A church committed to reaching our community for Jesus Christ and building passionate disciples
Home > Posts > Missions > The Future is Coming

The Future is Coming

The Mehns are Converge Worldwide Missionaries in Japan since 1985.

They:

  • Develop Leaders
  • Equip for Church Planting
  • Mentor for Spiritual Renewal

bc8c65dd-f2cd-4966-b6e4-7f7dc5d07caf.jpg

The Future is Coming

Sep-Oct 2020 – Updates from John and Elaine Mehn

How are you doing? We hope you are all safe and well. This period of Covid uncertainty and distruption is wearisome, stressful, and difficult. Probably the most difficult is knowing when the beginning of the end might be. May our loving heavenly Father be very real to you in this season.

Our Adjustments to the US

  1. We are both so grateful for God for having us return from Japan in April. If we had remained, work would have been difficult. We have seen that Illinois is our place during this time and where God has us. We both have had very full days of serving here locally, regionally, and globally.
  2. When we are not visiting our ministry partners, we continue to search for a home church which is not easy with the pandemic. We want a home church in our immediate community but it has been difficult knowing how to proceed.
  3. PTL our basement remodeling is now done with so much more living space, family room(s), 2 more bedrooms and a bath. Tim loves his new larger bedroom and work area. Elaine now gets an office. But all this means more shifting furniture and possessons and more settling in. We had Elaine’s sister as our first house guest and hope to have more visitors, especially from Japan, after the Covid-19 crisis is over.
  4. Our grandkids started back to school. We walk Molly and Dawson the 2-3 blocks to school and pick them up each day. With Covid this really helps with safety, assists their parents, and allows us to be involved more with them.

Mehn US Tour – Before Covid our plan was to visit all our ministry partners from May to October. Because of Covid we have only visited a few in person and then connected with many online. Recently we have sent updates and sermons to churches in Colorado, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. More recorded updates are coming this month for Illinois, Ohio and Missouri. Please make requests as we are open to do online interviews, live updates, and meeting for prayer online. We continue to offer sermons live or recorded to use in your churches. When the crisis calms down we hope to visit many of you.

Global Connections – So much is going on it seems we cannot keep up with it some weeks. We are online multiple times each week with many networks in Japan and in Asia. John is connected with so many people in a growing number of Asian countries. While not meeting in person at conferences or meetings, we are refreshed knowing that we are not limited by personal visits but can connect in other ways. John took part in the ordination council for a Burmese pastor in Rockford, Pastor Thang Kee. It is disappointing that the planned trip to Japan and Asia in October had to be postponed due to Covid. We are now looking at visiting Japan and Asia early next year. CPI’s Japanese Grace Week will be held online in October. Our entire Converge Asia workers are meeting online Oct 11-14. Pray as we plan and strategize to reach this strategic part of our globe. Fall looks like it will be even busier with networking and connecting.

61795826-55c0-47c1-86dd-961e90482b64.jpg

Sep-Oct 2020

Transitions are still Coming – More transitions are in both our futures. You may have thought our major transition was relocating to the States in April. Actually another big transition happens on November 1. On November 1st, we both begin a new adventure with Converge. John will be officially switching teams from the Japan Field to the Asia Impact Team. Elaine is officially retiring from Converge but will continue to work as volunteer. As John is not retiring, we hope that our ministry partners will continue in their generosity and our joint investments in Japan and Asia will continue. Our financial support right now is in good shape. Will you continue to pray, be involved, and give that even bigger goals for the future could be achieved?

Teaming for Impact
1. The Japan Church Multiplication Vision Festa will be held October 13-15 online. This time we are combining it with Finish the Task (FTT) a global movement. Pray for the preparations for the Japanese presenters and promotion of this event.
2. John has been meeting for several months online with the Converge Asia Impact Team doing team building, training, preparing, and praying. Our team members have contacts in most Asian countries.

Updates from Japan – Japan has now opened to allow some missionaries to return to Japan. We know many missionaries that have “been stuck” waiting to return. We heard that churches are doing well practicing good health procedures (only one small church had any cases of Covid). Covid rates are now spiking again in Tokyo. Pray for churches to continue to share Christ in this environment.

More Prayer Highlights

  1. John begins a class 9/21 lasting for eight weeks with Reaching Japanese for Christ on Church Planting and Development in Japan. Pray for the handful of students to develop knowledge and skills to further the church in Japan.
  2. PTL The Ladies Bible Study that stopped because Elaine was unable to find a new teacher restarted last week online with Zoom. Elaine is so thankful and joyous to once again be teaching this group of 6 ladies.
  3. Elaine continues to mentor people online and she also has a Japanese class. She is planning to teach a Japanese cooking class soon.

Copyright © 2020 John and Elaine Mehn, All rights reserved.