2014 - TEAM Christian Missions Blog

Christmas Traditions

Photo by Robert Johnson/TEAM

Dec 22 2014

Christmastime is an incredible opportunity to share the love of Christ and the miracle of his birth with others. Christmas traditions are a special way of preparing for this time of year, and they can vary between every family, community and country. All across the globe, Christmas traditions are as unique as the people who live there. Sometimes they involve big, elaborate celebrations, and other times it is the small and simple traditions that make Christmas so special. Here are a few interesting traditions that can be found in different countries all over the world. In Venezuela, instead of driving…

There are multiple ways to use social media to connect with others, and we’re here to answer your most frequently asked questions. Photo by Robert Johnson/TEAM

Nov 21 2014

Welcome to our three-part series on how missionaries can use social media to connect with friends and supporters. Be sure to check out our first post where we shared tips on how to use Facebook for your ministry, and the second post in our series that focused on how to make the most out of your blog. We frequently receive the same questions from missionaries about Facebook, Twitter, blogging and more, and have compiled some general ideas and suggestions based on these conversations. We understand that there are countless resources for learning about and managing social media; our hope is to…

Missionaries are ordinary believers living obediently to the call God has placed on their lives. They aren’t exempt from the struggles and trials that come to everyone. The question may be raised, who cares for those who are constantly caring for others? At TEAM, our answer for this vital need is member care.

Nov 07 2014

Picture this: A young woman embarks on a cross-cultural mission with a burden to bring the light of Christ to unreached people. She must invest years learning an extremely difficult language in order to serve in her new country. She experiences civil unrest and natural disasters as she is adjusting to life in a new part of the world. As a single woman in a male-dominated culture, she is limited in where she can go and what she can do. While God provides a team of caring coworkers to surround this young woman, the team changes frequently as different members…

Your supporters want to know what is going on in your life and in your ministry, and blogging is the perfect way to keep them up-to-date. Photo by Robert Johnson/TEAM

Oct 21 2014

Welcome to our second installment of our three-part series on how missionaries can use social media to connect with friends and supporters. Be sure to check out our first post where we shared tips on how to use Facebook for your ministry! We frequently hear the same questions from missionaries about Facebook, Twitter, blogging and more, and have compiled some general ideas and suggestions based on these conversations. We understand that there are countless resources for learning about and managing social media; our hope is to simply invite you to discover new ways of using these tools to connect with…

God often calls the entire family to service, and missionary kids play a vital role in their parents’ ministries. Photo by Robert Johnson/TEAM

Oct 16 2014

We asked Josh McQuaid, TEAM’s Director of Organizational Engagement, to share about his experience growing up as a missionary kid (MK) in South America. Today, Josh discusses some tangible ways you can support and help raise up a generation of healthy and happy missionary kids. For missions-minded churches and savvy individual ministry partners, the notion of caring for your missionary will be nothing new. It may be second nature for you to pray, write encouraging notes, send care packages or even visit in person. But even if you’re doing all of this, you might be overlooking one of the most…

A small white boat gets ready to set sail in its commissioning service

The launching point of a ship's service is its "commissioning". When a new missionary is going abroad, it is important that they also be commissioned. Photo by Robert Johnson /TEAM

Oct 08 2014

When a brand-new ship is ready to set sail, it is “commissioned.” The event is arranged by the ship’s builders and shareholders and serves as a public declaration that the vessel is seaworthy and ready for the voyage. The commissioning is the launching point of the ship’s active service. When a brand-new missionary is being deployed for service abroad, it is also important that they are commissioned. There are some great things that you and your church can do to “launch” your missionary. A commissioning service is an important time for both a missionary and his or her sending church….

Cheryl Jereb, Jocelyn’s mother, takes a moment to prepare her anatomy and physiology class for an exam, while the students nervously review their notes. Photo by Robert Johnson/TEAM

Oct 06 2014

David and Cheryl Jereb are TEAM missionaries at Karanda Mission Hospital in Zimbabwe. Their daughter, Jocelyn, recently spent some time with them in the field, and we have asked her to share with us about her time at Karanda. Hello all! This is Dave and Cheryl’s daughter, Jocelyn. As some of you may know I was blessed with an opportunity to spend the month of August with my parents seeing their life at Karanda Mission Hospital firsthand. I wanted to take some time to share what this is like from my perspective. First let me say that the country is absolutely beautiful…

Tawanda shows off his newest kid with pride. He was given a goat through the goat project a number of years ago and has now grown the number of goats he owns to four. Photo by Robert Johnson/TEAM

Sep 30 2014

Over 1.4 million people living in Zimbabwe, fifteen percent of the population, have been diagnosed with AIDs1. By 2011, there were one million children living in Zimbabwe who had been orphaned as a result of parents dying from AIDs2. In a land plagued by disease, mothers are often unable to nurse due to health concerns. Many children are orphaned at a young age, left alone to find nourishment or die. Zimbabweans are facing the harsh realities of the AIDS epidemic, and countless children and orphans are suffering as a result. Karanda Mission Hospital, located in northern Zimbabwe, provides community healthcare,…

Some missionaries aren’t evangelists or great teachers, but every person is needed to play a role in building Christ’s kingdom. Photo by Robert Johnson/TEAM

Sep 22 2014

Mission hospitals breed chaos. Physical needs and illness are constant and often dramatic. In a single day at our hospital in South Asia, I could see multiple patients from a car accident, do a C-section, do rounds on 25 inpatients, discipline a staff member, treat a bear bite in the ER, orient a new foreign volunteer, diagnose and treat typhoid fever, and find a half-eaten bar of soap (showing that further rat eradication was urgently needed!). Throw curve balls into the mix, and life gets really interesting. Like the time the construction workers in our building erected an elaborate Hindu…

Along with other volunteers, Alecia planted wheat seeds into the soil after cleaning up the debris left behind by the tsunami floodwaters. Photo by Alecia Tallent.

Sep 16 2014

We asked Alecia Tallent, TEAM’s Global Ministries Administrative Assistant, to share about her experience on a short-term missions trip to Japan. Alecia and her husband went with TEAM Serve to provide relief work after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disasters. Even though it had been more than seven months since the disaster, debris still littered the coastline, and thousands of people still lived in temporary housing. TEAM had partnered with CRASH Japan, a relief organization, and we lived at one of the CRASH bases in Tono that was being run by TEAM missionaries Jim and Eileen Nielsen. The Nielsens…

Archive - 2014

Christmas Traditions

Social Media for Missionaries (Part 3: FAQs)

What is Member Care?

Social Media for Missionaries (Part 2: Blogging)

Raising Up Healthy Missionary Kids

5 Tips for a Great Commissioning Service

Insights from the Field

[VIDEO] Zimbabwe: Life-Giving Goats

Finding My Place

Planting the Seeds of Love