The Church of God recently celebrated its 20th anniversary in the two most prominent countries from the former Soviet Union: Russia and Ukraine. Additionally, there are positive reports from Church of God ministries throughout Eastern Europe and the CIS.
Today in America, many Christians feel disillusioned as they watch the faith they hold dear being used to further a worldly political agenda. It is as if our religion has been taken hostage: forcibly wedded to a particular political ideology or economic system, or stripped down to a couple of hot-button issues, like abortion and same-sex marriage, as though to oppose these were the sum of our faith.
As Director of Hacienda El Refugio (an outdoor adventure and retreat center near Quito, Ecuador) Paul Reichert leads a multicultural team of 25 staff members, conducting retreats for youth, church, school, business, and nonprofit groups in Latin America as a ministry of Youth World and International Teams. Reichert’s staff works to reach some of the 300 million Latin American youth in a culture where youth ministry is undervalued and underdeveloped.
Gospel for Asia (GFA) Compassion Services disaster relief teams were among the first to reach victims on India’s east coast after Phailin made landfall as one of the largest cyclones ever generated in the Bay of Bengal. Immediate supplies of clean water and food were distributed to victims, who have lost homes, livelihoods, crops and livestock.
