Mission & Mercy Ministry Update - 2025, Issue 2
Table of Contents
Prayer Focus: H & L: Our Ministry Partners in South Asia
Mission Highlight: Celebrating Christmas Together 8,000 Miles Apart
Mercy Highlight: Dinner Served with a Smile at One Bistro
Opportunity: Adopt a Missionary with Your Growth Group
Upcoming UBC Mission Trips: Short-Term Trips Planned for 2025
Prayer Focus
H & L: Our Ministry Partners in South Asia
This month, our prayer focus is the ministry of H & L in South Asia. UBC began supporting them in 2023. This year, they are designated as one of three mission partnerships we will focus on by making regular short-term trips to assist them with their ministry.
H & L are indigenous believers in a country that is only about 0.3% Christian. They have a multi-faceted ministry that includes church planting, evangelism outreach, discipling new believers, and equipping new church leaders in residential discipleship programs. They also serve the local population through education by operating preschools, providing adult literacy classes, and offering computer training.
The country they serve in experienced major political unrest in 2024. Islamic groups gained significant influence in the country and have been persecuting religious minorities. Recently, there was significant persecution of Christians, especially in the northern region of the country. Believers were pressured to return to the Muslim faith and some were beaten. Leaders encouraged their communities to shun believers and ban them from buying, selling and participating in community life. We praise the Lord that the situation is now stable, but we must continue to pray. Let us intentionally pray for H & L, their country, and their ministry this month.
Prayers
Pray for H & L:
For specific challenges they are dealing with as a family.
For H as he leads this ministry in such a difficult time. That God would give him wisdom and strength.
For God’s faithful provision for their ministry and family.
For health and strength to continue serving actively in the ministry.
For decisions they need to make regarding their daughters’ education.
Pray for their country & ministry:
For the continuing political and societal unrest in their country. More law enforcement is needed to deal with killings and kidnappings that are taking place.
Pray against violence and persecution, especially in the North where it is most concentrated right now.
That believers would remain steadfast in their faith amidst community opposition and that God would give them strength and peace in the middle of the hatred and opposition.
For protection and safety and that the government would continue to provide support and stability.
For the believers to stay united and to trust God for their future.
For wisdom for church leaders as they navigate these critical challenges.
For safety, protection, and strength for the ministry teams and their families as they continue their work during this challenging time.
Pray that the international community would speak out against the religious persecution in this country.
Pray for participants in a residential discipleship program who were recently trained and baptized. That they grow in faith and stand firm in their commitment to Jesus, shining as His witnesses in their communities.
For the gospel to be spread despite the difficulties and that many in this country would come to know Jesus.
Mission Highlight
Celebrating Christmas Together 8,000 Miles Apart
The Perry Growth Group found a unique way to celebrate Christmas with the Bahuns, their adopted missionary family in Windhoek, Namibia. The group sent video greetings every day beginning on December 16th following the pattern of the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”.
Haley Perry is the creative genius who came up with the idea of using the popular Christmas song as a theme. Growth Group members signed up for one of the “12 Days of Christmas” and then made videos to correspond with their number. The videos were sent to the Bahun family via Slack each day. The Bahuns then sent a recorded message and pictures back to the group after receiving the day’s video.
No partridges or pear trees -- instead, the videos included:
1 archery bullseye
2 soccer shots on goal
3 pretty kitties
4 favorite things to do
5 dance moves
6 favorite Christmas books
7 sunrises
8 lines of poetry
9 American hens
10+ goofy Growth Group members singing
The Bahuns got a taste of each Growth Group member’s life and interests and the group enjoyed pictures and videos of their Namibian Christmas festivities.
Mercy Highlight
Dinner Served with a Smile at One Bistro
UBC sponsored and served a community meal to our neighbors in Xenia at One Bistro on Wednesday, January 15th. UBC volunteers served 117 meals to those that came. Several were first time volunteers with the ministry and ranged in age from children to retirees. Aaron Perry gave a brief challenge from Scripture (Romans 12:18, John 13, and Colossians 4:6) and blessed the meal. He encouraged those in attendance to season our speech, receive God’s love through Jesus and then give it to others, and gave a brief overview of the gospel message. An invitation was extended to talk with those serving about any spiritual concerns.
