St. Michaels has mission partners in a number of countries, spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and his healing grace to the hungering world.  Some are missionaries that we support in areas that do not permit Christian mission, like China and Yemen.  Others are partners that regularly receive mission teams from St. Michaels in the Ukraine and Burundi.

In China, we support the work of Rev. Tabitha Wang, who is Chinese and has been ordained in the Anglican church.  She is working on her doctorate in anthropology but is also helping to plant home churches; it is estimated that there are now over 100 million Christians in China, most of them in home churches not in the recognized Chinese church.

In Yemen, we support the work of a young man who is spreading the gospel there and has a growing group of Christians who meet regularly for Bible study and worship.

St. Michaels former rector, the Rev. Rick Belser and his wife, are in Alexandria, Egypt where he is leading the Christian seminary there and educating scripturally sound young Christian leaders in a country where there is growing intolerance towards Christians.

Several groups of men, women and young people from St. Michaels have gone on mission to Burundi, a country just south of Rwanda, that is recovering from the same civil war and genocide that took place there.  While there was an outpouring of aid for Rwanda, Burundi was largely forgotten and is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world.  While countries like Libya are sending millions of oil dollars to Burundi to convert the people to Islam and build mosques, schools and hospitals, our Christian partners there are seeing the Holy Spirit working to use them with very few resources to bring thousands of people to Christ.  They have built orphanages and schools where there are no tribal identities, just Christians, in hopes of raising a new generation of leaders that will bring renewal to the country and change the way the Burundians see themselves.  They have reached out to the Batwa, or pygmies, who are not even considered citizens and have nothing and they have built houses and schools for them and led them to Christ.  And they have sent out hundreds of evangelists across the country every summer who convert thousands of people each year. Not only do our teams minister to the people reached by these partners, but they also provide prayer, teaching and support to Christian ministers there who have very few resources and do amazing work with very little.

Mission teams from St. Michaels have also gone to the Ukraine for a number of years.  The teams work with a group of Christian ministers in a rural area several hours from Kiev.  The people there have very little and grow what they eat, and they have suffered greatly under communism, wars and Chernobyl.  The teams go throughout the villages, taking them groceries and witnessing to them.  They visit elderly and handicapped people in institutions who have been forgotten and need to hear about the love of Christ, and they have conducted healing services where Ukrainian people receive healing prayer for their physical and spiritual needs.  One year our congregation raised money for the mission team to buy a tractor for the church there because they had no farm machinery in this area.  Not only did it provide more crops for their members, but it was also an instrument for evangelism across the countryside because they were able to help so many others with their crops. Our teams have seen these congregations in the Ukraine grow rapidly and have brought many people to Christ through their witness.

There is one theme that rings true through all of St. Michael’s mission trips: they go to help and minister to the people there, but the missionaries themselves are the ones who really benefit and are most changed by their experience. And they are rewarded in the knowledge that they are being faithful to the commandment of Christ to take His gospel to “the ends of the earth”.

Ukraine Healing Mission

Burundi Mission

And other areas that includes the 10-40 Window.  Defined, the 10-40 window is a term coined by Christian missionary strategist Luis Bush in 1990 to refer those regions of the eastern hemisphere located between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator, a general area having the least access to the Christian message and Christian resources on the planet. The 10/40 Window concept highlights these three elements: an area of the world with great poverty and low quality of life, combined with lack of access to Christian resources. The Window forms a band encompassing Saharan and Northern Africa, as well as almost all of Asia (West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia and much of Southeast Asia). Roughly two-thirds of the world population lives in the 10/40 Window. The 10/40 Window is populated by people who are predominantly Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Animist, Jewish or Atheist. Many governments in the 10/40 Window are formally or informally opposed to Christian work of any kind within their borders.

Archived Articles from the Messenger Newsletter

• Lowcountry Family Cookout with Simon Guillebaud

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• Burundi & Water Missions

  On Monday, October 4th, representatives from Water Missions’ office in Uganda arrived in Bujumbura, Burundi, to begin the installation of two of their clean water units there. These units are the first WMI units in Burundi, and are gifts from the St....

• Praise God! And thank you, St. Michaels!

  Many of us prayed and worked to try to get safe water to our friends in Burundi. You may recall we agreed to underwrite, from gifts by St. Michaelites to our missions there, two water units in Burundi: one at the orphanage in Gitega, and another where ...

