Dear CULTURELink Family,
With 2022 halfway over, we are amazed by and grateful for God’s provision and direction. CULTURELink has not only been sustained; we also have experienced growth in impact and ministry opportunities. Below is an overview of where and how we will serve in the coming months.
Invitations to Care
One area of significant growth for CULTURELink is in worker care. CULTURELink’s serves the practical, emotional, and spiritual needs of Christian workers around the world. Our staff is equipped in Marriage and Family Counseling, Spiritual Life Coaching, Cross-Cultural Counseling, and Trauma Care.
At the end of July, Larry and Karen Ragan will travel to Northern Cyprus for the OPEN Business for Transformation (B4T) conference. A B4T worker is a specific type of missionary that starts legitimate businesses in closed-to-Christianity countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). These B4T workers then hire nationals, utilize their businesses to share the gospel, plant churches, and transform communities. This will be the first time since COVID-19 that these 300 workers will gather for training, spiritual enrichment, and rest. Larry will provide counseling and worker care while Karen will serve in an administrative capacity.
In September, Larry and Karen will return to Lebanon to invest in Heart for Lebanon’s (H4L) staff. Larry will conduct formal teaching sessions at a four-day retreat with H4L’s 70 Syrian and Lebanese employees. Afterward, they have been invited to work with two other organizations to coach and care for their teams in the MENA region.
After returning from the Groundwork conference in April where 800 workers attended, CULTURELink has already begun planning with Groundwork’s leadership to prepare for next year. Groundwork is a conference for Christian workers across the MENA region to gather for prayer, rest, and encouragement. Larry and Karen have already started recruiting a team for the conference in April 2023.
Opportunities for Training & Mobilization
With travel fully open, more churches have relaunched their cross-cultural efforts and begun to send short-term teams once again. CULTURELink conducted a training seminar for short-term missions for 28 people in May. And there are three more training seminars on the calendar over the next sixth months—two in Atlanta and one in Philadelphia.
Ryan continues to consult with an Atlanta-area church to develop their Global Outreach Ministry and send teams to serve their partners. The church will be sending a short-term team this fall—their first in over two years. He has also been working with the Standards of Excellence to plan their annual conference for short-term missions. CULTURELink sponsored a workshop track at the previous conference and has been invited to play a more integral role in next year’s event.
After returning to Costa Rica with a student team from Pennsylvania in February, Ryan will be training another team from the same Christian school this fall. CULTURELink’s partnership in Costa Rica remains healthy and Ryan will be returning to teach a class for our partner’s Gap Year program in November.
Investing in the Nations
We are grateful for our monthly givers, International Fund donors, and church partners that make all of this possible. Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare for these opportunities and for the Lord’s provision to come in. Your investment into the nations with CULTURELink makes a difference. Why?
Because of your gifts and faithful prayers, we are fulfilling our mission to make disciples of those who make disciples of all nations.
Because of your investments, we are encouraging those who encourage, caring for those who care, and healing those who heal the nations.
Because of your generosity, the gospel is going out in a healthy way, the Church is being built up around the globe, and God’s Kingdom is advancing.
To invest in the nations through CULTURELink, click the button below.