Pablo and Marcela Chavez and their family just completed their first year of ministry in northern Peru. They were mobilized by Spanish and English speaking churches from the Western U.S. As they adapt to life in Peru, they report that God is giving them favor with the MB church leaders and pastors, gaining trust through shared meals and ministry experiences. They continue to work toward helping Peruvian pastors fulfill their God-given ministry of discipling others and reaching out to those in their communities who still need to experience the love of Christ.

For more than two years, brothers from North America have been coaching us on how we can serve Indigenous people in our region. This year, we invited John Johnstone and several others to come and visit Indigenous communities in the Amazon. They brought gifts with them from their First Nations people, as well as their own personal gifts, and their experiences with God in their local context. Our people did the same, and the moments shared together brought God’s healing for both lands. The fruit of this visit has now spread and is impacting three more ethnic groups in the depths of the Amazon.

Our mission family has been blessed by a new partnership with Marco Aurelio, the leader of a network of churches in Costa Rica. Marco was introduced to us through the ministry of Disciple Making International (DMI). He works throughout Central America, reaching people with the Gospel, offering connections, and caring for pastors. These relationships have opened new doors to discipleship and leadership training. 

Last year, the son of an Indigenous chief was brought to our missionary boat passed out drunk. His name was Ademir. This was his father’s attempt to save his son’s life. For three days, Ademir stayed in the cabin of the boat, being fed and kept hydrated. He was also given a devotional book to read. When he recovered his strength, he asked why he was being cared for like that. The answer was, “Jesus.” Ademir immediately surrendered his life to Jesus, jumped back on his canoe, and went back to the village. Our Indigenous leader, Charles, discipled this man for a year, and walked with him. The transformation in his life went so deep that today we not only celebrate Ademir as a full member of our missionary team in the Amazon, he is also one of the main pilots of our missionary boat. 

• D & M are involved in the church in Linz, Austria, and are also coaching the North American workers in Europe and Central Asia. 
• Sarah Reed is serving the church in Steyr, Austria, and helping with mission training programs in Europe. 
• Jonathan and Joanna Pharazyn-Gutierrez are supporting the work in Portugal. 
• Alex and Carla Suderman are supporting the church plant in Dortmund, Germany. 
• Paul and Sarah Raugust are active in the church in Montbeliard, France, and working with refugees, as well as hosting teams from TREK-Europe.   
• A & R and another couple from Canada are a great blessing in Central Asia. 
• Russ and Marjorie are in their final terms of service in France. 

• A growing team of German church planters are serving in Germany, with five church plants underway currently and more to be added. 
• Gediminas and Kristina Dailydé are leading the ministry in Lithuania, pastoring the 180° Church and hosting teams from TREK-Europe. 
• One of our national partners in Central Asia is now leading fruitful ministry in three countries.

• Akjol and Raissa are discipling a growing number of people in Central Asia. 
• Sypatai and Perizat are reaching out to several new locations in Central Asia, especially in villages with no access for foreigners.  
• Marcella and David Taquet are working with refugees in France. 
• Johanna Neudorf, from Paraguay, is supporting the growing church plant in Dortmund, Germany. 
• Markus and Jenny Neumann are preparing to go to Madagascar, where Jenny is originally from and where she previously served among local women. 
• Margarete Daiker is working as a teacher for blind children in Central Asia and is involved in discipling their parents. 

Sean and Amy Hildebrand will be arriving in Uganda in January as long-term missionaries.  We’re excited about them joining the team as well as for their close connection with Northview Church. We’re sure there will be so much mutual benefiting from these connections.

It’s exciting to see Uganda becoming a hub for missionaries and for hosting teams. A vision team trip recently visited and was deeply impacted. A TREK team will arrive in the days to come. Melanie Wiebe has also arrived as a FOCUS intern.

Safari has now been in the southeast of DR Congo for over a year. His ministry in Situ is growing at a deliberately slow pace as he works at discipling families as well as young people in a whole-life way, knowing a gathering of believers will emerge. In the meantime, his teaching and discipling in the Kivu provinces of DR Congo is bearing much fruit. He is seeing change in how Church leaders understand the church, its purpose, mission, and their roles. Josue Selamani is a medical doctor who has been part of the MB church in that region most of his life. Recently, through Safari’s work, Josue’s eyes have been opened. He is asking very good questions about church and he’s using his own funds to go on mission trips, empowering the existing church. 

