Wally (left) and Jeannie Stephenson with a Bible college student.
I arrived in South Asia in 1963 as a young missionary nurse intent on learning the language and helping to establish ABWE’s Memorial Christian Hospital. Two years later, four team members and I set out on a seven-day sea voyage to West Pakistan for a bit of rest and relaxation. Following a brief stop in Sri Lanka, however, an officer informed us that India and Pakistan had gone to war. Our ship, the MV Rustom, had been ordered to stay in Sri Lanka.
It was 1965. Fax machines and email didn’t exist, so we relied on Western Union to contact ABWE headquarters. They responded with both a promise of prayer for our safety and funds to tide us over during our unexpected adventure.
That was my first encounter with the home office and the help that they offer missionaries. I have since learned their assistance to missionaries is invaluable, as they provide multiple services to enable us in ministry.
Finances
The work performed at the ABWE Home Office extends beyond bookkeeping and managing donations. The home office also aids missionaries in navigating the complexities of taxes, visa paperwork, and the myriad details involved in starting and maintaining our ministries, educating our children, and navigating international healthcare.
For example, after opening an outpatient department at a South Asian hospital, God led me to develop the missions-based literature division in South Asia in 1969. By God’s grace this became the world’s largest producer of Christian literature in the local language. Beyond their regular duties, ABWE’s staff ordered and paid the bills for the English books needed at our bookstores.
Many years later, I drew upon my experiences in South Asia to begin ABWE Publishing® at the home office, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. This department’s focus is to inform, instruct, and inspire people to participate in and support missions through the creation and sale of books, resources on missiology, and missionary biographies.
Administration
Over the years, I have met numerous missionaries who have tried to work alone rather than join a mission. I have found these missionaries can become frustrated because of a lack of direction or oversight in their ministries.
During my first term in South Asia, ABWE Treasurer, Edward Bomm came to check on our progress—or lack thereof. Visitors and expatriates offered many distractions and I was not progressing in the language. Mr. Bomm directed me to move to our jungle station, where monkeys on the roof were the major distraction. I fumed at the time. Later, I realized how wise he was to guide me to a place where there was little English spoken.
How grateful I am for administrators who discuss, counsel, and debrief missionaries at regular intervals.
Missionary Presentations
The ABWE Home Office also offers missionaries an amazing wealth of resources, including an image gallery with more than 50,000 missions-related photos, a music library, and countless graphics for presentations to help missionaries raise support and educate supporters. ABWE’s Communication Department prides themselves in their extensive training opportunities, which have included classes on improving missionaries’ digital and electronic presentations.
The Center for Excellence in International Ministries (CEIM) has been commissioned with the task of equipping ABWE missionaries and staff to serve Christ with a high distinction of excellence. CEIM frequently hosts conferences and training seminars intended to develop deeper spiritual understanding and provide culturally appropriate educational and ministerial resources.
Care and Concern
ABWE has doctors and nurse practitioners available around-the-clock to answer questions and offer advice to its missions family. Other ABWE staff members are able to address health insurance questions and deal with paperwork—a stress that otherwise might fall on the families or their supporting churches.
In 1993 my husband Wally’s first wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. ABWE President Wendell Kempton and others from ABWE helped Wally big time. At Dr. Kempton’s urging, Wally went on to conduct “Helping Hurting People” seminars on coping with grief and loss, in many countries around the world.
People and Prayer
After Wally and I married in 1996, we served on staff at the Harrisburg office as director of compassionate ministries and director of publications. There we saw—and participated in—the philosophy that people matter most. The ABWE Home Office staff prays for missionaries by name on a daily basis.
During this time of economic crisis, churches are evaluating missionary commitments. As someone who has been on both sides of the ABWE office, I have experienced the benefits of working with a mission board that works as an extension of the mission field.
Please pray for the ABWE Home Office during these critical times. Your missionaries cannot do without them.
ABWE serves about 1,250 missionaries ministering in 80 nations. We provide information, services, and training to nearly 5,500 supporting churches in the United States and Canada, 4,500 growing church plants and partner churches overseas, and more than 12,000 individual donors, while informing approximately 250,000 prayer partners of how to pray for our ministries.
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