10 Languages. 70 Minutes. One Retreat.

By Rachel Syens, ReFrame English Ministry

Gathered on the shores of Lake Michigan in April, our North American ReFrame Ministries staff had a special opportunity to connect with our international ministry leaders, representing all ten of ReFrame’s language programs.

ReFrame Ministries includes language programs in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish and reaches people in over 175 countries worldwide. While the North American-based ReFrame team regularly hears updates on Zoom from our international ministry leaders, this opportunity to gather together, in person, for a shared retreat was unique and special.

The retreat team took a nod from “speed dating,” an activity where individuals have a short, set amount of time to get to know others, and planned a small-group activity to allow all staffers to meet briefly with each of the international ministry leaders. The North American staff was divided into groups of 3-4 people, and the ministry leaders spent seven minutes with each group before rotating to the next one. We received an outline of how to use our time, but were also left with a lot of open space to simply connect and ask questions.

My group of three people had the opportunity to hear about the impact each ministry was making in its language region and learn the true extent of ReFrame’s work across the globe. As the Social Media Specialist for ReFrame English, I was particularly interested in marketing and was fascinated to hear how different forms of social media and communication were used in different cultural contexts. Our Portuguese language ministry, for example, has a robust social media ministry. The Japanese language ministry reaches people in 66 countries using traditional radio broadcast methods. The Hindi language ministry provides in-person discipleship groups, and the Indonesian language ministry has specific children’s and family programming.

During this activity, our team had the opportunity to ask the international ministry leaders for specific prayer requests. Many of our North American team members—especially those of us on the English team—don’t work as directly with the international language ministries, so it was a special opportunity to hear how we could support each ministry in prayer. We also learned new ways that we could work with our language ministries. For example, Jerry An, Chinese Ministry Leader, told our group about a special poster project and exhibit taking place this year, and I was able to offer my services in marketing to make this project known to our English audience.

We ended our time by praying in our small groups. My group was blessed to pray with Rev. Masao Yamashita, leader of the Japanese Ministry. Rev. Masao offered a special prayer for our group in Japanese, and it was in that moment I felt a deep connection to Christians across the globe. While we may speak different languages, we all share in the good news, uniting us as God’s children and brothers and sisters in Christ. I am grateful for the opportunity we had to connect with our international ministry leaders and feel encouraged to hear about the numerous people we have impacted around the world.

Do you want to join us in praying for our international ministries? Join the prayer list here: ReFrameMinistries.org/subscribe.