Robert and Esther Mponye in Uganda continue to be used by God in their country. Their focused work of evangelism and discipleship, and  walking alongside leaders, continues to bear much fruit. Our partnership in Uganda only grows.

An exciting new partnership is developing in Namibia. Esperance is a Burundian medical doctor who fled the crisis in her country in 2015. Arriving in Namibia, she felt God calling her to start a church as people kept coming to her for spiritual direction. After she received some discipling from Pastor Alexis (Burundi) and a recent visit, Esperance has now joined our Africa Leader Summit. She is a powerful woman of God, but very alone in Namibia, a spiritually dark place. We’re excited to see where this partnership goes.

Discipling for Development (D4D) continues to be a powerful ministry in Burundi that expands the vision of local believers to a kingdom perspective through discipleship and practical training. Samuel, our Burundian partner, leads this ministry and Travis Jost, long-term missionary from Wichita, Kansas, continues to grow his training contribution. This is resulting in tremendous impact as local pastors are contending for transformation in their villages and cities.

In regions like South Asia, there are many restrictions that make it difficult for North Americans to live and serve on a long-term basis within the region. Although Multiply does have workers in South Asia who have creatively overcome obstacles to remain and serve effectively, it has become a strategic priority for us to partner with nationals and find ways to serve the vision for mission that God has given them for their region.

The oldest and largest MB Conference in the world has experienced a remarkable and growing unity that has resulted in a shift within leadership. We rejoice as we see God’s Spirit at work—drawing people together and bringing a renewed focus on the mission of the church.

Despite growing opposition to Christianity, many people have been asking for prayer when encountering difficulties or illness. In the face of what appears to be a hopeless situation, God has been breaking in—bringing healing and new life. This year, a significantly higher number of people have asked to be baptized as they seek to live out costly discipleship. 

There is a tribal group that lives in the hills where the villages are often isolated and access is restricted to local people only. Some villages are very difficult to reach, sometimes involving a lengthy journey by motorcycle, on foot, and then by boat. Over the last year, three local workers are being supported as they follow God’s calling to bring the Good News of Jesus to their own people. They know the culture and language, as well as have the freedom to travel unrestricted. 

There are many villages without any witness to Jesus. However, local pastors often focus only on leading their own congregations in their villages, without seeing the need right next door. This year, eleven local pastors have decided to spend two days a week reaching out to their neighboring villages. As these pastors focus their efforts on their neighbors, their own congregations will also be challenged to pray and join them in sharing the Gospel.   

Twice a year, local churches discern and send young people to attend a five-month discipleship training that prepares them to live and share the Good News of Jesus. Following a time of practical ministry, these graduates return either to serve in their local churches or begin planting new churches themselves. Over the last few years, hundreds of young people have been trained and sent out! 

Forty-eight church planters have begun the first module of Missional Leadership Training (MLT) this fall. They gathered initially in person and then have continued the training online since they are from several different states. MLT is intended to provide biblical training for leaders who do not have access to formal training in their context. These leaders can then equip their local churches to participate in God’s mission.

A family from Canada that is participating in the Focus Internship has arrived in Samut Prakan Province in Thailand to serve our newest cluster of churches among Myanmar migrant workers. Local church leaders have welcomed them with open arms into the Myanmar community and they are assisting them in language learning.

Our Thai pastors have a saying, “Pray hard. Work light.” Our Thai churches on the Eastern Seaboard have been gathering weekly for fasting and prayer. When Pastor Knot met Aunty Rada, she was bedridden and groaning in pain. She had not walked or slept peacefully for seven years. She had given up all hope and wanted to die. Then Pastor Knot walked into her house and shared the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and asked God to heal Aunty Rada. That day, Rada stood up and walked without pain! Since then, one by one, aunties, uncles, nieces and nephews have heard Rada’s testimony and have experienced God’s miraculous healing and put their trust in Jesus Christ.

Now, there are over forty people who have come to believe in Jesus based on Aunty Rada’s testimony. Hallelujah! This is how the multiplication of disciples works in Southeast Asia.

As we look back over 2023, we are praising God for an unprecedented harvest. We celebrate the simple, yet intentional discipleship practices of our national leaders. Last year, our Thai and Myanmar leaders planted 30 new house churches and baptized over 360 people into the family of God! Hallelujah!

