minister), who moved his business into the area and is a business coach to help persons start small businesses on their own. He also started a church that recently joined with another to reach out with the gospel there.
5. The main church groupings (Jamaica Council of Churches, Jamaica Association of Evangelicals, Full Gospel Ministerial Association, and the Church of God in Jamaica) are together strategizing a new combined spiritual/social initiative to help the area rise up after the police are done with their work. Pray much that this bears practical fruit; and that they will put their financial and people resources to good use to make a lasting difference in transforming the area.
6. The Government, Church, Civil Society groups and the Private sector had a far-advanced "National Transformation Program" (initiated by a good friend and Christian brother, and Harvard graduate) in the works, led by Rev. Al Miller, which is continuing its plans toward similar ends, not just in West Kingston but throughout Jamaica.
7. Pray much for the Prime Minister, that he would be strengthened to continue his leadership in the above mentioned drive, as he has consistently shown his recognition of the need for a spiritually driven ‘values and attitudes program’ throughout Jamaica. In previous meetings with the Church leadership he has stated his recognition of the Church's role, and sought their help in transforming Jamaica in these areas. His commitment to these values, and to slaying the crime monster once for all, seems to be for the long haul. Let's hold him up and encourage him to fulfill his promises and potential. Thank you for your continued prayers for Ministries In Action!
June 1, 2010
Posted by Steve McGeePlease continue to pray for Jamaica as it faces unprecedented unrest and violence. Here are some ways you can pray:
• For residents of West Kingston - Many honest people in neighborhoods controlled by gangs are suffering from ruthless and lawless men, forced to live in fear and silence. Churches are helping to care for their needs during this crisis.
• For elected leaders - Pray that political leaders will begin to serve the people of Jamaica with uncompromising integrity and will have the courage to cut all ties to criminals and their support.
• For a quick resolution - Pray that Mr. Coke will turn himself over to authorities and call off his gunmen and supporters so there will be no more bloodshed.
• For a peaceful revolution - Pray that this crisis will serve as a clear turning point for Jamaica, for the beginning of change in its culture where crime and lawlessness and corruption have become a way of life. (The former police commissioner estimates there are 80 communities across Jamaica where criminals feel “safe.”)
• For a reformation for the Church - Pray for God's people and the leaders in Jamaica’s churches to get back to the centrality and authority of the Bible in preaching and worship and all of life, leading to gospel-transformation of minds and hearts and action.This kind of change seems impossible to achieve. But we take comfort in Jesus' words, "What is impossible with men is possible with God" (Luke 18:27). (Adapted from an email from MIA missionary Billy McKillop in Jamaica.)
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