Through the Ages We also celebrate God’s goodness in the lives of our missionaries who retired this year. Dorothy Forsberg has given her life to translating the Bible into the Yom language for the people of Benin in West Africa. We are thrilled to say that this project has been completed, and the Yom people now have God’s Word in their heart language! Jim and Beth Tebbe have also retired, after serving as missionaries with College Church for 23 years. They served with InterVarsity, and most recently, at Forman Christian College. As Beth shared in the service on March 21, “We really believe that God so loved his world that he gave his Son that whoever believes in him would have eternal life, and we’re doing one tiny little part [toward making that known].” Praise God for Dorothy and the Tebbes who answered God’s call on their lives and pray for them in this next season. Looking Forward As we look to this next year, we want to emphasize prayer and missionary care. Soon, we’ll be rolling out new geographically focused prayer groups. Our desire is for each of our missionaries, in each region of the world, to be consistently prayed for by name each month. More information about these prayer groups will be found online and in the monthly Connections. We continue to expand our emphasis on caring well for our missionaries. In the spring of 2020, we launched virtual fellowship groups for our missionaries. This monthly online experience allows College Church global workers the opportunity to connect with each other, to share their own experiences and to pray for needs in our global family. In addition, in the fall of 2020, we began a partnership with One Another Ministries to help us develop a church-based missionary care structure and to increase our capacity of care for our missionaries. This work is expanding, and we are looking for faithful College Church 20
individuals to love and serve our global missionary family through short-term housing, transportation to and from airports and helping to orient them to Wheaton or their children to local schools. Locally and Globally As surely as God is working globally, he is also working locally. Our five evangelists have been busy connecting with others through their ministry at college campuses, in prisons, in Chicago and at Midway Airport. Our local partner organizations have supported education, saved the precious lives of the unborn, helped women out of human trafficking and supported local immigrants. The reports by Ashley Glaze and Richard Howard share in more detail how God is at work through our Culture Impact and Evangelism Committees. Praise God for his faithfulness. He is our solid rock, despite the storms of life. Praise him for working in and through our church this last year, and in years past. Please continue to pray for his blessing and protection upon our workers here and around the world.
Eric Channing Pastor of Congregational Care and Family Ministries All of us are coming off a year unlike any other. The pandemic changed certain ways we did ministry over the past 12 months. One major shift was the sudden transition from in-person ministry to internet and phone ministry: • Internet ministry: This past year I met with many congregants online, via Zoom. Our pre-marriage class, Becoming One, began in-person but concluded via Zoom. Vari-