The mission of One Bistro is to provide a place where our neighbors eat and come together as one community. They desire to share love, give hope, provide community, and help meet the physical and spiritual needs of our neighbors who need a hand up. According to their website, food insecurity impacts 40 million people in the United States. 1 in 10 adults and children are hungry and eat less than they should have due to insufficient money for food. 6.5 million children live in houses with low food security. In Ohio, as many as 1 in 4 children aren’t sure where their next meal is coming from according to Children’s Hunger Alliance. Of the 660,000 households below poverty in Ohio, over 300,000 do not receive food assistance.
Some ways to give and support the ministry include praying, dining and paying it forward by paying the full price for the meal plus extra, telling others about the weekly community meal on Wednesdays, and signing up for rewards through Kroger Plus, DLM Good Neighbor Program, or the Amazon Smile Program. You can also become a meal or table sponsor, use the catering services of One Bistro that support the cafe, donate to One Bistro here, or by volunteering to serve for a meal.
UBC will be sponsoring and serving a community meal at One Bistro each quarter in 2025. The next opportunity to serve is Wednesday, April 26th. If you’d like more information about volunteering, respond here.
Opportunity
Adopt a Missionary with Your Growth Group
UBC supports eighteen missionaries in addition to its support of missions through the International Mission Board (IMB) and North American Mission Board (NAMB). As a growth group, you have the opportunity to “adopt" one of UBC’s missionary families and build relationship with them at a deeper level through correspondence, prayer, and care.
Missionaries often face challenges like cultural adaptation, language barriers, homesickness, isolation, spiritual warfare, and burnout. Supporting churches can encourage through prayer, regular communication to stay updated on their work and practical needs, sharing how God is at work in our church and families to make personal connections, and demonstrating genuine interest in their lives.
If your growth group would like more information about adopting a missionary, please let us know here.
Monthly Mission Quote:
"… you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us." Acts 5:28b. "…These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also," Acts 17:6b. "…the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing--as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth," Col 1:5a,6
—An Early History of Evangelism from Scripture
Upcoming Mission Trips
"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news..." Romans 10:15
~
How beautiful are your feet?
~
"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news..." Romans 10:15 ~ How beautiful are your feet? ~
Short-Term Trips Planned for 2025
UBC has a variety of short term mission trip opportunities 2025! There are local, national, and global trips offered.
If you are planning to participate on a mission trip with another organization (e.g., Cedarville’s GO trips), please contact us to let us know more!
If there is a nation or a people group that God has placed on your heart, share it with us. We would love the opportunity to hear and to help you find a trip in the coming year. Reach out to Jim Corbin (jim.corbin@ubcbeavercreek.com).
March 28 - April 7, 2025
Paraguay
Medical trip with ABWE, sharing God’s Love with the Gospel and medical care.
Contact: Jim CorbinMay 8-18, 2025
Bangladesh
Teach English, help with basic computer skills, or working with children in pre-schools.
Contact: Jim CorbinMay 24 - June 2, 2025
Namibia
Assist The Bahuns in their ministry and help with their local church Mission Conference.
Contact: Jim CorbinJune 5-20, 2025
Uganda
Come help serve South Sudanese refugees as we share the gospel and start discipleship groups. More information may be found here.
Contact: Jim CorbinAugust 1-10, 2025
Argentina
Work with Pastor Fabian Santillan and his church as they share the gospel and plant another church.More information may be found here.
Contact: Jim CorbinSummer 2025
Builders for Christ
Serve in the mission field of church construction and help a church build their building in Sterling, MA.
Contact: Dave Gneiser
Contact to learn more:
Jim Corbin
jim.corbin@ubcbeavercreek.com
To read past Mission Updates or to get more information about UBC on Mission, visit
https://www.ubcbeavercreek.com/mission-and-mercy-ministries.