New Opportunities, New Bounds
— GIU 2022 Thanksgiving Annual Meeting
On November 5, 2022, Galilee International-US held the third annual Thanksgiving meeting online. We are very grateful that more than 90 brothers and sisters from 16 countries around the world joined us. They came from more than 60 churches and institutions, including pastors, brothers and sisters from various churches, staff of mission partner organizations, pastoral staff and seminary faculty, and workers from the field. We would like to express our gratitude and praise to the Lord for each guest's interest in GIU and enthusiasm for world mission work!
Since 2020, countries and regions around the world have been greatly shaken by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has not only killed many people, but has also dealt a huge blow to the global economy, society and people's livelihood. It has also had a huge impact on churches and missions around the world. When we look back over the past three years, both the workers in the fields and the support team at home have experienced various difficulties. Many real difficulties prompt us to seek God more urgently, and pray to God to lead us to see opportunities in crises, overcome difficulties, and experience breakthroughs.
The theme of this year's Thanksgiving meeting was "New Opportunities, New Bounds". Mission service in the post-pandemic era is facing overwhelming challenges, and many traditional mission models and strategies are difficult to apply to the current situation. Pastor Liu Tong, the senior pastor of the Bread of Life Church in Silicon Valley, California, encouraged everyone to "face changes and experience breakthroughs" in the Thanksgiving meeting. Pastor Liu pointed out that people's attitudes, when faced with the need for change, are often unwilling to change, or reluctant to adapt. But change can have a positive impact— change leads to growth, and it is what drives us to grow. Pastor Liu encouraged everyone not to be too attached to past successes or failures, as John 4:35 reminds us, but to see that this is a time to prepare for a good harvest, and to see needs and opportunities in this world full of suffering. Seize the opportunities God has set before you, and you will experience God's blessings.
President Wang Meizhong of Malaysia Baptist Theological Seminary also encouraged everyone to "lift up your eyes and see". This is an opportunity to obey God's will, an opportunity to reap, along with the grace to enjoy. In the current crisis, we need to cross boundaries, traditions, time constraints, prejudices, limited vision, and look beyond results. Don't waste this crisis, don't waste the current opportunity; the Holy Spirit will give you power and supply everything you need.
In September of this year, the Galilee Business as Mission team established “Galilee International Ventures'' (GIV). We are very grateful to see God's leadership and preparation, and we have seen God's grace and blessings in the management team and the implementation of funds! GIV and GIU are like the two arms of Galilee, cooperating with each other, supporting and helping missionaries in closed countries to carry out their ministries through starting businesses. We look forward to extensive kingdom connections and kingdom cooperation with more fellow travelers, and we also look forward to more results in Galilee Business as Mission education-related projects in 2023, blessed by God in serving the unreached people in all aspects!
We are grateful for the faithful service of our workers on the field, and we are also grateful for the silent work of the support team in the background. Especially in this time of Thanksgiving gathering, we have deeply felt the unity of service that God has given us—we are in different regions, coordinating with each other with the gifts given by the Lord, and using all kinds of wisdom to spread God’s miraculous deeds. We are truly grateful. Let us walk together on this mission journey! Although we have experienced difficulties during the pandemic, we have also experienced the Lord's miraculous deeds. Looking back on the path we have traveled in the past, it has been full of God's grace, which inspires us to walk with the Lord with even greater hope, seizing the opportunity of world mission service, and constantly experiencing breakthroughs and forward leaps.