Two new full-time workers have been mobilized from the U.S. named CD and JH. They are both working closely with regional leadership and serving the River of Life network in a support role, providing administrative and relational assistance to the vast network of Indigenous leaders across the region who are involved in evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. Both workers are committed long-term and are in need of relational and financial support. Due to their frequent travel throughout the region and their contact with national leaders, their full names will be withheld and only initials will be used in communication. Please respect this restriction. 

In May 2023, an ACTION team from the U.S. was sent to the Middle East to engage in relationship building and evangelism through rock climbing in the mountains of the Arabian Peninsula. While camping, they encountered many locals and had the opportunity to share the Gospel. Their small team was very intentional about turning conversations to spiritual matters and praying for people. This program is being planned again for July 2024.

A gathering of national leaders from across the region was planned for October 2023 in a Middle Eastern country, but the recent unrest that unfolded in the Gaza strip threatened to disrupt those plans. However, emboldened by the strong desire of the leaders to be together, the Summit Gathering did happen and was a great success in terms of strengthening relationships and sharing resources. Team members from across the region joined together as family for a significant time of worship, teaching, fellowship, prayer, and hearing each other’s stories. They worshiped in Arabic and English with everyone united by a common purpose of glorifying Christ. For everyone who attended, they went away refreshed and empowered.

In this region, we are working alongside local leaders in twenty-one countries. These leaders have voluntarily chosen to be part of our River of Life network because of the value it brings in connecting them to the larger body of Christ. Our goal is to bring culturally-appropriate training that leads them deeper into relationship with Christ and empowers them to reach their own people. 

The work being done in this region is getting the attention of other agencies and denominations and the opportunities for fruitful partnerships are increasing. 

Our national partner in Egypt was formerly a missionary in Sudan. In recent years, he has helped us host mission training events for local believers in Sudan. The most recent training event was earlier this year, which brought together a group of young leaders that were trained and then sent out to share the Gospel on the streets. It was a transformative experience for the participants. Since that event, the Gospel has multiplied in that country and there are now four generations of impact in people’s lives as a result. We are currently implementing a two-year strategy that will provide at least six installments of Bible teaching and training, so that a group of about forty young church leaders could receive valuable investment in their lives on three main topics: discipleship, missional living, and leadership training. “All of these young believers in Sudan are from non-Christian backgrounds,” said our national partner. “They have given their lives to Christ and have a deep desire to reach out to their communities with the Gospel.” 

Andriy and Luda Zolotaryov are a pastor couple who live on the west coast. When they arrived from Ukraine just over a year and a half ago, they saw tremendous need among their fellow Ukrainians who had been traumatized by the war and by emigration. They planted a church and began to serve in the community, helping newcomers from many different cultures settle. Their church quickly grew to about 100 people, a third of which were new believers. The Zolotaryovs have a vision for partnership, which includes various community agencies, and they are shining the light of Jesus and finding many open doors. Multiply is partnering with this couple to support their church-planting ministry and their reach into the immigrant community. They are also proving to be a resource for other church-planting work among newcomers, with insight into the challenges of planting churches within a refugee population who have great physical and community need. Please pray for this couple and our work as we learn together how to better equip others within the North American context to reach the unreached. 

In a Canadian city with a large Punjabi population, a small group of Punjabi believers, led by Indian missionaries to Canada, meets every Saturday night for prayer and worship. One sister, a widow, has a daughter-in-law who is closed to the Gospel and views Christianity as a Western religion. The group was praying for a miracle, and God answered that prayer. While shopping, the daughter-in-law met another woman who took interest in her and prayed for her. After the encounter, the daughter-in-law shared with her mothe- in-law that she felt a peace that she had not experienced before. We praise God for the boldness and sensitivity of this other woman, to pray for our friend who is now more open to Jesus and to her mother-in-law. Continue to pray for a full revelation of Jesus in her life. 

A new story is emerging as we have begun to work with African immigrants from eastern DR Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi who are now based in North America. Seven pastors hailing from the same African people group gathered together and invited Doug Hiebert to join them. They explained that, since 1972, the word to their people group has been that they would be a light to the nations, and they are longing to see that word fulfilled. Doug was asked if Multiply might work with them and help them to fulfill their prophetic calling to reach people from many nations for Jesus. These men are deeply committed. Doug woke up at 2:00 AM one morning, after a long day of meeting with these pastors, to a strange but familiar sound. It took him a minute to recognize and then he realized that it was the sound of these African brothers all praying together, at the same time, out loud in a room adjacent to his. They continued until 4:00 AM! We are actively engaging their vision to reach the nations!

