In a small town near Madrid, Spain, a missionary couple, Walker and Becca Welch, walked around a university hoping to meet Chinese students and share the gospel. Usually, the town’s university hosts more than 300 Chinese exchange students every year. Unfortunately, due to COVID 19, the Welches have had few opportunities so far this year to get to know them.
Today, a Christian couple sits in prison. Arrested for sharing the gospel, they wait for another trial date to face the authorities and angry family members. They’ve been to trial already but have not yet heard a final verdict or sentencing. Trials are often postponed and drawn out, while government leaders look for further evidence against Christians and hope that believers will renounce their faith in Christ.
Wally Contreras of First Baptist Church Gahanna, Ohio, had a passion for missions before he became pastor in January 2020.
Traumatic experiences are part of the context for many missionaries, pastors and leaders who currently work with people who have been affected by some type of tragedy, especially in this time of pandemic. The suffering and the aftermath left by these experiences are part of the challenge that the Christian worker faces in presenting the message of the gospel.
A Uyghur family prepares dinner over an open fire.
A local Bambara subsistence farmer in the village of Falako in Mali, West Africa shows an IMB missionary and volunteer the worms that are killing his crops. This village is one of 120 that will benefit from 500 tons of millet. The grain was provided to help stave off the starvation for about 31,000 people living in this rural area.
Ramsey* didn’t want to take his own life. Instead, he accepted missions that put him in harm’s way. Years later, after he became a Christian, Ramsey still doesn’t want to take his own life, but is willing to lay down his life for the sake of Christ and accepted a mission that puts him in harm’s way.
Refugee women display bracelets they made with the help of volunteers.
George Smith’s COVID-19 test came back positive. The diagnosis began a months-long battle of prayer and physical challenges for Smith and his wife Geraldine, IMB missionaries in Uganda.
IMB President Paul Chitwood addresses the Southern Baptist Convention during the IMB report on June 15, 2021. (IMB photo)
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