Eleven video testimonies offer stirring witness to how God has drawn Episcopalians into world mission engagement. The short videos are available on the GEMN website and on GEMN’s YouTube channel.
The conversations, generally between 6 and 14 minutes long, were recorded at GEMN’s booth at this past summer’s General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. They are ideal for conversation starters and reflection pieces for mission groups and congregations.
Here are the people featured:
- Canon Walter Brownridge talks about how ministry in South Africa affected him and his family.
- Rosine Carter of Annunciation Church in Luling, West Texas, describes a years-long companionship with a community in Southeastern Mexico.
- Vincent Dixon of Stand With Iraqi Christians (SWIC) talks about companionship with an ancient and threatened Christian community.
- Missiologist Bishop Ian Douglas recalls how Haitian Christians helped him understand his mission identity.
- Sister Ellen Francis of the Order of St. Helena describes efforts to catalyze peace and reconciliation with Iranians, and interreligious initiatives in the United States
- Rev. Frederico Garza of Food for the Poor declares that “the Episcopal Church cannot see a rejuvenation without the poor alongside us.”
- Yvonne Lembo of the Episcopal Church Foundation describes Meet Me In Africa, her project that engaged people of color in forming relationships and building community in all five regions of Africa.
- Canon Ranjit Mathews of Connecticut recalls how Christ spoke to him through a leper girl in Mysore, India, and describes his experience of God’s mission in South Africa and Tanzania.
- Rev. Charlie McCarron, minister provincial of the Third Order of the Society of St. Francis, describes his experience of ministering to a community stretching from northern Canada to Brazil.
- Eric Travis, children and youth minister at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio, celebrates the fruit of youth mission companionship with Christians in the Dominican Republic.
- Amanda Watroba (pictured above) of Trinity Church, Lenox, Western Massachusetts, tells us how a mission trip to El Salvador affected her.
The My Mission Story project was conceived by the Rev. David Kendall-Sperry of GEMN, and the conversations are moderated by GEMN executive director Titus Presler.