Relationship-Building

A letter from Rachel Weller serving in Ethiopia

September 2016

We recently spent a year in the States, where we were welcomed by Presbyterians in many different settings and delighted to hear their stories of faithful ministry.

We spoke in a different church every Sunday that wasn’t a holiday and many weeknights in between. We spoke to congregations in big churches, little churches, churches with organs, churches with electric guitars and drums. At one church Michael walked up a stone, spiral staircase to get to the pulpit. At most churches he wore a lapel mic and wandered around the front of the platform or sometimes into the congregation. One Tuesday evening we told our story from rocking chairs during the weekly worship time of that community.

In Western Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Virginia, Washington, Florida, and Nebraska we heard about community outreach through a coffee house, congregations involved in refugee support, and conversations across faith lines. We engaged in conversations about what it means to be “missional” with pastors, elders, mission committee members, and churches. It was clear to us that Presbyterians are working through ideas of connecting people with people and people with Jesus.

The most vibrant churches we visited are engaged in mission both at home and abroad by doing projects and by building relationships. We gained a new appreciation for our role as Presbyterian mission co-workers who play a vital role in connecting people with people and people with Jesus.

In the last week of August Michael and I boarded a couple of planes and, 30 hours later, found ourselves back “home” in Ethiopia, where we feel comfortable, where we have work, where we engage with friends and fellow followers of Jesus. Here we will tell the stories that we heard in the U.S. We will let our Ethiopian, Sudanese, and South Sudanese friends know that people in America pray for them, that they have heard of their struggles, that they are encouraged by their faith in the midst of tragedies. We will explain that Americans are also struggling to understand God in a broader, fuller way, that American Presbyterians are looking for ways to bridge gaps between different people in their own communities even as they build relationships with believers across the ocean. Our hope is that our storytelling in all its different locations will shorten gaps and build bridges between our brothers and sisters on two continents.

Relationship-building is our passion. We also have our day-to-day work assignments.

As the PC(USA) Regional Liaison for the Horn of Africa, Michael’s work will include travel to South Sudan to discuss with PC(USA) partners the return of our mission co-workers to Juba who were evacuated in July and are eager to pick up the work and be reunited with South Sudan colleagues. He continues to work with the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church in the north on ways to restore unity. In Ethiopia Michael is already busy making connections with EECMY partners to learn from them and develop strategies of engagement through which PC(USA) World Mission and partners can support the church to reach strategic goals in ministry, leadership development, education, and community development.

In the 12 months I’ve been away from Ethiopia those who were trained as trainers should have undertaken assignments to develop a “healthy home” and to hold some kind of activity that brings a part of the community together to create a healthy environment and to hear a lesson from the Bible. I will be reconnecting with those trainers and asking what they have done and then making plans with them on how to move forward to develop committees and train other Community Health Evangelists (or “workers” as we called them in the training sessions). I envision that I’ll be doing a lot of evaluating and planning and re-planning in the next few months. Ariet Philip is in charge of the Community Health Evangelism (CHE) program for the Anywaa community in the East Gambella Bethel Synod. CHE is a strategy of facilitating community action to improve health while searching God’s Word for guidance. Though I have not had communication with her, I’m confident that Ariet’s caring and eager spirit has been effective to work toward progress. Rev. Matthew Doleak, who heads up the CHE program for the Nuer community of the West Gambella Bethel Synod, had a chance to join a master’s program at the Mekane Yesus Seminary in Addis Ababa. He is very enthusiastic about the CHE work and has assured me that there are those in the community who will be able to carry it on. I will be looking for who those people are and will find out what they need me to do to encourage the program along.

Last Spring Michael and I attended a course in trauma healing presented by the American Bible Society. We will be looking for avenues to use our new skills among friends and communities in Gambella. The process results in inner healing and bridge-building to strengthen individuals and communities.

We invite you to join us. Pray for us and the communities we touch. We thank you for allowing us the privilege of being the bridge between Christians in Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan, and for the financial support you provide to that end. We look forward to hearing from you, so that we can share with you how God is working in your communities.

Rachel and Michael Weller

Please read below for an important note from Hunter Farrell:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. (Isaiah 43:1b-2, NRSV)

Dear Friend of World Mission:

Thank you for your prayers and for your financial support of Michael and Rachel Weller this year, and any previous year. I know from my 15 years as a Presbyterian mission co-worker that your prayerful financial support has meant the world to them.

Even as I thank you, I want to let you know that this is a critical time for churches and individuals to commit themselves to support Michael and Rachel. Our global church partners greatly value their service and you well know how important this ministry is in building connections between the body of Christ in the U.S. and Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa.

We have historically relied on endowment interest and the general offering from churches to sustain the vital work of all of our mission workers. Those sources of funding have greatly diminished, and it is only through the over-and-above gifts of individuals and congregations that we are able to keep Michael and Rachel doing the life-giving work God called them to do. A year ago, in May of 2015, for the first time in recent history, we had to recall some mission workers due to a lack of funding. We communicated the challenge to you and you responded decisively and generously. Through your response, we heard the Spirit remind us, “Fear not!”.

Today, I’m asking you to consider an additional gift for this year, and to increase the gift you may consider for 2017. Sending and support costs include not only salary but also health insurance and retirement contributions, orientation, language training, housing, travel to the country of service, children’s education, emergency evacuation costs, and visa/passport costs.

My heartfelt thanks for your prayers and support of our Presbyterian mission co-workers. In the coming season, we will celebrate God’s sending of the Christ child, the source of the good news we share. May you experience anew the hope, peace, joy, and love that are ours because “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).

Thank you for saying “yes” to love.

With you in Christ,
Hunter Farrell
Director, World Mission, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)