In July, Fresno was host to SOAR, our ten-day mission training program, with fifty participants from nine Central Valley churches: five Hispanic and four English-speaking. Relationships were built and strengthened between the various MB congregations as participants from various cultural backgrounds came together to serve cross-culturally in the Fresno area. The teams worked together to serve the homeless at various local ministries, and also partnered with a ministry that serves people coming out of human trafficking. One of the highlights for the teams was visiting a mosque, after which participants learned from Nasser al’Qahtani about how to build friendships and talk about Jesus with Muslims. 

The current FOCUS Internship has seven participants: two families and three singles. After two months of training, the interns are on assignment until the end of April: in Thailand with Jeremy and Adrienne Penner, in Central Asia, in Uganda with Kyle and Danae Schmidt, and at local churches in North America. 

Two recent FOCUS Interns have been working among immigrants in the Winnipeg area and reaching out to their neighbors by hosting dinners. At the start of each meal, the presence of Jesus is acknowledged clearly to everyone. At a recent dinner, people were sharing freely and the hosts wondered how God might take the conversation deeper. Suddenly, a Chinese woman who had arrived late, interrupted and shared a brief testimony of how Jesus changed her life, setting her free from fears and hurts to know God’s purpose for her life. The whole group was impacted. After some silence, the Middle Eastern woman beside her exclaimed, ‘I follow Islam, but with what you shared, can I visit your church sometime?’ It was a beautiful reminder of how Jesus meets with us when we acknowledge him and come together with anticipation. 

Multiply is partnering with Fort Garry MB Church (Winnipeg, MB) to host Discovery Bible studies for new immigrants. The studies have experienced significant growth this fall, exceeding goals for this year within the first few months. A group of about a dozen new immigrants who are curious about Christianity have started to gather, sharing meals together, and studying the Bible every Tuesday. A few have come to faith and are now reaching out to their friends. One of them has already been baptized and they are preparing to start another group with the purpose of reaching people in another area of the city.   

In Japan, long-term missionary Cory Giesbrecht recently attended a nationwide summit on evangelism, which is held once every seven years. It was held in Gifu, a small city in one of the least-reached areas of Japan, where the mayor happens to be a deeply committed Christian. Cory said, “I was amazed how the presence of God fell upon us at this gathering.” – “However, we shouldn’t be surprised when God answers our prayers! In the middle of this summit, God brought together a group of us that were hoping to do evangelism in Gifu city. We agreed to go to the train station in the evening. While we were worshiping and witnessing to people, the mayor of Gifu joined us! It was a very encouraging feeling to be sharing the Gospel with the mayor of the city behind us. As I was reflecting on this, I realized that Jesus (the King of Kings) is always with us when we are out witnessing! It is so easy to forget this and to feel very alone out there!”

Mekong (Khmu): Last year, one of the Khmu MB conference leaders called BK took a small team across the border to a restricted area. The purpose of this vision trip was to explore and discern opportunities to preach and teach in that region. On this trip, the team met a few believers and pastors with whom they have been building relationships. They now plan to assist the churches by providing discipleship and leadership training to see the Gospel penetrate this region.

Philippines: About twenty years ago, Sam Arcano and his team in Baguio started a community outreach concert called October Praise. Over the years, it has grown to include many other churches and has even spread to other cities in the Philippines, and even to Hong Kong! Sam reports that, at this year’s event in Baguio, over fifty young people responded to the invitation to live for Jesus and his kingdom. 

Philippines: On the island of Palawan, in the city of Brooke’s Point, and a group of about 10-12 local independent churches are being equipped for service and leadership using Multiply’s Missional Leadership Training. These churches have been under-resourced in leadership development and are very blessed to have Sam Arcano coming to them several times per year to do the training in one of the local churches. Over 100 people have received the training over the last three years.

Northern Thailand (Changed Life Center): In Chiang Khong Thailand, the staff and students are making disciples who make disciples. At CLC there are about twenty high school students who live there Sunday through Friday and are being taught to share their faith at school and in their home villages. They are also being taught music and are given the opportunity to train as worship leaders. Every year at Christmas time they visit local schools to present the Gospel to students, staff and families.

Northern Thailand (Chiang Mai Khmu): The local pastor and church planter, Chaloerm, has developed an outreach team that frequently goes out into unreached villages to share the Good News through praying for the sick and oppressed, and preaching the Gospel. They are witnessing many conversions and baptisms, and several new house churches have been started.