• The Focus of the 2011 Burundi Mission

  This will be our 7th mission to Burundi, as we have developed wonderful partnerships with local leaders who are Godly men, who get things done. For this trip, we intend to focus on three areas: prayer ministry; medical education; and equipping churc...

• News from Ukraine!

  Three months ago, a team of 15 returned from the seventh Healing Mission to Ukraine. Through generous donations in support of the mission, literally hundreds of people received prayer, healing, salvation in Jesus, groceries, medicine, hope, wood for he...

• The Minister Market Garden

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• Haiti Mission Trip by Libby Culmer

  I was privileged to spend the last week in Haiti with an Organization called Compassion International. Forty years ago they decided they needed to do their part to help end poverty. They decided that they would do this one child at a time. They now off...

• Water Missions International

  WATER. We drink it. We cook with it. We use it to wash our hands. We use it to shower. We use it for laundry and dishes. We water our lawns with it. And we even fill up swimming pools and play in it. The truth is, water is an integral part of life a...

• Update from Doug Born

  Praise report: Though sacrificial giving by friends the bill for my lawyer has been paid, I would ask for your prayers for Miss Amanda as she goes over the paperwork before she resubmits my application for my green card, she is very dedicated person a...

• Update from Doug Born

  Hello, Just got my computer fixed, hence the delay in getting back to you with a report of the wedding. I went to Trafalgar square it had to be seen to be believed, it was packed with YOUNG PEOPLE, and young families, it was unbelievable that so many...

• My Time with St. Michael’s Church

  From the time I met the first team from St Michael in 2008, I was amazed to see people full of love for people and Joy for God . I was much inspired by the flexibility their showed to us during the their visits in February and summer 2009 when they had...

• Mission to Belize, by Ed & Georgia Barnett

  During the first 9 days of July Georgia and I were blessed with the opportunity to take part in an ongoing missionary ministry in Belize. We would have of course preferred to be with a St.Michael’s missions team, but we had both previously experienc...

• Harvest for Christ: Burundi News

  Hello Dear in the Lord , “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever “. He can do the same miracles he performed many years ago in each generation and people group. People are not the same instead. They can change from generation to ...

• Ukraine Mission Team Retreat

  Dear Parishioners and Friends: Your St. Michael’s Ukraine Mission Team has been diligent throughout the spring and summer in preparing our hearts and minds for this mission. We have met together almost every other weekend. First, we sincerely t...

• Reflection on Rick & Annie Belser’s Talk on Egypt

  Sunday, October second was a joyful day at St. Michaels when we welcomed home Rick and Annie Belser. They had been in Egypt for the last six months where our former Rector had served at the Anglican Seminary in Alexandria and came to tell us about thei...

• St. Michael’s 8th Healing Mission to Ukraine ~ October 6 - 16, 2011

  Team Operating in the power of the HOLY SPIRIT! Pastors and Wives 1. Pastor Peter Chernyavskyy and Valentina Chernyavska 2. Pastor Sasha Morgun 3. Deacon Sasha Tomnitskyy 4. Pastor Sergey Tsikal and Oksana Tsikal Interpreters 1. Mary...

• 2011 Healing Mission Daily Schedule

  Thursday, October 6:  Arrive Chas. Airport BY 9:30 a.m., departure from Charleston Intl. Airport 12:16 p.m. Friday, October 7:  Arrive Borispol Airport, Kiev, Ukraine 1:20 p.m. Met by Pastor Peter and Friends; 2-3 hour ride to Zhytomir; Team gathe...

• Ukraine Facts

  After the Bolshevik Revolution more than 7 million Ukrainian Men, Women and Children were systematically starved to death by the Soviet Union. After the Germans invaded the Ukraine during World War 2, they murdered 7 million Ukrainians. 2.5 Million Ukr...

• The Rev. Charles Baldwin - Reflection on Ukraine Healing Mission 2011

  “Pure and undefiled religion is this...to visit orphans” (James 1:27a) A story; a blessing; a Bible; and a piece of candy. It wasn’t just any story, it was the Gospel story.  The 130 orphans were born after the “Communist Era”, but the...

• Jean Corbett - Reflection on Ukraine Healing Mission 2011

  UKRAINIAN HOSPITALITY   We were lovingly welcomed by Pastor Peter and Valentina; our other two host families (who were welcoming four new team members into their homes); the pastors and leaders of the Baptist Churches; several congregations; and ther...

• Johnnie Corbett - Reflection on Ukraine Healing Mission 2011

  Our Team worked in harmony and precision doing assignments with the joy of the Lord in their hearts! Pastor Peter and his team of pastors and interpreters were a blessing to work with.  On Saturday, the team delivered 400 gift/food bags to the residen...

• Arthur Ravenel III - Reflection on Ukraine Healing Mission 2011

  The Ukraine has a sad history, but a hopeful future. This country, which borders Poland to the east, has approximately 49 million citizens and was conquered by the Soviet Union in 1919. God has blessed this country with rich, jet black soil that has a...

• Peggy Reeves - Reflection on Ukraine Healing Mission 2011

  Each time I go on The St. Michael’s Healing Mission to Ukraine, I am amazed by the poverty and hopeless despair in the village people. I have worked with the poor and indigent here in America for years, but never have I seen such hopelessness and utt...

• David & Marty Richardson - Reflection on Ukraine Healing Mission 2011

  Ukraine Healing Mission 2011 continued to represent to me a snapshot of God’s perfect gentleness, mercy, compassion, grace and love, but I never thought of Ukraine Mission in terms of experiencing God’s peace, that peace of God found in the scriptu...

• Weezi Shaw - Reflection on Ukraine Healing Mission 2011

  As I reflect back to the first time I went to Ukraine-8 years ago-I have seen so many changes in the country of Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, and myself. The changes seem to have been slow, but actually that is not much time at all. The Lord is truly ...

• Laurie Snedeker - Reflection on Ukraine Healing Mission 2011

  I have always had an excuse for not going on a mission trip - the children are still too young; can’t leave my husband to be mother, father, cook, grocery shopper and in charge of the household; can’t leave elderly family members; can’t take time...

• Betty Anne Tate - Reflection on Ukraine Healing Mission 2011

  Upon arriving in the Ukraine we were divided into groups of four and housed in the private homes of three pastors and their families. Our host family of eight was a fine Christian one, whom we greatly admired. They were an inspiration to each of us. Ou...

• Simmons Tate - Reflection on Ukraine Healing Mission 2011

  We decided to go on St. Michael’s eighth mission to Ukraine in order to give something to Ukraine. We found instead that we received much more than we gave. Our mission was constantly surprised by what we saw and the experiences we encountered. To...

• Linda Wall - Reflection on Ukraine Healing Mission 2011

  Worship – is the goal in missions, “the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God”. (A statement from our pre-mission training: “Go Prepared”) It was such a unique experience to worship with the Ukrainians in their churches, listening t...

• Letter from Pastor Peter in Ukraine

  Dear Johnnie, Jean and a blessed congregation of St. Michael’s Church, May grace and peace be multiplied to you of our Lord Jesus Christ! The members of our small village churches of Leschin, Pisky,Turovets and Zarubentsy are very grateful to y...

• Letter from Pastor Mykola Drozd in Ukraine

  Dear Brothers and Sisters, We thank you for your ministry and devotion to God. Your visit was a great blessing to us, through which God had showed us the power of prayer of believers. From you, we have learnt to share God’s love with other peop...

• Operation Christmas Child

  Grateful eyes see God’s glory as well as His grace and that is how your coordinators feel.  We cannot say “THANK YOU” enough nor hug each of you tightly enough to express the excitement we have that St. Michaels has joined in this ministry. T...

• Operation Christmas Child Packing Center

  St. Michael’s broke all records by packing and sending well over 160 shoeboxes to children aged 2 – 14 all over the impoverished areas of the world.  Yesterday, we had an amazing experience there a the Packing Center, learning more about the minis...

• Operation Christmas Child

  Operation Christmas Child begins our first collection campaign April 22nd through May 6th! We are collecting hygiene items such as: toothbrushes, toothpaste, mild bar soap, combs, brushes, washcloths, hair accessories, etc. Please No: liquids or lotion...

• Are You Called to Mission in Burundi?

  St. Michaels is working on our next mission to Burundi, expected in January, 2013. The mission will focus on training pastors and leaders, working with pygmies and orphans, and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with some of the poorest people on ea...

• Be a Part of the 9th Healing Mission to Ukraine

  There will be an information meeting in Kinloch Room, Sunday, April 22 at 4:00 pm for everyone interested in joining the Ninth Healing Mission to Ukraine. The meeting is for former team members and first time Short-Term Missioners. Applications will be...

• Newman and Trish Lawrence - Uganda

  Please PRAY for us while we’re in Uganda! For updates, please follow our blog: http://livinginthepearl.blogspot.com “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you.  But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk hum...